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DISCIPLESHIP: VISION AND VALUES Revised November , 2024 Discipleship Committee West Market Street United Methodist Church “The mission of West Market United Methodist Church is to glorify God as we make, nurture and send forth disciples of Jesus Christ.” Introduction On March 27, 2024, a newly formed Discipleship Committee convened to begin an intentional conversation about discipleship at West Market Street United Methodist Church. Bearing in mind that we worship a creative and innovative God, and that we live in a season of change, the committee agreed that a conversation about discipleship should not only be intentional, but if we are to bear effective witness to a liberating and life-giving tradition, it ought also be an ongoing, church-wide conversation. In order to start the centralization of discipleship, both through word and deed, this group has worked diligently to first think hard about who we are, even where we are, and then, while always attempting to remain open to divine spiritual disruption, they have worked hard to discern what making and nurturing disciples might look like and how we can realize that purpose today. In June 2024, the Committee completed an initial draft of a “living discipleship document,” articulating an inward-facing, unified vision for discipleship as well as a statement of values for cultivating a holy and holistic culture of discipleship. The initial Discipleship Document was submitted to Church Council leadership for review and comment. To ensure consistency it was also shared with the Tigermoth group, the external consultants who were working concurrently with our church leadership to help our church craft our story in a way that is more discoverable, shareable and memorable for those outside the church. After receiving very helpful and informative comments from Church Council leadership on the Discipleship Document, the Committee amended both the Vision and the Values Statements to incorporate their thoughtful and positive feedback. The document was then distributed to the larger faith community and on September 4, 2024, at the first of three Rise Up! sessions, an open conversation that focused on the visioning work of the Discipleship Committee was held; the subsequent session focused on the work of Tigermoth, and the final session focused on the future of our church. The current version of the Discipleship Document reflects the wisdom gained through these conversations. The Discipleship Committee humbly presents and moves

for adoption this version of the Discipleship Document for Church Council’s consideration; if adopted, the Document will be published on the Church website and distributed to the “discipling committees,” those directly responsible for making, nurturing and sending forth disciples. Representatives of the Discipleship Committee will also be available to meet with representatives of each discipling committee to discuss strategies for using the Vision and Values Statements. As a preliminary reminder, we would like to clarify again that these statements are living vessels that will be revised and revisited as we grow in community together. The statements are internal tools to guide the existing and many discipling committees already doing the good work of discipleship formation at West Market Street United Methodist Church. Rather than short, memorable branding or out-ward facing statements, we hope that the Vision and Values Statements will centralize a discipleship culture within our membership, naming the context and connection upon which the discipling committees can draw to establish goals, e.g., the direction each area of ministry will take, the objectives of each area, and the specific steps each committee will adopt in order to reach its goals. The Vision and even more the Values Statement are intentionally crafted as compelling long form content that names and guides our approach, distinguishes our engagement and execution, and curates our imagination. In other words, our Vision and Values Statements were crafted to speak to what we believe, and were revised and amended to be descriptive enough to align and inspire. The Discipleship Document: Centralizing a Discipleship Culture Process: The Discipleship Committee began its work by reviewing our church’s own attendance data which suggests that in-person engagement in religious services, and other programming, such as Sunday School has declined. National data, e.g. surveys by the Pew Research Center also suggest that the share of U.S. adults who attend religious services at least once a month is down since 2019, and one-in-five respondents reported attending church less often than they did before the pandemic. Others report that how they participate has shifted, e.g., taking part virtually or in different settings.[1] Therefore, the committee adopted this premise: To glorify God and bear witness to God’s own creativity and innovation, we may also need to be willing to engage in a delicate dance between innovation and tradition as we make, nurture and send forth disciples. Indeed, to be intentionally engaged in making disciples today, the committee

