Marks of Flourishing Congregations

1. The minister, pastor or priest serving the congregation has a palpable sense of joy and confidence in ministry. Clearly, most if not all clergy have times and seasons of discouragement and doubt, but overall a flourishing congregation is led by someone who loves the church and the ministry, finds joy in their vocation, and is able to communicate this joy to others.

A flourishing congregation is led by someone who loves the church and the ministry, finds joy in their vocation, and is able to communicate this joy to others.

2. The relationship between ministerial leadership and the congregation can be characterized as “healthy.” There is mutual regard, support and accountability, honesty and respect, and a sense of shared ministry, meaning the ministry is not that of one person alone, but of the church as a whole.   

3. There is in the life of a flourishing congregation is energy, which is evident to both regular participants and the occasional visitor. On a regular basis people leave a service of worship strengthened, rather than depleted or overwhelmed, energized and renewed for life and discipleship. “Energy” does not mean that everyone is constantly perky or upbeat, but that there is a sense in a congregation’s life of encountering a deeper source of energy, the energy of God’s grace and power.

There is an outward orientation in the congregation’s life, a concern for human brokenness and need, for reaching those who are seeking God.

4. There is an outward orientation in the congregation’s life, a concern for human brokenness and need, for reaching those who are seeking God, an awareness of the community in which the congregation is set and which it serves. To put it negatively, the congregation that is wholly oriented to the needs of its existing membership is likely not flourishing. 

5. The flourishing congregation has a fairly clear sense of purpose or mission. I don’t think having a mission or purpose “statement” is all that important. Too much focus on such a statement can in fact be counter-productive. But it is important that a congregation, and especially its leaders, have a sense of mission or purpose, of what God is calling it to be and to do, and that this sense of purpose is communicated in a confident and inviting way.

Anthony B. (Tony) Robinson is a United Church of Christ minister who lives in Seattle. He is the author of 14 books, the most recent being Useful Wisdom: Letters to Young (and Not So Young) Ministers. His Substack blog is “What’s Tony Thinking?!” He has had the good fortune to have taught at several seminaries in Canada as well as working with congregations and clergy there.