1/13/21 By Larry Barker
HEALTHY CHURCH SOLUTIONS
As the Director of Healthy Church Solutions, I am excited to inform you of some improvements and changes to this ministry. As a division of BMA Missions we are focusing on the various aspects of church and pastor health in a more holistic way. Healthy Church Solutions desires to come along-side you to help you when you need it and where you need it most. We are focused on providing you resources in areas like personal soul-care, leadership, team building, handling conflict, church systems, and other areas of pastor and church health.
We have rebranded Activate as the revitalization arm of Healthy Church Solutions and we will continue to offer everything we always have. Activate will focus on more intensive church health through revitalization and will keep the step-by-step process many of you are already familiar with. We will still support and pour into churches needing deeper health care as much as ever, but are evolving into a ministry that offers resourcing in other ways also. We are committed to assisting you in developing a healthy culture in your life and in your church.
Healthy Church Solutions places a high priority, first and foremost, on the importance of prayer. One of the resources we greatly recommend is Presence Centered Church by Bill Elliff. He challenges us as leaders to make sure that everything we do is God initiated and that we never move forward without His presence and direction. We also offer three video lessons, with attachments, on developing this prayer strategy in your life and in your church. Make sure that you read the account of Moses in Exodus 33:12-17.
We have resources to teach staff, leadership teams, and churches how to ensure that your ministry is established firmly, not only on the scriptures, but also on the leadership of the Holy Spirit. We have always, and always will, stress making sure that every ministry is biblically faithful and culturally relevant. Prayer is how we discern how to break the missional code of the community He has called us to minister in and reach with the gospel. Prayer, levels 1-3, teach a prayer system, a prayer ladder, and how to have a personal prayer retreat.
Under this umbrella of Healthy Church Solutions we plan to offer resourcing for pastor health/soul care, church leadership, family health, and ministry health. We want to be all about starting and strengthening churches and leaders however we can. All of our resources will soon be available through Right Now Media and you will be able to utilize the training for yourself, your team, and your entire church. Through this new partnership we are uploading our content to their site and archiving a library of our trainings. This will help make it easier for pastors and leaders to access and utilize the materials.
We have begun a Pastor Encouragement Initiative that goes out by email and on social media twice a month. These are videos and prayers done by pastors for pastors, letting pastors know that you are not alone in this hard season during this pandemic. We are serving our pastors by attending webinars, doing research and scoping out what we believe is worth your time. We make suggestions and pass that information along. A definition of the word encourage is to pour courage into. We are admonished in the scriptures to encourage one another to love and good deeds.
We are producing the Healthy Church Podcast, which comes out weekly on a variety of church leadership topics. You can listen to these timely challenges and discussions of real ministry at healthychurchpodcast.com or through your favorite podcast provider. We also host bimonthly Pastor Zooms that provide a space for pastors to get encouragement and feedback. These online meetings have pastors from all over the United States, all sizes of churches, from many contexts, both bi-vocational and full-time. Pastors then receive a follow-up email with resources and attachments that we believe will be a blessing to you and your ministry
We are launching a new interactive website (see heading) that will be constantly evolving to give you a web based ministry resource with more options to reach every pastor, staff, leader, and church. You will be able to find our new assessments there that will be free and managed by our own team instead of an outside source. We will include opportunities to Refocus, Retool, Reenergize, Revitalize, and Replant. There are three timeless functions of the pastor that include protecting, preaching, and leading your flock and we want to help equip you.
Lifeword will soon be producing a monthly broadcast where we will speak to issues pastors and church leaders are facing. We have dreams to begin offering short consultations with pastors to hear about what the issues are and give suggestions about where to start the church health journey. Another great resource for you to consider is The Nehemiah Code by O.S. Hawkins. It is an excellent resource to remind us that, “It is never too late for a new beginning.” He stresses that you must know where you are going and know how you will get there.
Rest assured that we are committed to following the leadership of the Holy Spirit alongside of you and serving you the best we can by offering help in as many ways as possible. Please reach out to us if we can be an encouragement to you and your church in any way. Listen to these words from Paul David Tripp in New Morning Mercies, “Change is possible for you and me even in the places where change seems the most hopeless.”