Vision & Mission
An Ongoing Discernment
Vision, Mission, and Strategies
September 2006
Vision: All the physically and spiritually hungry people of our world feasting on God’s abundant grace at God’s table so that they experience God’s unconditional love for them, are formed in that love, and are sent to live and share that love with the individuals and institutions of our world.
Mission: The purpose of the annual conference is to form disciples of Jesus Christ by equipping its local churches for ministry and by providing a connection for ministry beyond the local church, all to the glory of God (The Book of Discipline, 2004)
Strategy One: Following Jesus as faithful and obedient servants by:
1. Extending radical hospitality by reaching beyond our fears and across every barrier to receive people of every economic level, race, nationality, age, religion, and gender into Christian community.
2. Working together with the Holy Spirit to create Christian communities in which all people find faith-forming relationships in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior which facilitate living as disciples in daily life
3. Teaching and practicing the means of grace, which include: worship of God, prayer, sacraments, searching the scriptures, fasting and/or abstinence, Christian conferencing, and acts of mercy.
4. Developing relationships with children and the poor and working hand-in-hand to eliminate poverty.
Strategy Two: Positioning The United Methodist Church of the Illinois Great Rivers Conference for effective ministry for the rest of the 21st century by
1. Planting new United Methodist congregations where people live and where they are going to live.
2. Helping existing United Methodist congregations to discover God’s dream for them and helping them make it reality.
3. Helping all congregations to know what it means to form disciples and equipping local church leaders to fulfill this primary task. (The Book of Discipline, 2004)
4. Appointing clergy, the most valuable stewardship resource of the conference, where their gifts best match ministry needs.
5. Providing congregations and pastors with tools to assess congregational health and vitality on a regular basis.
6. Reaching and transforming the lives of new generations of children, youth, and young adults.
Strategy Three: Forming Wesleyan spiritual leaders to live in Christian community by
1. Grounding spiritual leaders (laity and clergy) in the spiritual disciplines and practice of the Wesleyan means of grace.
2. Connecting spiritual leaders (laity and clergy) in a community of life-long learning and continuous growth.
3. Identifying, equipping, and empowering spiritual lay leadership to make disciples of Jesus Christ.
4. Identifying, nurturing, and affirming those who have been called by God to the licensed or ordained ministry.
5. Encouraging teams of clergy and laity to form welcoming and inclusive churches and to put in place a system to form faithful disciples living in service to others.
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Strategy Four: Connecting the Connection by
1. Helping each congregation discover the power and joy of living the Christian life in The United Methodist connection.
2. Training church leaders in our United Methodist connectional identity so they will lead their congregations in the connection.
3. Clarifying and aligning roles, responsibilities, and accountability of the boards and agencies of the Illinois Great Rivers Conference and their working relationship with each other and the cabinet, so they will work cooperatively and effectively toward our vision and mission.
4. In every charge establishing and enhancing information technology hardware and software that connects and integrates the work of the conference.
5. Inviting people of Illinois not yet a part of The United Methodist Church to know us and join us through effective use of media.
6. Creating networks within the conference where we learn from each other about the forming of Christian community and faithful disciples.
Strategy Five: Journeying to wholeness and holiness of mind, body, and spirit by
1. Practicing habits conducive to bodily health
2. Participate in transformational events that renew the mind
3. Seek covenantal relationships that nurture, challenge, and grow the spirit
4. Choosing to be peace-makers by resolving conflicts in a way that respect persons and seeks reconciliation in harmony with Matthew 18.
5. Caring for all Creation as stewards of the earth and all that dwells therein.
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