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GBOD Charts New Strategic Direction and Brand Identity

(October 13, 2006, GBOD) -- The Executive Committee of the General Board of Discipleship’s Board of Directors approved a new strategic direction and brand identity for the agency at its October meeting. GBOD is an agency of The United Methodist Church, headquartered in Nashville.

“Oftentimes general agencies run on four-year cycles, stopping and starting their work for each new quadrennium. Our new integrated strategic direction serves the church with continuity, based upon our basic values and mission,” said Bishop Michael J. Coyner, president of the Board of Directors for the agency and bishop of the Indiana Area.

“The new ‘branding’ of GBOD is an effort to demonstrate this integrated thinking, so that every product, service, and ministry of GBOD will be labeled in a way that clearly shows this holistic thinking,” said Bishop Coyner.

The new strategic direction is important for agency staff. The direction is driven by the fact that 'GBOD wants to serve the church, and we have reorganized our entire effort around being ‘customer sensitive’- helping local church, district and conference leaders to fulfill our dream of making what we call ‘world-changing disciples,’' says Coyner.

General Secretary for the agency, the Rev. Karen Greenwaldt said, “GBOD's work is clearly focused through strategy and image. By building more flexible and ongoing relationships, GBOD will connect with leaders in churches and conferences to provide needed resourcing, training, consulting, and networking to support new church development, revitalization of local churches, and providing materials for use in Central Conferences.”

Greenwaldt also stated that the intersection of spiritual practice, leadership formation, and young people's ministries provides the core content for addressing the needs of church leaders.

GBOD’s leadership team engaged in several months of dialogue and discernment around what God was calling GBOD to do and in listening to hear from God the direction in which God wanted the agency to move.

According to Greenwaldt, “GBOD has also listened to the church and the larger world in a variety of ways -- connectional conversations, statistical research, readership interviews, focus groups, monitoring of meta-trends in the world, in business, and in the church.

“In response, GBOD recognizes that by focusing its strategic directions, it can respond more directly to the emerging needs of the church, its people, and the larger world,” she said.

GBOD believes that it is doing the work of equipping world-changing disciples of Jesus Christ. Its strategies focus attention on that work, and it is harnessing its energies and those of partners and colleagues to address the important issues facing the church and the world.

The leadership team identified six key issues facing the agency. The issues include the reality that today’s world is in need of transformation. While The United Methodist Church in the U. S. and parts of Europe continue to experience decline, churches in Africa and the Philippines are growing but lack resources.

In addition, the marketplace is increasingly competitive with resources designed to support local congregations. The agency has a gifted and passionate staff that struggles with capacity issues; therefore, organizational alignment and mutual support are essential.

GBOD has worked especially on its ability to respond to the needs of the church. Bishop Coyner says, “We want the GBOD agency to be flexible, quick-responding, and focused upon our mission in a way that is both effective and efficient.”

Deep discussion of the key issues led to the main external agency goals that the new direction addresses -- becoming externally focused and relationship flow-based.

Greenwaldt stated that the “strategies embrace support of leaders in new church development and in revitalization of churches. The content of that work is found in spiritual practice, leadership formation, and young people’s ministries. Initiatives to provide this support to leaders will come through 'Discipleship University,' a major new initiative that will provide the church with onsite and offsite learning opportunities for all areas of discipleship," said Greenwaldt.

GBOD’s internal goals will place emphasis on continued building of staff excellence and sustaining excellence in fiduciary responsibility.

"I'm excited that over the years to come, the new identity will feel like ‘home’ and we'll enjoy the new energy it brings our work,” says Steve Horswill-Johnston, director of communications and brand strategy. “It will help the church see our work as a collective whole," he said.

This article was written by by Jeanette Pinkston, Media Relations Director for the General Board of Discipleship.