God for All at the Methodist Conference

The Conference is the governing body of the Methodist Church and meets annually to discuss matters affecting the life of the Church, the nation and the world.

A report received by the Conference detailed the work undertaken since the God For All strategy was agreed in 2020 and how this has since been shaping the mission and ministry of the Methodist Church while supporting its people in evangelism, discipleship, missional growth and leadership.

The Conference voted to re-affirm the strategy, renewing its objectives until 2032.

Director of Evangelism and Growth, Trey Hall, detailed how God For All is already bearing fruit.

A Methodist Way of Life

Over the past four years, more than 470,000 Methodist Way of Life resources have been requested to help both churched and unchurched explore their faith. The Methodist Church’s digital presence has been used to spread the good news, with total social media content reaching 1.4 million people along with specific initiatives, such as the There is Room campaign during Christmas 2022 which reached over half a million alone.

New Places for New People and Church at the Margins

The New Places for New People initiative has seen new communities in 18 districts with plans for more in a further eight. More than 240 leaders were trained with more than 300 attending events and webinars.

Church at the Margins saw developments to bring mission and ministry to those communities experiencing poverty while ensuring that existing churches in poorer communities are supported.

Every Church a Growing Church

Every Church a Growing Church has seen local churches seek new missional direction for ministry. Over 40 percent of Methodist circuits have hosted meetings as part of their process of discernment for mission and evangelism.

The Conference confidently received the report and confirmed its vision to take God For All towards 2032.

Future plans

Plans for future mission include funding and resourcing circuits and districts to begin and sustain increasing numbers of New Places for New People and Church at the Margins communities with connections to the growing ‘Let’s End Poverty’ movement.

Plans for evangelism include training, equipping, learning for church pioneering and planting by resourcing ministerial formation and training for pioneering ministry, including online Christian communities.

As well as expanding the Church’s evangelistic presence at festivals and major events, there will be support for circuits in attending their local events. Tools will be developed for exploring faith online, along with digital campaigns for evangelism and discipleship.

The commitment to missional growth and leadership will Increase support for church and circuit teams to help them reflect on their mission planning while learning about growing healthy and differently sized churches, with particular attention to youth and children, rural churches, and Culture and Language Diverse Fellowships and Congregations.

There will be support for churches to build relationships and ministry in their local schools and with uniformed organisations, a strengthening of Christian presence in rural communities and encouragement for the strategic use of property for mission.