Reimagining Sacred Spaces: How Churches Can Sustain Mission Through Revenue-Based Partnerships For generations, church buildings have been more than places of worship. They’ve been community gathering spaces, shelters in times of crisis, and centers of spiritual formation. Yet today, many churches find themselves struggling to maintain their expansive facilities, originally built for larger congregations and…
The Pathways to Failure: Avoiding the Pitfalls of Unfulfilled Promises and the Mythological Comeback Kid Sustainability is a challenge that many churches face in today’s changing landscape. When congregations find themselves in decline, they often look for solutions that will reverse their trajectory and bring new life into their church. However, not all solutions lead…
The marking of the first anniversary of Hurricane Helene brings life-shaping memories and emotions for all who were involved in its path. It wreaked havoc from Florida to North Carolina, but what happened to our beautiful North Carolina mountains was unprecedented. Wanda Kidd, CBFNC’s Helene Disaster Response director, shares a reflection below marking the one-year…
Redefining Success, Maintaining, and Failure: A Church’s Journey Toward Sustainability For generations, churches have measured success in ways that made sense for a different era—full pews, bustling Sunday Schools, and steady financial giving. But in today’s rapidly changing landscape, these traditional markers may no longer reflect reality. As congregations experience shifts in attendance, financial challenges,…
Finding Hope in a Changing Church: A Path Toward Sustainability For many churches, the realities of today’s landscape can feel overwhelming. Attendance isn’t what it used to be, budgets are tighter, and beloved spaces sit emptier than before. The ministries that once thrived may now struggle to find enough hands to carry them forward. And…
Thank you to all of the North Carolina Cooperative Baptist churches and individuals who made the “Meals for the Mountains” such a success. We completed the project on July 31 with a set of clothes for each child. In addition, we were able to provide each family with a gift card thanks to some generous…
As the remaining refugee guests in Welcome Houses transition to permanent housing, churches involved in the temporary housing ministry are beginning to talk about what’s next. Our hope is that Welcome Houses will remain assets for ministry as churches seek to discern the kinds of needs they might address in local contexts across the state.…
CBF North Carolina (CBFNC) has selected 12 churches from across our fellowship and region for the next Shared Learning Cohort of the Helping Churches Thrive initiative. Shared Learning Cohort churches will journey through a nine-month process of exploration, empowerment and experimentation in an opening retreat, monthly calls with notable authors and practitioners, churchwide workshops, a creative…
When the news landed in January that our nation’s refugee resettlement program would be paused for 90 days for evaluation, the ministry of CBFNC churches involved in this work remained consistent. The churches across our state that operate and support Welcome Houses continued to do their work in partnership with the refugee resettlement agencies in…
This past summer, I wrote an article for Good Faith Media about the unique relationship between the churches in western NC. The article centered on how they came together to help plant a church in Hendersonville that still serves that area today. In the end, I suggested it might be time for those churches to…