LEESBURG — How do you cut down on griping and divisiveness when a church is trying to change? Is it possible to go through a process of death, then resurrection? How do you change when you have few people and little resources?

More than 90 laity and clergy asked the Rev. Dr. John Myers and each other those questions and more Jan. 28-29 during the New Church Development and Church Redevelopment ministry’s "The Turn Around Church" event.

The workshop was part of the ministry’s annual program building meeting at the Life Enrichment Center here and attended by members of the ministry’s conference and district committees, along with churches participating in the conference’s pilot revitalization program.

Charles Courtoy, the ministry’s executive director, said Myers was brought in to give attendees "another viewpoint" on redevelopment as a pastor who helped a congregation make significant changes and a consultant on church growth.

Before taking a yearlong sabbatical ending this June, Myers was pastor of Clay United Methodist Church in South Bend, Ind., for nearly 13 years. While there, worship attendance grew from 80 to 800 and membership from 350 to 900.

"Our goal and objective is to train our congregations to be evangelists," Myers said to participants. "There is a whole culture that doesn’t know the message of the Gospel."

Myers stressed that vision is "the key to revitalizing our ministries and turning around our churches" and shared his 12 principles of a turn-around church. He related many of his comments to the South Bend church’s experiences and gave attendees time to share their own insights.

Dealing with members who cannot see the necessity of change or try to derail the revitalization process was a major discussion point.

Myers suggested creating "the old environment within the new" to meet the needs of members comfortable with the old culture. He also suggested hiring a consultant if the church is divided between groups with equally strong visions.

Ultimately, he says, a church can expect to lose 30 percent of its members during major change. "People and resources will leave, but God will provide the resources if we are faithful to the vision," he said.

If money is an issue he suggested asking members to underwrite specific ministries.

Myers stressed that everything a church does should be done with excellence, the second of his 12 principles.

"When they [unchurched] come to our churches, we have to put our best foot forward for the sake of expressing the excellence of God," he said, adding that the principle also applies to staffing. "Staff for excellence in ministry. Don’t staff for mediocrity."

Myers suggests having one full-time secretary for every 100 worshippers and one full-time secretary for every four professional staff people.