| Filipino church growth inspires vision, strategies for BWC BY EDWIN C. DELONG An intentional, indigenous, grassroots United Methodist mission to make disciples for Jesus in the Philippines during the past 15 years has produced dramatic results. Membership in the Manila Episcopal Area tripled from 100,000 to 300,000 people. The number of United Methodist congregations increased from 200 to 600 and the number of annual conferences increased from two to six. These results prompted the General Board of Global Ministries to send a team of U.S.-based conference directors of church development to take an up-close and personal look at the best practices that stimulated the growth. During the seven-day immersion experience in October, I was part of a team that visited congregations and learned how the churches starting churches evangelism strategy works. The strategy is laity led. Laity with a vision and passion and with the support of their pastor, district superintendent and bishop, begin neighborhood-based small groups. They follow a community development model similar to what we know as Shalom ones. Functioning like Baltimore-Washington Conference Mission Disciples, these people begin to identify the assets and needs in the community and form a holistic ministry strategy. Medical, optical, dental and legal services are among the ministries that comprise the evangelism approach. It is clear that by using this approach, the 15 congregations visited by our team flourish as beacons of light, providing a place of hope and empowerment in neighborhoods of blight and poverty, as well as in neighborhoods of affluence. Among the best practices in the strategy that brought about the results are: - The local church is understood to be the locus of all evangelical efforts.
- It is understood that every pastors, district superintendents and bishops primary role is that of evangelist. The vision is set and reset around the Great Commission stated in Matthew 28.
- Laity are challenged to embody the message in neighborhood-based ministries that meet human need.
- District-based evangelism teams continually identify new fields for mission and provide leadership training.
- Evangelism is understood to be holistic.
- Financial resources in the form of apportionments are intentionally directed into the mission.
- Partnerships are developed with general church agencies, local United Methodist hospitals and other related institutions and sister Wesleyan-based churches.
Although the cultural contexts of the Philippines and United States are distinct, it is evident that the best practice principles are universal. Much of what we have learned in our conferences Board of Congregational Life Initiatives is similar to what we experienced in the Philippines. The bottom line is that unchurched people tend to perceive a new faith community as a more viable way to learn about Jesus and begin their discipleship growth than existing congregations. The models for the strategy are varied. Although the first and most obvious model is that of the development of a stand-alone congregation, the strategy includes models that are as simple as an existing congregation forming a new group either on or off the church campus. From what we have learned in our work within our conference as well as what the team experienced in the Philippines, I am inclined to ask, What would it look like if every Baltimore-Washington Conference local church partnered annually in the development of a new faith community addressing expressed human needs? What would it look like if the resources of each districts Location and Building Committee and District Council identified locations and provided the coordination needed to develop new faith communities with the support of conference agencies? What would it look like if our bishop and district superintendents and pastors were focused on the primary task of setting vision and empowering laity to create new faith communities that would engage the 3.6 million persons living within our conference boundaries who are not part of any faith community? The Rev. Edwin DeLong, a Baltimore-Washington Conference associate council director who works with church development and redevelopment, recently returned from a fact-finding visit to the Philippines. | 
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