CBF North Carolina (CBFNC) has selected nine congregations for the newest Shared Learning Cohort of the Helping Churches Thrive initiative.
The churches selected for the new cohort are:
- First Baptist Church of Erwin
- Carolina Trace Community Church, Sanford
- Shiloh Restoration Baptist Church, Raleigh
- The Fountain of Raleigh Fellowship
- Pollocksville Baptist Church
- HOPE Christian Fellowship Baptist Church, Roanoke Rapids
- Millbrook Baptist Church, Raleigh
- First Baptist Church of Burnsville
- First Baptist Church of Mount Olive
Over the coming year, teams from these congregations will embark on a shared journey of conversation, imagination, discipleship and faith-centered risk. Through retreats, monthly learning experiences, churchwide conversations, assessment and experimentation, each congregation will explore a central question: What does it mean for our church to thrive in our unique context?
The nine churches represent diverse communities and congregational settings, but their applications revealed a strikingly common desire. They are ready to ask important questions about the future of their churches and the communities God has called them to serve.
For First Baptist Church of Erwin, that means discerning how a congregation with a rich history can embrace new opportunities for growth, discipleship and community engagement. Pollocksville Baptist Church hopes to move beyond simply doing many things well toward cultivating greater participation, leadership and engagement beyond Sunday morning.
First Baptist Church of Mount Olive is seeking a renewed vision for ministry in a small eastern North Carolina community that has experienced significant change. Its leaders hope to “locate the areas of ministry that have been overlooked” and discover new opportunities to be the hands and feet of Christ.
Other congregations enter the cohort in seasons of growth and expanding ministry.
Shiloh Restoration Baptist Church serves refugees, immigrants and underserved families in Raleigh through worship, pastoral care, English language support, employment assistance and community outreach. Its leaders hope the cohort will help strengthen leadership, organizational capacity and long-term sustainability while equipping people “to flourish spiritually, socially, and economically.”
HOPE Christian Fellowship Baptist Church ministers in rural northeastern North Carolina among individuals and families who often feel overlooked by society and traditional church settings. Through ministries focused on addiction, economic hardship, seniors, veterans, formerly incarcerated persons and others seeking healing, the congregation is already deeply invested in its community.
“We desire not only for our church to thrive, but for our community to thrive as a result of Christ working through us,” HOPE’s leadership shared in its application.
At The Fountain of Raleigh Fellowship, the focus is on cultivating leaders and strengthening intergenerational and interracial discipleship. The congregation hopes to develop sustainable pathways for storytelling, mentoring and faith formation that intentionally pass faith and leadership from one generation to the next.
Millbrook Baptist Church enters the process after recently celebrating 150 years of ministry. Its leaders see “little pockets” of thriving throughout the congregation but hope to better understand, articulate and build upon them.
“We dream here. A lot,” Millbrook’s team wrote. Their hope is to become bold enough to move dreams “from idea to reality” and enter the church’s 151st year “as healthy as we’ve ever been.”
That spirit of honest reflection and faithful imagination is at the heart of Helping Churches Thrive.
“We continue to discover that congregational thriving does not have a single look or formula,” said Andy Hale, CBFNC associate executive coordinator. “These nine churches serve very different communities and enter this process with different opportunities and challenges. What they share is a willingness to ask honest questions, listen deeply to one another and their communities, and imagine where God might be leading them next.”
Helping Churches Thrive is made possible through a grant from Lilly Endowment’s Thriving Congregations Initiative and seeks to encourage the flourishing of congregations by helping them deepen their relationships with God, enhance their connections with one another and contribute to the vitality of their communities and the world.
“We are excited to journey alongside these congregations,” Hale said. “Our work is not to hand them a blueprint for becoming a thriving church. Instead, we create space, provide resources and cultivate a collaborative process that helps each congregation discover and embrace its own faithful expression of thriving.”
Learn more about Helping Churches Thrive at cbfnc.org/helpingchurchesthrive.
