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BY BISHOP JOHN SCHOL

Today we continue to report on the state of the church within the Baltimore-Washington Conference. More than 25 conference leaders provided input for this report. Representing them today are Delores Oden, our conference lay leader; Cynthia Taylor, chairperson of the Discipleship Council; Charlie Moore, president of the Council on Finance and Administration; the Rev. Tony Love, president of the Board of Trustees; and the Rev. Katie Bishop, team leader for the Young Adult Council.

I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; don’t you perceive it? Isaiah 43:19

God is doing a new thing in the Baltimore-Washington Conference. I see it through clergy who are taking risks to connect disciples to the mission of God. I see more laity stepping forward to be a witness in their testimony and mission. Lasting renewal is always spiritual and begins with a heart change and a transformation of the mind – there is a new evangelical breeze blowing that seeks to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

We are also facing stiff winds from cultural change and economic forces beyond our control. You are leaning into these winds, which threaten to blow us off course, with faith and daring. Our sails are catching Spirit-winds, sails refashioned with new ideas, new dreams and new ministries. We are reshaping church structures and how we do ministry to capture the innovative Holy Spirit winds of our time.

As we face these challenging headwinds, we are discerning how to honor our tradition and do a new thing; how to have appropriate structure and the freedom to be innovative. Transformation is happening in and through our congregations. Our congregations are exploring new ways to organize, new ways to connect with the non- and nominally religious and new ways to engage in mission.

Did you know that we have churches that have streamlined bureaucracy and now operate with only three committees? We have churches where people do not have to ask permission to start a new ministry. We have churches whose mission is to remove the roadblocks that get in the way of people experiencing Jesus’ healing, grace, salvation and justice.

Our Book of Discipline allows congregations to organize and provide ministry in many innovative ways. We invite you to work with your Guides to become more innovative and risk-taking. Will mistakes be made? Sometimes. On occasion will people do the wrong things? Yes. But it is better to risk and learn how to create flow and Spirit movement, than to play it safe behind our committees and rules.

We are finding that where Spirit movement and innovation is occurring, we are making new disciples, congregations are growing and disciples are engaged in transformative community mission.

Jesus began his ministry at a time when faith needed to be renewed. He also faced stiff winds. He reinvigorated healing and ministry among the poor, filling the law with love and discipling leaders to go and disciple others.

John Wesley began his ministry at a time when the church and faith needed to be renewed. He was also buffeted by the strong winds of his time. But he hoisted sails to capture the power of small groups, the transformative practices of the means of grace, and the dual movement of personal piety and social change.

Innovation has always been a part of the church and Methodism. The Cabinet and I are going to support innovative and risk-taking clergy who are seeking to renew the church to capture new generations of believers with or without guaranteed appointments. We will come alongside of you and hoist sails with you to capture Spirit winds in the choppy waters of cultural change, rather than playing it safe by avoiding rough seas and stiff winds.

Jesus came to do a new thing, don’t you perceive it?

Jesus said, “Behold, I make all things new,” and taught that you cannot put new wine into old wineskins.

More and more we are following in Jesus’ footsteps. We are deeply committed to loving God and one another. We are practicing love for our neighbor, we are working together to end homelessness and malaria, and we are serving the poor, the wealthy, and the working class. We are not perfect, but there is a lot of love demonstrated throughout the Baltimore-Washington Conference.

In some instances, we have other loves that we put before our neighbors and new generations of believers. We love our buildings, we love our programs, we love our past and we feel secure in our structures. People outside our church doors are confused by our love.

Today, new generations of believers and the non- and nominally religious are troubled by our priorities and want to know, what is the meaning and purpose of church? They do not find meaning in committees, buildings and institutional structures. The non- and nominally religious will tell you, I am having church while sitting in Starbucks talking about God with my friends, or church is working to end homelessness and malaria, or church is caring for a friend who lost their sister because of leukemia. In the most recent past, we thought of church as a noun, but today’s new generations of believers think of church as a verb. The church is not committees and laws to live by, but rather, people engaged in doing and being the love of God for the world – people engaged in the means of grace.

