Church Health

Pastor Felix Treviño knew the metric stating a healthy church should have one baptism for every 15 people in average worship attendance per year, but the First Baptist Church of Mathis simply was not seeing God move in that way.

Learning and growing in relationship with Christ can take time, community and resources. But what about those who aren’t in a community where Bible studies or other teaching materials are not readily available? 

The result was a moving two-day conference in which church leaders and laity were urged to share Christ and show love with an intentional focus, as Texas Baptists director of Evangelism Leighton Flowers explained, on “the soul of the person you are with.”

Julio Guarneri, Texas Baptists executive director, kicked off the Statewide Evangelism Conference Sunday evening at Trinity Baptist Church in San Antonio with a message on building bridges and bypassing barriers to share the gospel. 

Church leaders and laypersons alike will have another opportunity to be equipped and encouraged to share the good news of Jesus Christ.

Despite being a vibrant part of the San Antonio community for 102 years, Saint Luke Baptist Church appeared to some to be dying.

While the Conclave NextGen conference underwent a remodel back in 2018, this year’s event saw breakthroughs in both attendance and connection opportunities that Texas Baptists ministry leaders believe brought it to a whole new level.

“We want to help women grow in confidence in their beliefs, to know and articulate Christian theology. Women’s ministry is drifting from being event-driven to formation-driven. Personal formation is becoming the emphasis among these ministries.”

“Conclave is unique because there is no other conference that we offer where you can get this kind of training for children’s, college, youth, parent and all NextGen ministries in one place.”

It’s a time to affirm, encourage, and walk alongside children as they begin a new year with a new classroom and teacher.

When Alan Grisham reached out to Texas Baptists almost two years ago, he understood changes were necessary. 

If your church is declining in attendance or plateauing for several years, there is good news: You are not alone. But the better news is you don’t have to stay that way, said Dr. Jonathan Smith, Director of Church Health Strategy for Texas Baptists.

Helping churches prepare for and position their ministries to share the gospel and make disciples in the future years.

When pastors get together these days, they talk about how their church has rebounded – or still needs to rebound – after the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“The church is good at huddling, but (Jesus) said, ‘I want you to go!’”

On Tuesday morning, Jonathan Smith, director of Church Health Strategy at Texas Baptists, led a workshop focused on church revitalization at the 2022 Annual Meeting. The workshop looked at ways churches can kickstart revitalization in their own, unique contexts.

“Having this knowledge can make the church relevant again in the public sphere of ideas and influence,”

“It was an exciting thing to see the students get behind it,”