by Craig Cable
Life at Fremont Wesleyan was good. Attendance was stable. They were making budget. Everything seemed fine.
Except…it wasn’t.
The church had hit a plateau. They weren’t experiencing growth, weren’t seeing as many people coming to Christ.
As Pastor of Connections, Tori Raquet knew her church needed to do something-but what? And how to bring up that challenging conversation?
Tori took several pastoral staff members to a screening of When God Left The Building. “On the drive home the first 20 minutes were mostly silence as we processed what we’d seen,” says Tori. “But then the conversation started-and has continued.”
The pastors of Fremont Wesleyan invited key church leaders to a screening of the documentary and then facilitated a conversation. How was their church like or unlike the churches profiled in the film? How could they make sure that what happened in the film didn’t happen in their congregation? What were next steps toward revitalizing the growth they all wanted to see?
Eventually the entire congregation was invited to experience When God Left the Building and that’s when conversations really started. Conversations that are leading to change, to growth, to moving off the plateau into uncharted territory.
“When God Left the Building created buy in from people who want to follow Jesus, but think that church as usual is fine. After watching the film both our leadership team and congregation are open to developing new ministry plans-and that feels great.”
Do what Tori did: let this film raise the tough questions. Then let the discussion questions we’ll send along with the film kick-start healing, hopeful conversations in your congregation.
Move off the plateau. Visit WhenGodLeftTheBuilding.com now learn more about the film.
And then ask God: How might you use this film in your church?