A Letter from Our Administrative Board Chair
Friends, Good Evening!
As we prepare for Sunday’s Church Conference at the Downtown Campus of First Methodist Houston, I would like to encourage each of us to pray and come to the Conference with open hearts and open minds to what the Holy Spirit is doing within our congregation.
Our congregation is one congregation that worships on two campuses. So, while each of us has preferences on how and where we worship, we are called to be unified as one body to worship, serve, and act together.
Throughout his letters, The Apostle Paul reminds us that unity is what causes the hand, leg, heart, and head to act together. And it is through acting together that we can overcome the challenges ahead.
I see the challenges ahead for us like those that are present in our communities, society, and the world. Namely, the world is dealing with an immense amount of division that is calling for an equal amount of change. Like the world, years of action, inaction, choices, and consequences have generated division within our congregation which have eroded the culture of First Methodist Houston.
It is time for a culture shift so that First Methodist Houston can rise to meet the needs of our community while being a beacon of Christ’s love and grace to the world around us. To change our culture, we must place our faith and trust in Christ, come together with a spirit of unity, and face the sobering reality that we are no longer who we used to be. In so doing, we need to understand that no longer being who we used to be, and no longer having the resources that we used to have, are not bad. Rather, our present reality presents us with an opportunity to faithfully reset and watch as God works through us to create something new.
Something new is what we need. We need to approach and view things differently. And we need to come together as the Body of Christ. To this end, for the past three (3) years, teams of members of our congregation from both campuses have been working on every aspect of our Worship Services, Sunday School Classes, Small Groups, Programs, Missions, Ministries, Finances, Facilities, and Culture. The work product of these teams was coordinated through the Strategic Mapping Taskforce (SMT). The Strategic Plan that is before us on Sunday was created through the coordination of SMT.
Unfortunately, as the world has changed over the last three (3) years, so has First Methodist Houston. As such, even as the Strategic Plan was developed, conditions changed. Therefore, the Strategic Plan needs to be changed. We have been disrupted by our circumstances and we get to choose how we will respond. The choice is for greater unity and strength or for continued division and deline.
The most recent change to the Strategic Plan is an amendment that I, as Administrative Board Chair via a divided Coordinating Committee, have put forward. To be clear, this amendment was not put forward by our Senior Pastor or other members of our staff. It calls for us to kick off a new season together as one body and as one congregation in one worship service on Sunday mornings at our Downtown Campus.
The amendment does not call for the closure of the West Campus. Nor does it call for the West Campus to be shut down. Rather, the amendment allows us to come together, reset, and invest in the mission of the church. As such, as one united church, it gives us an opportunity to continue to focus on the optimization of our facilities and ministries while investing in the community through the Quillian Memorial Center, strengthening our partnership with Westchase Neighborhood School, and building up the programs of our church such as NIA and our Go! Ministries. So, at its heart, the amendment enables us to execute on the Strategic Plan while delivering ministry with excellence to the communities that we serve given the conditions we are facing and allows us to meet our present challenges together head on.
Given the importance of the Strategic Plan, prior to Sunday’s Church Conference, I would ask that you pray, open your hearts and minds, and carefully review and study the Strategic Plan and the proposed amendment.
Regardless of the outcome of Sunday’s Church Conference, I look forward to how God unifies us, moves, and creates something new in and through our congregation.
Yours in Christ,
Brant Wallace
Administrative Board Chair
First United Methodist Church of Houston
This Sunday! All worship services will be meeting together Downtown for one combined worship service at 11:00 a.m. Pieces of each community’s worship service will be blended in as we join together as one church family, united by a common purpose and love.
Fill out this very quick form, and First Methodist staff will confirm your status and register you in advance of Sunday morning. All you’ll need to do is pick up your name tag.
Click here: fmhouston.com/church-conference. Pre-registration closes on Saturday at noon.