Ways the Vital Churches Institute may serve you:

Our aim is the transformation of the church in ways that will move it into the future our Lord has for us while honoring the people and the ministries of our past.  The very word vital means full of life and vigor.  We all long for our congregations to be vital centers of Christian faith and life in which people are being encouraged to grow in faith, discipleship and the life of service.  The ministries of the Vital Churches Institute work with congregations and denominational governing bodies offering training, coaching, and consultation.  Whether you seek vitality for your own life, your congregation or for a particular ministry we are here to serve you.

The Acts 16:5 Initiative

The Acts 16:5 Initiative is about growing the missional transformation of congregations.  “So the churches were strengthened in the faith and increased in numbers daily.” Acts 16:5 NRSV 

The Acts 16:5 Initiative is a three-year process that enables a judicatory (such as a presbytery, district or region) to lead its congregations to grow in transformational and missional momentum.  It combines intensive instruction with ongoing personal coaching and encouragement to pastors and congregational leaders.  This enables congregations to reflect on their present vision and practices and to effectively introduce new vision and practices.  The Vital Churches Institute partners with the judicatory leadership in a teaching and coaching role that offers content, encouragement and counsel to those who want to see their congregations grow in vitality by God's grace.

The need for congregational transformational change and missional endeavor

We have worked with hundreds of congregations leading them to discern ways to move into a growing fruitfulness.  Through the Acts 16:5 Initiative, we have seen both small and large congregations, thriving congregations as well as those struggling to hold on, show honor to the people and past and present ministries while moving into a new future.

Congregations are at the heart of the mission God gives in Christ: they and their members are on the front lines of mission in every community; they are the crucial source of finances and people for mission in the judicatory (such as their presbytery or district), in their communities and, indeed, across the whole church. 

When congregations are shaped by God’s mission, missional resources develop, witness to the gospel and compassion and justice in the name of the gospel grows and real community needs are addressed.  Whether your congregation is flourishing and vibrant today or struggling to hold on there is a new depth of fruitfulness and vitality for which we trust God.

Furthermore, our conviction is that no structure or body is more strategically positioned to shape congregations for mission than the judicatory or affiliation with other congregations of which they are a part.  Such an affiliation can offer continuing encouragement and training that the individual congregation may or may not be able to acquire on its own.  What affiliation of congregations can be healthy and vital without vital congregations whose very identities and actions are shaped by mission?  The transformational and missional congregation engages the people of its community and world with the whole of the gospel - the Good News, the love and the justice of God in Christ.

The Acts 16:5 Initiative

·        Invites judicatories and congregations to engage in a deliberate process of transformation.

·        Assists judicatories and congregations in developing a coherent biblically-grounded approach to transformational vitality and missional impact.

·        Assists congregations in the design of specific transformational and missional ministries.  Rather than offering a set “program,” this initiative supports the design of ministry appropriate to a given congregation’s situation.

·        Offers to judicatory leadership direct coaching, leadership and resourcing of pastors and congregational leaders seeking to move their congregations forward.

·        Offers a means of legitimizing congregational change.

·        Offers an opportunity to apply the principles of transformation and missional engagement to the life of the judicatory itself.

For more information:

          Contact:  EStanleyOtt@VitalChurchesInstitute.com

          Or call:    412-655-4958

Contact us:

          By email:   Contact@VitalChurchesInstitute.com

          By phone:  412-655-4958

          By mail:     Vital Churches Institute

                           P.O. Box 18378

                           Pittsburgh, PA 15236

Our Aims

The vision of the Vital Churches Institute is to lead the transformation of the mainline church in discipleship, well-being, and missional engagement with its world.

There is a wonderful God-given hunger for fresh vitality in the established church

·        Among individual Christians seeking a growing vitality in the experience of God with commensurate growth in faith and practice.

·        Among healthy thriving congregations that want to discover new growing edges that sustain their vitality and advance with new ministries and a growing fruitfulness.

·        Among congregations on a numerical plateau or losing momentum to experience new hope, fresh energy, and a life-giving new contact with our living Lord and the world to which we are sent.

·        Among denominations who believe that a turn-around in their vitality and service is a legitimate purpose worthy of pursuit.

The Institute aims to equip the mainline church with the tools, practices and patterns of transformational ministry design and missional endeavor.

The Vital Churches Institute seeks:

·        To lead the revitalization and resurgence of the established church and to offer patterns for exciting new church development.