Traditionally, new churches are planted through the decision-making processes of a district superintendent or a small group within the conference. While the Book of Discipline places the responsibility with the district superintendent, the catalyzing of a movement can open new doors and empower people to dream and to participate. The igniting of people's energy and passion will release new ideas and resources. A movement, by definition, is not controlled; nor does it fit within a predetermined framework of systems and structures. A movement, however, is what we are called to evoke so that we will think differently, reach different groups of people, and transform our communities, counties, and world.

There are three stages of building a movement across a district and annual conference: (1) The Invitation and Development of a Core Team, (2) Proclaiming a Vision amd Cultivating Pilot Ministries, and (3) Discerning District and Conference Strategies. This is a long-range process that requires patience, prayer, and persistence.

The Invitation and Development of a Core Team:

• Identify a few people across the conference who (a) are committed to evangelism and outreach, (b) have demonstrated leadership skills, (c) will focus their efforts beyond the local church, and (d) will commit to develop and lead a training program (New Church Start Academy).
• Involve the cabinet in identifying gifted leaders who might benefit from specialized training to start or restart churches.
• Establish an ongoing training initiative to identify, equip, and empower spiritual leaders to plant new churches.
• Trust in God that if you aid people in connecting them with God's call in their lives and affirm and empower them to live into that call, there will be a ripple effect that will birth a movement.

Proclaiming a Vision and Cultivating Pilot Ministries

• Cultivate relationships with the conference board responsible for church revitalization and new church development.
• Claim a bold vision for a measurable number of new churches and restarts for the next five years.
• Help academy graduates and district leadership to identify locations for new church starts, satellite ministries, and worship services targeted at new populations.
• Make the graduates of the academy a priority and encourage and enable them in applying what they have learned. These new churches then become teaching sites for other churches in the district and conference.
• Incorporate the graduates of the New Church Start Academy on district strategy teams, district leadership teams, and the relevant conference board (those who are not initiating new ministries only).
• Continue to work with district superintendents and the cabinet to place new church start pastors and proclaim the vision of reaching new populations for Christ.

Discerning District and Conference Strategies

• Assist district superintendents with the selection criteria for district strategy team members.
• Develop a relationship with district strategy chairs and the cabinet.
• Share existing district strategies from other districts and other conferences as examples.
• Acquire and interpret demographic information.
• Assist district strategy committees in designing their two-year initiative to call forth and discern their district strategy.
• Invite district strategy representatives to form a conference study/writing team to discern conference strategies based upon district reports.

The Invitation
Given that the call and leading of God is the most significant resource for a new church start, the second most significant resource is the quality of leadership brought to the project. It is the task of the New Church Start Academy to develop leaders for several church starts in the conference. To fulfill this vision, the church extension ministry area of the conference and the conference staff must work together to design the curriculum for the initiative. The goal and mission of the academy is to train and mentor leaders for church starts. Several models exist, including models in West Ohio, Iowa, and North Alabama.

The New Church Start Academy will combine several elements to prepare leaders to be able to evaluate a potential church start community and to be aware of a variety of culturally relevant outreach models. Participants will develop a strategy for church growth and know how to use small groups and other tools to support that growth with meaningful spiritual vitality in the new congregation. An understanding of the financial realities in a new church and what roles the extended church might play in their support is important. The leaders should be able to articulate a vision for building churches that seek excellence in calling God's people into a personal relationship with Jesus and that act in ways that express the love of God through authentic mission to the community.

The two-year academy involves visiting four mentoring or teaching sites a year (eight visits over two years). In preparation for each visit, participants will have required reading assignments that will be discussed and reviewed at the onsite visit. The visit will be from Thursday noon through Friday noon and will involve a variety of learning experiences. Complementing these sessions will be one extended session (such as the School of Congregational Development) each year.

Goals for the Academy Should Include:

• Equipping leaders with knowledge and skill to move them toward successful church starts.
• Awareness of available resources for the new church start initiation.
• Preparation of pastors for a variety of start-up situations.
• Discernment of calling to be a church planter.
• Knowledge of people and their specific call in order to assist the cabinet with recommendations, when necessary.

This will require:

• Recruiting candidates to the program who fit a new church start profile.
• Designing a curriculum and calendar for working through the process.
• Spotlighting and building upon the successes within the conference.
• Choosing mentoring/teaching sites as locations for meeting and learning.
• Developing a reading list to enhance the curriculum and discussions.
• Investigating seminars beyond the conference that will complement the training and add depth in specific areas.
• Providing recommendations to the cabinet that match candidates and new church starts.

Discerning District and Conference Strategies
The lay and clergy leaders in each district identify efforts that evoke and articulate a vision and strategies for living into that vision. It is important that a strategy is developed on a district level that includes both new church starts and existing church revitalization efforts. Each district will be in a slightly different place, and leaders within the district should be encouraged to experiment with different approaches.

The first conference leadership task is to encourage the diversity in approaches to answering common questions and the use of common definitions. Second, it is to be a resource to districts as they seek to discern God's will for their ministry. Finally, it is to identify conference strategies based upon the district strategies. Results of these efforts will be evident conference-wide by annual conference in the first year. Over the second year, the conference will assist districts in developing a written strategy that will:

• be able to project what will be different in five years as a result of their efforts.
• have a timeline reflecting the initiation of strategic ministries.
• engage lay and clergy leadership in various levels of visioning, planning, and exploring their mission field.
• empower lay and clergy to take risks in their ministry. (Some will fail to accomplish what they set out to do. This is a part of being willing to risk.)

