For Baptists and many other evangelical denominations or networks, the most important spiritual experience every person can have is to receive Jesus the Christ as their personal Savior and Lord.
Less than 10% of all congregations are soaring with faith and are on a God-empowered spiritual strategic journey to live into their full Kingdom potential.
I saw the following message posted by an association in an attempt to convince congregations to complete the Annual Church Profile.
Let’s talk about telling missional stories in the innovative ways available today, which can make storytelling come alive within the fellowship of associations.
How can you uncover the stories of missional engagement in congregations? Without sounding flippant, the answer is to gently and consistently ask for them. You might be surprised by what you discover.
Should we bring back the annual associational letter? Probably not, even though Baptists are not hearing many of the great stories of congregations in association with one another.
Writing and presenting the Associational Letter for the annual meeting was a fellowship-building tradition during the first 200 years of Baptist associations in America.
But aren’t there more important things to count that look at the vitality and vibrancy of a congregation?
I saw the signs of future sin way before we entered the lost years of the congregation my family helped launch when I was in high school. It was certainly not intentional sin. It was all unintentional. We caught it before it became an ongoing sinful practice.
As I sat across the desk from the pastor, I heard him describe a congregation with many great qualities. But they had no idea about where they were headed, much less what God’s empowering vision might be for their next seven years.
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