Editor’s note: For the January 1 issue of the Illinois Baptist, pastors and leaders from IBSA shared their thoughts on the challenges and opportunities facing the church in 2021. You’ll see them here every Wednesday this month.
Scott Foshie, IBSA director of revitalization
In 1920, Arthur Flake came to the Southern Baptist Sunday School Board and found a denomination in crisis. The Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918-1920 had caused many churches to pause their ministries in ways that would seem eerily familiar today. But it was the need to rebuild afterward that set the stage for unprecedented growth in baptisms and attendance through outreach-focused groups ministry. Flake would become known as the founder of the modern Southern Baptist groups movement.
As Flake prayed, planned, and worked tirelessly, the Lord showed him a biblically-rooted formula that we can use to rebuild our disciple-making ministries today.
1. Know the possibilities. Vision is necessary to re-grow a thriving groups ministry. Take time, prayer walk your community, study the demographics, and let God impress upon you and your leadership that there is tremendous potential!
2. Enlarge the organization. My grandfather always encouraged me that if I believed God had called me to pray for something, that even as I prayed I should make preparations for him to answer the prayer. If we were praying for rain, I would often see him carrying an umbrella. As you pray for God to bring revival and grow your church, begin to identify where new groups would meet. Plan to offer multiple times and locations.
3. Enlist and train workers. Identify potential leaders and develop them. Reach out to IBSA and your local association for resources and training opportunities in groups ministry and evangelism.
4. Provide resources and space. Now is a perfect time to be sprucing up your facilities and preparing new group space. As you move into 2021, identify and prepare the space (either on or off your church campus) to reach the number of new groups you’d like to start.
5. Go after the people! The only way we are going to see an abundant gospel harvest in Illinois is if we do an abundant planting of the gospel in thousands of lives. Pastors should work to sharpen their gospel-sharing and inviting in their messages. Gospel conversation training will help Illinois Baptists saturate our state with the good news of Jesus and loving invitations to come to Christ.
It could be that we are on the cusp of Illinois Baptists’ most exciting, fruitful chapter on mission with God as we leave this pandemic. Rebuilding and growing groups ministry is a sure way to help make that happen.
Bryan Price, pastor of Love Fellowship Baptist Church, Romeoville, and an IBSA zone consultant in Chicagoland
As a Chicagoland pastor and IBSA zone consultant, I have the privilege of serving alongside leaders who over the last several months have demonstrated incredible resilience amid inconceivable challenges. Among them, there is a shared sentiment that the effects of COVID-19 have been spiritually, emotionally, and physically draining. And though there is optimism that 2021 will bring some relief, to move into the new year without taking into consideration the “aftershock” of the virus could prove detrimental.
In Chicagoland, pastors are concerned about the reluctance to resume in-person worship. Some churchgoers are in no rush, while more than a few have already communicated they may never return. The reasons vary, but each has serious theological consequences. For some, virtual church has become such a suitable alternative that they have grown to enjoy the convenience. For others, it is the inability to trust when it is truly safe to return—a consequence of lingering fear. Most disheartening, however, are those who have simply fallen away. They were on the fringes before the pandemic, and mandates to shelter in place only provided an excuse to disconnect permanently.
Church leaders are not powerless to meet this challenge in the new year. For me, one practical solution has been to review the Zoom and Facebook interactions each week. When I notice someone hasn’t been on for two or three weeks in a row, I reach out to them. For those who I sense are slipping away because of convenience or spiritual lethargy, I feel compelled to reinforce truth—through preaching, teaching, and writing—as it pertains to the necessity and importance of biblical fellowship.
Some people may stay away out of concern about the virus still very much affecting our city. When I talk to them, I share areas where God is at work and how he has continuously taken care of us and provided for us during this season. In addition, when I teach about the importance of fellowship, I also reiterate the need to trust in the Lord because I have come to realize that only he can help us deal with fear and anxiety.
What is paramount to pastors is not refilling empty pews, but the spiritual welfare of God’s people. While there are no definitive answers, one solution seems to resonate: With relentless prayer and utter dependence on God, pastors must continue to develop creative ways to reach the lost while emphasizing the essential nature of biblical koinonia, knowing that ultimately, the Lord is responsible for his church.