Churches sometimes struggle with the challenge of creating cohesive sermon series that speak to their congregation’s needs while remaining faithful to the Revised Common Lectionary and aligned with Conference priorities. This hands-on Learning Lab equips participants with a practical framework for sermon series development—moving from concept to completion in a single session. Participants will work collaboratively to create a complete 5-week sermon series focused on the NC Conference’s 5 Focus Areas (Healthy Congregations, Effective Leaders, Congregations for Children, Anti-Racism, and Unity), carefully aligned with the Revised Common Lectionary passages for late August and September. By the end of this lab, participants will leave with a ready-to-preach series including themes, sermon titles, key scriptures, preaching points, graphics, and liturgy—giving a head start on fall preaching while deepening the congregation’s engagement with our conference’s mission priorities.

Your church may see 25 people in Sunday worship, or 500 may fill the pews. You may have strong finances or be challenged to find enough funding. But this information is only one perspective of understanding how healthy or unhealthy your church may be. There is simply more to your story. 

In this interactive learning lab, we will have challenging and inspiring discussions that explore the components of what makes a church healthy, regardless of how many attend on Sunday. From creative worship to authentic disciple-making, from risky peace-building to adapting to a changing world, from empowered leadership to actions of solidarity with your neighbors, these are some of the components to consider within the larger framework. And these components don’t stand alone. Your church is a dynamic system, and the different components interact in ways that can help or hinder your health.

Bring your questions, your curiosity, and an openness to think creatively!

Why are people not coming to our church? If they come, why are they not staying? 

This learning lab invites clergy and key lay leaders to rethink hospitality as a culture embedded in leadership, systems, and shared expectations, rather than a single ministry area. Participants will explore how first impressions are formed long before worship begins and how these elements work together to either reduce or increase anxiety for new people.

Using a practical “first impression to belonging” framework, leaders will examine the modern guest journey, from initial impression to belonging in the life of the church through worship, discipleship, service, or community. The session will highlight common unintentional barriers, offer examples of simple design choices that make a meaningful difference, and provide tools leaders can use to assess their own contexts.

Every church has a story worth telling. The challenge is making sure someone can actually find it. This workshop walks you through a communications audit — broken into practical categories: website, social media, email, print, events, visitor engagement, and more. For each area, you’ll get some ideas of what to look for, what to focus on first, and where free tools can help simplify and multiply things.

Whether you’re the pastor who also handles the Facebook page, the lay leader who inherited the website password, or the only one in your church who thinks you should focus on your online presence… this session meets you where you are. You don’t need a communications team/staff or a big budget. You need a checklist, a few hours, and the confidence to start. You’ll walk away with a customizable audit template, specific action items for each category, and a clear sense of which two or three changes will make the biggest difference for your church — starting this month.

Open to lay leaders and clergy of all technical comfort levels who are juggling communications alongside everything else in ministry. Especially suited to congregations who are ready to stop being their community’s best-kept secret or those who want a holistic reminder of all the areas communication can involve.