Fruitful Congregations Journey: Part 1

I have been on staff at Castleton UMC for over 10yrs now and the lead pastor of the Sunrise campus for over 2yrs. Our church embarked on the Fruitful Congregations Journey in late 2011 with a team of 12 laity and 3 clergy members, including myself, beginning monthly meetings in January of 2012.

This is a program facilitated by the Indiana Conference of The United Methodist Church and led by our Church Development team. Over the course of several months our team spent time reading and discussing a number of books dealing with church growth, vision, and purpose (see list below). This nearly year process was known as Phase 1.

Upon completion of Phase 1, as a team we voted to apply for and pursue Phase 2, which is where we find ourselves right now. I'll write more about Phase 2 in a future post. If you have questions or thoughts about the process or anything I share, don't hesitate to ask.

Phase 1 Book List
"The Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations" by Robert Schnase
"Direct Hit" by Paul Borden
"Taking Your Church to the Next Level" by Gary McIntosh
"Simple Church" by Thom Rainer & Eric Geiger
"The Externally Focused Church" by Rick Rusaw & Eric Swanson
"Communicating for a Change" by Andy Stanley & Lane Jones
"Unbinding the Gospel" by Martha Grace Reese