Vital Congregations Initiative
At the Council of Bishops meeting this week, the bishops heard a report from the Vital Congregations Initiative. Vital Congregations is an initiative of the bishops to identify the most vital congregations in Methodism, to publically share data on the indicators of vitality. When Bishop Schol announced the initial results of this program, I was very pleased to find that the Texas Annual Conference ranked in the top 10 with a vitality percentage of 19.77% (national average is 14.76%). Interestingly, six of the top ten conferences use conference-wide metrics. I want to share with you Bishop Schol's letter.
Janice Riggle Huie
Dear Bishop Huie,
The leadership of the Call to Action Vital Congregations Initiative thanks God for the laity, clergy, conference leadership and you for the important ministry you have demonstrated to grow vital congregations. The Texas Conference is in the top 10 conferences in the United States for the highest percentage of vital congregations.
Vital congregations are congregations that grow over time, engage more of their people in ministry, and are engaged in their community. This is the Wesleyan movement in action and the Texas Conference is a leader in this movement.
We recognize this accomplishment does not come easy, but is due to the commitment, sacrifice and hard work of the congregations and conference leadership. The vital congregations team would like to learn from your conference so that we can help all of our conferences excel in growing vital congregations.
Grace and Peace,
John R. Schol, Bishop
Vital Congregations Team Leader
The United Methodist Church
The Washington Area
Baltimore-Washington Conference