How will your association be different in 2032? Will it be proactively different? Will it be passively different? Or will it be indifferent?
If your association catches a vision for imagining itself in the lead missional role in the denomination by the year 2033, you will be proactively different. That is, it will be if you get started soon enough on the journey outlined in the previous 10 columns.
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If your association faithfully follows the initiatives from the denomination more than it follows how your context cries out for you to serve them, you may be passively different.
If your association repeats the programmatic and relational patterns of the past each year, then you might be indifferent. I hope not. I believe God has higher expectations of your association than for it to be indifferent.
Anticipating a proactive 2032
If you choose in 2025 to imagine you are in a lead missional and denominational role in your context by the year 2033, then as you enter 2032 you will arrive at a new sabbatical year following six years of prophetic missional engagement.
During 2032 you will do several things:
First, you will take a sabbatical to rest, relax and reflect on what God has been doing in and through your family of congregations through the missional engagements you launched during the past six years.
Second, you will celebrate the Kingdom progress God has inspired, motivated and led through your congregations. If you followed the suggested pattern, you have “celebrated next” three times per year or approximately every 120 days and then adjusted your strategies and actions to stay as close as possible to where God leads you.
Third, you will listen for God to speak anew in and through your congregations about what the next discernment might be and how to go further in fulfilling your overall mission in your context.
Fourth, as you listen for the voice of God, you will begin developing the next round of strategies and actions for a new series of seasons of planting, growth, cultivation and harvesting as referenced in Leviticus 25.
Fifth, you will recalibrate your resources to prepare to “launch next” during 2033. Adjusting, strengthening and expanding your resources within your family of congregations will be essential for the next movement forward.
Empowering Kingdom growth requires proactivity
Empowering Kingdom growth requires proactivity, not passivity — and certainly not indifference.
If God’s empowering spiritual leadership does not ignite your missional passion, yet you still believe deeply in fulfilling the Great Commission, I offer some facts and trends for you to consider as a motivation for you to do all that God is calling you to do in your context. They are based on widely shared research reports that talk about the future of Christianity in America, and denominations specifically.
First, the reality is the percentage of people in America who claim to be Christian is declining. The numbers are still more than 50% of the population but are somewhat slowing down. Still, down is the direction.
Second, the number of people who are considered to be “nones” in America is growing. Thankfully, it is not as fast as it once was but it is still growing.
Nones are generally in one of three categories: atheists, agnostics or “nothing in particular.” The subgroup that is steadily growing is the “nothing in particular” group. Some of these people would consider themselves spiritual but not religious.
Third, looking at our denomination, let’s consider the last seven years and the next seven years. The trend for the last seven years is a decline in membership.
While last year saw an increase in baptisms, this is not yet a trend. We were more than 16 million in 2006 and are now under 13 million in members. Even if the decline in membership slows down, we could have a million or more fewer members within seven years.
Fourth, we are also experiencing an increase in the average age of our members. Younger generations are not connecting with Southern Baptist congregations in the large numbers they did several decades ago. Nondenominational congregations are reaching younger generations more effectively than our denomination.
What will your family of congregations be doing in the year 2032? I pray you will be proactively different.
EDITOR’S NOTE — George Bullard spent 45 years in denominational ministry. He served on the staff of three associations, was a key staff person working with associations in two state conventions and served on the association missions division staff of the former Home Mission Board of the SBC. He retired in June 2022 as director of Columbia Metro Baptist Association in South Carolina. He has led strategic planning processes in more than 100 associations and has written extensively in this area. Bullard now serves as a strategic thinking mentor for Christian leaders through his ForthTelling Innovation ministry and a correspondent for The Baptist Paper.
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