Taking A Strategic Approach To Care In The Local Church Using The Caring Church Model

ABSTRACT This project was created based on my personal and professional experience of being appointed at a local church that did not have a “care strategy.” There was no documentation of processes and procedures, ministries were not functioning well, and some ministries were inactive. This type of scenario can be critical at a time when 6000 to 10,000 churches are being closed every year[1] and when church attendance and overall growth is declining[2]. It is important to be intentional and strategic when caring for a congregation. Taking a strategic approach, the Caring Church Model was created in consideration of the Covid-19 pandemic. At the beginning of the project, a biblical perspective of a caring church was given using the early church model in the book of Acts and other published models. Then a Caring Church Model was presented with the components or arms of the caring clergy, caring disciples, caring ministries, and caring culture with the glue that holds all these together being love, spiritual disciplines, and sacraments. There were several best practices shared to care for the congregation during the time of the pandemic with the emphasis of how clergy is to care organizationally how to care for congregation from a distance and having a strategy how to begin moving people from membership to discipleship how to assess ministries to ensure that they are meeting the needs of the congregation. All of this will encompass a caring culture, and it is explained what that caring culture looks like within a local church with the overall of objective in being intentional in creating an effective and efficient strategy of caring for the congregation. [1] PEW Report, “In the US Decline of Christianity Continues at a Rapid Pace,” (2019), p.9. [2] Thom S. Rainer, “Hopes for Dying Churches, Https://factsandtrends.net/2018/01/16