Report from Mission Shaped Future Congregational Development Team

The Congregational Vitality Team of the Mission Shaped Future process has worked hard to develop a strong vision of what supporting vital and healthy congregations looks like in the new Mountain Sky Conference. While there is still work to be done to further develop the strategies that will help us live out what is recommended in our report, this is a critical starting point that reinforces focus of the new conference on supporting local congregations to be more effective disciple makers who in turn make God’s love real through worship, devotion, mercy, and justice.

In 2014, the General Council on Finance and Administration did a small study on recent conference mergers and their effects on things such as local church worship attendance, general church apportionment payments, and similar measures. The study found that recent mergers don’t have a dramatic impact one way or another on these things. They don’t appear to be positive or negative. As we looked at the plans other conferences developed there were some rather telling omissions.

Each plan included the expected administrative and financial components but what they lacked was any understanding where the time, resources, and energy saved through joining together would be channeled. We in the Mountain Sky Area have stated clearly from the beginning that we wanted to create a new, more efficient, way of being an annual conference so we could reinvest the savings in building up more vital congregations and developing the new generation of Christian leaders.

The report we release today is an important part of articulating why creating a new conference will help us reach our goal to "re-ignite a Christian movement that begins with grace, offer abundant life, and reclaims the life-changing love of Jesus Christ for ALL people."

Go to the Mission Shaped Future page to read the report, review the parsonage standards handbook and watch a video of members from the Clergy Excellence Team. An online town hall for your questions and feedback will be held at 6 p.m. May 8 via Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/945226371.

You may also use this online contact form to send us your questions and comments about Mission Shaped Future.