news article
From the Advocate: Legacy funds turn vision into reality
March 1, 2016 / By the Rev. Bill Gottschalk-Fielding
Click below to read the full Advocate online.
A few years ago, while interviewing people for a Conference staff position, I asked an out-of-state candidate, “So what made you want to explore working for the Upper New York Conference?” I knew she had flown in from a much warmer climate, and I may have secretly wondered why anyone would trade a sunny beach for one of Upper New York’s crazy winters.
As it turned out, it was the “craziness” of our vision – not our weather – that attracted her.
In preparation for the interview, she had found the Plentiful Harvest proposal from the “2011 Pre-Conference Booklet” posted on our website. “I read your bold commitment to renew existing churches and plant new ones, and it really impressed me,” she said. “I’d like to work with people who are that passionate.”
She said the part that had particularly impressed her were some words from the proposal’s introduction:
United Methodists in Upper New York are alarmed by years of numerical and spiritual decline, yet hopeful that we can, with God’s help, reverse this trend as vital congregations – both new faith communities and renewed existing congregations – extend United Methodist witness by “living the Gospel of Jesus Christ and being God’s love with our neighbors in all places.” Indeed, our success or failure as an Annual Conference may be measured in terms of how fearlessly, effectively and tenaciously we undertake this challenge.
It was encouraging to hear an outsider’s praise and appreciation for the work we were doing. It also reminded me of just how bold the steps we took actually were. At our 2011 Annual Conference session, members voted to fund two new staff positions: a Director of Vital Congregations to lead our revitalization efforts and a Director of New Faith Communities to lead our church planting initiative. In doing so, the Conference enabled Upper New York to launch both the Hand to Plow congregational renewal process and make good on a goal of planting 100 new churches during the remainder of the decade.
To further support these ministries, the Conference also voted to create the “New Beginnings Fund.” This fund – made up of the net proceeds from the sale of the church buildings of discontinued congregations – enables closed churches to provide a legacy of thousands of dollars to help existing churches retool and new churches take root. Eighty percent of this fund is earmarked for new faith communities and revitalizing congregations, with the remaining 20 percent set aside for building projects at our camp and retreat ministry sites.
Since 2012, the New Beginnings Fund (NBF) has received $1,310,984 from the sale of closed churches; over the past three years, approximately $750,000 has been spent on New Faith Community planting. In addition to helping fund 27 new faith communities, the NBF has also been used for Camp & Retreat Ministries and church revitalization – including underwriting the cost of Hand to Plow and other programs aimed at equipping churches to become more fruitful disciple-making congregations. Conference members will be asked to renew the mandate, authorizing the NBF at next year’s Annual Conference session.
In a time when worship attendance and membership rolls are in decline and many churches struggle to pay bills – utility and salary, it is a very bold and faithful thing to invest the proceeds from closed churches in new places and new people. But that is exactly what we are doing as a Conference! As you will read in the other stories contained in this issue of the Advocate, we are seeing the fruit of these investments. We are living out the crazy, bold vision of reaching more and more people with the incredible love of Jesus.
But I know it took a long time to get where we are, and it will take a long time to get to where God is leading us. The challenge of renewing United Methodism in Upstate New York will probably take at least a generation. To undertake such a challenge, we will need to work – as the “Plentiful Harvest” proposal declared – “fearlessly, effectively, and tenaciously,” along with God’s help and a lot of bold and crazy faith on our part, I believe.
The Rev. Bill Gottschalk-Fielding is the Conference Director of Connectional Ministries and Executive Assistant to the Bishop.