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TFL Dialogue, George Bullard on Will Your Congregation Still Exist
A Travel Free Learning Article, September 22, 2010 EditionBy George Bullard, Ministry Colleague with The Columbia Partnership
Voice: 803.622.0923, E-mail: GBullard@TheColumbiaPartnership.org, Web Site: www.TheColumbiaPartnership.org
North America has at least 350,000 congregations. Best estimates indicate one percent of these congregations die, close, to belly up each year. In ten years 35,000 congregations will no longer exist. Will your congregation be one of them?
What is the survivability quotient of your congregation?
Congregations die for various reasons. It is not just from old age and the lack of attendance and resources; although these may be the biggest contributors to the closure of congregations. A certain number of new congregations fail to thrive. Some die within the first two years, while others survive for six to ten years before they are declared unsuccessful. Merger is a choice in some situations. When two or three congregations merge there are one or two fewer congregations.
What if we were to expand the definition of exist? What if it included not only those congregations who are no longer alive, but also those congregations who lose their vitality? Congregational vitality is the capacity to create and sustain meaningful Christ-centered, faith-based existence that focuses more on being on mission than on maintenance. How many congregations lack vitality? A bunch! Coming up with an actual number might be impossible. It must be determined one congregation at a time.
If, however, I am forced to provide a figure, I would estimate that at least 3 percent of all congregations sink to a stage of lethargy each year. In any rolling ten years 105,000 congregations will lose their vitality. Some will never regain it. Some will transform.
Rather than being clear about their mission, purpose, values, and vision, they are stuck on the ritual habits or patterns of doing church. They act like cultural enclaves or hospice ministries. While the quality of what they do may be acceptable, the vast majority of their decisions and actions are based on their past to present culture and rather than a sense of the new thing God is doing in their midst.
What is the vitality quotient of your congregation?
Dare we expand the definition of exist one more dimension? What if it included not only those congregations who are no longer alive or who lose their vitality, but also those congregations who lose their vibrancy? Congregational vibrancy exists when a congregation expresses obvious passion around its vision for a future that captivates its spiritual imagination. This vision energizes the disciplemaking processes and missional actions of these congregations. They know who they are under God, where God is leading them, and they are intentionally moving in the direction of their current spiritual discernment.
Congregations who lack vibrancy begin to age as organisms and in the demographics of the people who attend. While they are a long way from closing their doors, they are on the side of the congregational life cycle that leads to non-existence. Any congregation more than 20 or so years old is always ten years or less away from losing their vibrancy. How many congregations is this? It is all congregations who are at least a generation old.
Unfortunately if this is true, it represents 80 percent of all congregations, or 280,000 congregations who at some point cannot be characterized by vibrancy. This humongous number creates an almost insurmountable challenge for North American Christianity.
Deep transition and change is necessary each decade for congregations to retain their vibrancy. Too many congregations assume the way they operated during their first generation of life will sustain them forever. Too many congregations assume if they transform after their first generation of life the new focus will sustain forever. Too many congregations are wrong about this.
What is the vibrancy quotient of your congregation?
Survivability, vitality, and vibrancy quotients are crucial for congregations. Vision, leadership, intentionality, expectations, tenure and age of members and regular attendees, generosity, worship, conflict capacity, balance of financial allocations, condition of facilities, and the ability of management systems to empower rather than control, all impact these quotients.
My current efforts focus on 25 factors of survivability, vitality, and vibrancy, and suggest three dimensions for each factor. These three dimensions are [1] more likely to exist, [2] marginal or uncertain, and [3] less likely to exist.
To be characterized by vibrancy a congregation must have at least 12 of the 25 factors where they are rated as more likely to exist. If, on the other hand, a congregation has 12 or more of the 25 factors where it is rated less likely to exist, then it existence ten years from now is in doubt. Anywhere in between these two extremes and the congregation shows some signs of vitality.
Wonder where your congregation is on these 25 factors? Wonder what your survivability, vitality, and vibrancy quotients might be? Send a message to Bullard@TravelFreeLearning.org and request to receive a sample copy of the 30 page document that lists these factors, has the inventory for assessment, and then 25 articles that describe each factor in depth.
Important Things to Know
George Bullard is a Ministry Partner with The Columbia Partnership. He is also General Secretary [executive director] of the North American Baptist Fellowship of the Baptist World Alliance. The Columbia Partnership is a non-profit Christian ministry organization focused on transforming the capacity of the North American Church to pursue and sustain Christ-centered ministry. Travel Free Learning is a leadership development emphasis. For more information about products and services check out the web site at www.TheColumbiaPartnership.org, send an e-mail to Client.Care@TheColumbiaPartnership.org, or call 803.622.0923.
