Jesus boldly lays out a course of action that would dictate the priorities of his earthly ministry. Jesus never deviated from the direction he set in his home town synagogue as he read the words of Isaiah's prophecy concerning the Messiah's coming.

As a regional denominational organization we partner with local congregations, pastors, lay leaders, the national and world-wide Free Methodist family, and our four PNWC institutions (Northwest Urban Ministries, Seattle Pacific University, Warm Beach Camp, & Warm Beach Senior Community) to create environments that help leaders and local churches impact eternity.

God has blessed our conference with resources and we've been seen as a leader in our denominational family. But beyond this wonderful heritage and history, what is God saying today to the Pacific Northwest Conference of the Free Methodist Church? We cannot rest on past accomplishments or our sense that things seem to be going well for us as a conference family.

As local churches, as an annual conference, and as a denomination we must be a healthy biblical community of holy people, multiplying disciples, leaders, groups and churches. By God's grace every church will be a healthy church with Spirit-filled leadership working a plan to fulfill our expected outcomes.

My earnest desire is that every church in the Pacific Northwest Conference would strive to see the "Expected Outcomes1 " become a reality. These eight statements, reflecting biblical values, help us understand our priorities in ministry--they give us our marching orders.

We must continue to become:
• Prayer-saturated congregations
• Worshipping congregations
• Discipling congregations
• Evangelizing congregations
• Reproducing congregations
• Culture-engaging congregations
• World-mission congregations
• Purpose-driven congregations

As we celebrate the strengths and analyze the growth areas of our churches, we believe that our strategic priorities surface in three intentional partnerships.
Partnering to strengthen local churches
Partnering to plant new churches
Partnering in ministry to the poor and disenfranchised

Our hope is that every local congregation in our conference would become effective in mission and ministry. We desire every church in our conference to be characterized by healthy biblical community. We do have churches that are growing but we also have churches that are plateaued or declining.

"Success" in local church ministry can be defined in a multitude of ways. Numerical growth is not the only indicator of church health but healthy organisms naturally reproduce.

How will we identify those congregations that need assistance?

• By evaluating the results of the Natural Church Development Survey
and/or Eight Essential Characteristics Inventory (Evaluation of Ministry
Effectiveness). These tools will help us to know specific areas of
celebration and concern in each local church.

• Through conversations with pastor/staff and local church lay leaders.

• By evaluations from conference leadership.

• By noting patterns of new convert growth (or lack thereof).

• Through feedback from PIC group leaders.

How will this partnership work?
• PIC leaders and individual PIC groups, in consultation with the superintendent and assistant superintendents, will determine the churches to be assessed.

• We will recruit, train, and develop assessment teams of pastors and lay persons who will have the specific assignment of going into churches, learning the church culture and hearing the church story from pastor and people.

• These assessment teams will be charged with making recommendations related to church health and vitality. They will report to the superintendentand Ministerial Appointments Committee with specific 12-month action plans.

• Five annual revitalization grants will be available to local congregations who have been plateaued or declining and who have an action plan developed from the assessment process outlined above. The purpose of the grant is to help local congregations become more effective at reaching out to the community. Five annual continuation grants will be available to local congregations who have been growing and are in need of specific help to see growth and effective ministry continue.

As a conference, we are committed to minister in intentional ways to those on the margins of our society. One way that we are engaging in this mission is through Antioch House. This building provides housing and significant assistance for SPU students committed to urban and ethnic ministries.

Every congregation in the PNWC must have active and purposeful ministry to the poor and disenfranchised. If we believe Jesus' words in Matthew 25:31-46 to be true, this kind of ministry is not optional. As Free Methodists, ministry to the poor is in our DNA. We have a preference for ministry to the poor.

How can we encourage this kind of Matthew 25 ministry?
• By honoring congregations at Leadership Summit with an "In as much . ." award. This recognition will be given annually to the congregations in our conference that are leading us in ministry to the poor.

