Grantee Directory

Fifty-one Cooperative Baptist Fellowship congregations were invited into learning experiences in community with three or four other congregations for an intense one-year journey. Congregations participating in these communities represent the wide range of types of congregations present in the Fellowship, and the learning communities are intentionally recruited to make sure participating congregations are drawn into community with compatible congregations, as each seeks more faithful thriving. Each congregation has opportunities to cultivate five qualities of thriving, which include compelling clarity, faithful agility, holy tenacity, rooted relationship, and dynamic collaboration. Participating congregations see more clearly their own powerful gifts, uniting convictions alongside the needs and opportunities in their changing contexts. Congregations also design new ministries that fully utilize their gifts to meet an urgent need through a holy experiment. Throughout these journeys, congregations engage with one another in leadership team retreats while also inviting their entire congregation into deeper encounters with Scripture, theological convictions, and Christian practices.

Helping Churches Thrive aims to foster congregational vitality through the employment of collaborative learning communities for church leaders, both clergy and laity. These learning communities will bring Cooperative Baptists of North Carolina together to explore congregational identity, mission and practices in light of the changing social, cultural and religious landscape. The program seeks to empower participants to lead their churches in establishing deeper relationships in their communities and in discovering how their congregation’s unique gifts might be developed and utilized for mission and ministry. Two primary initiatives will be at the core of Helping Churches Thrive: Shared Learning Cohorts and Collaborative Workshops. The Shared Learning Cohorts will focus on rethinking congregational thriving, church sustainability and emerging young adult ministries. The Collaborative Workshops will facilitate learning labs across the state and support retreat opportunities for congregations.