Welcome

New Asian Ministry. As a part of our overall congregational goal to increase worship participation by at least 20% over 5 years, we planned to identify a satellite church and/or community United Methodist congregation. A focus in our Serve area was also to intentionally find ways to more closely mirror the diversity in our community. On September 3, 2011, Pastor Salim Dill began leading an Asian service in our Chapel at 7:00pm on Saturdays. As of January 8, 2012, they have moved to Sundays at 7:00pm. This group is growing and currently serves an average of 30. This FUMCR ministry targets Christians and non-Christians from India and Pakistan, and the language spoken is Urdu.

Growth in access Worship Service. Our 5:00pm Sunday contemporary worship service is growing. In 2012, we are averaging over 100 each week in worship, and new people continue to visit every week. Participants are coming from as far away as Irving, Celina and Rockwall County. We will continue to explore a diversity of worship venues to fulfill our mission of welcoming, growing and serving people for Christ.

Grow

Intentional Faith Development model. The FUMCR staff continues to make significant progress toward the creation of an Intentional Faith Development model. This will be a systematic way for us to discover where we are on the journey of faith and see the right next steps for us as individuals and groups. It will involve a holistic approach challenging us to grow in the areas of worship, study and service. It will drive the study and small group opportunities and help all of us to grow as disciples of Christ for the transformation of the world.

Large Church Initiative Conference (LCI 2012). Our church has demonstrated its leadership capabilities in a big way by planning and hosting LCI 2012. Typically, a church is given 3 years to prepare for such an event, and in order to fill a national conference need, we pulled off this conference with just ten months of preparation—while maintaining our already very active schedule. This conference, attended by about 550 clergy from around the nation, specifically addresses our strategic goal of hosting a Servant Leadership Institute. Over 400 FUMCR volunteers have sprung into action to ensure the success of this conference. We will apply the many lessons learned through this journey to host other leadership events for area community and church leaders in the future.

Leadership Development. To begin addressing the initiative to develop “a leadership program for people to experience the fullness of serving and deepening their understanding of United Methodism theology and practice,” we have hired a Director of Leadership Development. Beth Smith will join our team March 20. Our desire is to grow servant leaders for FUMCR, United Methodism and the community.

Serve

Address United Methodist Focus on Ministry with the Poor and Global Health. One initiative in our plan is to align ourselves more closely with the UM church around the Four Areas of Global Focus: Global Health, Ministry with the Poor, Congregational Development and Leadership Development. This has long been a focus of our International Christmas Market, which this year raised over $100,000 for missions. Through our Zimbabwe Ministry, we are supporting over 260 AIDS orphans so that they can attend school, which is their pathway to a better life. In 2011, we took a mission team to Haiti following the devastating earthquake. Another team will go in March of 2012. In 2011, the Church Council voted to partner with Willows Methodist Church in Pretoria, South Africa for the benefit of students at the Skuinkloof Primary School in a rural area north of Pretoria. In May of 2012, a team will travel to South Africa to build an extension onto the school. We have been blessed to be a blessing to others and will continue to seek opportunities to further the UM agenda.

Partnership with Alzheimer’s Association. A strategic goal is to identify and leverage partnerships to effectively and efficiently serve in the local and global community. Through a partnership with the Alzheimer’s Association, we have offered two conferences for health care professionals and families. We are exploring the possibility of beginning a daily respite program for Alzheimer’s patients here at the church.