Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! “Peace be with you,” he said. As he spoke, he held out his hands for them to see, and he showed them his side. They were filled with joy when they saw their Lord! He spoke to them again and said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” (John 20:19-21)

This month Lent ends abruptly on Easter Sunday March 27 with the proclamation, “He isn’t here! He has risen from the dead!” (Luke 24:6) Easter sends a thrilling message of hope to people praying and working for renewal in older congregations.

Do you ever feel that leading an older congregation has more to do with Maundy Thursday and Good Friday than Easter Sunday?

• You’ve felt betrayed by longtime members who leave to join a larger, more affluent congregation that’s become ‘the place to be seen’ in your community.

• You’ve been disappointed by capable people refusing leadership roles because they deny having a stake in the church’s future.

• Attendance and income decline, thinning like the throng of supporters who abandoned Jesus between Palm Sunday and the crucifixion.

Take heart! No person, situation, or congregation is beyond God’s amazing power to redeem and restore. Christ-followers were running scared on Good Friday, but they later became so emboldened in the cause of sharing the Good News that their critics complained that they were turning the world upside down (Acts 17:6). There is hope – Jesus Christ lives! As James Harnish puts it in this month’s book review, “Hope is born when we are willing to die for the right things.”