What Does a Vital Congregation Look Like, Part 2

What does a vital and healthy congregation look like?

Bill Kemp (UMC) has some important points for us to consider so that we can reframe the conversation about congregational vitality. He uses the earthly ministry of Jesus to show that our present ways of assessing congregational vitality may not reflect Jesus’ mission focus.

First, all fellowships that transform their context for good and connect people in a relevant way to the teachings of Jesus are to be valued and supported… The larger church needs to adapt to serve the local church. Accountability needs to be redefined to include the effective clergy and vital congregations that are doing ministry in difficult contexts.

Second, whatever is observed is changed. The local church is impacted, for good or ill, by how their pastors and denominational officials speak about them. If you limit your observation of church to institutional statistics or metrics, you will obtain numbers of questionable value and teach local leaders to lie.

Third, the anti-institutional and diversity-seeking aspects of postmodern culture are more responsible for the decline of The Church than any of the interpretation schemes presented earlier. There is a reversal going on in which things that we once counted as assets have become liabilities. Hidden within these structural problems are the seeds of future opportunities. As postmoderns seek for authentic community, they are revitalizing many congregations previously considered dead and forming new fellowships that our current structures have a hard time assimilating.”

Even though these thoughts are from 2013 I think they reflect an honest approach to evaluating our present and future ministry.

You can read his complete article “Reframing Church Vitality” on the Ministry Matters website HERE.