John 15:13 says, Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. Today, I am asking some of our long-time lay members to do something very hard. We need you to lay aside the desire to hold on to the way church used to be. Many of our members have already made this sacrifice and we invite others to join us so we do not inhibit the Spirit-winds from filling our sails to connect with the non- and nominally religious.

I invite all of our disciples to let a new church emerge. When sailing, you can work with the wind or you can work against it. You can work with the new winds of our time, or you can resist and be blown off course and even capsized. Jesus said it this way, the Spirit blows where it wills, you hear the sound that it makes, but you do not know where it is going, so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.

One of our churches fought the wind in the past. Breezes blew homeless people to their doors. They put up fences to keep the homeless from sleeping on the steps. New leadership emerged in the church and they took down the fences and worked with the Spirit-winds. They put a shower in the church so the homeless could get a good hot shower and did the laundry for the homeless who came by. God rewarded their hoisting of new sails to capture the homeless winds that blew their way with new young adults joining the church who wanted to be engaged in such meaningful ministry.

These changes are not easy. Asking long term members to change attitudes and embrace new ideas is hard, particularly when what they used to do worked so well.

I also call upon our clergy to continue to be pastoral. It is not easy for people to change. They need your support and direction. They also need some congregation’s ministries to speak to their needs.

I am seeing new winds blowing in my church. This past Sunday, Community Church in Crofton teamed with Wilson Memorial to hold an incredible Revival with a global theme of “One God, One Family.” I believe it is the first revival in the history of our congregation. While revivals have not been a part of our faith experience, we had many people who responded to an invitation to commit their lives to Christ. As a congregation, we have also been very active in mission at home and around the world.  Our youth and adults participate in Appalachian Service Projects and our congregation has worked with Methodist clinics and schools in Guatemala. Over the past 15 years, over 40 members of Community Church have travelled to the Murewa District in Zimbabwe where we have funded and participated in the building of three churches, a parsonage, a medical clinic and two schools. Plans are currently underway to return in early 2013 to work on our third school project. We have demonstrated the love of Christ around the world. But that is only half of the story. Transforming the world is our calling, but so is transforming hearts, saving souls, and receiving Christ Jesus in our hearts. My own personal experiences in Zimbabwe have helped me to better love – to love Jesus Christ and to love the people we serve. One of the things I appreciate is how our conference is calling us to heart transformation and world transformation.

At my church, Epworth Chapel, we have been growing older together. There is nothing wrong with growing older; it is just that having young people around makes my heart sing. I love being with young people and I love working with young people. The conference is helping to reshape our ministry. The Discipleship Adventure teams have helped reframe our congregation’s ministry. The appointment and conference support for a new associate pastor, Kelly Grimes, have further strengthened our commitment to reach young people. Today we have 20 children coming forward for a children’s message each Sunday. Our Sunday school engages in quarterly mission projects such as Imagine No Malaria, collecting and delivering needed supplies for a local shelter and raising funds for children in Haiti. 

As a young person, I have recognized that some structure is needed but I never preferred big organizational structures. In my local church, our Discipleship Guide has worked with us to focus on the people, rather than the committees, and supported me in leading the congregation through challenging times. At the conference level, when we wanted to develop a young adult magazine resource, they did not require us to go through an entire approval process but said, “Follow your passion.” Today Shift, a young adult magazine, is one of the best around. Not that we want to be the best, but we want to excel so that we can be the best for Christ and for young adults.

Together, as the congregations and leadership of the Baltimore-Washington Conference, we are working in collaboration to call, equip, send and support spiritual leaders who are making disciples and growing vital Acts 2 congregations to transform the world. Through our ministry last year, we

• Baptized 2,503 children and new disciples.
• Made 4,233 new disciples who joined our churches through profession and reaffirmation of faith.
• Engaged 42,138 disciples in mission in their backyards and around the world, and
• And once again we rocked with more than 7,000 youth and their leaders at our annual youth retreat in which more than 1,500 youth committed their life to Jesus Christ. PRAISE GOD!

