| Conference hosts church growth event BY JOHN W. COLEMAN, JR. UMCONNECTION STAFF  More than 500 clergy and laity attended the United Methodist School of Congregational Development in Washington, D.C., Aug. 7-12, including about 50 from the Baltimore-Washington Conference. They came to learn how to start new congregations and help existing ones move forward, from being tradition bound to transformation bound in their mission and ministries.
Speakers at the event invoked the wisdom of early Christians and Methodisms founder, John Wesley. Yet, they also examined contemporary trends, tactics, challenges and opportunities for making disciples and doing ministry in a new millennium. We have been called by God to proclaim Gods glory, and theres no need to be timid, proclaimed Bishop Felton Edwin May, speaking on the vision and call that leaders must have to pursue church development. We must do it with joy, energy, resources, passion and a commitment to Christ; and God will bless it. Other speakers included Bishop Joe Pennel of the Virginia Conference; the Rev. R. Randy Day, head of the General Board of Global Ministries in New York City; the Rev. Laura Early, pastor of All Gods Children UMC in Aulander, N.C.; the Rev. Adam Hamilton, pastor of Church of the Resurrection UMC in Leawood, Kan.; and Arturo Chavez of the Mexican-American Culture Center in San Antonio, Texas.  The school has grown from its first gatherings at Boston University two decades ago, when it drew only about a dozen church leaders, according to Craig Miller of the General Board of Discipleship. The Discipleship and Global Ministries boards co-sponsor the annual event in conferences around the nation.
This has become a movement across the church, said Miller, citing increased participation including about 50 district superintendents and 50 conference council on ministries leaders who attended the 2003 school. Each year this event tries to ask the question, What does the church of the future look like? said Miller, who led sessions on Creating New Faith Communities and Making God Real to New Generations. The many answers to that question began to unfold for participants as they experienced six days of culturally diverse worship services, candid, motivational sermons, and a slate of at least 36 lectures, classes and seminars on a host of church development topics. They also visited 14 area churches including 10 in the Baltimore-Washington Conference for worship and dialogue on Aug. 10, and networked with one another to exchange information, ideas and resources. Three coordinated learning tracks focused on developing new churches, turning around existing churches in decline and leading fast-growing, high-potential churches. The Rev. George Earle and Mike Albro got what they came for, and more. The two are developing a thriving new faith community, including members who are homeless and recovering from addiction, which meets informally in the basement of 175-year-old Centennial Memorial UMC in Frederick. The content of the school was superb all of it with a lot of ideas that sparked my own ideas, said Earle, whose courses at the school included New Church Development and Invitational Preaching. He and Albro especially benefited from visiting a ministry similar to theirs at Rising Hope UMC in Alexandria, Va. We plan to visit (the Rev.) Keary Kincannon and the folks there again, said Albro. In fact, now we want to connect with more people and churches that celebrate recovery and do this kind of difficult work. Theres a lot we can share, and we all know that misery loves company. In addition to Bishop May, the Rev. Alfreda Wiggins, of John Wesley UMC in Baltimore, preached, and several other Baltimore-Washington Conference clergy members led classes and seminars at the school. They were the Revs. Ianther Mills, Vance Ross , Rodney Smothers, Susan Hallager, and Edwin DeLong, conference director of church development. | 
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