Welcome to the self-guided overview ofthe Virginia Annual Conference’s initiative,All Things New – Equipping Vital Congregations.

To view this overview and get more detail about the initiative, simply advance through this PowerPoint presentation at your own pace.

Each green slide is a narration for the slide that follows.

The Virginia Annual Conferenceof

The United Methodist Church

All Things New – EQUIPPING Vital Congregations

Helping congregations faithfully respond to Jesus’ call to make disciples by connecting and equipping church leaders.

The United Methodist Church’s Council of Bishops has made a commitment to refocus United Methodists on the mission of the Church.

The United Methodist Church

The mission of the Church is tomake disciples of Jesus Christ

for the transformation of the world

¶120, Book of Discipline

The Council of Bishops has affirmed that when local congregations are vital, they fulfill the Great Commission.

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” - Matthew 28:19-20a

The United Methodist Church

The mission of the Church is tomake disciples of Jesus Christ

for the transformation of the world

¶120, Book of Discipline

Local churches provide the most significant arena through which

disciple-making occurs.

The Council of Bishops issued a Call to Action in 2011 in response to research that indicated a lack of measures and accountability withinThe United Methodist Church.

The ultimate goal of the Call to Action is to help congregations faithfully respond to Jesus’ call to make disciples.

The United Methodist Church

From The Council of Bishops

“The Call to Action report said that The United Methodist Church is

adverse to metrics. We do not like to set goals and account for our

progress toward the goals. The bishops and other church leaders

recognize that our primary concern is souls not numbers. Metrics and

numbers do not tell the whole story, but numbers do represent souls.

When our numbers are declining, we are reaching fewer souls, and we

are reducing our capacity to reach new souls for Jesus Christ and

transform the world. When we do not set goals, we are susceptible to

continuing to do the same things that are not working. Goals help us not

only to measure outcomes but also to evaluate the effectiveness of

ministries and strategies.”

Following are the goals that are being prayerfully implemented throughout The United Methodist Church to hold us accountable for putting action plans into place to meet those goals.

These goals collectively are considered to be the hallmarks of “Vital Congregations” that equip and empower people to be disciples of Jesus Christ.

They are appropriately called “Vital Signs.”

Disciples worship

Disciples engage in mission

Disciples give to mission

Disciples engage in growing their faith

Disciples make new Disciples

Set Goals and Measure Progress

Discipline of Discipleship Measurement

Worship attendance

Number of small groups

Number of professions of faith

Number participating in outreach

Amount of money given to mission

Each Annual Conference is free to determinethe best approach for implementing Vital Congregations in that specific conference.

The Virginia Annual Conference began discerning best approach in 2011

Conference leadership had a choice- implement ‘yet another program’or find a new path that would lead to transformational change and create a culture of trust and collaboration.

Implement Vital Congregations as“one more program”

Churches independently report Vital Signs data Data becomes public

All else remains the same

can create a culture of JUDGMENT

Strategically create a systemic approachfor spirituality, collaboration and data

Spirituality is core focusCulture of collaboration is enabled and expected

Data is automated and becomes information

can create a culture of IMPROVEMENT

Incremental change Transformational change

In order to lead this movement,Bishop Kammerer formed a steering team with representation from Cabinet, Common Table and Conference Staff.

This team was named The Bishop’s Steering Team and a clear objective was assigned.

Bishop’s Steering

Team

ObjectiveDiscern, organize, design and resource the

implementation of a systemic response to the Vital Congregations initiative resulting in a teaching and learning environment which

renews and dramatically increases the fruitfulness of the churches in the Virginia Annual Conference.

Bishop’s Steering Team Members

Bishop ChoBrenda BilerMarc Brown

Shirley CauffmanLarry Davies, Chair

Warren HarperTom Joyce

Mark OgrenBrandon Robbins

Lydia Rodriguez ColonMartha Stokes

The Bishop’s Steering Team first prayerfully discerned the characteristics of a culture of improvement.

In other words, if our clergy and lay leaders across the conference worked together in these ways, we would be even more effective at our mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ of the transformation of the world.

