Our Story
The story of United Front Ministries is still being written and is an adventure in discovering what God wants next and what God will do next. Our part of the story begins in 1993. Ken Priddy was a musician turned minister who had served on two church planting teams, one in San Diego and the other in Orlando. He accepted a call to ministry in Phoenix, AZ, that was something of an experiment. An eighty-seven year old mid-town church had declined to thirteen members, and district leadership was prayerfully considering what might happen if a church planter was brought in to lead this remnant congregation in the start of a new church ministry. Ken arrived in Phoenix thinking church planting, but soon realized that this would not be church planting in the classic sense. The attributes a planter looks for in a team were absent, and there was much residue from years of decline. There were reasons this church had declined, and those reasons would need to be discovered and treated. Yes, church planting would be involved, but much more would be required. Ken would have to relearn how to do ministry.

Over many months, God began to guide this fledgling restart church in ways that would prove fruitful. So fruitful, in fact, that denominational leaders began to take notice. Ken, who was already serving as a presenter and coach with the Church Multiplication Training Center (CMTC), was invited to share the testimony of what God was doing. Next came workshops on the Principles of ReStart. With interest growing, Ken developed training material in Church ReStart that was delivered through BootCamps hosted by the CMTC. In addition to pastoring a church out of decline and training other church leaders in this process, Ken completed his Doctor of Ministry studies with a dissertation titled, “ReStarting the Dying Church.” Ken’s pastoral ministry, training ministry and academic study all converged around the constant theme of understanding decline in the church and taking action to turn churches around.

By summer 2000, the local restart ministry of Bridgeway Community Church and the training ministry offered through CMTC had both grown to the point that Ken could not continue to do both and do justice to either. God’s leading was clear and Ken completed his ministry at Bridgeway after seven years, leaving the once severely declined congregation of thirteen as a congregation of over three hundred, and having baptized over one hundred by profession of faith. Ken and his family relocated to Richmond, VA, where he was reunited with long time musician friend and ministry partner, Pat Bragg.

In June 2001, Ken and Pat founded United Front Ministries, a ministry designed to house and expand the ongoing ministry of redeveloping the plateaued and declined American church. Pat was a seasoned lay leader with a strong ministry background and high-level administrative skills. He soon became a certified Natural Church Development Consultant, which has proved invaluable to Pat as assessor and coach. Year one of United Front’s ministry was a bit trial and error as Ken and Pat searched for the best ways to bring much needed training, coaching and assessing to the plateaued and declined church. The church planting community had learned that good assessment, good training, and good coaching greatly increase the rate of success of church plants. Ken and Pat wanted to bring those same elements to the redeveloping church. However, it was discovered that the churches that needed these elements the most could rarely afford to get them due to waning finances. United Front found a solution by combining churches into clusters, working with 15-20 churches at a time, allowing them to share the expense of ReDevelopment ministry.

This cluster concept gave birth to Project 6:15 (Nehemiah 6:15), a pilot project involving over 200 churches in a two-year commitment to Church ReDevelopment. The pilot launched in January 2003, with the first wave of over 100 churches hitting the two-year mark in the first quarter of 2005. The pilot has not only strengthened the participating churches, but has refined the now 16-month ReDevelopment process and provided a basis for greater understanding and improved methods and materials. Churches are being assessed, trained and coached into becoming healthy and learning to stay that way as they prepare for ongoing ReDevelopment and multiplication.

Recently, a new realization has surfaced. United Front, having spent so much time, energy and prayer on the backside of the church lifecycle, has found a fresh application. Ministry has begun with healthy churches on the upside of the lifecycle, training them to prevent plateau and decline by understanding what poor health looks like, by recognizing warning signs, and by developing immune systems to stay healthy. A new pilot is being launched for churches such as this called Project 2:47 (Acts 2:47).

The story of United Front Ministries is the same story as many ministries. At its heart, it’s the story of God’s being faithful to Himself and to His vision of building His church.

On this rock I will build my church,
and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.
Matthew 16:18