Bishop's Corner
"Congregational Transformation"
By Bishop Timothy W. Whitaker
 During the
2002 Florida Annual Conference Event there will be serious consideration
of the need of many congregations to be transformed in order to
accomplish the mission of the church to make disciples of Jesus Christ
in a changing society.
There are changes taking place in American
society that directly affect the self-understanding of congregations.
We are living in an increasingly secularized and pluralistic society.
It is a different society than the one that existed when many
congregations were established. In the past there was a widespread
assumption that American society was a Christian culture, that
congregations were central to the social life of the community and
that responsible citizens should belong to a congregation to support
the “religious” center of the culture. Congregations that were
established in this bygone society knew who they were and what their
role should be. Now that this society has been supplanted by a
different society in which the old assumptions no longer hold,
existing congregations have to learn to understand themselves as
missionary congregations in a missionary context. They need to realize
they are called to be an alternative, distinctive community that
witnesses to the reign of God in the world and invites and forms
persons to be disciples of Jesus Christ.
During the annual conference event we shall
spend an afternoon holding conference with one another about the
mission of the church in contemporary society. Dr. Howard Snyder of
Asbury Theological Seminary will offer a theological reflection upon
the mission of the church today. A panel of leaders in The United
Methodist Church in Florida will share their experiences in
congregations that have been transformed to be in mission to society
today. There will also be some opportunity for dialogue with members
of the annual conference.
There will also be a specific proposal presented
to the annual conference to establish an Office of Congregational
Transformation. If approved, this office would take over the work of
“congregational revitalization” from the present Office of New
Church Development and Church Redevelopment. New Church Development
would be free to concentrate solely on the creation of new missions
and congregations, and Congregational Transformation would implement a
strategy to lead congregations into a new life as missionary
congregations in a missionary context. This proposal has been
developed by a task group formed by Operation Evangelization under the
Rev. Dr. Roger Swanson. The chair of this task group is the Rev. Rick
Neal.
To be effective in making disciples of Christ we
who are United Methodists in Florida not only need to create new
congregations, but we also need to re-create existing congregations.
At our annual conference event we shall reflect upon the larger
theological vision and also vote on a particular proposal as a means
of realizing this vision in our connection.
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