Declare a Year of Jubilee in Your Association
Local denominational organizations/judicatories empowering their congregations to serve from the base of their context. Based on Baptist associations in the Southern Baptist tradition.
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Beginning in January (2025), I started writing and publishing a series of columns with The Baptist Paper—then posting them on this blog—about imagining what a national denomination would be like if the local denominational organization—rather than the regional or national organization—was in the lead role by the year 2033.
The Baptist Paper is a publication of TAB Media. Request a free trial HERE. See all TAB Media columns written by George Bullard HERE.)
SPECIAL OFFER! Use promotion code “Bullard” to subscribe to The Baptist Paper print and digital editions at half-price by going HERE. Six of these columns have posted on this blog. As of today I have at least six more to go.
Declare a Year of Jubilee in Your Association
Is your association ready to announce a jubilee year for 2026?
Is your association ready to announce a jubilee year for 2026? It could be if it uses 2025 to engage in the actions suggested in previous columns.
First, establish a spiritual foundation among pastors, staff and their congregations. Second, foster a stronger sense of community among lay leaders in your member congregations. Third, conduct research to develop a new missional approach unique to your associational context.
The year of jubilee draws inspiration from Leviticus 25, but it is not meant to replicate it. Instead, it aims to convey the power of the concept, to embrace the spirit of jubilee and to initiate a new journey for your association.
How Could it Work?
Up to now in this series of columns, the approach suggested for transforming the association has occurred outside the congregations. Now it’s time to move inside every possible congregation.
Here are five experiences, processes or features of your jubilee year:
Convocation: Gather the pastors, church staff and lay leaders who participated in the spiritual and fellowship processes throughout 2025. Create an engaging and interactive presentation on the research on missiology within the associational context. Inspire and inform a group of at least seven people from each congregation, likely on a Friday evening and Saturday.
Bring to the convocation the first draft of a future story that describes the potential ministry of your family of congregations at the end of 2032.
This story seeks to address the following question: If your commitment to faithfulness, effectiveness and innovation aligns with God’s call upon your family of congregations, what will the fruitfulness of ministry be seven years from now?
Convening: Following the convocation, gather clusters of congregations, individuals and affinity groups for discussion about key opportunities of greatest interest to them that were highlighted during the convocation. Each cluster should have representatives from at least three congregations.
Commission and commandment: Infuse the convocation and clusters with a focus on fulfilling the Great Commission in the spirit of the great commandment. What key initiatives are necessary in your context that your congregations possess gifts and talents to accomplish? Are there new skills you would like to develop to tackle these initiatives?
Challenge: The greatest challenge may be shifting leaders and congregations from a focus on success to a missions perspective. It’s not about congregational growth; it’s about the growth of the Kingdom. This requires transitioning from success to significance and ultimately to complete surrender to God’s leadership.
Commitment: Emerging from the year of jubilee is a need for a sustainable commitment to a seven-year effort that brings to life the vision of missional ministry arising from the year of jubilee. This year is not meant to be just an event or a short-term experience. It signifies a turning point, a transformation, a new beginning for the family of congregations. It marks a shift from superficial, repetitive church work to a lifelong commitment to Kingdom ministry. In an earlier era of Baptist life, this was referred to as empowering Kingdom growth.
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Let me hear from you if you want to talk about this.