Toward the end of last year, our Church Council made the decision to participate in an initiative of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF) called Thriving Congregations. For those who might need a refresher on what that is, CBF defines it well in the following way: “The Thriving Congregations Initiative exists to equip churches to fulfill their unique call, and by extension, thrive, in today’s chaotic world. The organizing thesis of this work centers on the belief that thriving congregations exhibit capacities around five key traits: Compelling Clarity, Holy Tenacity, Faithful Agility, Rooted Relationships, and Dynamic Collaboration. The Thriving Congregations Initiative’s signature ministry is the year-long, incubator-style learning community to equip congregational leadership teams to develop practices that lead toward the embodiment of the five thriving traits. Through this process, congregations will engage in Holy Experiments to accelerate learning and uncover pathways that lead to transformation.”
Since our decision to take part in this initiative, the six-person team put together to participate in it (Randy Duckett, Lindsey McCullough, Rose Ann Pistole, Josh Pniewski, Matt Waller, and John Carroll) have been hard at work learning about and acting out the process named above. We have now participated in two different retreats, monthly Zoom calls with Chris Aho (along with other groups taking part in this initiative), monthly sessions with our “Wise Guide” (Mike Smith), and several other meetings with just our team.
Much of our work has revolved around understanding and assessing our church’s abilities when it comes to the five key traits (listed above) to highlight some areas that our future Holy Experiments might address. You might be glad to know that many of our church’s strengths have been easily identified both by those participating as well as those leading us through this process. However, as with any system, there are areas that have been identified where we have a large capacity to be better. The trait of Compelling Clarity stood out as one that fell into this category. Becoming clearer on who we are as a church and the specific mission God has called us to live out in our unique context has also been a large part of the work we have been doing. Fortunately, our church is already taking steps to improve clarity through things like our recent Bold Faithfulness Initiative, and that is just one of the ways we are moving toward thriving together!
Now, you may be thinking to yourself, “That sounds great and all, but this is so much new vocabulary and I’m not sure I’m following along!” That’s okay! Our team has put in the work learning this process so that we can continue to pass it on to one another and continue to provide you with some clarity. In fact, there are two main ways that you can expect to hear from us very soon and learn more about the Thriving Congregations Initiative. The first is by tuning in to our podcast, Rooted and Grounded. The members of our team are already meeting up to record some conversations on the five traits, design thinking, holy experiments, and the work that is ahead of us to become a thriving congregation! The second is by tuning in to worship on Sunday mornings. Throughout the months of September and October, the sermons will also be addressing these topics as well as their deeply theological bases. You won’t want to miss either, so please join us as we seek to find a more excellent way of being God’s hands and feet in Aiken.
Lastly, I would just like to thank you for your continued prayer and support of our team and the work they are doing. As is anything worth doing, this is not easy work, but I can attest to the fact that it is deeply fulfilling, honest, and transformational. May we all pursue a more adventurous spirit as we continue our journey to be obedient to God’s will. Amen.
In truth and love,
Matt Waller
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