Re-Innergized, The Ministry of the Holy Spirit for such a time as this

This essay explores why the rural church is in decline or dying. This project, “utilized the research method provided by Portland Seminary, at George Fox University, which ‘blended research and design methodology called ‘Collaborative Design for Ministry and Nonprofit Contexts’. In Collaborative Design, practitioners work with stakeholder representatives to address a Need, Problem, or Opportunity (NPO) in their context. Using a combination of bibliographic resources, local knowledge derived from stakeholder Workshops, and an iterative process of continuous adjustment using ‘just enough’ feedback information at each juncture of development, practitioners produce an application-oriented Project that seeks to effect Christ-centered change.’”

In discovery workshops, one- to-one interviews, design workshops, stakeholder feedback, academic resources, and primarily scripture I identified a key finding; when a church embraces the guidance of the Holy Spirit, it will live again. This finding came from my personal experiences of the Holy Spirit resurrecting three small rural churches which were in decline/death back to life. I will focus the personal stories of these three churches along with the historical, biblical, and current work of the Holy Spirit in reviving what was once dead. My proposal identifies the need of invoking an anointing of the Holy Spirit by the church. My rational lies in the quantitative and qualitative results of the dying church brought to life through pneumanatuic leadership, creativity and innovation, an outward focus, spiritual maturity, church growth, and sustainable vitality.