I guess if you really want to answer this question there are questions that precede it. Like do you truly understand who’s church it really is? At what cost are you willing to pay to breathe new life into the church? Change. Are you willing to forsake tradition, most of them anyway, and be willing to change?

Now you can ask the question “Can a dying church find new life?” Well that depends on how you answered the previous questions. If you managed to answer those in the affirmative please read on. If not, move on and find the key to the front door of the building.

Here are five radical steps to be taken by key members of a struggling congregation.

1. A leader must rise and be willing to lead the church toward radical transformation regardless of the personal costs to him. That leader is typically a new pastor in the church, but it doesn’t have to be.

2. A significant group in the church must admit that they are desperate for help. This group must lead the church from denial to a painful awakening to reality.

3. The group must have an utter, desperate and prayerful dependence on God. They can no longer look at the way they’ve always done it as the path for the future. They must fall on their faces before God and seek His way and only His way.

4. The church must be willing to storm the community with love. Members must go into the community, love the unlovable, reach out to the untouchable, and give sacrificially of time, money and heart. The community must be amazed by these believers.

5. The church must relinquish control. If the church reaches the community, the community will come to the church. They may be poorer. They may have different colors of skin. They may speak differently. They may have a radically different culture than the members of the church. If the church is truly to reach the community, it must be joyfully willing to let the community have a role in the church. This attitude is radically different than welcoming the outsiders to “our church.” It is an attitude that says it is now truly the “Lord’s” church.

When these five steps occur in any congregation that finds itself struggling to survive it is often given the name “miracle.”