Ever increasing spiritual vitality High trust levels Connected lines of communication Vast clergy-lay collaboration Constant church to church collaboration Free flow of data Maximum accountability for results Sense of accomplishment

Characteristics of Culture of Improvement

An initial response for implementing Vital Congregations was already underway.

This phase focused on educating churches on how to participate in goal-setting and data reporting.

Goal Setting Training Events

Congregational Goals Developed and Entered

Began Entering Congregational Data

InitialResponse

Information Sessions and Work Groups

INITIALResponse

forVital

Congregations

While churches were seeing the initial response, the Bishop’s Steering Team was engaged in discerning prayer and conversation.Their purpose was to create a systemic response to guide our conference toward a more biblicaland spiritual approach for equipping vital congregations.

Goal Setting Training Events

Bishop’s Steering Team established

Congregational Goals Developed and Entered

Began Entering Congregational Data

SystemicResponse

InitialResponse

Formed 7 work teams with objectives for each

Leadership Summit

Plan developed for systemic response

Recruited work team members and meetings began

Information Sessions and Work Groups

SYSTEMICResponse

ForVital

Congregations

INITIALResponse

forVital

Congregations

For strategic guidance, the Bishop’s Steering Team looked to All Things New.

As you may recall, there are several components to All Things New. “Invitation to Plant” – begin new faith communities“Invitation to Harvest” – renew existing congregations through leadership development

Invitation toPlant

Invitation toHarvest

Leadership Development

Changing the culture of the Virginia Conference

The movement to implement Vital Congregations in a transformational way was named . . .

Invitation toPlant

Invitation toHarvest

Leadership Development

All Things New – EQUIPPING Vital Congregations

Changing the culture of the Virginia Conference

The Bishop’s Steering Team discerned that a broad base of participation would be the best way to design a truly transformational approach.

Seven work teams were formed to study and formulate a transformational, systemic response.

Bishop’s Steering

Team

Work TeamCommunications

Work TeamDiscipleship Circle

Design

Work TeamDate Re-orderingand Automation

Work TeamBoards and

Agencies Heads

Work TeamDistrict

Processes

Work Team

Prayer

Work TeamDiscipleship Circle Implementation and Resourcing

All Things New – Equipping Vital CongregationsInitiative Organization

Work team members were prayerfully discerned and recruited.

They are both clergy and lay, from all size churches and from across the conference.

All Things New – Equipping Vital CongregationsInitiative Organization

. . . from across the Conference.

More than 75 people involved . . .

The Bishop’s Steering Team believes that in order to equip our churches to more effectively make disciples, we need something in place that helps leaders (clergy and lay together) be more effective leaders of their own churches and an organized way for our churches to work more effectively together.

Here is a ‘picture’ of this new approach.

The focus is on CONNECTION;Connecting clergy and lay.Connecting church to church.Connecting ideas and data.

This is what the work teams have been asked to design and implement.

Building and Leading a Culture of Improvement

Database

Making Disciples of Jesus Christfor the transformation of the world

Discipleship Circles

Design, Organize and ImplementDiscipleship Circles

Inventory, Re-Order and HouseData

Establish Ongoing ProcessLeadership

VITALCONGREGATIONS

1

2

3

Develop database to house data which is entered in real timeEliminate unnecessary reporting

Establish automatic reporting from databaseDiscipleship Circles have fact-based discussions based on data

Members take learnings back to churches for continuous improvementNo more paper reports. No more unnecessary reports.

More accurate and relevant data.

Determine Discipleship Circle participation and disciplinesEstablish class meeting-like approach

Focus on spiritual vitality, relationship, collaboration and accountabilityStrengthens leadership skills. Fosters environment of trust.

Gets clergy and lay leaders working together.

District Superintendents own and lead processesConference staff facilitates processes

Boards and Agencies support and equip clergy and lay leadershipRoles of various entities are clear.

All can participate fully toward overall success. Churches become more fruitful.

Each work team was given specific objectives to get this approach designed and implemented.

The Prayer Team was first to be established. They have continuously covered the entire process in prayer.

Work TeamPrayer

ObjectiveCover the

All Things New – Equipping Vital Congregations initiative with prayer. Establish a conference-wide intercession for God’s guidance, blessing

and will to be done.