The purpose is to cast a vision, which is inviting and transformative for each district and the annual conference. The vision is supported by a written plan that takes into account the current reality of the population, the churches, and the leadership. This plan identifies churches/areas that are strategic due to their location, leadership, and/or readiness. It also identifies priority concerns or initiatives. The details will include recommendations for new church starts, revitalization, mergers, relocations, and church partnerships.

District Method — District Strategy Team Responsibility
There are several essential tasks or functions that the district strategy team needs to accomplish in order to cast a compelling vision for making disciples while developing a viable plan for implementation.

• Engage in significant research. Study demographic data and long-range planning materials from various government and business sources.
• Share throughout the district the unfolding vision for making disciples that is being set by vision champions in the conference.
• Draw forth from local churches their emerging dreams for the future and their plans for moving into those visions.
• Study and pray over all this information. Work together as a team to discern the compelling vision for the district's preferred future five years from now.
• Use this vision to develop a written strategic plan that will lead you from your current reality to the preferred future.
• Share this written strategic plan across your district and incorporate suggested changes.
• Organize and deploy mission teams to work in the strategic locations that have been identified.
• Present the written strategy to the conference writing team.
  

  Year 1, Quarter 1:

  • Outline of approach and timeline the district will pursue.
  • Identification of new ministries for the next three years.
  • Initial identification of strategic locations.

  Year 1, Quarter 3:

  • Refinement of district's approach and timeline for a comprehensive strategy.
  • Draft of a written strategy, including anticipated results.

  Year 2, Quarter 2:

  • Five-year district plan, including provision for ongoing analysis and revision.

Each district strategy team needs to determine how it will accomplish these several tasks. Some tasks may already have been completed, while others may be under way. Each district strategy team should set its own timeline and approaches to accomplish the overall goals.

The research team studies the demographics provided by the conference and shares that data with regional planning bodies — including school systems — to decide if a more detailed study is required. Field teams then prepare to present the information to church leaders.

A field team may be an extension of the research team or another group altogether. The field team receives training from the research team, including interpretation of the demographics and an outline of the emerging vision for the district and conference. Afterward, the field team presents the information to all the churches in the district and engages them in a dialogue about strategy. This may include expansion of existing ministries, new ministries, or new partnerships with other churches.

The field teams may visit the church once or have a series of visits. The first visit will be to listen to how the church leaders describe their current reality, including where they are going. The second visit is to present the demographics and the core process. The third visit could be a visioning/planning session.

Scenario A: Teams of two (lay/clergy or lay/lay) are sent to each church in the district. They describe the demographics of the area and see what the church is doing with regard to the core process. They also engage the leadership in a conversation about the church's vision and how it relates to the emerging vision of the district and conference. No team should visit more than five churches.

Scenario B: The team holds cluster or regional meetings to provide the demographic information. This allows for the churches in the same area to be in dialogue with one another regarding the current reality, emerging vision, and ways of working cooperatively. There should be at least one team member for each church represented.

Scenario C: A series of sermons is preached over a four-week period in each church. A planning consultant from the district is assigned to the church to help it discern the current reality and focus for its efforts. Then a consultant with experience in that part of the core process is assigned to help the church think through what it will actually do.

Regardless of the approach, the field teams report to the research team with their impressions of the conversations. Presentation skills, listening skills, and the ability to represent the district are important attributes for members of the field team.

The research team receives information from the field team regarding the church's initiatives and responses to the community demographics and the emerging vision. Together with the demographics, this information is analyzed; and recommendations are made regarding strategic areas.

Mission teams are established. One is set up for each of the identified strategic areas or "hot spots." Representatives from the churches surrounding the strategic area are invited to develop the mission team and explore the potential for a new church, new ministry, revitalization, or new partnerships among two or more area churches.

The research team continues to develop an overall district strategy regarding both strategic initiatives and broader priority concerns. Since this is an ongoing process, the mission teams will continue their work over time; and the research team will continue its dialogue with them.

A writing team is actually a subcommittee of the research team assigned to capture the current thinking. Writing team members receive the information from the full research team and organize it into two reports. The first report includes a compilation of impressions and intuitions of leadership readiness and hoped-for results that will be a working document for the strategy committee. It will include timelines and budgets for implementing the strategy. The second report is a shorter document that may have wider circulation. It forms the basis for a brochure or booklet that will serve as a report to the district, and it will cast a district vision and encourage implementation. Additionally, the second report is the basis for a report for the conference strategy team that includes a prioritization of initiatives across the district.

Conference Method
A research team studies the demographics from a conference perspective. It assists the district research team in understanding the demographics available from the conference-wide study. Team members also assist in discerning implications for the district field teams.

The conference research team receives the district strategy reports regarding strategic locations, broad initiatives, and the emerging vision. Together with the demographics, these reports are analyzed; and recommendations are made regarding an overall conference strategy.

A writing team receives the information from the conference research team and organizes it into two reports. The first includes a compilation of impressions and intuitions of leadership readiness and hoped-for results. This will be a working document for the conference strategy committee. It will include timelines and budgets for implementing the strategy. The second report is a shorter document that may have wider circulation. It forms the basis for a brochure or booklet that will serve as a report to the annual conference, spelling out the vision and encouraging implementation. The writing team should be made up of three or four people from the research team. This team needs people who see patterns, who write well, and who have a working knowledge of the conference.

George Howard is the Director of Learning and Leadership in the West Ohio Conference. For more information, you may contact George at ghoward@wocumc.org or 614-844-6200.