Metro Voice News Celebrating Faith, Family & Community
Local Pastor Randy Frazee of Westside Family Church will be one of the key participants in the groundbreaking virtual State of the Church 2025 Event Series launching March 12, showcasing innovative approaches to measuring church health and community impact.
“As a church that uses the church health dashboard to set our yearly strategy, we’ve grown so much,” said Frazee. “Our entire community, from staff and elder board to congregants and neighbors, participates in discovering where God is leading us to see more lives actually transformed. I don’t know of anything else that could be more fulfilling as a pastor than that.”
The technology platform Gloo is sponsoring the event to educate, equip and inspire ministry leaders with new Barna Group research and tools that measure church health and support every person flourishing and every church thriving.
“This initiative really has two important components,” said Brad Hill, chief solutions officer at Gloo. “First, we’ll release monthly research that helps leaders see the state of the church in a very timely way. Second, our church health dashboards will give leaders a common framework to measure the health of their own community. Each event in this new series will highlight the latest trends, helping leaders keep their finger on the pulse of what’s happening and make more informed decisions.”
The free series, with Carey Nieuwhof and Nona Jones as hosts, will focus on specific themes, such as church engagement, generosity and discipleship trends. Participants will receive early access to church ministry insights and noteworthy ecosystem trends in church health. The series will include special guest appearances from a variety of experts, including:
• David Kinnaman, CEO, Barna Group
• Ed Stetzer, dean of Talbot School of Theology, Biola University
• Tara-Leigh Cobble, author of “The Bible Recap” and founder of D-Group International
• Lisa Fields, founder of Jude 3 Project and author of “When Faith Disappoints: The Gap Between What We Believe and What We Experience”
“The way we gather information, learn and make leadership decisions is changing in significant ways,” said David Kinnaman, CEO of Barna Group. “There’s no shortage of information in today’s world, but as Christian leaders, it’s critical to discern the trends that can help us step into this ‘new wineskin’ moment, one where we simultaneously embrace innovation and nurture our roots.”
For additional insights on ministry trends and leadership resources, visit Metro Voice News church trends. More information about the event series is available at www.stateofthechurch.com/events.
–Dwight Widaman | Metro Voice