Pray for the work teams.Pray for the resources to make it happen.

Pray for an outcome aligned with God’s will.Pray for our increased effectiveness at making

disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

Team MembersKim Barker-Brugman

Dan DietzePaul Greer

Johnnie MorrisBob Parks, Chair

Mary Jane RawleyLarry Tubbs

The Prayer Team meets monthly to pray for all of the work teams. In addition, whenever the other work teams meet, the Prayer Team offers prayer for those meetings.

Prayer partners have been established between the members of the Prayer Team and the chairs of other work teams.

Two important guides were created by the Prayer Team.

Guide for 30 minutes of devotion and prayer to start every team meeting

Each team uses this as a guide at every meeting.Click on this link to access the guide*.http://www.vaumc.org/ncfilerepository/ATN/ATN-EVCWorkTeamPrayerGuide.pdf Feel free to use this guide at your church meetings!

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*Please note that you must be in ‘presentation mode’ for the links to be active

Guide for 30 minutes of devotion and prayer to start every team meeting

Each team uses this as a guide at every meeting.Click on this link to access the guide*.http://www.vaumc.org/ncfilerepository/ATN/ATN-EVCWorkTeamPrayerGuide.pdf Feel free to use this guide at your church meetings!

31-Day Devotional

Recruited devotion writers from across the conference.Includes prayers for the All Things New - Equipping Vital Congregations movementClick on this link to access the Devotional*.http://www.vaumc.org/ncfilerepository/ATN/EVCDevotional.pdf Feel free to engage the Devotional on a personal basis and/or at your church!

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*Please note that you must be in ‘presentation mode’ for the links to be active

The Prayer Team invites you and all interested persons to join them in these monthly prayer opportunities.

Join them in person or join them in spirit.

All Things New – Equipping Vital Congregations

Time of Devotion, Prayer and CommunionOnce each month (see dates below)

From 10:00 am until 11:30 amAt the Virginia Conference Center

10330 Staples Mill Road, Richmond

DatesTuesday, July 9

Tuesday, August 13Tuesday, September 3

Tuesday, October 8Tuesday, November 5Tuesday, December 3

The Discipleship Circle Design Team

Work TeamDiscipleship Circle Design

ObjectiveDevelop a comprehensive, systemic

approach for church-to-church collaboration. The planning will encompass overall design, participant grouping, group covenants, group

disciplines and the usage of data.

Culture of collaboration, trust and continuous improvement will be developed.

Churches in the conference will consistently become more effective at making disciples of

Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

Team MembersDavid CanadaBeth ChristianAlan Combs

Tammy EstepPat Inge

Ron LittenRachel May, Chair

Tom NealleyMartha Reynolds

Martha StokesLarry Thompson

Ed WalkerHarold WhiteClark Williams

The Discipleship Circle Design Team has developed an approach for Discipleship Circles that will make them a place where . . .

Discipleship Circles

PersonalSpiritualVitality

Each participant is first attentive to his/her relationship with God. Discipleship Circle

disciplines focus on personal spiritual development and vitality

Participants are committed to developing relationship with each other - resulting in

shared trust. Discipleship Circle disciplines facilitate relationship development

Participants utilize data to inform reality. They work together and openly share

experiences to help each other become more effective leaders in the church. Discipleship

Circle disciplines create mandate for true collaboration.

The outcome of spiritual vitality, relationship formation and collaboration is increased

fruitfulness of the WHOLE.

a place where . . .

As with every team effort, Discipleship Circles will focus first onrelationship – relationship with God andrelationship with each other.

Once trust begins to develop, the members can then focus on tasks – effectively collaborating and sharing ideas.

Discipleship Circles

PersonalSpiritualVitality

Each participant is first attentive to his/her relationship with God. Discipleship Circle

disciplines focus on personal spiritual development and vitality

Participants are committed to developing relationship with each other - resulting in

shared trust. Discipleship Circle disciplines facilitate relationship development

Participants utilize data to inform reality. They work together and openly share

experiences to help each other become more effective leaders in the church. Discipleship

Circle disciplines create mandate for true collaboration.

