Arriving at boldly, joyfully, courageously

Dear Minooka UMC Found Family,

In my letter here last week, I shared our denomination’s new vision statement:

The United Methodist Church forms disciples of Jesus Christ who, empowered by the Holy Spirit, love boldly, serve joyfully, and lead courageously in local communities and worldwide connections.

Let’s explore that a bit further. How did we land on that statement?

Beginning in 2021, the Council of Bishops (Wait, what’s that? Click here) together with the Connectional Table (A physical place to sit for breakfast? No. Then what is it? Click here) journeyed together in prayerful collaboration, seeking God’s wisdom and discerning a hope-filled vision for an unfolding era in The United Methodist Church.

“Sankofa”—a West African concept of remembering where we’ve come from in order to move forward—guided the work. As we discerned the new thing God is doing in this unfolding season, we listened. We revisited our missional commitments. We considered recent decisions made by the General Conference. And we gathered insights and hopes from United Methodists around the world.  

The Scriptures reveal God’s dream for creation: A world where every person encounters the transformative grace of Jesus Christ, where communities flourish, and where all creation is made whole. Our vision reflects both who we already are and God’s dream for us.

Here’s a short video on this new vision statement:

For more links about the statement than you can shake a stick at, click here.

So, what do you think of the new vision statement?

Plotting Goodness, 

Pastor Dave