New Places for New People Goals for the Denomination The United Methodist Church established the following goals for the most recent quadrennium related to new church development worldwide: by the end of 2012, 400 churches planted outside the U.S.; 1,000 planters assessed and equipped and 650 churches planted within the United States. How Many Churches? Global Mission Initiatives: 574 The General Board of Global Ministries reported on February 20, 2013, that 574 new churches were started among United Methodists through the Board's Mission Initiatives in the last quadrennium, exceeding the goal of 400 churches (source: Sandra Brands, ConnectNmission, February 2013, issue 2). The following table lists where these churches were started and whether the new church plant was considered a church or a cell group or section. Many of these new church plants partner with GBGM through the In Mission Together program, led by the Rev. Patrick L. Friday. Region Country Churches Planted Cell groups or sections formed Southeast Asia Vietnam 192 79 Cambodia 19 Nepal 9 Laos 6 26 Mongolia 5 2 Thailand 1 7 Africa Malawi 65 81 Cameroon 3 Senegal 3 5 Latin America Honduras 7 53 Eurasia Central Asia & Baltics Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova 6 Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan 4 Latvia 1 Total = 574 321 253 Page 1
Central Conferences: 1,917 Central Conference Episcopal Area Churches/Missions Planted Africa Angola East Angola West 10 East Africa 442 Mozambique 43 Zimbabwe 58 Congo Central Congo Eastern Congo North Katanga 402 Southern Congo 169 West Africa Liberia 80 Nigeria 45 Sierra Leone 6 Cote d'ivoire Philippines Baguio 388 Davao 40 Manila 192 Central and Southern Europe 16 Germany 9 Northern Europe Eurasia 9 Nordic-Baltic 8 Total 1,917 Page 2
United States: 684 The United Methodist Church has planted 684 churches (more than the projected goal of 650) in the United States since January of 2008, which represents 406% growth over 2004-2007, when the denomination planted 278 churches. Jurisdictional Snapshot of Church Planting Activity* NCJ NEJ SCJ SEJ WJ Total 2008 20 12 31 53 12 128 2009 35 17 30 38 25 145 2010 38 20 37 55 15 165 2011 31 25 22 50 8 136 2012 24 18 26 36 6 110 Total 148 92 146 232 66 684 * To accurately respond to this question our office reviewed information from several sources including GCFA, surveys of congregational developers, information about new churches collected during the previous quadrennium, and our most recent query of annual conferences. As of this date (04-30-13) 90% of U.S. annual conferences have responded to our quadrennial-end inquiry. North Central Jurisdiction Northeastern Jurisdiction Dakotas 6 Detroit 6 East Ohio 7 Illinois Great Rivers 7 Indiana 10 Iowa 11 Minnesota 24 Northern Illinois 40 West Michigan 3 West Ohio 16 Wisconsin 18 Total 148 Baltimore-Washington 4 Eastern Pennsylvania 13 Greater New Jersey 5 New England 20 New York 20 Peninsula-Delaware 3 Susquehanna 5 Upper New York 7 Western Pennsylvania 12 West Virginia 3 Total 92 Page 3
Southeastern Jurisdiction South Central Jurisdiction Alabama-West Florida 5 Florida 41 Holston 7 Kentucky 18 Memphis 9 Mississippi 8 North Alabama 13 North Carolina 33 North Georgia 23 Red Bird Missionary 0 South Carolina 8 South Georgia 10 Tennessee 9 Virginia 33 Western North Carolina 15 Total 232 Arkansas 18 Central Texas 8 Kansas East 6 Kansas West 3 Louisiana 2 Missouri 25 Nebraska 6 New Mexico 6 North Texas 22 Northwest Texas 1 Oklahoma 6 Oklahoma Indian Missionary 3 Rio Grande 1 Southwest Texas 14 Texas 25 Total 146 Western Jurisdiction How Many Planters? Alaska 1 California-Nevada 10 California-Pacific 11 Desert Southwest 9 Oregon-Idaho 3 Pacific Northwest 14 Rocky Mountain 18 Yellowstone 0 Total 66 More than 3,500 (3,561) prospective planters have been assessed through Path 1 s online assessment tools (English and Spanish) and through assessment and discernment processes and events in jurisdictions and annual conferences. More than 1,000 (1,464) potential planters have been equipped through a multitude of local, national and regional training events (e.g., New Church Leadership Institute, School of Congregational Development, Lay Missionary Planting Network, etc.). Page 4
How Many New Places Were Started Worldwide by The UMC? United Methodist Entity New Places Categories New Places Started Path 1/United States Annual Conferences New Churches 684 Global Mission Initiatives New Churches 321 New Cells/Sections 253 Central Conferences New Churches 1,273 New Missional Churches 601 New Circuits 19 New Preaching Points 24 Total 3,175 Page 5
The church planting strategies represented in the numbers include: Conference Start conference decided that it needed a church in a certain geographical area and had no healthy existing United Methodist church willing or able to serve as partner Connectional Parachute Drop Projects planter appointed to a target area to start a new church without an established team or relationships in the area; some conference/district financial support offered Partner Church Projects traditional mother/daughter or multiple parent/partner church plants Multi-site Projects an existing church reaches and disciples a new community, primarily at a site other than the original campus; includes launch of second campus, off-site worship, etc. Elijah/Elisha Projects passing the mantle (resources, etc.) from an established church to a new plant; includes examples of when one congregation ends and something new starts in its place Vital Mergers two or more churches closing and merging to become a new church start to better reach the mission field Church-Within-a-Church established church starts a new church; often to reach a different language group or generation Non-traditional options such as new monastic communities, campus ministries becoming congregations, house/cell church (family-sized, rapidly multiplying church that seeks to replicate the apostolic pattern of firstcentury churches), etc. Surprise Birth Projects sometimes, churches are born unexpectedly because a church splits, a group decides to affiliate with The United Methodist Church, laity envision a new church and proceed without asking permission, or a campus ministry develops a desire to become a congregation in the fullest sense of the Book of Discipline. Lay-led Projects includes both licensed local pastors and laity assigned to plant Part-time Projects planting projects with bi-vocational or part-time planter Racial-Ethnic Projects predominantly non-anglo congregations, including multi-ethnic church plants (may also be included in Church-Within-a-Church category above) Path 1 defines New Church Starts as having these characteristics: Are theologically Wesleyan Worship frequently and are sacramental Have an effective system for developing disciples Teach and practice biblical stewardship Are missional and work toward community transformation Receive new members Will embed multiplying DNA in all ministries and plant other new churches in their first decade (ideally in 3-5 years) Will remain connected and accountable to The United Methodist Church For additional information about this report, please contact Rev. Candace M. Lewis (clewis@gbod.org) or Rev. Douglas Ruffle (druffle@gbod.org). Page 6