There are dozens of church planting strategies being employed by United Methodist Conferences across the country and world. In fact, this .pdf file shows the many different strategies being used to start new communities of faith: Strategies Document_08-08-11
Having said that, we do not believe each of these strategies will be equally effective in our own context in Upstate New York. And, since we can not do everything, we are choosing to focus our energy, resources and time investing in the following three strategies:
1. Parent Church (or, churches), Public-Site Approach. This strategy seeks to use the significant people and financial resources we already have in new ways. The idea is creating a vision to plant a radically new faith community in a place other than a church building, and to build the launch team out of healthy, growing disciples from our existing churches. This launch team might be made up of people from one healthy church, or from a number of churches in a region. The new faith community might gather for worship, study and ministry in a bar, a cafe, a bowling alley, a storefront, or a movie theater. The key is to meet people where they already gather, rather than trying to drag them into a church building… and to build a congregation that transforms lives and neighborhoods!
2. Missional Micro-Community Networks. Many experts tell us that the future church will look more like the house churches of the early church (and early Methodism) than anything else! Wiser people than me consistently tell us that “pew sitters are made on Sunday mornings in American churches, but disciples of Jesus are made in small groups that are engaged in prayer, meaningful conversation and mission in their local community.” The idea of missional micro-communities is just that… groups of 8-15 persons, gathering in homes or public spaces at anytime during the week, offering fellowship, prayer, spiritual accountability and growth, AND transformational (to the missionary and the community) world-changing mission in their local neighborhood. These can become “networks” when multiple small groups are developed by a single planter or team, and multiply throughout a city or region. The entire network might gather as one larger body monthly or quarterly.
3. Ethnic-Minority New Faith Communities… The demographics of many of the areas of our Conference are changing rapidly. The fastest growing church plants in the northeast are almost ALL ethnic minority churches! We will be seeking to engage gifted, multi-lingual planters from all over the world to plant churches in our midst! I hope you can see how Strategies #1 and #2 can also be employed in making these plants! The key is, these churches do not start unless we are intentional about planting them! This strategy may require us to make significant financial investments in some areas to ensure long-term growth and sustainability. There are thousands of lonely, disconnected immigrants in our midst… and if we build new congregations that are radically welcoming and give them a chance to be supported unconditionally by people facing similar challenges, they WILL come!
If you want to know more about any of these strategies, contact the Director of New Faith Communities, David Masland at dmasland@unyumc.org.