News

General Conference Closes; New Church Starts Will Hit The Ground Running

The Rev. Thomas G. Butcher

(May 2, 2008, General Conference, Ft. Worth, TX/GBOD) —The Rev. Thomas G. Butcher is a man on a mission. And the mission is a daunting one: create new places for new people, while renewing existing congregations.

The good news is -- Tom is not alone. He is joined by the Path 1 team charged with finding and training 1000 church planters who will start 650 new churches by 2012.

Butcher is the first executive officer to lead the newly created New Church Starts Path 1 ministry, created in response to the Council of Bishops' vision pathway #1.

United Methodists dare hope that the efforts of Path 1 will stem the tide of membership decline in the U.S.

The Rev. Karen Greenwaldt

"The United Methodist Church can start new churches, if it wants to. And we will do so by reclaiming our Wesleyan heritage. It's in our DNA to start new churches," said the Rev. Karen Greenwaldt, chief executive for the GBOD.

"By focusing on starting new churches, we will do what John Wesley admonished us to do in 'following the people.' We have thousands of huge demographic areas where people have moved and there are no United Methodist Churches," said Butcher.

Tom is speaking to leaders across the denomination, including delegates attending the mini-seminar on new church starts that he presented April 30 and the throngs visiting the GBOD display during the 2008 General Conference, the United Methodist legislative body meeting April 23-May 2 in Fort Worth.

"I've talked to all kinds of folks: several church planters, bishops, a lot of delegates and large church pastors. They are the ones I've had great conversations with around 'multiplying' themselves and what they thought it would take to do that," said Butcher.

"There's a lot of interest in starting new churches, which is really good for our denomination moving forward. This is a proven way for us to attract not only more people but also more younger and more diverse people," he said.

Raising Up a Whole New Generation of Church Planters

Lots of folks at General Conference are also interested in Path 1's goals of finding and equipping 1000 church planters so that 650 new churches will be successfully started.

The Rev. Roger S. Ross, senior pastor of First United Methodist Church in Springfield, Ill., said, "It's exciting. The vision is the most compelling vision I have seen for starting churches in my entire life. I'm one of Tom's biggest fans. I'm very impressed with Tom. He's right for the position.

"The work he has done will take us further down that path than any of us could imagine right now. I really believe that. He has done new church starts. He talked a lot about networks. Tom is good networker. I am praying for him and Path 1 because I want to see that happen," Ross said.

Ross, who was a new church planter for 14 years at New Horizon United Methodist Church in Champagne, Ill., where he planted a daughter church out of New Horizon, which is vibrant and growing (as is the mother church), also shared his concerns about the mission.

"My concern is that we over-promise and under- deliver. The specific goals are out of reach for us in the next four years. General success and increases and our accomplishments will appear less successful because they are far short of our stated goal. I think the increase by 20 percent could be perceived to be a failure. The human resources required are enormous," said Ross.

As General Conference 2008 comes to a close, Butcher and the Path 1 team must now hit the ground running at a speed that won't let up until the mission -- planting new churches in the U. S. -- is accomplished.

The General Board of Discipleship's mission is to support annual conference and local church leaders for their task of equipping world-changing disciples. An agency of The United Methodist Church, GBOD (www.gbod.org) is located at 1908 Grand Ave. in Nashville, Tenn. For more information, call the Media Relations Office toll free at 877-899-2780, ext. 7017.