recognized a need to be creative, if not disruptive, in our thinking about how we are identifying and nurturing both continuing and emerging needs, not only of one another, but of our larger community. In other words, in the midst of this season of change, we challenged ourselves to ask anew these discipling questions: how effectively are we rising up to meet the needs of those seeking faith? How effectively are we rising up to nurture those who want to grow in faith? How effectively are we rising up to re-engage or re-energize members of our church who have not been attending church or who are not connected to a ministry of the church? How effectively are we rising up to empower those who would embody their faith through service? And finally, how effectively are we rising up to equip one another to offer invitations to faith and community? Defining key tasks and deliverables: Recognizing the sweeping nature of discipling in the life of a church family, the committee engaged (and continues to engage) in conversation around definitions and boundaries with regard to its role and its relationship to different ministry areas. Discipleship formation, making, nurturing and sending forth disciples, encompasses almost everything we do as a church, certainly it takes place along multiple existing sites of engagement, including Worship, Missional Engagement, Faith and Formation, Children and Family Ministries, Youth Ministry, Communal Care, and Care for Creation, to name a few. The Discipleship Committee agreed that our goals are not to disrupt the good work of the committees already engaged in these sites of discipleship formation; rather, we would partner with these committees to draft a unified Vision Statement and Values Statement that not only articulates the community we aspire to be, but also serve as the foundations for broader strategic planning. Ultimately we hope these statements and language will be inspirational, helping us rise up to glorify God through cultivating and communicating a holy and holistic culture of discipleship at West Market Street UMC, a culture where the entire community intentionally discipling each other is the norm. Objectives: ● Craft an internal document centralizing Discipleship and giving us the language to establish alignment across multiple sites of ministry, both existing sites and new (Young Adult Ministries, Middle-Age Adult Ministries) or renewed site (e.g., Older Adult Ministries);

● Craft an internal document that will help us establish priorities and make measurable progress toward specific goals; ● Craft an internal document that communicates our values and our commitment to achieving our goals; ● Craft an internal document that will inspire and motivate our staff and membership; and ● Craft an internal document that will attract and engage passionate people. VISION STATEMENT If a mission statement describes why an organization exists and why it does what it does, what does a vision statement do? A vision statement should express our aspirations; it should communicate where our church is going next and serve as an actionable map toward success. Most importantly, it must speak to our beliefs and commitments; only then will we be able to make decisions and take actions that reflect our vision. The critical questions that informed the drafting of the vision statement were: ● What do we want this church to look like in 5, or 10 years? ● What impact do we want our church to have on our neighbors, our city, or the world? ● In what way will our church ultimately interact with our members, our visitors, our neighbors? ● What will the culture of our church look like, how will that play out in our life as a congregation? In our individual lives? West Market Street United Methodist Church Vision Statement “Our goal is to be a Christ-formed church creating beloved community from the heart of downtown Greensboro. We strive to be a place where all persons will find belonging, hope, joy, and transformation of life by embodying God’s love for the world through ministries of justice, mercy, and reconciliation.” What is beloved community? (Rev. Jeremy Benton)

All people are beloved. No exceptions. Because we believe all people carry God’s breath in their lungs, all people also carry God’s love as the beloved of God. It is a life-long journey to accept and respond to God’s love spoken over us: you and I are God’s beloved. Our world is filled with harmful and confusing messages about who we are and who we should be. Contrary to what the world says, we are not what we do, we are not what we have, and we are not what others say of us. As God’s beloved, we are called to create communities of mercy and justice that are shaped primarily by shared belovedness that is grounded in grace. By grace, we are what God has done in Jesus, what God has given us in Jesus, and what God says of us: we are beloved. As the beloved of God, we are striving to create beloved community. Beloved community is the fulfillment of God’s desire for a world where all have enough, all belong, all are treated justly, and all have life abundantly. Beloved community grows out of a personal awareness of one’s own belovedness and a desire to live as beloved people in the world. As the beloved we are called to be-love. We admit we need God’s help to create beloved community and joyfully receive that help in Jesus Christ. Living as the beloved means being called, blessed, broken and given. At Jesus’ baptism, Jesus heard the voice of God calling love over him as Jesus heard God’s voice, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”[2] Jesus was called. Throughout Jesus’ early ministry, he experienced the blessing and strength of that calling and sought to teach others about God’s blessing - even dedicating an entire sermon to the topic![3] Jesus was blessed. Yet, Jesus knew and experienced the brokenness of the world and the brokenness of his own humanness. Immediately following his baptism, he was tested in the wilderness and faced his own brokenness.[4] Jesus was broken. Having heard his calling, he embraced it as blessing, and faced his brokenness, Jesus gave his life for the life of all people and was raised from the dead.[5] Jesus was given. As the beloved of God, Jesus was called, blessed, broken and given. As the beloved of God, we too are called, blessed, broken, and given. Like Jesus, God is inviting us to join in the work of creating beloved community.

