At the May session of the Dare to Share Jesus 2000 Florida Annual Conference Event 10 new congregations were recognized for having begun in the previous 12 months. These new congregations included five fast-start congregations that are expected to be self-sustaining in three years and five mission congregations. They are the most new congregations that have been started in one conference year since the early 1960s.

It was also announced at the conference event that the General Board of Global Ministries (GBGM) agreed to partner with Florida in launching the Inner City Ministries’ Initiative in Miami. This million-dollar, three-year project will establish faith communities/house churches in Miami similar to efforts of the early Methodists in 18th century England. A check in the amount of $665,000 was received from GBGM Dec. 19 and deposited. Florida Conference Church Development funds will be added to this major evangelistic effort.

Last year also saw four of our new church starts become self-supporting, chartered churches. They include Pine Ridge Fellowship United Methodist Church in Deltona (DeLand District), which chartered May 21; Community of Hope United Methodist Church in Royal Palm Beach (West Palm Beach District), which chartered Sept. 13; Harvest United Methodist Church in Bradenton (Sarasota District), which chartered Oct. 21; and Community of Faith United Methodist Church in the Four Corners area on U.S. 27 (Leesburg District), which chartered Nov. 5. These newly organized churches comprise a total of 1,000 new members, a majority of whom came by profession of faith.

The Jacksonville District was especially active in church development last year. It launched a new church in northeast St. John’s County in the Jullington Creek area and relocated Good Shepherd United Methodist Church to Crystal Spring, treating it as a new church start. The district also supported First United Methodist Church, Jacksonville Beach, in creating a satellite congregation in Ponte Vedra.

The support of the 340,000 plus Florida United Methodists for church development is making this great evangelistic outreach possible. Thank you.