Por Aaron Weaver
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The church may feel like a ship breaking apart, but Rev. Dr. Kenda Creasy Dean told Cooperative Baptists that shipwreck can become a story of hope.
Kenda Creasy Dean
Speaking during Thursday morning’s plenary hosted by CBF Congregational Ministries at the 2026 CBF General Assembly, Dean asked Cooperative Baptists to consider what the church may need to release as it follows Jesus into a changing religious landscape.
“How much of the church as we know it are we willing to let go of in order to follow Jesus?” she asked.
Dean is an ordained United Methodist minister and the Mary D. Synnott Professor of Youth, Church and Culture at Princeton Theological Seminary, where she works closely with the Institute for Youth Ministry and the Farminary. She also co-founded Ministry Incubators, which provides education and support for imaginative ministry and spiritual entrepreneurship.
Dean said churches are facing a convergence of financial, existentisl, developmental and political crises. Using the shipwreck in Acts 27 and the survivors’ arrival on Malta in Acts 28, she invited church leaders to see disorientation differently.
“The same ship that broke apart was actually the ship that saved them,” Dean said. “So I think that would mean that just because the church as we know it feels like it might be going to pieces, doesn’t mean that God is not still using it to save us.”
The shipwreck left everyone alive but stranded on an unfamiliar shore, she said. For Dean, Malta became an image for the religious landscape churches now inhabit, where the terrain, tools and people may feel unfamiliar to leaders.
“This is a story of hope. It’s not a story of devastation. It’s a story of hope,” she said.
Young people, Dean said, are already at home on that shore. Their faith is often “unbundled,” with belief, belonging and religious practice no longer tied together through congregational participation.
“It’s not just that young people are being less religious,” she said. “They’re being religious in different ways.”
That shift requires churches to reconsider their purpose and approach to innovation, Dean said.
“Church is becoming less of a destination and more of a form of accompaniment,” she said.
“Your goal, our goal is never innovation,” Dean added. “That’s not what we are striving for. That is a means to an end. God is the innovator. We are not going to out-innovate God.”
“We’re not called to have great ideas,” she said. “We’re called to have great love.”
Dean closed with the image of the small boats that helped rescue Allied soldiers from Dunkirk during World War II. Some boats were large and polished, while others were small and rickety, but all moved toward the same mission.
“It didn’t matter which boat those soldiers got on, right?” Dean said. “What mattered was that they got on a boat.”
Vestal Scholarship and Ministries Council Grants
The opening plenary also celebrated CBF’s investment in theological education. Kheresa Harmon, a member of the CBF Ministries Council, introduced the 2026 Daniel and Earlene Vestal Scholars.
“For nearly 30 years we’ve helped fund theological education, equipping ministers to bear bold witness to the mighty deeds of God,” Harmon said.
Established in 2011 in honor of former CBF Executive Coordinator Daniel Vestal and his wife, Earlene, CBF’s premier scholarship recognizes exceptional academic achievement and a deep commitment to the local church and the Fellowship.
Adrienne Osborne, ministry intern at First Baptist Bristol, Va., who was ordained in 2025, is entering her third year at Mercer University’s McAfee School of Theology. Jerry Walker, lead pastor of Fellowship Baptist Church of Oak Cliff in Dallas, is entering his second year at Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University.
Read more about CBF’s new Vestal Scholars.
Andrea Huffman, outgoing chair of CBF’s Ministries Council, introduced seven 2025–2026 congregational grant recipients whose ministries address well-being in their congregations and wider communities.
Second Baptist Church in Aiken, S.C., is cultivating the well-being of young leaders through retreats, workshops, Bible studies and intergenerational storytelling experiences centered on practices of sacred self-care, including rest, joy, play and reflection. The ministry is helping young people develop resilience amid systemic racism and generational trauma so they can serve their community as healthy, hopeful and courageous leaders.
Primera Iglesia Bautista de Corral Viejo in Ponce, Puerto Rico, is fostering the well-being of older adults through summer camps and year-round programming that includes intergenerational activities, wellness workshops, creative arts, technology support and spiritual formation. The ministry seeks to build community, combat loneliness and remind older adults that they are valued, seen and loved.
Madison Heights Baptist Church in Madison Heights, Va., is partnering with a local leadership network to offer retreats for women in ministry. Through restorative arts practices, worship, nature-based reflection and peer support, the retreats create intentional spaces of renewal and belonging where women can reconnect with their calling while tending to their emotional, spiritual and creative well-being.
Haddock Baptist Church in Haddock, Ga., is helping its neighbors develop holistic well-being. In response to needs voiced by health care professionals, community leaders and congregants, the church is offering seminars and events focused on mental health, dementia care, women’s health, sleep health and senior wellness. It is partnering with local agencies to connect neighbors with critical resources that are often difficult to access in rural communities.
Village Baptist Church in Bowie, Md., is fostering healthy, Christ-centered men. Through community, service and holistic wellness, the ministry seeks to develop healthy expressions of masculinity. Hiking, sporting events, mental health workshops and conversations about fatherhood, faith and servant leadership are creating intentional spaces for connection, vulnerability and spiritual growth.
Primera Iglesia Bautista de Caguas in Caguas, Puerto Rico, is investing in the well-being of children, youth and families. The church is creating safe, formative spaces where children can grow physically, emotionally, socially and spiritually. Its ministry includes health clinics, children’s retreats and workshops for teenagers focused on emotional health, leadership, self-esteem and life skills. The church is partnering with educators, health professionals, social workers and other pastors to expand the ministry into its community.
Central Baptist Church in North Chesterfield, Va., is focusing on the well-being of families in its community. In partnership with a local elementary school, the church is responding to the felt needs of working families, including food insecurity, financial stress and limited time for rest and connection. Its new ministry includes free dinners, family gatherings, playground events and parents’ nights out, all of which help foster intergenerational service, compassionate care and healthier families inside and outside the church.
Huffman invited churches to consider how they might adapt these ideas or develop ministries of their own. The next Ministries Council grant cycle opens Aug. 1.
The 2026 CBF General Assembly continues through Friday, June 19. Watch livestreams of plenary and worship sessions, along with ongoing news coverage at www.cbf.net/general-assembly-26
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Led by the love of Christ, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship invites churches and individuals to partner in transforming God’s world, working together as a global community to spread good news, justice and hope through impactful ministries, missions and resources.