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Office asks approval of categories, characteristics
Members of the Florida Conference's 744 churches and missions will soon have a consistent way to define what makes a church healthy and categorize their own church's health, according to the Rev. Kendall Taylor. The five categories of church health and eight characteristics of healthy churches must first be approved by delegates to the Florida Annual Conference Event May 27-31 in Lakeland.
Taylor, director of the Florida Conference's Office of Congregational Transformation, said the five categories are beginning, transforming, reproducing, maintaining and dying. The eight characteristics, found in the Natural Church Development material published by Church Smart Resources, are empowered leadership, gift-oriented ministry, passionate spirituality, functional structures, inspiring worship, holistic small groups, need-oriented evangelism and missions, and loving relationships.
Taylor says categorizing churches will benefit both the church and the bishop and cabinet. "It will help congregations think about where they are…and if they don't like where they are, it might spur them to make changes," he said. "It gives the district superintendent another handle on where congregations are and what they need."
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New plans move Heritage Center to Leesburg
The proposed Florida Conference Heritage Center will be built at the Life Enrichment Center in Leesburg instead of the Florida Conference Center in Lakeland if delegates to the 2003 Florida Annual Conference Event approve a resolution that is a "major departure" from the original plans, according to the Rev. Ivan Corbin.
Corbin is chairman of the Florida Conference's Commission on Archives and History and pastor at Community United Methodist Church in Fruitland Park.
The resolution, which must be endorsed by the Commission on Archives and History, CF&A and the trustees, lays out an anticipated budget of $890,000 to build and furnish the center and provide for five years of operating costs and two years of part-time staff. The money is to come from Heritage Center fund-raising efforts. It also sets a deadline of Dec. 31, 2004 for funding to be completed, or the annual conference will have to re-examine and reauthorize the project.
"We want to make sure this [Heritage Center] happens and…see it operate on its own without adding to the connectional giving askings," Corbin said. "We also want to do this without requesting a loan of any kind.".
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Bishop appoints new superintendent
Florida Bishop Timothy W. Whitaker announced this month the appointment of the Rev. Richard W. Neal as superintendent of the Jacksonville District effective June 1. Neal succeeds the Rev. Thomas L. Shafer.
"The Rev. Rick Neal has demonstrated the integrity, faithfulness and competence that will enable him to serve effectively as the new superintendent of the Jacksonville District," Whitaker said in a message to the Florida Conference. "…he brings to the cabinet an ability to reflect theologically upon the current life and mission of the church in the world.".
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BRANDON - More than 250 Florida Conference Hispanics broke the traditional Lenten fast with a celebration and
dinner last month during their annual Lenten Spiritual Retreat at the Hispanic Mission at First United Methodist Church,
Brandon.
Nine Hispanic United Methodist churches participated in the celebration, which featured a workshop on
Congregational Transformation. During that session participants were encouraged to bring new souls to Jesus. The day-long
event also featured a worship and communion service.
"It is the moment for the Hispanics to meet as a community, come away from the larger community and strengthen our
connection," said the Rev. Cruz Edwin Santos, conference director of Hispanic Ministries. "We are so dispersed in the north
and central parts of the conference. It is an opportunity for us to unite, despite the distances among us."
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Small church finds blessing in God's vision
Mt. Sinai United Methodist Church in Hallandale is a 22-member church with a one-room building. But despite its small size, the church is building a significant ministry to and with its community.
The church is renting a building across the street that will be used as an outreach center for community children and renovating a van it recently purchased so members can transport children to and from the center.
"We can afford it because we're committed," said Tia Teague, a member of the church and leader of the church's program activities. "If God wants you to do it, he'll provide a way. We're just listening to what God wants us to do and doing it."
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First Haitian church charters in Ft. Pierce
Two years ago, the Ft. Pierce Haitian Mission was about to close. But last Feb. 9 it became the Florida Conference's first Haitian United Methodist Church, with more than 1,000 people gathered at the church to celebrate its chartering.
The former mission is now called Ft. Pierce Haitian United Methodist Church, with 180 members and an average of more than 360 people in worship each week. It has completed a restoration of its building and is actively ministering to its community, according to the Rev. Mont Duncan, director of the Florida Conference's office of New Church Development.
The Rev. Joanes Martin, the church's pastor, hopes what his congregation has accomplished will serve as an example for the other 12 Haitian missions in the conference.
"You can't wait for people to give to you," he said. "You have to do it on your own. I hope this is a signal to the other Haitian missions that you can become a church if you take responsibility…We can't wait for the conference to do things for us. No. We can do it."
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