Adding Vitality to Church Life

Here are suggestions for ministers who feel their churches are lacking in vitality and purpose.

1. Develop specific goals that are within reach of attainment.

2. Prepare agendas for your meetings that focus of possibilities, opportunities, and potentialities that can be realized soon.

3. Don’t blame inactive members for your situation.

4. Avoid saying, “Either we do this kind of program or we do that.” Try a both/and approach to your program development.

5. Always build an emphasis on ministry to people in the community beyond the church’s membership.

6. Periodically evaluate your church’s programs to see if people are being reached in meaningful ways.

7. Even in a small congregation, plan for various groups. Do not think of the entire membership as one group.

8. Help people to tolerate, if not accept, ideas that are new, different, strange or innovative.

9. Lift the morale of the congregation by celebrating an event for which members can be thankful. Rejoice in victories.

10. Develop an interest by suggesting one or two forms of special ministries in addition to the traditional array of programs and ministries.

11. Give ample time to explore together what is the purpose of your church.