In each of these areas we grew over the previous year and we changed lives. While the numbers illustrate the progress we are making, the individual stories are testimonies witness to all God is doing in our midst.

Katelyn, a St. Mary’s college student, went to Zimbabwe with us last year. Her heart was strangely warmed and she grew in her faith and her understanding of mission. Right now she is in Ghana. God may be calling her to the mission field. One of our own blessed because of our global reach and our commitment to open the door for Christ to change a heart and transform a life.

We are in the top 10 conferences and in some cases even the top three conferences in the United States and around the world in the following:

• The percentage of highly vital congregations,
• Diversity,
• General Church apportionment payments,
• Professions of faith,
• Baptisms,
• Percent of our worshippers engaged in mission,
• Gifts to Imagine No Malaria,
• Mission giving,
• Percentage of congregations growing in worship and making new disciples.

Your commitment to Christ has resulted in renewed congregations. Your faithfulness has resulted in our fruitfulness.

Our laity are instrumental in our transformation. The United Methodist Men and the United Methodist Women have joined forces for prayer, staffing our prayer center weekly and praying for our congregations, our pastors, our laity and the needs of people in the world. It is making a difference.

Our Certified Lay Ministers are working in congregations on a variety of discipleship and mission ministries that are changing lives. The lay leaders and lay speakers are bearing a powerful witness to the grace and mission of Jesus Christ.

Today, as the lay leader of the conference, I want to thank our pastors. You serve faithfully in challenging circumstances and inspire us with your faith, teaching, preaching and visitation. We do not tell you enough how God is using you to change lives. Thank you.

We are making progress together. As we pray, unite and serve together, God will continue to bless us.

To continue our growth and development, we will need to recognize that winds are shifting and the Spirit calls us to be visionary and address our challenges. For this, we need your support in two areas: First, with our 2020 Vision, and Secondly, with our 2013 budget.

Bold ideas and bold visions have always been a part of the faith journey. God’s vision for Moses to lead the people to the Promised Land was courageous and history changing. God’s plan for Esther to save the Jewish people was daring and life saving. Nehemiah's plan to rebuild the wall galvanized the people and restored hope. Paul’s vision to establish new faith communities throughout the region gave birth to a worldwide movement that has changed our lives today.

In the midst of stiff winds such as fewer worshippers, challenging finances, fewer congregations, rising needs like homelessness and malaria, we need a bold vision to propel us through challenges. In each of the biblical visions, the community of believers faced stiff winds but the vision both sliced the wind and navigated the community through rough waters.

The 2020 Vision is a bold vision with courageous goals that seeks to meet our challenges and navigate through the rough waters the church is facing. It seeks God’s plan for our conference and the people in this region. It aligns growth, mission and discipleship with the biblical call to be faithful and fruitful.

The 2020 Vision process began two years ago when the Discipleship Council recognized the strong progress we were making toward our 2012 goals and that, as shifting winds within the culture and the church blew, there had to be clear vision for growth, mission and discipleship beyond 2012. To complete our current goals and not have a new vision in place would impede our progress and potentially lose ground in our growth, mission and discipleship. So we went to work.

The Discipleship Council engaged more than 450 people throughout the conference to help us shape the 2020 Vision. As the Discipleship Council went to every district of our conference, people said:

• The conversation in our conference has shifted from membership to discipleship. We are moving from enlisting members to discipling believers for faithful living in the world.
• They said that the conference is empowering congregations for mission and ministry and this is a good thing.
• They also affirmed the purpose of the conference, to call, equip, send and support lay and clergy spiritual leaders and leadership development is key to the future health of the Baltimore-Washington Conference. Gifted, faithful and fruitful leaders make new disciples, grow healthy congregations and engage disciples in ministries of mercy and justice.
• And they said, we need to focus on growth. Growing disciples, growing mission and growing our congregations are urgent and critical for our future.

