Many churches aren’t doing enough to stay alive, dean concludes

By Claudia M. Williams
Staff Writer
Many Southwest Texas congregations aren’t doing enough to offer Christ, the dean of the Southwest Texas Conference cabinet said June 3 in Corpus Christi.
“It is a fact that if you have no new members, no baptisms, and no confessions of faith, your church is dying,” said the Rev. Kim Cape, superintendent of the McAllen District.
Cape addressed the state of congregations and offered suggestions to reverse two years of membership decline in her District Super-intendent’s Report to the 147th Southwest Texas Annual Conference session. She spoke on behalf of all seven superintendents.
The 1,356 clergy and laity members of the conference session responded to Cape’s message with a standing ovation.
Removing people no longer attending a church from membership roles makes sense, Cape said. But “common sense also says we must replace them,” she added.
“If our people were money, most of our churches would be bankrupt,” Cape said.
“We are losing market share because our children and grandchildren are going to churches where the message of Jesus Christ is preached with an urgency and passion that few of our pastors possess—and the music is too loud.”
She asked conference leaders to consider seven steps that Southwest Texas United Methodists must take now to ensure that our children have the benefit of the richness and wisdom of our Wesleyan heritage:
> Every church must become a Certified Welcoming Congregation.
“Each district will have at least half of their churches be certified as welcoming congregations by next annual conference,” she said. “We can do this, with the help of God.”
> The district superintendents and Board of Ministry must work together to improve the leadership skills and performance of clergy.
“We will identify clergy members who have significant leadership potential and will develop that potential in an intentional manner,” she said. “And we will address in an intentional manner those identified who have below average performance.”
> The conference must put a program into place to assist pastors who have moved three times in seven years.
“We need them to be effective pastors who are aware of the present context,” Cape said. “The context needs to become the lectionary of life.”
> As the New Church Development Commission designs a strategic plan for starting new congregations, the conference must continue to employ church-planting consultant Jim Griffiths to create a “church planting academy.”
“We need to start new churches where the young people are so we can reach out to them for their future and for ours,” Cape said.
> The conference must preserve and strengthen the covenantal relationship with every United Methodist congregation.
“We are one church with many branches,” she said. “We can get a lot done if we don’t care who gets the credit.”