Long-Range Planning

Taking Our Church to the 21st Century

This section will have documents for our discussions on the future of Wesley UMC.

As a start of these discussions, here are Nick Strobel's notes on a workshop led by Bill Easum of Easum Bandy & Associates. Bill Easum is a nationally-recognized consultant on church growth and the future of the church. To find out more about Easum, see Easum's page at Easum Bandy & Associates. You’ll find some of his recommendations controversial but they are worth serious discussion. (In fact, if you are comfortable about everything he says, you haven’t read it carefully!) The workshop was the Fresno District Training Day on November 3rd, 2007. Laity and clergy from all over the district attended the workshop.
Easum Training Session notes (select the link to bring up a PDF)

Reading for the Future: During Lent four groups read four different books about the future of the church and then gathered together to discuss their findings on March 15th. The books were chosen for two primary reasons: short length and non-prescriptive approach.
- Group #1: Five Challenges for the Once and Future Church by Loren Meade.
  Go to group 1 notes.
- Group #2: A New Kind of Church: A Systems Approach by Dan Dick and Evelyn Burry. Go to group 2 notes
- Group #3: Rethinking the Church: A Challenge to Creative Redesign in an Age of Transition by James Emery White. Go to group 3 notes
- Group #4: The Practicing Congregation: Imagining a New Old Church by Diana Butler Bass. Go to group 4 notes

Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations

The adult Sunday morning class, the Wednesday evening class, and the Thursday morning class are reading and discussing the Robert Schnase's book "Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations".

The Sunday class meets in the Lounge of the Education Building at 9 to 10 AM. The Wednesday evening class meets in the Lounge of the Education Building from 6 to 8:30 PM. The Thursday morning class meets in the Lounge of the Education Building from 10 to 11:30 AM.

The Five Practices are:

Radical Hospitality
Passionate Worship
Intentional Faith Development
Risk-taking Mission and Service
Extravagent Generosity

"These words capture the core process by which God uses congregations to make disciples - congregations offer the gracious invitation, welcome, and hospitality of Christ so that people experience a sense of belonging; God shapes souls and changes minds through worship, creating a desire to grow closer to Christ; God's Spirit nurtures people and matures faith through learning in community; with increased spiritual maturity, people discern God's call to help others through mission and service; and God inspires people to give generously of themselves so that others can receive the grace they have known. (p.7)

These fundamental practices are so critical to a congregation's mission that failure to perform them in an exemplary way results in congregational deterioration and decline. By repeating and improving these practices, churches fulfill their mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. (p.7)"