The 2020 Vision recommits to our purpose, to call, equip, send and support spiritual leaders to make disciples and grow vital Acts 2 congregations for the transformation of the world.

As a conference, we will focus on developing Christian leaders to grow vital congregations where new disciples are made and engaged in mercy and justice ministry in the community and around the world.

We ask you to approve the goals of the 2020 Vision. The goals will focus our efforts in four areas:

• Leadership development – each goal area calls for equipping lay and clergy spiritual leaders.
• Discipleship – making new disciples, particularly engaging the non- and nominally religious and younger generations of disciples.
• Mission – we plan to engage 54,000 disciples in mission in our backyards and around the world and to do our part to end malaria and homelessness by raising $2.1 million to end malaria and build 500 units of permanent supportive housing for the homeless.
• Congregational development – we plan to start 20 new worship services a year, begin two new faith communities a year and reach out to more than 400 of our smaller congregations through the small church initiative.

Bold visions and plans call for prayer and innovative thinking. For instance, our North Capital Commons supportive housing for the homeless in Washington, D.C., will break ground in February and will have 123 efficiencies specifically designed with input from the homeless and will have supportive social services on site. It will have space for a new faith community. New congregations will have the opportunity to emerge in the middle of the mission without having to be focused on the facilities.

The Calvary Place project, also in D.C., will break ground in 2014 and is repurposing the Calvary Church building. It will have 81 units of supportive housing for the homeless and will also have space for a new faith community to emerge in its midst, without the burden of having to care for the building. We are doing a new thing, can you perceive it!

In the midst of stiff winds of poverty, fewer worshippers and fewer resources, we need to join together in hoisting sails that catch bold Spirit-winds filled with visions that are as challenging and bold as God’s plan for Moses, Esther and Paul.

While we invite you to adopt the goals of the 2020 Vision, we also invite you to journey with us in establishing a pathway over the next eight years to resource all we want to do.  
To raise $228 million is a significant challenge but you have shown that you are ready to work with God to meet our challenges. First let us take a look at the challenge.  One-half of the $228 million is anticipated through our $124 million projected apportionment giving and ministry income over the next eight years. This figure takes into consideration our current realities. We can do this, and it will fund our goals related to equipping leaders, growing vital Acts 2 congregations, making disciples and our apportioned mission efforts.
A further $80 million is for permanent supportive housing for the homeless. We have already secured $20 million through grants, individual gifts and tax credits. The additional funding will continue to be raised through grants and tax credits.

We have already raised 30 percent of the funds for eliminating deaths by malaria through church and individual contributions to the Imagine No Malaria efforts.
Over the next four to six months, the pathway for the remaining funds will be identified by Conference leadership with the assistance of a professional fundraising firm. The results and recommendations from this broad, comprehensive planning study will be brought back to the annual conference at the appropriate time for review and final approval.
The 2020 Vision:

• Commits to bold discipleship goals that engage our congregations in disciple-making and mercy and justice ministry.
• Works toward appropriate apportionments so that we maintain our commitment to create healthy congregations.
• Develops funding beyond the apportionments to do our part to end homelessness, strengthen small churches and grow our mission partnerships.
• Puts forth a bold vision that will help us to grow and change the world.

The 2020 Vision will build on the Spirit-winds that are already filling our sails and strengthening our ministry for the mission of God in the Baltimore-Washington Conference.

Now let us turn our attention to the 2013 budget. The 2013 budget will reduce more than $1 million in spending, reduce the benevolence factor to 17.75 percent and keep us on pace to make new disciples, grow vital Acts 2 congregations and transform the world.

As you heard yesterday, we are experiencing challenges. Costs are increasing, we are losing worshippers, we are decreasing the benevolence factor, and the apportionment base is less in 2011 than in 2010. We will share with you what this means in very practical terms.