VALUES STATEMENT If a mission statement describes why we exist and why we do what we do, and if a vision statement expresses our aspirations, what does a values statement do? A values statement articulates the core values that guide our actions, it points to what we stand for and lays out a blueprint for a discipling culture. The critical questions that informed the drafting of the Values statement were: ● What are our fundamental values? What values guide our actions? ● What concepts and beliefs inform and distinguish our Wesleyan tradition? What values and commitments distinguish West Market Street UMC in particular, both historically and now? ● Do our values statements align with both our mission and our vision, and vice versa? As we drafted the below proposed Values Statement, we kept in mind the developments at the General Conference of the United Methodist Church held April 23 - May 3, 2024 in Charlotte, North Carolina, and we affirm West Market Street UMC’s commitment to the United Methodist Social Principles as revised during the 2024 General Conference. West Market Street United Methodist Church Values Statement ● Valuing the Dignity of All People: We are a Christ-formed Church. Following the example of Christ, we seek to live holy lives, sharing the love and grace of Jesus Christ with all persons. As followers of Christ, we respect the dignity of all people and believe all people are of sacred worth. Valuing all of God’s beloved, we welcome those persons previously excluded from the church and its traditions based on gender, race, sexual orientation, or any other identifiers. ● Engaging All Believers from the Heart of Our City: We value the ministry of all believers. We are a hands-on congregation where everyone has a role in ministry within the church, to the community and to the world. We are committed to engaging all members of

our church family in a ministry of the church that reaches out and serves our downtown neighbors. ● Ever-Learning in Faith: We value maturation and growth in faith and understanding. Recognizing that there is always more to learn, we humbly seek God’s guidance as we study scripture and pray for discernment across all life-stages, striving to be both prophetic and pastoral. We believe it is important to remain open and teachable and ever aware of our human limitations as we seek a deeper understanding of God, ourselves, and our faith. ● Building a Community of Adults Across Life Stages: We value cross-generational ministry experiences and commit to creating more opportunities for interaction, engagement, and discipleship between and across generations. We believe that we all have much to learn from and much to offer our sisters and brothers who are in different seasons of life. At the same time, we recognize the benefit of age-specific ministries focused on the changing realities we face as young adults, middle-aged adults, and older adults and are committed to serving everyone in personal and powerful ways. We commit to embracing young adults and college students, helping them experience and practice belonging as they become who they are called to be, and behold the presence of God’s grace in all that they do. We commit to embracing middle-aged adults, helping them develop a deeper relationship with God as they seek relationships with their peers and they experience the joys and challenges of transition. We value and honor the experience, wisdom and gifts of older adults and will provide opportunities for connection and service while also providing fellowship, spiritual support and practical help. As we build a community of adults in ministry to one another, we will be intentional about making decisions that will faithfully consider how to leverage “age and stage” while maximizing opportunities to learn, love, and support one another together in beloved community. ● Treasuring and Respecting Youth and Children: We value the ministry of our children and young people, our present-day disciples, who are called to participate fully in the life of the congregation. We strive to create a safe, welcoming environment where they encounter God, point us to God, and lead us, often with gifts that draw all to deeper faithfulness. We are committed to providing a hospitable place for them and their families, one that welcomes their culture, their presence, and invites them to both receive and extend the full ministry of West Market Street UMC. ● Honoring Our Wesleyan Tradition: We are a Spirit-led community guided by Wesley’s belief that “the living core of the Christian faith is revealed in Scripture, illumined by tradition, vivified in personal experience and confirmed by reason.” We believe that

