Bishop Larry Goodpaster visits in the Winston Salem District

Bishop Larry Goodpaster was our guest at the Winston Salem District Clergy meeting on Tuesday. He shared some ideas with us about the state of the union of the church and new strategies to reach people outside the church. One way is through new church plants. We have between 28 and 32 spots that have been identified as areas that need new churches in our conference. Our hope is to start 7 to 10 new sites each year. Here in the Winston Salem District, we are looking forward to having a new church start come to the Children's Home soon, and we are working on a joint new church start project on the Hwy. 150 corridor with the Lexington District. Our hope is for that to become a reality sometime this year too. Part of the process of planting new churches is to have the right person to help lead each project with adequate preparation and adequate funding to set them up for success. As a conference we are looking to start some sort of funding that will become a permanent source of funding for planting new churches over time so that in 20 years down the road from now, there will be funds on hand to keep starting new churches. A great plan of sustainability. Bishop Goodpaster shared a shocking statistic with us. He said 74% of UMC buildings are located where 16% of the population lives. We as a conference are all about the mission of inviting people to follow Jesus, make disciples and transform the world.

The average age of our church is around 59. A new church is needed to reach a younger generation. New churches do new things to reach newer and younger folks. I kept thinking about the scripture about putting new wine in new skins because if you try to put new wine into an old skin, it will burst. That same truth goes a long way in thinking about making room for the next generation for our church. Those born after 1980 called the millenial generation believe in God more than their parents did at their age, but they don't believe in the church in the same way as their parents do. As a conference we are looking for new venues for the younger generation to plug into Christ. Our goal is to communicate the same good news of Christ in new and creative ways to reach the next generation.

As a church we will have to deal with change for the church to head in a new, positive direction. We pray that God will lead the way to let us hold fast to the gospel, give us the courage to change the things we can, accept the things we can't change, and lean on the Lord for the wisdom to know the difference.

You are invited to be in service on June 5 this year as a Christian with a heart for mission. Rev. Effie McClain invited the whole district to a community gathering on that day their church is hosting called Thunder on Thurmond. A block party to invite the community and this year sponsoring a health fair too.

It was great to have the bishop with us, to share his ideas, and to communicate to us once again that we have a spiritual leader. We praise the Lord for his leadership and vision for our conference.