RELATION

SHIPTASK

OU

TCOM

E

a place where . . .

The outcome of spiritual vitality, relationship formation and collaboration is increased

fruitfulness of the WHOLE.

What are Discipleship Circles?

Discipleship Circles

For church leaders (clergy and lay) who want tocollaborate with peers for

spiritual growthrelationship and

learningso they can grow as disciples and become better

equipped to lead the church in making disciples.

The purpose of Discipleship Circles is toconnect and equip the leaders of our

conference (clergy and lay) so that they areenergized and empowered to lead our churches into a

new future of effective disciple-making.

The focus is on the strategic imperative advanced by All Things New –

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT.

The following graphic illustrates this concept.

VitalCongregations

VitalCHRISTIANS

Supportive RelationshipsEarnest Prayer

Spiritual RenewalTrust and True Collaboration

Easy access to accurate dataFact-Based Discussions

Accountability for Effectiveness

MakingDisciplesfor the

Transformationof theWorld

Commitment to personal spiritual development

Spiritual supportMutual Accountability

Disciplesworship

Disciplesengage in mission

Disciplesgive to mission

Disciplesengage in growing

their faith

Disciples make new Disciples

Discipleship Circles

Data andInformation

Trust and Collaboration

IndividualSpiritualVitality

Equipped and Interdependent Clergy and Lay

Leadership

(Vital Signs)

Discipleship Circles are a new movement with a new purpose.

They are not meant to replace existing efforts.

Rather, their goal is to encourage clergy andlay leaders to more fully participate in other relevant leadership opportunities.

Equipping Church Leaders

Board of Ordained Ministry

Seminars for Small, Mid-Sized and Large

Church Pastors

Conference Boards& Agencies

Resourcing Local Congregations

The 5 Talent Academy

Goal Setting, Focused Action, and

Large Teaching Events

Discipleship CirclesSpiritual and Leadership

Development and Accountability

The Discipleship Circle Design Teamis currently designing several pilot Discipleship Circles for the fall.

The Data Team

Work TeamData Re-Ordering and Automation

ObjectiveInventory all reporting requirements of our local

churches. Recommend elimination of reports that do not add value. Streamline value-added

and Discipline-required reporting by synchronizing, automating and housing in central

database. Build capability for reporting to be submitted electronically.

Reporting will be simple and automated.

Data will be shared in various ways to facilitate increased effectiveness at making disciples of

Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

Team MembersKaren AlbroDavid BaileyDenise Bates

Bryan ComptonSherry Daniels

David DommisseMelissa Dunlap, Chair

Sandra FulcherSteve Jones

Carl MoravitzJessie Squires Colwell

Jon WoodburnCathryn Wooton

The way we collect and report datais behind the times.

We have an exciting opportunity to rethink, automate and begin more effectively utilizing information.

The new data approach is important to us as United Methodists.

“And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they partook of food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the

people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those were being saved.” Acts 2:46-47

Witnesses to two realities of our Wesleyan heritage

1) The importance of shared ministry - serves as a point of connection so churches throughout the Virginia Conference may share the stories of their ministry together in Christ.

2) Recording ways God is blessing the Church - It records tangible ways that God continues to bless the ministry of the Church.

Why is the Virginia Annual Conference’snew data approach important

in The United Methodist Church?

The Data Team is working to automate Charge Conference reporting by August 1, 2013.

All other reporting is planned to be automated by January 1, 2014.

Deliverable DatesDeliverable Beta by In place by

Charge Conference NA 8/1/13

Year End and Vital Signs 10/1/13 1/1/14*

*Training for all end users will take place during Beta

Following is a demonstration of the new data approach.

The idea is to make it easy for churches to get data into the system on a real-time basis.Then the information is easy to access and very easy to report.

The data site will be on the Conference website.

There are three main functions;Enter dataBrowse informationGenerate reports

Advance through the next two slides for an example of how data will be entered for worship attendance.

As you view the next slide, please note that each congregation will configure worship attendance data according to their own worship times.

Now advance through the next four slides to see an example of how simple it will be to generate a Charge Conference form.

It will also be possible to generate an entire Charge Conference packet in a matter of seconds.

