Xix. Agency Reports
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NORTH TEXAS CONFERENCE JOURNAL — 2019 353 XIX. AGENCY REPORTS CONFERENCE REPORTS New Faces New Spaces ...........................................................................................................................355 Center for Church Development ..............................................................................................................356 Creating in Existing Congregations Creating New Churches Creating in the Black Church/Black Church Initiative Creating in the Latino Church Creating in the Korean Church Center for Leadership Development ........................................................................................................360 Wesleyan Formation Leadership Development Vocational Discernment Professional Development Connectional Life Board of Ministry Extension Minister Compensation Center for Missional Outreach .................................................................................................................370 One+One Church/School Partnerships Zip Code Connection to “Ministry With” Racial Injustice Immigration Advocacy Hurricane Harvey Recovery United Methodist Mission in Honduras Partnership Board of Church and Society Board of Global Ministries Early Response Team (ERT) Core Leadership Team .............................................................................................................................378 Center for Connectional Resources .........................................................................................................379 Commission on Church Archives and History Board of Trustees Board of Pension and Health Benefits Council on Finance and Administration, Treasurer’s Report .............................................................383 Financial Statements, Auditor’s Report, Notes ..................................................................................386 CONNECTIONAL REPORTS Africa University .....................................................................................................................................413 Boston University School of Theology ....................................................................................................414 C.C. Young Senior Living ........................................................................................................................415 Dallas Bethlehem Center .........................................................................................................................417 354 NORTH TEXAS CONFERENCE JOURNAL — 2019 Drew University Theological School .......................................................................................................417 General Board of Higher Education and Ministry ...................................................................................418 Golden Cross Methodist Health System Foundation. ..............................................................................418 Methodist Children’s Home .....................................................................................................................420 Perkins School of Theology .....................................................................................................................422 Providence Place ......................................................................................................................................423 Saint Paul School of Theology ................................................................................................................424 Southern Methodist University ................................................................................................................426 Southwestern University ..........................................................................................................................429 Texas Methodist Foundation ....................................................................................................................431 Texas United Methodist College Association ..........................................................................................432 United Theological Seminary ..................................................................................................................433 Wesley Village Retirement Community...................................................................................................434 Wesley-Rankin Community Center .........................................................................................................435 NORTH TEXAS CONFERENCE JOURNAL — 2019 355 2019 NTC CONFERENCE REPORTS NEW FACES NEW SPACES Launched at Annual Conference 2018 by the Center Directors with full support from the Bishop and Extended Cabinet, New Faces New Spaces (NFNS) is the chief missional strategy of the North Texas Conference. This strategy is a catalyst for creativity, inspiring and equipping both clergy and laity from across the North Texas Conference to reach new people and gather them in new forms of disciple-making community. The vision of NFNS is summed up in three words: every church planting. In other words, this is something that every local church – no matter how large or how small – is capable of doing. What is a New Space? A New Space meets four simple criteria: 1) Gathers new faces: A New Space does not merely bring together already “churched” people in a new way. By design, it aims to give unchurched and dechurched people a fresh experience of Christian community. Without new faces, it’s not a New Space. 2) Meets regularly: Regularly could be weekly. It could be monthly. It could be something in between. A New Space could “meet” regularly online. A one-time outreach event, however, is not a New Space. Without regular meetings, it’s not a New Space. 3) Relates to a UMC entity: Most New Spaces will break the mold of typical forms of church. But, a New Space is still a part of the Body of Christ. So, every New Space will have a supportive connection to a local church, a campus ministry, or some other United Methodist entity. The point of the connection is not to funnel new members to the local church and feed the institution; it’s for the institution to support the New Space. 4) Forms disciples: There are lots of ways to define a disciple. For NFNS, a disciple is a person who follows in the Way of Jesus. So, a New Space should help people follow in the Way of Jesus. Some New Spaces will do so by focusing on acts of service; some won’t. Some will utilize hymns and traditional liturgy; some won’t. The way disciples are formed will vary based on the context. But, without discipleship, it’s not a New Space. In the Fall, 2018, and Spring, 2019, in an effort to continue to cast the vision of New Faces New Spaces and to equip local church leaders to begin dreaming and scheming about New Space for their contexts, the Center Directors led four Vision Days – one in each district. In addition, the Center Directors preached and taught about NFNS in various local churches and at January District Training events. To further equip local church teams for the launch of their New Spaces, the first Pioneer Retreat took place in February, 2019, at First UMC Plano. A part of the New Faces New Spaces missional strategy is financial support from the North Texas Conference. A total of $200,000 has been set aside for microgrants in 2018, 2019, and 2020 to seed 200 New Spaces. To date, 10 local churches representing all four distrwicts have applied for and been granted a microgrant. They are as follows: First UMC Jacksboro, Christ’s Foundry UM Mission, First UMC Mabank, Union, First UMC Allen, Archer City UMC, Lakewood UMC, Arapaho UMC, Grace UMC Sherman and Kirkwood UMC. There is a lot of grant money on the table, waiting to be a catalyst for your local church’s missional creativity! At the end of 2018, just six months after the Annual Conference launch, local churches were given the opportunity to share about their NFNS work through new questions added to the end-of-year statistical report. These early results were incredibly encouraging and indicate that the NFNS missional strategy is getting traction. Eighty-eight different local churches reported launching a grand total of 155 New Spaces! Since receiving this data, Liliana Peña Rangel has embraced the task of following up with these local churches and learning more about these New Spaces. With her help, the Center Directors hope to uncover and celebrate the best examples of New Spaces in North Texas, look for opportunities for further investment and support, create a feedback loop of learnings about NFNS for the benefit of the entire North Texas Conference, connect NFNS pioneers who are serving in similar contexts or are creating New Spaces for similar affinity groups with one another for mutual learning and support, 356 NORTH TEXAS CONFERENCE JOURNAL — 2019 and identify people – clergy and laity – with clear gifts for this NFNS work and begin deploying them as resource people and coaches. This represents the next phase of the North Texas Conference’s support and leadership for the NFNS strategy. For more information about New Faces New Spaces grants, equipping events, or other means of conference support, go to ntcumc.org/new-faces or contact Rev. Andy Lewis ([email protected]) or Liliana Peña Rangel (liliana@ ntcumc.org). CENTER FOR CHURCH DEVELOPMENT CREATE In 2018, The Center for New Church Development and Congregational Transformation officially changed its name to the Center for Church Development. The name “Church Development”