Editor’s note: Harold Best is the south region consultant for the Kentucky Baptist Convention.
This year, Todd Gray, executive director of the Kentucky Baptist Convention, asked the KBC staff to pray that every KBC church would be a thriving church and that every leader would be a cared for leader. We have been praying and working toward those ends. As I’ve thought about how to help churches thrive, I want to suggest five steps that might help your church thrive in 2025.
1) Make prayer a priority. We all know the importance of prayer in both life and ministry. If we believe that only God can revitalize our church, we must seek Him in prayer. For assistance, you might consider using the KBC’s 40 Days of Prayer: Devotional Guide for Church Revitalization.
2) Assess your church’s current reality. Oftentimes, churches do not realize the slow decline they have been experiencing. It can be eye opening to examine your church’s past 5-, 10- and 20-year trends in growth or decline. (Your state convetion can help you with gathering that information.) Sometimes, it is not until church members see and realize the decline that they are willing to evaluate their mission, vision, values and strategies to see what changes are needed. It can also be helpful to obtain a community demographic report to see how your community has changed over the years.
3) Evaluate, modify and communicate the mission and vision of your church. Some churches have gotten stuck in the ruts and routines of ministry and forgotten about their mission. It can be helpful for a church to put together a strategic vision team to evaluate and modify both the church’s mission and vision Once your church’s mission and vision are clarified and communicated, then you can evaluate your current ministries and programs to see if they are contributing to or hindering your vision.
4) Identify one goal for each quarter of 2025. Once you have clarified your mission and vision, it is helpful to think about some simple strategies to help you accomplish your mission. I have often found it helpful to identify one achievable goal for each quarter that will contribute to your overarching mission objective for the year. Some examples of quarterly goals might be: start the year with 21 days of prayer, provide evangelism training in the second quarter, organize a first impressions team in the third quarter and schedule a revival for the fall.
5) Think through your evangelism and discipleship strategy for 2025. Evangelism and discipleship seldom happen by accident. It is helpful to consider how your church will intentionally engage your local community with the Gospel in 2025. It is also helpful to carefully consider how your church is making disciples. Your discipleship strategy might start with the pastor, and maybe a few key leaders, investing in one or two others for a year. Thoroughly thinking through an evangelism and discipleship strategy can bear fruit for years to come.
While there are no silver bullets for having a thriving church, there are some steps we can take to move in that direction.
