Case Study: St. Matthew's New Life

Our values create a pathway for Vital Change. Like many other churches, St. Matthew’s New Life UMC in Baltimore is embracing our shared values to extend Christ’s ministry in meaningful ways. While these stories are inspirational and informational, they are designed to also be case studies for reflection and action.

We invite you to share, reflect and discuss these stories with friends or members of a small group in your congregation. And then apply the lessons to your local church.

1. What can we learn from these stories? 
2. Vital churches face outward; toward the community outside the walls of the church. In what ways did this church see and reach beyond its walls? How outward-facing is our church? How might our congregation become more outward-facing, more love in action (incarnational)?
3. With the stories and value assessments in mind, do the same type of value assessment with your strongest 2-5 outward-facing ministries.

Applying the Lessons to Your Church

While every expression of faith honors and glorifies God, many churches are pursuing a different way of being in ministry that lifts up deepening relationships, justice, and partnership as we engage in acts of compassion. 

Some churches that once handed out food periodically are working with other churches and community organizations to address food needs in more sensitive, respectful, continuous, and impactful ways. In other congregations, United Methodists are learning more about poverty, hunger, violence, addiction, and other ills facing their communities and are becoming advocates of social change. And still other congregations are creating partnerships to bring transformative change to people’s lives and their communities. 

More than 70 percent of BWC churches are involved in hunger ministries. If you are involved in a food ministry, now is a good time to assess how aligned that ministry is with each value. How might the mission be improved by increasing alignment with the values? What can be done to ensure that the mission is aligned with all of the values? This is the work of Vital Change – focusing on incarnational ministry and vitality.

Consider your congregation’s most outward-facing ministry.

• How are the shared values of love in action, strength through connection, unity in diversity, partnering with purpose, and the freedom to try being expressed via this ministry? 
• Are some values more strongly expressed?
• Are some values weakly or not at all expressed?
• How might you ensure that each value is strongly expressed in this ministry?
• How would this increase the reach and impact of the mission?
• How would it make the ministry more “up close and personal”?
• How would it help the ministry serve more people in need?
• How would it make the ministry more like the “hands and feet of Jesus” in the community?