• By coming alongside congregations that are ministering to populations of the poor. Conference fund-raising capacity and gifting options will be made available to churches that, in the evaluation of the BOA, are primarily ministering to the poor and disenfranchised.

• By making up to three annual grants available to local congregations that provide a detailed plan to the BOA of their intent to minister to the poor in significant ways.

The most effective means of seeing lost people coming to know Jesus is in the planting of churches. This can be seen in our history as a conference. In the last decade, our growth as a conference has come primarily from our church plants.
How will we become a church planting movement?

•We will partner with local congregations and hire the necessary staff at the conference level to insure that church planting is a significant priority of the conference.

•We will provide funds to support church planters, to provide initial funding related to start up costs, and to provide some financial assistance for down payments for property purchases.

•We will do the demographic research necessary to ascertain the communities where Free Methodist congregations have the greatest potential of success.

•We will commit to risk resources and prestige in church planting for the sake of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We will reward success and learn from failure.

•We will celebrate any wins we can in relationship to church planting and will lift up and honor the value of church planting at Leadership Summit.

•We will fast and pray for persons God would call to plant churches in the Pacific Northwest Conference.

•We will fast and pray for congregations to have the vision to birth a church in a local community. We will celebrate with these congregations as core groups go out to plant a new church in a nearby community.

By God's grace we will plant a minimum of five churches each year for the next five years.

How will this vision and these partnerships be accomplished?
1. This vision will be accomplished through prayer
It is only with God's help and our commitment to seek God that this vision will be realized. When God knows that we are serious, as demonstrated by prayer and fasting, we can anticipate connecting with the heart of God, and living out our desire to impact eternity. If the dreams and hopes laid out in this document are to be accomplished, we must pray and seek God as never before.

Intercessors must be raised up in every corner of our conference, and we, as leaders, must pay the price in prayer. Our goal is to have 1000 PNWC intercessors activating the power of heaven. These intercessors will be praying about issues that will impact eternity and will receive email updates highlighting specific prayer needs and answers to prayer. They will commit to pray for the implementation and success of this plan and that:

• Lost people would find Jesus through each of our partner congregations;

• God would protect our pastoral team from moral failure;

• God would open the windows of heaven to provide the resources we need to accomplish the vision God has given us;

• New churches would be planted in the PNWC and church planting pastors would be identified, trained and sent out;

• Existing congregations would increase in mission and ministry
effectiveness;

• God would raise up the pastoral and lay leaders we need to impact eternity; and that

• God would provide for our missionaries around the world and bless them with fruitful ministries.

2. This vision will be accomplished by giving
We will commit over two million dollars from our conference budget over the next five years to the various parts of the three initiatives. From where will these funds come? From estate gifts, the sale of church properties where we do not have local congregations, fund raising within the conference, and the sacrificial giving of God's people.

3. This vision will be accomplished as a result of our
commitments
As a denominational family working together we will . . .

•Pray, fast, and seek God for each of our existing churches and for direction on behalf of lost and hurting people in each of our communities.

•Eagerly and frequently celebrate redemptive activity.

•"Pay the vision" (sacrificially provide the necessary resources).

•Partner with local congregations in proven, flexible processes at times of difficulty, pastoral transitions, and other strategic times in the lives of local churches.

•Trust the Church with the truth, carefully listen to one another, and commit to speak both truth and grace to one another.

•Make the hard call, when necessary-being willing to take risks for the sake of the Kingdom and refusing to settle for mediocrity.

•Always be ready to explain how/why strategic decisions that effect local churches are being made.

God and the resources of heaven will help us as we partner together to impact eternity. Join us on this exciting journey! "I tell you open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest." -Jesus

-Superintendent Matt Whitehead for the Pacific Northwest Conference Board of Administration
___________________

1 The "Expected Outcomes" were developed by the Board of Bishops of the Free Methodist Church, and have been embraced by our Conference.
2 These would be one time grants that may or may not be given out annually, depending on the quality and nature of the applications submitted from churches.

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