The Oregon-Idaho Healthy Vital Church Initiative – 

Congregational Leadership Development   

( CLD)

The world is no longer the same place it was when many of us first entered into a relationship with God and life in the church. We are challenged today with finding new and different ways of being the church and of inviting others into their own relationship with God. 

The Vital Church Initiative is a denomination-wide process for helping to “make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world” (the mission of the United Methodist Church). This initiative looks different in different Annual Conferences. In Oregon-Idaho, the first teams that met for study and discussion were groups of pastors. At the end of their training, the groups identified the most significant books they had read, the training was adapted to be used with teams of laity and clergy from local churches, and we were invited to apply to have a Congregational Leadership Development team from our church trained. Currently there are two trainings happening in the Metro District, one each in Western, Southern, Oregon Trail and Snake River Districts. 

The training is one Saturday each month for six months and includes reading the following books in preparation for training sessions:

ReCreating the Church

I Refuse to Lead a Dying Church

Simple Church

Change the World

Unbinding the Gospel

Winning on Purpose

We have found these books to be challenging, demanding, and full of helpful ideas to be used as a springboard in discussing and discerning what it means for Faith UMC to be a healthy, vital congregation. We invite you to pick up one or two and read them.

We have come to understand that the CLD training is just the beginning of the process for moving our church into greater health and vitality. It is a process that requires the entire congregation’s involvement in a variety of ways. The following outline gives a brief description of the work the CLD team has been doing and the ways in which we have all begun to participate in leading our church into greater health and vitality. We are very clear that we have begun an on going process that will not end when our six-month training sessions are over. It is a process that will evolve over time.