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Florida Annual Conference’s Director of New Church
Development Makes Return Visit to MS
Two years ago Rev. Dr. Mont Duncan
came to the Mississippi Annual Conference and made a commitment to
assist us with planting new church starts with a $90,000 gift from the
Florida Annual Conference over a three year period. The first
$30,000 check was presented to Rev. Embra Jackson, Administrative
Assistant to the Bishop, and to Rev. Kurt Appel, then chair of the New
Church Development Committee, in October of 2007. To date, the
Florida Annual Conference has presented the Mississippi Annual
Conference with two $30,000 checks for a total of $60,000. Rev.
Duncan returned to the Mississippi Annual Conference to present the last
$30,000 check to the Mississippi Annual Conference at the October
meeting of Bishop Ward and her cabinet.
To date, this very generous gift has assisted our
conference with the planting 10 new church starts or faith communities
since 2004.
1.
Orchard, Oxford
2.
Bellwether, Jackson
3.
The Pointe, Brandon
4.
Hope Ministries,
Greenville
5.
El Pueblo, Biloxi
6.
Anderson South,
Jackson
7.
Japanese Speaking,
Tupelo
8.
LifeBridge,
Senatobia
9.
Senatobia –
Hispanic
10.
Ramsay, Gulfport
In addition to Mont’s financial gift, we were blessed by Mont’s wife, Martha Gay Duncan, making two
presentations to our annual conference about the “Celebrate
Jesus
Ministry."
She conducted one presentation for the Revitalization Committee on
October 5th. Rev. Andy Stoddard, chair of the committee, stated "In
a time when we worry about programming costs and bottom lines, it so
encouraging to see a ministry at work building the kingdom realizing
that ANY church can do! This reminds us that we can each grow, each
seek to become more and each be faithful, seeking to be the people that
God has called us to be. This amazing ministry has produced results and
it's very exciting to think about ways that we can partner together to
grow the kingdom here in
Mississippi." Martha Gay
also made a presentation about the “Celebrate
Jesus
Ministry”
for Bishop Ward
and her cabinet on October 7th at Briarwood UM Church. Both
presentations were well received.
We are blessed that Mont and
the Florida Annual Conference as well as their Bishop saw a need that we
had in this regard and were willing and able to partner with us to
assist us in our new church start efforts. When Mont returns to present us the check this
October we have plans for him to visit some of our new church starts.
We want Mont,
his new church development committee and the Florida Annual Conference
Bishop, Timothy W. Whitaker, to know that their gift has produced much
fruit” Embra Jackson stated.
To learn more about new church starts in our
conference please contact:
Denise
Donnell
New Church Development Chair
mississippicitypastor@gmail.com
Embra Jackson
Assistant to the Resident Bishop
embra@mississippi-umc.org
POB 931 n Jackson, MS 39215
601.948.4561
Hope
Morgan Ward
Bishop in Residence
Mississippi Episcopal Area
bishop@mississippi-umc.org
POB 931 n Jackson, MS 39215
601.948.4561
dc
Visit us on
the web at
www.ms-pcdm.org
www.path1.org
Mission
Our mission is to assist the Mississippi Annual Conference in fulfilling
its mission of “making disciples
of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.”
Vision
The vision of the Mississippi Annual Conference’s Parish and Community
Ministries Servant Leadership table is rooted in Acts 2:42-47 – to seek
to become an annual conference where through our teaching, fellowship,
breaking of bread, sharing and through praising God, we participate in
God’s plan of Salvation.
Theme
“Transforming people, transforming churches and transforming
communities for the transformation of the world”
Did you know that there is a new leadership group is on the block, one
that relates not only to "congregational" development but to all types
of churches and their varied ministry settings in order to better link
them to their local communities? If you answered yes to this question,
then congratulations! If not, don't worry.
Keep reading and it will become clearer.
As a result of changes in the way our annual conference organizes
itself, the former Office of Congregational Development has been
replaced by the Parish and Community Development Ministries on the
Spiritual Leadership table (PCDM). This change aligns our conference
with the 2004 Book of Discipline:
The annual conference
shall establish
a committee on Parish and Community Development…The committee shall
include persons involved in significant type of parish and community
ministries, lay and clergy representation of rural town…urban,
small-membership churches consulting with…them in cooperative planning
and strategy and encouraging and supporting the development of new and
established congregations, etc.
(2004 Book of Discipline ¶632.5)
Neville Vanderburg was selected to serve as chairman of the PCDM. In his
new role Vanderburg states "This is a transformational effort to assist our annual conference in
attaining the vision outlined in Acts 2:42-47.
We want to ensure that through our teaching, fellowship, breaking
of bead, sharing, and worshiping God, we are truly transforming people,
transforming our churches, and transforming our communities in order to
transform the world."
PCDM is functionally organized around three broad areas of
responsibility: the Small Membership Church – chaired by Lauren Porter;
Church Revitalization – chaired by Andy Stoddard; and New Church
Development – chaired by Denise Donnell. Embra Jackson,
Administrative Assistant to the Bishop, provides staff oversight to the
PCDM and ensures their efforts are in harmony with other annual
conference activities.
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