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By Jackie Campbell
Special to the UMConnection

Bishops, district superintendents and other lay and clergy leaders gathered recently to take a realistic look at the current state of the church and build spiritual strength, support and strategies to make new disciples for the transformation of the world.

The Northeastern Jurisdictional gathering, called 'The Great Leadership Event,' was held the weekend of Oct. 14 in Valley Forge, Pa.

'I think it?s really important to bring together strong leaders from this jurisdiction to share ideas and information,' said Bishop John R. Schol, who chairs the jurisdiction?s Vision Table. We?ve gotten some outstanding information and inspiration and had great networking opportunities. It has really been powerful.

'Clearly we have some real challenges before us in the Northeastern Jurisdiction in terms of how we are going to lead in an area that?s growing in its diversity,' he explained. ?The challenge is in leading the church into health and growth. This isn?t going to happen by sitting in our own silos.'

The Northeast Jurisdiction is a geographic region of the church that includes 11 episcopal areas and 13 annual conferences stretching from West Virginia to Maine, including the Baltimore-Washington Conference.

Offering 'A Reality Check for the NEJ,' the Rev. Larry Homitsky, director of connectional ministries in the Western Pennsylvania Conference, presented statistics showing The United Methodist Church in the Northeast lost the equivalent of 54 members per day between 1973 and 2003. Worship attendance dropped by 90 every week.

Population, on the other hand, increased by 5.79 percent between 1990 and 2000, he said, and is continuing to grow. But the population is shifting, with only about one-third of the ZIP codes accounting for the growth.

'This denomination is in more communities than any other. We are positioned to make a difference,' Homitsky said. 'Our churches must get to know their own communities to develop effective ministry.'

'We get into trouble when we make the mistake of seeing our communities only through our own eyes,' said Hominski, who told 'The Parable of the Eat ?n Park.'

Older adults who go to the Eat ?n Park restaurant in his neighborhood at 9 a.m. or 5 p.m. 'get one view of the community,' he explained. 'But it looks a whole lot different when I go there around 11 at night to pick up my kids.'

He urged participants to get to know their ministry area. 'Begin research to find the greatest needs in your community with demographics and interpretive materials,' he said. 'Familiarize yourself with Natural Church Development or programs with similar assessment tools and see if it is appropriate for your congregation,' he added. 'Look at ways to make your church healthy.'

In addition, Homitsky said, collaborating with others in the community can make a big difference, especially for smaller congregations.

'Take courage!' Homitsky said. 'We have the keys; we just have to take responsibility and tomorrow more people will know the name of Jesus Christ and they will know the face of God.'

Dr. Lovett Weems, director of the Lewis Center for Church Leadership at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, spoke on his area of expertise.

'Leadership is always about change,' he said. 'The way things are now can never be deemed synonymous with God?s ultimate will.'

The reality is that there are growing populations in the Northeastern Jurisdiction and the population has been getting younger and more diverse, Weems said.

He noted that leaders must help the people discern God?s vision, and develop concrete action steps to move towards it. For each action step, he said, there must be an expected outcome.

'We are going to do this, ?so that? something will happen ? ?so that,? those are the two most important words,' he explained. When people reach toward specific goals, he said, 'energy develops and all of a sudden things begin to change.'

The Rev. Rodney Smothers, a specialist in congregational development in the Baltimore-Washington Conference, offered examples of how congregations adapted to change, developed vital new ministries and experienced growth. They program worship services on days other than Sunday; communicate through new forms of media; focus on spiritual formation more than fellowship; shift from teaching to learning by experience, and move from classrooms to small groups.

'One challenge for us as United Methodists today,' Smothers said, 'is that we are not spiritually mature ? we don?t have the wherewithal to invite people. We have to elevate the level of education if we are going to elevate the level of transformation.'

The new shape of ministry is collaborative, Smothers said. 'We need to stop worrying about district lines or conference lines and connect people with something in common so that we can work together.'

Everyone can benefit when churches collaborate with community organizations, government and businesses. 'There are opportunities all around for this if we will look beyond ourselves,' he said.

Smothers said he learned while starting a new church in Atlanta years ago that, 'Our impact on the community is not dependent on what happens in these pews on Sunday morning,' he said. 'Ministry happens between Sundays.'