As summer ends and fall begins, we move from a season of growth to one of harvest. A good gardener knows that fruit appears only when the right conditions for growth have been nurtured. Jesus often used agricultural metaphors, including the parable of the soils (Mark 4, Matthew 13, and Luke 8).
While the parable focuses on individuals’ responses to the message of God’s kingdom, we can also apply it to churches by asking: What fruit is my congregation bearing and what does that reveal about the soil being cultivated? Are we cultivating good soil that contributes to an abundant harvest?
Director, Abuse Prevention
& Response
SBC Executive Committee
The word cultivate shares the same Latin root as culture, a word often used but rarely defined. Culture is defined by Webster as the set of shared attitudes, values, goals and practices that characterizes an organization. It is dynamic and shaped by community members.
For churches, culture is more than vision or value statements — it’s the lived experience of your people. It’s found in the unwritten rules of how members interact, how staff are supported, and how leaders approach criticism. The type of culture we aim for is a goodness culture that permeates the people that make up the church.
The word good, although a common word, has significant implications in the biblical context. The Hebrew word for good, Tov, is used in Genesis 1 by God to describe His creation. He is the source of goodness and that which is from Him and aligned with His Word and character is good. A goodness culture is therefore rooted in God’s truths, pursues Christlikeness, and prioritizes grace, justice, and compassion.1
When church cultures become toxic, we see a subversion of God’s good design in which priorities become skewed and people are no longer valued as God values them.
How do we develop a culture that aligns its priorities with the Lord’s, seeking primarily to love God and love other people?
The answer is both simple and perhaps unexpected. We each must pursue goodness in every aspect of our lives and our ministry. This means that even in the administrative aspects of our church, we must intentionally seek to establish practices that reflect God’s character and obey His commands. Don’t underestimate the impact that these areas of ministry have on the culture of the organization, even if they do not seem overtly “spiritual.”
“The success of a ministry is always more a picture of who God is than a statement about who the people are that He is using for His purpose.”
— Paul David Tripp, Dangerous Calling
Here are some ways to cultivate goodness culture:
Implement appropriate practices at the leadership level. This contributes to accountability that does not leave room for abusive tactics.
Choose insurance coverage thoughtfully to steward the resources of the church and provide a safety net that relieves financial stress and reduces the temptation to cover up incidents to avoid costly settlements.
Use best practices for Human Resources. Such practices defend against the development of overbearing leadership and will contribute to healthy work-life balance, appropriate boundaries, etc.
Establish robust child safety and abuse prevention measures, including screening and training all staff and volunteers. This acknowledges the inherent value that each child has as an image-bearer of God.
“And don’t think that devoting time to these less glamorous areas of ministry is neglecting kingdom work. That when we wrestle over insurance rates, children’s ministry check-in/out procedures, and logging accurate timesheets that we are wasting time we should be spending in the mission field.
Friend, I urge you, consider how each of these activities constitute worship and contribute to our witness before a watching world. “
Create an abuse response plan so that even if an instance of abuse befalls someone in your church, your church stands ready to care for people and not ignore or downplay the incident.
The church has a higher call to excellence in each of these areas than does the world, yet they are so often overlooked. When we foster cultures of goodness in every area of ministry, we create churches with cultures that will not tolerate abuse.
And don’t think that devoting time to these less glamorous areas of ministry is neglecting kingdom work. That when we wrestle over insurance rates, children’s ministry check-in/out procedures, and logging accurate timesheets that we are wasting time we should be spending in the mission field.
Friend, I urge you, consider how each of these activities constitutes worship and contributes to our witness before a watching world. All our work is subject to the Lordship of Christ and should be done to His glory. When every practice from within the office to the nursery is aligned with God’s character and calling to steward that which He has entrusted to us, our churches become sanctuaries for all to hear the gospel and grow in discipleship.
1 A Church Called Tov by Scot McKnight and Laura Barringer explores this concept of forming cultures of goodness in churches more deeply.
Jeff Dalrymple is the Director of Abuse Prevention & Response for the SBC Executive Committee. Dalrymple formerly served as executive director of the Evangelical Council for Abuse Prevention and has held leadership roles in public safety, higher education, non-governmental organizations, and parachurch ministry. He is based in Jacksonville, Fla.
