Starting New Churches is About Making New Disciples

Starting New Churches is About Making New Disciples of Jesus Christ. Our Strategic Priority is to Engage More New People, More Younger People, and More Diverse People Through Intentional Strategy of Creating New Places and New Ways! Church Planting is an Effective Strategy of Engagement.

Strategic Priorities of Discipleship Ministries #1 An Intentional Disciple-Making System in Every Church #2 Engagement with People Currently Outside of the Church #3 Cultivating Local (Contextual) Resources Around the Globe

227 UMC New Church Starts for 2017 Imagine if our denomination will succeed in its efforts of making 1, 000 new United Methodist disciples of Jesus Christ, who then will be engaging in the transformative work of the Gospel in the world. What difference and impact that these disciples could do to change the lives of millions of people and countless number of communities in the world?

Some Challenges & Opportunities § § UMC Members 95% White High Planting Cost and High Failure Rate From Great Consumption to Great Commission Mindset Shift from Fixing or Improvement to Engagement & Innovation

Path 1 Ministry Priority 1 # 1: Establish contextualized covenants within Annual conferences, districts, local churches, and national plans to support their efforts of making disciples of Jesus Christ through creating new places for new people. MEASURABLE GOALS: • 15 Annual Conferences • 15 Districts • 45 Planting Churches • 6 National Plans: Native American Comprehensive Plan, Strengthening the Black Church for the 21 st Century, Asian-American Language Ministry, Korean National Plan, National Plan for Hispanic-Latino Ministries, and Pacific Islander National Plan

Ministry Priority #1: Measurable Goals & Progress Goal of 15 Annual Conferences Ø 13 signed covenants or covenant relationships in progress. Goal of 15 Districts Ø 7 de facto covenant relationships with districts so far. Goal of 45 Planting Churches Ø 24 churches participating in Multiplying Learning Communities (MLC) and Churches Planting Churches (CPC) initiatives. Goal of 6 National Plans Ø 4 ongoing working partnerships with the Filipino Paglago Plan, Native American Comprehensive Plan, Korean Ministry Plan, and National Plan for Hispanic-Latino Ministry.

Path 1 Ministry Priority 2 #2: Develop and deliver resources and training that leverage the fruitful lessons of church planting to drive innovation and contextual, intentional disciplemaking practices. MEASURABLE GOALS • 3, 000 potential church planters and spiritual entrepreneurs (both clergy and laity) equipped to launch new faith communities • 300 innovative training events and resources offered based on research and contextual practices • 30 bishops and district superintendents trained as chief missional strategists

Ministry Priority #2: Measurable Goals & Progress Goal of 3, 000 potential church planters and spiritual entrepreneurs (both clergy and laity) equipped to launch new faith communities Ø At least 2, 000 trained to launch new faith communities Goal of 300 innovative training events and resources offered based on research and contextual practices. Ø 60 innovative training events and resources offered based on research and contextual practices from 2017 -18 Goal of 30 bishops and district superintendents trained as chief missional strategists Ø 64 bishops and district superintendents trained as of to date

Path 1 Ministry Priority 3 #3: Collaborate with annual conferences and other mission partners of The United Methodist Church to increase capacity to reclaim the habit of planting a church a day in the United States so that one million new disciples are made to bring transformation to the world. MEASURABLE GOALS • 1, 461 new faith communities and new churches in the United States • 15 annual conferences with contextually appropriate numerical goals and/or effective church planting systems • Collaborate with each college of bishops (all Jurisdictional and some Central Conferences) to convene and facilitate a conversation on setting numerical goals for starting new faith communities and new churches for each annual conference

Ministry Priority #3: Measurable Goals & Progress Goal of 1, 461 new faith communities and new churches in the United States Ø 227 new faith communities and new churches in the United States in 2017 (115 identified as new churches; 112 identified as new faith communities = 227; and 104 of which identified as non-white or multiethnic (46%) Goal of 15 annual conferences with contextually appropriate numerical goals and/or effective church planting systems Ø 12 annual conferences have either established goals for church planting (5 conferences established goals as part of the Path 1 covenant process, and 7 conferences established goals without going through covenant process) Goal to Collaborate with each college of bishops (all Jurisdictional and some Central Conferences) to convene and facilitate a conversation on setting numerical goals for starting new faith communities and new churches for each annual conference. Ø Ongoing collaboration with Western Jurisdiction, Philippines Central Conference – Manila and Baguio Area, and Honduras Methodist Mission

An Invitation to a Strategy of Engagement Churches Planting Churches (CPC) CPC is a Church Multiplication Training, Utilizing Multisite and Other Planting Congregations to Mentor Prospective Multisite Congregations. Deliverables: At the end of the year, each Apprentice Church will have a two year action plan with timeline, an understanding of their Campus Constants (the things that tie the church together across campuses), a clear strategy and understanding of ways to pivot, knowledge of how to select leadership and build the launch team, knowledge of how to choose a coach, and talking points for vision casting to church members and annual conference leaders.

An Invitation to a Strategy of Engagement Multiplying Learning Communities (MLC) MLC seeks to encourage and equip forward-thinking leaders engage in peer-to-peer conversations about the future of church planting. A leader cohort will go through a 7 -month process exploring common themes related to church multiplication. The program consists of three in-person gatherings at host churches across the country with live webcasts in between gatherings for participants to engage one another.

An Invitation to a Strategy of Engagement People Story is a new initiative that seeks to share and celebrate stories of new disciples coming to Christ through new churches in The UMC. It’s an opportunity to highlight the “new people” being reached by new churches and faith communities each day. We receive People Stories from our planters, lay members, and conferences in the form of blogs, articles, videos, and podcasts.

An Invitation to a Strategy of Engagement SENTIDO: Exploring How Latinx Young Adults Find Meaning Goal: To promote the creation of vibrant new UMC ministries for Young Hispanic/Latinos Rationale: Existing gap in programs for Latinx young adults, especially second and third generation, and unaffiliated requires the revisioning of how we understand the audience and the ways we connect with them.

An Invitation to a Strategy of Engagement For 2019 and Beyond Ø Laity in Church Planting (LCP) Ø Women in Church Planting (WCP) Ø Welcoming Church Planting Resource (WCPR) Ø Next Generation of Disciples (NGD)

Larissa’s Story – a modern Gospel story! Larissa is one of the more than 100, 000 new people now actively participating in over 1, 000 new churches that our denomination started over the period of 10 years (2008 -2016) of church planting in the United States. She is now a disciple of Jesus who leads in making new disciples and sharing hope to others in the name of Christ!

• PATH 1 • https: //www. facebook. com/path 1 umc/