From the desk of Supt. Mitch Pierce
August 2009
Someone asked me the other day, "What do you always say the purpose of the Conference is?" I responded, "Do you mean, 'Helping the local church to thrive?' Yes, they said."
You have heard me say:
- A Conference does not exist for itself but to serve the local church which is the primary unit of mission and ministry.
- Everything the Conference does should be focused on making local congregations healthy, strong and effective.
- The purpose of an Annual Conference is to grow healthy churches and to plant new reproducing congregations.
- A Conference exists to provide connection for churches within the region and to create an environment that supports and equips the local church to fulfill the mission of the Free Methodist Church.
- By focusing on our common mission and initiatives we can stand together in mission, movement, and change.
- With our focus on evangelism, discipleship, and life transformation, we can be a shared region of healthy, growing, reproducing congregations.
- A Conference provides mission direction; appoints godly, competent pastors; offers skill development to train, coach, and mentor leaders; and shares resources that serve the vision and mission of the FMC.
The NERegion Team is trying to live out that purpose. Randy is preparing a couple of stewardship seminars and Treasurers Training events, developing an Administrator's Network, and working on a partnership with Percepts Ministries. Andy is offering two Coaching Networks, preparing monthly District Leaders equipping lessons in the 8 church systems, guiding the development of an all-region assessment system, and working with some project churches. Lisa is doing some follow-up on Annual Conference Round Table inputs, planning a couple of video promotions, and improving the Keystone Loan Fund system. Judy is keeping up with the ongoing communications and administration, working on the pension program & change of status, and planning for Overflow/Annual Conference 2010. Judy and Justin are upgrading and re-designing the NER website. Manda is catching up on the filing system and developing the Ministry Tracking System. Ellen is maintaining her bookkeeping responsibilities with Genesis and beginning bookkeeping tasks for Keystone (operations & insurance funds). And me, I am recruiting new pastors, assisting churches in transition, guiding pastors through some tough times, planning for 2010, and working on the pension system. If this sounds like a ton of work, it is! We do these things because we believe it will help local churches. And we want to see you thrive!
