By Kristen Thomason
The First Baptist Church of St. Petersburg, Fla. is a active congregation. They are part of a county-wide effort to ensure affordable housing and flood mitigation, offer a food pantry to their community, partnered with a church in Zanglais, Haiti, to serve daily hot lunches to 500 school children. FBC is also an encourager church for two CBF field personnel couples. Yet, amid all this ministry, something was missing. Pastor Ben Winder turned to CBF’s Thriving Congregations program for guidance.
Thriving Congregations equips churches with the tools and strategies they need to excel in their unique ministry context. Leaders from participating churches join in a yearlong collaborative learning cohort that meets for three in-person sessions and 10 online sessions. Together they examine the five traits necessary for a church to thrive: Compelling Clarity, Faithful Agility, Holy Tenacity, Rooted Relationships and Dynamic Collaboration.
“As we explored the five traits of thriving congregations,” Winder said, “we recognized a pressing need to deepen relationships within our church family.”
Participants in the Thriving Congregations program conduct “holy experiments” under the guidance of a Thriving Congregations coach. Even when these experiments don’t yield the desired results, the Thriving Congregations process helps learners turn setbacks into steppingstones.
Winder valued this hands-on approach to discovery. “I was drawn toward the ‘learn by doing’ ethos of the Thriving Congregation Initiative. At this particular moment in our church story, being engaged in the active ministry of holy experiments felt like a beautifully appropriate next step.”
The staff at FBC created opportunities for members to get to know one another better. “We thought of our holy experiments as similar to a trellis or a greenhouse,” Winder said. “We couldn’t make Rooted Relationships happen, but we could intentionally provide structures and environments conducive for relationships to naturally develop.”
FBC began by incorporating relationship builders into already existing events. “Among our efforts were things as simple as adding name tags with icebreaker questions and a ‘people bingo’ game to our annual Palm Sunday Easter Egg Hunt, which encouraged intergenerational conversations and interactions.”
FBC also added some new events such as Jam & Jaw, a post-worship fellowship opportunities with live music and all-ages activities, Summer Suppers, intergenerational meals in members’ homes and the Great Chili Cookoff, a fellowship meal with the added element of fierce competition.
When two hurricanes passed through St. Petersburg in the fall of 2024, the congregation’s relationships were put to the test. “In our church family, more than 30 households were flooded. The needs were immense,” said Winder. “Yet over and again when I’d arrive at a church member’s flooded home, I would find that others from our church family, across generational lines, were showing up for one another and jumping in to help however they could – cleaning up flood damage, providing childcare, washing clothes, offering a place to stay.”
Because FBC had implemented what they learned from CBF’s Thriving Congregations, members felt empowered to act rather than wait on Winder and other staff.
Knowing each another better also meant that members at FBC were more likely to know one another’s needs and how best to help meet them. “I was reminded of the beautiful description in the Book of Acts, wherein we’re told they knew one another so well they were able to share resources to meet one another’s needs to the point that no need was left among them.”
For other congregations considering the Thriving Congregations program, Winder offers this encouragement: “I commend the Thriving Congregations Initiative to any church who wants to learn, experiment and work toward thriving into God’s good future for them.”