grace is the root and central theme of scripture, and that it is the primary lens through which we are to engage in discernment. Discernment is not to be done in isolation, but in community. It includes study of Scripture, listening ears, prayerful dialogue, understanding hearts, patient spirits, and willingness to put aside personal agendas for the sake of the good of the body, so that we may say 'It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us.' (Acts 15). Discernment is not a substitute for action, nor is it a vehicle for other agendas. Discernment is a means of seeking God’s way and will for God’s people. ● Prioritizing People: We are a covenant community, sharing an identity with Christ through the waters of our baptism; because of God’s faithfulness, we are beloved. Therefore, we rightly approach discernment with ears in love with hearing, eyes in love with seeing, and hearts and minds in love with understanding. As we prayerfully consider new approaches and expressions of ministry, we will reflect Wesley’s teaching among early Methodists: while remaining rooted in the tenets of our faith, we will practice liberty and charity in exploring fresh expressions of our mission, seeking new, impactful ways to glorify God as we make, nurture and send forth disciples of Jesus Christ. As we seek to discern how to follow the commandment of Christ to go forth and make disciples, we will prioritize people over protocol. ● Committing to Beloved Community: Community and accountability are essential for spiritual formation. We are committed to faithfully participating in the life and ministries of a community shaped by shared belovedness and grounded in God’s grace; we are called to share in God’s covenant through our prayers, our presence, our gifts, our service, and our witness. We are committed moreover, to helping people find and follow Jesus by being a place to belong. We are committed to shaping the heart of our community by creating a culture of love through our own relationships with Christ, our relationships with other people, and our relationships with all of God’s creation; in other words, we are committed to beloved community in the broadest sense. We are willing to take risks for the sake of embodying beloved community. ● Creating and Using Our Sacred Space for All: West Market Street UMC has a rich tradition of embracing the power of the sacred space of our sanctuary and chapel, as it is enhanced with music and art, to connect us to God. We believe that we can extend that throughout our downtown campus to provide safety and comfort in a world that can threaten and sadden us. We are committed to recognizing the restorative value of offering meditative space when we need solitude and rest. We are also committed to creating community space where we and our neighbors gather regularly and easily with joy and celebration. We are

dedicated to using our space for self-expression, service, and broad active participation that reinforces the reality that we are all part of a beloved community. We believe that we can step out in faith to create a campus that welcomes all, that breaks down social silos, and that evokes the best in us, producing a church home that touches in as many ways as we can imagine what can only be defined as sacred. Strategies for Using Vision and Values Statements Vision and Values Statements should inform our conversations daily. If used consistently, these statements shape our dispositions and become the ethical framework of everything we do. These statements can be leveraged to not only communicate who we are, but to guide our church both as a community and as individuals as we work to embody our faith and to make progress toward our common goals. Referencing the language regularly in our internal as well as external communications is an important step in building engagement, culture and identity. The Values Statement in particular is a set of norms that can guide our leaders in addressing goals, problems, and conflicts. It is important, moreover, that our members and neighbors see our values reflected in our words and actions. Writing and adopting Vision and Values Statements is not just a box-ticking exercise; it is something that helps every reader, every staff member, every member and every potential member, every neighbor and every community member, to understand what we do and what we believe and why it is important. Respectfully submitted for your consideration, The Discipleship Committee Danette Cooper Howard Covington Pat Cox Tim Fontaine Blake Huffman Rae Winstead Robert Winstead Carole Stoneking, Chair Staff Liaisons: Otto Harris, Jeremy Benton, Angela Roberson [1] “How the Pandemic Has Affected Attendance at U.S. Religious Services”, https://pewrsr.ch/3ntmrCh

[2] Mark 1:11, New Revised Standard Version, updated version. [3] Luke 6:20-23. [4] Mark 1:12. [5] Matthew 26-28.