The “Browse information” option will be truly transformational as it allows churches to quickly see the impact of their own plansand actions.

Click through the next three slides to see how this information could be viewed in only a few seconds.

Another important feature of the“Browse information” functionality will be to facilitate connection.

Advance through the next two slides to see an example of how to find churches that are excelling in a particular area and how easy this makes it to get in touch with them.

The Discipleship Circle Implementation Team

Work TeamDiscipleship Circle Implementation and

Resourcing

ObjectivePlan ahead for the needs of the Discipleship

Circles by thinking through the logistics, resourcing, training and leadership.

Assure that all Discipleship Circle participants understand their role and have the tools they

need to successfully participate.Team MembersMartha Stokes

Larry Thompson(more to be added upon team kick-off)

Once the Discipleship Circle DesignTeam has the basics in place,the Implementation Team will manage the logistics of implementation and resourcing.

The Boards and Agencies Team

Work TeamBoards and Agencies Heads

ObjectiveUnderstand All Things New – Equipping Vital

Congregations and determine how each Board/Agency can align its goals and actions.

The work of our Boards and Agencies will be optimally aligned with each other and the

overall commitment to fact-based, collaborative continuous improvement so that all the work of the Conference is contributing

to making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

Team MembersChris Andress Bill McClungSallye Bowen Brad PhillipsClarence Brown Lori RobertsBeth Christian Shan SixbeyJohn Fair Iris SmithKristin HolbrookWayne SneadDoug Hollenbeck James SprouseLarry Jent Ed Walker

The leaders of our Boards and Agenciesmet together to hear aboutAll Things New – Equipping Vital Congregationsand to begin forming relationships with each other. Since then, they are meeting regularly to stay in touch and continue to align their ministries with the mission of the conference.

The District Processes Team

Work TeamDistrict Processes

ObjectiveRethink, redesign and optimize the processes and

rhythms of our Districts to enhance relationship building, communication, and resource alignment.

Processes that add no value will be rethought, improved or eliminated.

Processes that add value will be streamlined.

Relationships at the District level will be enhanced.

Across the Conference, our clergy, lay leaders and churches will be more effective at making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

Team MembersJoe Carson

Tommy HerndonJanine Howard

Ken JacksonTed Smith

With Discipleship Circles and automated data in place, there are likely opportunities to think through other District-level processes for simplicity and improvement.

This team will have those discussions.

The District Processes Team met in the spring before the details of Discipleship Circles and data automation were developed.They discussed working on the following issues.

- DSs becoming the inspired leaders we are called to be (and that our clergy need us to be)

- Developing a ‘road map’ for Discipleship

The team is being reconstituted with new DSs and will pick this work up in the fall.

and finally,The Communications Team

Work TeamCommunications

ObjectiveContinually communicate the story of All Things New – Equipping Vital Congregations throughout

the conference to explain the mission, goals, plans, actions and impacts.

People know and understand the story of All Things New – Equipping Vital Congregations.

and how these efforts are helping build a culture that is extremely effective at making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

Team MembersJohn Briggs

Reason ChandlerBetsey Davis

Kim Johnson, ChairShawn KigerKeri MarstonLinda Rhodes

Viviam UtzJohn Vest

The Communications Team has been developing materials to inform various audiences about All Things New – Equipping Vital Congregations.

Here are some examples.

February Advocate Issueexplaining

All Things New – Equipping Vital Congregations

Annual Conference Presentationregarding

All Things New – Equipping Vital Congregationsand the connecting activity

A DVD for DS use as they explain and leadAll Things New – Equipping Vital Congregations

This self-guided overviewgiving detail of the initiative

The Communications Team will continue to develop materials as needed to keep all constituencies informed.

The Virginia Annual Conferenceof

The United Methodist Church

All Things New – EQUIPPING Vital Congregations

Helping congregations faithfully respond to Jesus’ call to make disciples by connecting and equipping church leaders.

For more information . . .

Contact

Marc BrownDirector of Connectional Ministriesmarcbrown@VAUMC.org

Larry DaviesLynchburg District Superintendentlarrydavies@praywithyou.org