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By ERIK ALSGAARD
UMCONNECTION STAFF

It was a year when disciples of Jesus Christ in the Baltimore-Washington Conference took deeper, wider and further steps in their Discipleship Adventure. It was a year that brought out the best in those disciples as they responded to one natural disaster after another; as they gave of themselves to serve others in their own communities and those around the world; and as they proclaimed the good news of Jesus Christ and brought new people to faith.

In short, 2005 was the year when the Discipleship Adventure began to take shape for United Methodists in the conference. Incredible stories abound.

In May, the 221st session of the Baltimore-Washington Conference gathered in Baltimore. Returning to that city for the first time in many years, members of the conference approved a new vision and mission for the conference. The vision - 'To become like Christ through our congregations/ministries' - and the mission - 'To call, equip, send and support discipleship leaders' - will be lived out in what Bishop John R. Schol calls 'The Discipleship Adventure.'

'I believe we have a path forward,' the bishop told the conference session. 'We need to become a spiritual movement again through our local churches that is vision, mission, values and beliefs focused. We need to become a spiritual movement that relies on gifting and calling, rather than privilege and representation, eliminates bureaucracy and removes the barriers that keep us in our boxes or tradition, time, money and power.

The 'path forward' is the Discipleship Adventure, a holistic approach to making disciples of Jesus Christ. It contains five pieces - faith celebration, making faithful connections, developing one?s faith, faithful service to others, and sharing one?s faith - that together focus on creating 'Acts 2 fruits.'

The fruits are based on the biblical witness of Acts 2: increasing confessions of faith, increasing attendance and new visitors at worship, starting new faith communities, engaging congregations in addressing poverty and community needs, increasing congregational visibility in their communities, and decreasing the percentage churches are apportioned each year.

The Discipleship Adventure began to take shape in many churches in 2005. For example:

• In January, we reported on the Locust UMC in Columbia, which reached out in community service by hosting a rotating homeless shelter for the first time. Seventeen men and women were given temporary housing in the bitter cold;
• In March, we shared a story of Glen Mar UMC in Ellicott City, which underwent the shift to the Discipleship Adventure eight years ago. Today the thriving congregation is getting ready to break ground on a new church as it continues to get people out of meetings and into ministry;
• Turning the church inside out - teaching insiders to invite, welcome and nurture outsiders into the faith and ministry of the body of Christ - was the thrust of a trio of evangelism training events sponsored by the conference in November. Nearly 300 people responded to full-day opportunities for United Methodists to learn about sharing and expanding the reach of their faith.

In addition, new staff were welcomed to the Conference Center July 1 to continue to build partnerships with local churches:

• The Rev. Rod Miller came on board as the new director of connectional ministries;
• The Rev. Helen Fleming became the new assistant to Bishop Schol for leadership development;
• The Rev. B. Kevin Smalls began as director of young adult ministries, reaching out to an often overlooked segment of our population;
• ? Three new superintendents took office - the Rev. T.R. Chattin in the Frederick District, the Rev. Ianther Mills in the Washington East District, and the Rev. Chris Holmes serving the Annapolis District.

Individual stories were shared in our pages that modeled the Discipleship Adventure time and time again. From people?s lives being changed through Volunteer in Mission trips to ministry with and for Deaf people; from church camps bulging at the seams to more than 4,000 young people attending ROCK, this publication served as a resource for churches moving along the Discipleship Adventure.

But the most prominent place the Discipleship Adventure glowed was in people?s responses to natural disaster. Perhaps more than anything else, 2005 will go down in history as the year of flooding, famine and faith.

Just after Christmas 2004, a tsunami devastated parts of Asia. Hundreds of thousands of lives were lost; countless millions had their lives uprooted. In the midst of it, faithful disciples in the conference responded.

In January, we told the story of the Rev. Paul Benjamin of Emory UMC in Street, who watched his television in horror as the tsunami and earthquake exploded into catastrophe. Benjamin narrowed the scope of the tragedy to focus on the small area of land that still holds his heart - the eastern part of Sri Lanka.

Benjamin?s story of being personally touched by the epic disaster continues to be lived out in churches in this area and across the world more than one year after the tsunami.

And then there was Hurricane Katrina. After it struck Aug. 29, United Methodists from the Baltimore-Washington Conference and around the world responded. Sandy Rowland was one of the first from this area.

On Sept. 12, Rowland and six other members of the conference?s early response team traveled to Mississippi, which was struck by the fury of Katrina. Their mission was to help make people?s homes safe so that they can move back in.

In our Sept. 21 issue, Rowland told us that she was not sure what lay ahead of her when she rolled out of the parking lot of St. Matthew?s UMC in Bowie into one of the worst natural disasters this country has faced. But she was certain of one thing - Christ traveled with her.

In addition to people like Rowland actually going to the Gulf to help, people emptied their purses and wallets, contributed flood buckets, health kits and food, opened their homes and their hearts and gave of themselves in countless ways that continue to this day.

Baltimore-Washington Conference treasurer, Pier McPayten, reports that more than $1 million was contributed to hurricane relief efforts by the disciples of the Baltimore-Washington Conference. In addition, more than $817,000 was given towards the tsunami relief efforts.

2005 was a year of challenge, change and consternation.

But thanks be to God for the gift of God?s son, Jesus Christ, and the vision and mission to become more like him through the Discipleship Adventure, United Methodists in the Baltimore-Washington Conference are on a path, enthused with the fire of the Holy Spirit, a path leading to faith and fruits.