http://visionbriefing.holston.org/

Holston Conference Vision Statement  

God envisions
bold, passionate, and joyful communities of faith
where the spiritual hunger to worship God and to serve Christ
sets disciples on fire
with Spirit-filled, risk-taking love for all God's children
until Holston Conference reflects the saving grace
and redeeming justice of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Persons interested in commenting on the proposed vision statement are invited to submit your comments to the Vision Writing Team at connectionalministries@holston.org.

Process Followed in Discerning God's Vision

The Vision Writing Team was formed by nomination of the Cabinet, which is charged with acting as the Nominating Committee between the sessions of Annual Conference. The members of the Writing Team met regularly and often between August and December to reflect on the input received during the 2005 session of Annual Conference, discern God's vision for Holston, and prepare this report. We met with the Connectional Table and Extended Cabinet to clarify our Mission and identify what we as a Conference do well. Basing each meeting on study of the Scriptures, we reviewed the Core Values identified by the Conference and kept those ever before us as we worked. We reviewed the definition of Vision presented to the 2005 session: A Vision is a word-picture of God's preferred future for Holston Conference. We read and studied the responses that were generated at the 2005 Annual Conference.

From the responses received to the two questions posed at Conference — (1) From God's vantage point, what would we look like if we fully embraced these two texts (The Great Commandment, Matthew 22: 36-40, and The Great Commission, Matthew 28:18-20) and (2) In what areas is God crying out for us to respond with urgency, risk-taking faith, and long-term obedience? — we generated a 78-page bullet list of responses. Every response was recorded and considered.

Based on these responses, we prepared a list of "spiritual longings for more." These longings were considered as we sought to discern God's vision. We studied carefully the words persons chose as they responded to the questions. We prayed often. From these steps taken, God's vision for Holston unfolded in a Spirit-filled way. We then studied carefully the words in the Vision statement, determining how we as a Conference could be held accountable for the Vision.

With these steps taken, we sought input from many groups and decision-making bodies of the Conference — including each of you — at pre-Conference briefing meetings. From the input received in those various meetings and the work done by the Writing Team, we prepared the following report — Risk-Taking Love: God's Vision for Holston Conference — for your review and approval.

Members of the Writing Team included Rev. Mark Flynn (Oak Ridge District), Rev. Nicole Hill (Abingdon District), Mr. Larry Martin (Maryville District), Mr. Wendell Morgan (Chattanooga District), Rev. Crystal Salyers (Kingsport District), Ms. Anne Travis (Conference Staff).

Prologue

As members of the Vision Writing Team, we were charged with the tasks of (1) examining all the responses generated by the 2005 Annual Conference visioning workshop sessions, (2) prayerfully reflecting on the passions, concerns, longings, and prophetic voices expressed in those responses, and (3) crafting a word picture that discerns and expresses, as best we can, God's vision for Holston.

Core Beliefs and Assumptions

• Salvation comes from a relationship with the resurrected Jesus Christ.
  
• The Bible is the authoritative Word of God for the people of God.
  
• The local church is the primary arena where salvation is proclaimed, experienced, received, and embodied.
  
• When we speak of the Annual Conference, we are not referring to our Bishop and Cabinet or a meeting session, but to the full body of believers, lay and clergy, who arise from, speak for, and lead our local congregations.
  
• In its best moments, the Annual Conference relates to local churches in the same way a pastor relates to the individuals in a congregation. The Conference's primary task is to equip and support local churches in their ministry, holding them accountable to the core beliefs and vision set by the Annual Conference.
  
• God does not call us to do something that we are not gifted to do. Therefore, we must realistically examine our spiritual gifts, abilities, passions, and limitations.
  
• God does not call us to do something that does not need to be done. Therefore, we must always be looking with Christ-like eyes for the needs around us.
  
• Where our God-given gifts and passions and the world's needs intersect is our calling.
  

The Core Values identified by the 2005 Conference session (listed in order prioritized by the 2005 session of Annual Conference) were ever before us:

• Love — caring, trust, respect, joy, health, reconciliation, sacrificial, radical
  
• Spirituality — prayer, inner peace, godliness, solitude, spiritual journey
  
• Faith — spiritual growth, Bible, risk, interactive study, education
  
• Spiritual Fruits — love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, goodness, gentleness, self-control
  
• Commitment — quality in everything, creativity, innovation, proactive, cultural relevance, excitement, sacrifice for the sake of the Kingdom
  
• Evangelistic Passion — sharing the Gospel, new converts, reclaiming the once-churched
  
• Outreach — mission, mercy, compassion, submissive, deed and Word
  
• Nurturing — comfort, caring, flexibility, unity, support, responsibility, friendship
  
• Leadership — spirit-led, gifts-based, servants, visionary, model, courage, wisdom, growth
  
• Community — sense of belonging, diversity, respect, acceptance
  
• Growth — overall health, wholeness, peace, vitality, life-long, going on to perfection
  
• Communication — respect, acceptance, change, knowledge, prayer, honesty, clarity, healthy
  
• Justice — social structures consistent with the Kingdom, assertiveness, advocacy
  
• Abundance — grace, generosity, stewardship, advancement, purposefulness
  
• Hospitality — shared food, welcoming, togetherness, interpersonal relations
  

In studying the responses to the two questions, we heard the following spiritual longings expressed:

• We long to be more evangelical and to become more intentional about faith-sharing and disciple making, seeking to invite all people from all walks of life into a loving, life-giving relationship with Jesus Christ and the community of faith, the church. We pray to restore and renew relationships with persons who have walked away from the life in faith.
  
• We long to be more inclusive and diverse, to move out of our comfort zones and reach out to those who are different, and to be truly inclusive of all.
• We long to be more active and effective in outreach and in mission to those in our neighborhoods and those in the world.
  
• We long for growth in terms of deepened spirituality and commitment and in terms of having people join the church.
  
• We long for more action, less talk, and more going out and doing.
  
• We long to move from institutional maintenance to mission. We long for less politics and business and more living out of the Great Commandment and the Great Commission.
  
• We long for more lay and clergy teamwork.
  
• We long to be more prophetic and less complacent to what goes on around us, to not be afraid to speak out boldly against those things that are contrary to the Kingdom of God — poverty, war, oppression, injustice, addiction.
  

We want to reemphasize that this vision is for our Annual Conference, not for our individual churches. However, if it is God's vision for the connected body of disciples found in Holston, it will model, influence, and challenge discipleship for all levels of the Conference: district groups, local churches, and individuals in those communities of faith.

Mission

The mission of the Church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ. Local churches provide the most significant arena through which disciple-making occurs. (2004 The Book of Discipline, ¶120).

Vision Statement

God envisions
bold, passionate, and joyful communities of faith
where the spiritual hunger to worship God and to serve Christ
sets disciples on fire
with Spirit-filled, risk-taking love for all God's children
until Holston Conference reflects the saving grace
and redeeming justice of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Summary of Input Received at the 2005 Annual Conference

Risk-Taking Love: Celebration and Commitment for Embracing the Vision

Comments received at recent pre-conference briefing sessions (pdf)

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