Description

This is the story of the Ohio Conference's ten-year effort to forge a fresh leadership paradigm. It is a story of a robust and respectful collaboration between Conference leaders, parish pastors, and congregational leaders. It is a story of intentional design, intended outcomes, and unintended consequences.

This transformational journey was shaped with a commitment to the primacy of a Christ-centered, grace-oriented foundation to life and ministry together as a community. The vision is for churches to become:

• Biblically faithful - respecting the wisdom and values of our heritage, and anticipating Jesus' return
• Spiritually mature - centered on the Gospel, and exhibiting the fruits of God's Spirit
• Relationally wholesome - celebrating both its unity of faith and purpose, and its diversity of people, thought, expression, and understandings
• Missionally engaged - effectively serving communities, telling the story of Jesus in fresh ways, and serving as a transforming and redemptive presence
• Organizationally empowered - congregations discerning and pursuing God's specific purpose for their life and mission
• Socially responsible - promoting justice, peace, reconciliation, and creation-care

Paperback. 54 pages. Copyright 2012.