How God Used Re:generation To Change My Church

Follow in Jesus’ footsteps

A few years ago, the church I helped to start, and pastor for twenty-one years, was full of people struggling to keep themselves together. I was no exception. All of us were scraping by, feeling defeated, drowning in discouragement, and seemingly broken beyond repair. Many of us had shattered our lives and thrown away our dreams. Our church was messy, confused, and in desperate need of restoration. Thankfully, the Lord was not done with us.

Ultimately, God wants to do more than repair our broken pieces or patch us up enough to manage. He wants to make us completely new. Jesus’ payment for our sins on the cross and resurrection to new life makes actual transformation a possibility. As the Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” If we trust in Jesus, even our broken church could become new again.

Now, while we have new life in Christ, how were we supposed to actually work out this new life day to day? The answer is discipleship. We are to follow in Jesus’ footsteps, learning from Him and obeying His commands and principles. Discipleship is taking steps to become a fully devoted follower of Jesus.

So, when Watermark Community Church offered our church the opportunity to be a host site for a Christ-centered, twelve-step recovery program called re:generation, the broken and hurting at Heartland Community Church jumped in and began the journey of experiencing all that this new life in Christ could be.

Now, three years later, how has God used re:generation in the lives of our church?

1. God changed me. When I went through Step 4 of re:generation (Inventory) God revealed some of my life-long sin patterns and misplaced worship. The people I hurt, sinful attitudes and actions I had rationalized, and my untamed pride were exposed and addressed.

2. Masks came off. When I stopped hiding my sin, so did many others. We stopped masquerading as spiritual phonies and our church became more authentic. We confessed our brokenness and now openly shared our hurts. Sure, taking our masks off made things messier, but as a church family we became healthier both spiritually and relationally.

3. Miracles happened. I’ve seen God accomplish miracles through re:generation, and I myself, am just one walking example. God transformed my life and He is doing it all over the place. Over the years, I’ve found that a success isn’t measured best by attendance, square footage, or budget, but rather by the miraculous stories of life change when God’s power is at work in people.

4. Leaders were developed. As participants in re:generation found freedom and discovered their new life in Christ through these biblical twelve steps, many responded by then leading others through the same journey. Our leaders began to grasp what Jesus meant with His Great Commission in Matthew 28 to go and make disciples. They got to lead others to a new life in Christ. In many ways, re:generation became a leadership factory, cranking out fully devoted leaders in the church.

All of this is wonderful news, but remember that re:generation is only a tool—a catalyst for change in churches that are willing to change. Every step of the curriculum directs people to fully follow the only one who does the changing—Jesus Christ. Jesus is the one who makes us new. The Apostle Paul reminds us of this in Ephesians 3:20-21 (NIV) Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.