What Does a Vital Congregation Look Like, Part 1

How do people rate or evaluate a congregation? Is that important? By what metrics do they judge? Over the past 30 years, there have been numerous books/articles/authors with advice on how to grow or build up a congregation. By those old metrics we would ask: Are we adding new members? Do we have enough space in the building and the parking lot? Are we growing our financial support to increase programs and services? Do our worship services inspire disciples and are we having to add additional worship services to accommodate the increase in number of worshippers? Are we growing in our service to the community outside the walls of our congregation?

Have those important questions changed? Several years ago, the ELCA added a few new items to the year-end report that most congregations send in to the ELCA. These new items were called the Congregational Vitality Project. These responses seek answers to how well our congregation: provides worship that nurtures people’s faith, lives a clear sense of mission, is excited about our future, is a positive force in the community, incorporates new members into congregational life, uses the gifts of members of all ages, manages disagreements in healthy and respectful manner, equips members to share their faith with others, address social concerns, (and 6 other areas).

The questions have not changed all that much, but the focus has. We have gone from a focus on growing the church to a focus on being a vital and healthy church. Specialists in congregational health tell us that a healthy congregation will attract new people and that all the growth programs in the world will not help an unhealthy congregation grow.

Peter Steinke in his book, “Healthy Congregations” (Alban Institute, 1996) asks the question: “What generally influences congregational health?” Then he examines seven health promoters: sense of purpose, appraise and manage conflict, clarity, mood and tone, mature interaction, healing capacities, and a focus on resources.

In the coming weeks, I’ll dig into this whole topic of congregational health and vitality, using thoughts from Steinke and others. Stay tuned and be observant…God is at work in our world.

Blessings and peace!