INDEPENDENCE—Like many churches, Birchwood Baptist Church has experienced a recent period of decline in both numbers and enthusiasm.
John Young, senior administrative pastor at Birchwood Baptist here, knew that something needed to change. He attended a seminar hosted by Blue River-Kansas City Baptist Association that promoted the LifeWay book Transformational Church, along with assessment tools for churches.
After reading the book, Young immediately proposed to his church body that they use this new “scorecard for congregations” to take a hard look at their church.
“We think the Transformational Church experience has been very helpful, especially for our leadership,” Young said. “It has been instrumental in getting us redirected and our hope is that we will continue to be intentional in our goals to be a community-oriented and missional church that is bearing fruit.”
Ken Lupton, LifeWay Consultant for Church Networks and Partnerships, has provided many Missouri Baptist churches and associations with Transformational Church seminars in recent months.
“At each seminar I give an overview on what the Transformational Church is all about,” Lupton said. “It’s about no longer looking toward bodies, buildings, budgets and baptisms to measure a church’s success. It’s all about people becoming more like Christ, churches acting like the body of Christ, and the church community reflecting the kingdom of God.”
In the book, LifeWay research authors Ed Stetzer and Thom S. Rainer survey 50,000 churches – then narrow the scale to 500 congregations – to address the question: How does a body of believers do its part to be in the “sweet spot” where true transformation occurs?
The study identified seven different framework elements that fruitful, transformational churches have in common. Those include a missionary mindset, vibrant leadership, dependence on prayer, relational intentionality, active worship, community atmosphere, and pointing to Jesus through missions.
“We are redefining the old scorecard,” Lupton said. “We are retaining those same measurements and realizing at the same time that the church is much more than that. The number of bodies doesn’t tell us the whole story. It doesn’t tell us how a person is becoming more like Jesus or determine how well we are accomplishing the Great Commission.”
Birchwood Baptist Church also took advantage of the online survey assessment tool where each member of the congregation is asked to complete an anonymous questionnaire about their church’s strengths and challenges.
“The process identifies a church’s present reality, as well as their preferred future,” Lupton said. “This is a message of hope. It is a tool and a process, not a target. It’s descriptive, not prescriptive. The Transformational Church is God’s work; we are just joining Him in His work.”
For more information or to schedule an overview of Transformational Church for your church or association, contact Lupton at ken.lupton@lifeway.com.
KAYLA RINKER/contributing writer