2011 State of the Church: The Future

The youth drama team shares a witness during opening worship for the MARCHA meeting in San Juan, Puerto Rico. From left are: Saul Montiel, Jonathan Ramos and Aarendy Gomez.
A UMNS photo by Mike DuBose.


A Call to Act: reorder the life of the church

In the fall of 2009 the Call to Action (CTA) Steering Team was commissioned by the Council of Bishops with support from the Connectional Table to conduct an assessment of the denomination’s practices and processes. The charge was to find ways to become more effective at fulfilling the mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world and to be vital in ministries addressing the Four Areas of Focus.

Contributing factors

The worldwide economic crisis was a spark igniting the review. Additionally, the Church in the United States has experienced a four-decade decline in membership; an aging and predominantly Anglo constituency; declines in worship attendance, professions of faith and baptisms; and difficulty in attracting younger generations. Other trends, including declines in clergy health and job satisfaction, were indicators that change is needed. The study found that the church is confronting a “creeping crisis” of relevancy that accompanies the acute crisis of an underperforming economic model.

The way forward

After extensive research (available online at www.umc.org/CalltoAction), the CTA Steering Team made key recommendations to focus the Church’s leadership for the next 10 years, recommendations centered on what the Council of Bishops and the Connectional Table agree is the Adaptive Challenge for The United Methodist Church. That challenge is to redirect the flow of attention, energy and resources to an intense concentration on fostering and sustaining an increase in the number of vital congregations effective in making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

The CTA research identifies four “key drivers” of vital congregations:
  • Effective pastoral leadership including aspects of management, vision and inspiration;
  • Multiple small groups and programs for children and youth;
  • Mix of traditional and contemporary worship services; and
  • High percentages of spiritually engaged laity who assume leadership roles.

To begin the process of redirecting attention, energy and resources of the denomination toward creating vital congregations, leadership will engage in five mutually dependent initiatives, which are:

  1. For a minimum of 10 years, starting in January 2011, use the drivers of vital congregations as initial areas of attention for sustained and intense concentration to build effective practices in local churches.
  2. Dramatically reform the clergy leadership, development, deployment, evaluation and accountability systems.
  3. Collect, report, review and act on statistical information that measures progress in key performance areas to learn and adjust our approaches to leadership, policies and  the use of human and financial resources. (This will include indicators such as how congregations and annual conferences are increasing their effectiveness in implementing the three factors of vitality from the Towers Watson report: attendance, growth and engagement.)
  4. Reform the Council of Bishops with the active bishops (1) assuming responsibility and public accountability for improving attendance; increasing professions of faith, baptisms, participation in servant/mission ministries and benevolent giving; and lowering the average age of participants in local church life; and (2) establishing a new culture of accountability throughout the Church.
  5. Consolidate program and administrative agencies, align their work and resources with the priorities of the Church and the decade-long commitment to build vital congregations, and reconstitute them with much smaller competency-based boards of directors in order to overcome current lack of alignment, diffused and redundant activity, and higher than necessary expense due to independent structures.

The Interim Operations Team

A small, diverse team, accountable to the Council of Bishops and the Connectional Table, has been assembled to begin evaluating the Church’s systems and structures for deep change. The team brings skills in change management, proven ability to develop accountability processes and experience in mission alignment and large culture shifts. The Interim Operations Team is:

  • Neil Alexander, president and publisher, United Methodist Publishing House, Nashville, Tenn.
  • Carolyn Byrd, chair and CEO, GlobalTech Financial, LLC; former president of the Coca-Cola Financial Corporation, Atlanta, Ga.
  • Bishop Larry Goodpaster (ex-officio), president of the Council of Bishops and presiding bishop of the Western North Carolina Annual Conference, Charlotte, N.C.
  • Adam Hamilton, senior pastor, Church of the Resurrection, Leawood, Kan.
  • Bishop John Hopkins (ex-officio), chair of the Connectional Table and presiding bishop of the East Ohio Annual Conference, North Canton, Ohio
  • Laura Nichol, executive coach, former senior vice president of human resources, Chase Bank of Texas
  • Bishop Gregory Vaughn Palmer (chair of the Interim Operations Team), former president of the Council of Bishops and presiding bishop of the Illinois Great Rivers Annual Conference, Springfield, Ill.
  • Gary Shorb, president and CEO, Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare, Memphis, Tenn.
  • Carol Tutill, global diversity and organizational capability, retired from Procter and Gamble, New York