First, a decrease in worshippers significantly alters what we can and cannot do in mission. Last year’s worship attendance declined across the Baltimore-Washington Conference by 952 worshippers. When this decrease is spread over hundreds of congregations the impact is not as dramatic. But when combined, we as a conference feel it significantly. This reduction of these worshipers equated to a $387,000 decrease in conference apportionments. That is a significant loss for our mission. It equates to us not doing any one of the following:

• $387,000 provides one-third of the Hope Fund to build churches, clinics and orphanages in Zimbabwe.
• or starts more than three new congregations a year.
• or provides housing for one year for 31 homeless people.
• or funds four campus ministers.
• or funds health insurance for 150 retirees.

What we want you to understand is that a decrease in worshippers is significant! It impacts our mission and people’s lives.

Also there are certain costs that continue to increase every year, and these costs take a greater percentage of our budget. There are four areas that make up the largest portion of our budget:

• Conference salaries and benefits are 33 percent of the conference budget. This compares to an average of 43 percent for personnel costs in our congregations.
• General church apportionments are 26 percent of the conference budget. This compares to the conference receiving 11.6 percent of our congregations’ total spending.
• Retiree health insurance is 10.6 percent of the conference budget.
• Capital expenditures, the Mission Center, camps, liability insurance and abandoned church property are 19 percent of the conference budget. Our new Mission Center is saving us money or this percentage would be higher.

It is important for you to understand that conference spending in these areas is below what our congregations spend on these areas, and it is below what the General Church apportions us. We also want you to understand that 89 percent of our budget includes things we do not want to reduce or that we cannot reduce without seriously impacting our mission and ministry.

Over the last six years we have significantly reduced conference staffing, particularly in the Guiding Ministry. We have reduced our full time guides by nine or 40 percent from when we started this ministry in 2006. Over the last six years, we have reduced the number of administrative staff, Guide staff and program staff by 22 staff, or 30 percent of the staff, who serve in the Mission Center. We know you have had similar challenges in your congregation as well and that together we are all making difficult decisions for the health of our mission.

We have also reduced the benevolence factor. The benevolence factor is the percentage we apportion your church. This has reduced the conference income by more than $5 million, but it has allowed more than $5 million to remain in church budgets. The 2013 budget is an appropriate budget to continue our mission and grow congregations. But we will face greater challenges over the next several years as we continue to reduce the benevolence factor.

The 2013 budget, combined with the 2020 Vision, keeps us moving forward to grow our mission and support our purpose to call, equip, send and support spiritual leaders to make disciples and grow vital Acts 2 congregations for the transformation of the world.

Today we recommend this budget which will have a 17.75 percent benevolence factor and a total apportionment of $14.1 million, a budget less than our 2002 budget.

Sailors on the Chesapeake Bay understand how shifting winds and choppy waters create greater navigation challenges. They adjust their sails and, in some cases, use different sails when facing stiff winds. Our leaders have done well to navigate the Conference through these challenging times. They have both adjusted and raised new sails and carefully plotted a course that will keep us relevant, strong and engaged in the community and the world. The 2020 Vision and the 2013 budget are realistic, hope-filled, and a positive course for our future.

Isaiah prophesied that God was doing a new thing. Jesus said it would take new wineskins to contain the new thing God was doing. I believe God is doing a new thing in us and through us. God wants us, demands of us as the church of Jesus Christ, to reach new generations of believers, to understand and engage the non- and nominally religious and to grow vital Acts 2 congregations.  It is the mandate for us as the church and it will take new sails to catch the new Spirit-winds that are blowing. It will require:

• New methods for starting new faith communities and repurposing buildings,
• New ways to call and equip spiritual leaders,
• New apportionment considerations,
• New ways to raise money, and
• A new bold vision.

The Baltimore-Washington Conference has encountered challenges in the past and great laity and clergy have emerged to lead faithfully and fruitfully. You will do it again because you are gifted by God and called by God for such a time as this. Let us hoist sails that will catch new Spirit-winds, navigate the challenges of our time and lead The United Methodist Church boldly into the new thing God is doing. Amen!