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Beginning With The End In Mind

Last fall, the Board of Bishops conducted two regional gatherings called “Re-imagining the Church.”  One of the sessions featured all three bishops spelling out their vision for GC11.  It focuses on celebration and vision and would place delegates into four key foci groups: every person, every church, every means and every place.

Rather than spending the majority of time in policy and legislation, the bishops are calling the church to focus General Conference on missional things.  They identified areas of focus such as world poverty, church growth, reaching a whole community, urban/ethnic renewal, holiness,  the FMC reclaiming its heritage and place in the world, etc.  General Conference should be a resourcing event to bring about revival and renewal for the church.

Vision Statement for GC11:  The Whole Gospel for the Whole person in the Whole World

The gospel addresses the whole person and the whole world — the whole of humanity and cosmos — requiring engagement from the whole people of God. Anything less is not enough. Anything less is, at best, a dismal domestication of the good news, and at worst, an idolatrous distortion of the gospel.

The gospel is the good news that answers all that has gone wrong. Every person is claimed; every part of reality is targeted for reclamation and restoration. Every one of God’s people is engaged as part of God’s response to the brokenness of the world. Every arena of activity offers a potential front on which this comprehensive good news may work. The whole gospel, fully operational, will change the whole world.

With that reality firing our enthusiasm, at this seminal gathering, we resolutely call the attention of the church to disciple making in its most complete sense. Past patterns have led us to focus General Conference on process, organization, and structure; we call the church to a General Conference in 2011 that focuses on the “Wholeness of the Gospel”: It is everything for everyone, in every way, in every place.

The General Conference 2011 delegates will divide into four ministry groups that will use the “whole gospel” basis to address issues on two fronts: administrative matters and ministry initiatives. Administrative matters will be limited to matters of constitutional or national import. Each group will be charged with developing their strategic aspect of ministry and approving or generating ministry initiative proposals for the plenary sessions.

• Group One – Every Person: Empowerment of the Whole Church
  Exercising their gifting and living their calling
• Group Two – Every Church: Whole and Complete
  Living in healthy, restored community
• Group Three – Every Means: Maximized and Legitimized
  Encouraging and promoting all efforts that accomplish our mission and honor our values
• Group Four – Every Place: Engaging Community and World
  Impacting “Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth”

Read the entire vision statement from the Board of Bishops:  Download PDF

Related posts:

1. Group Two
2. Group One
3. Group Three
4. Group Four
5. Resolution 53 – Number of Bishops