Recently I learned about a group of church developers who are wrestling on a deep level with the issues of congregational transformation. Interestingly, they named themselves the Route 122 Group. The group name is a reference to Paragraph 122 in The Book of Discipline of the UMC 2010 (pg. 88). It reads:
¶ 122. The Process for Carrying Out Our Mission—We make disciples as we:
- proclaim the gospel, seek, welcome and gather persons into the body of Christ;
- lead persons to commit their lives to God through baptism by water and the spirit and profession of faith in Jesus Christ;
- nurture persons in Christian living through worship, the sacraments, spiritual disciplines, and other means of grace, such as Wesley’s Christian conferencing;
- send persons into the world to live lovingly and justly as servants of Christ by healing the sick, feeding the hungry, caring for the stranger, freeing the oppressed, being and becoming a compassionate, caring presence, and working to develop social structures that are consistent with the gospel; and
- continue the mission of seeking, welcoming and gathering persons into the community of the body of Christ.
- Focus on Transforming Grace of Jesus Christ.
- Apostolic Leadership
- Conference alignment on missional focus
- Continuous lay and clergy learning and collaboration
- Independent assessment of congregation’s strengths, weaknesses and opportunities including relationship with the mission field
- Ongoing coaching for missional performance
- Accountable action plan
- Openness to the leading of the Holy Spirit