Mission Alignment Reflection

• Acts of Compassion: Personal works of mercy that respond directly to human need. Examples include feeding the hungry, visiting the sick or imprisoned, giving generously, and caring for those who suffer.
• Acts of Devotion: Personal practices that keep the heart open to God’s grace. These include prayer, Scripture reading, fasting, generosity, healthy living, and spiritual disciplines that deepen openness and obedience to Christ.
• Acts of Justice: Communal spiritual disciplines practiced by congregations united with others working for the common good. Acts of justice address systemic inequities such as poverty, discrimination, and oppression in all forms.
• Acts of Worship: Corporate works of piety practiced when Christians gather in Christ’s name. These include regular participation in the sacraments, prayer, Scripture study, Christian conferencing (accountability), and communal praise.
• Beloved Community: A community shaped by God’s justice, reconciliation, and radical belonging, where every person is recognized as a beloved child of God and where systems that harm or exclude are actively transformed.
• CLEAR Goal: A goal that is:
  1. Concrete – clearly defined and specific
  2. Linked – directly connected to vitality and disciple formation
  3. Energizing – meaningful and motivating to leadership and congregation
  4. Accountable – assigned to responsible leaders with measurable benchmarks
  5. Results-oriented – focused on observable outcomes within a defined timeframe
• Congregational Discipleship Plan (CDP): A clear and intentional process for inviting, forming, maturing, and sending world-transforming disciples of Jesus Christ. A CDP ensures disciple formation is not accidental, but purposeful and integrated across the life of the congregation.
• Disciple of Jesus Christ: As United Methodists, we understand a disciple to be one who “witnesses to Jesus Christ and follows His teachings through acts of compassion, justice, worship, and devotion under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.” Disciples practice works of piety and works of mercy as they grow in love of God, neighbor, and self, and as they make more disciples.
• John Wesley’s General Rule of Discipleship: To “witness to Jesus Christ in the world and to follow His teachings through acts of compassion, justice, worship, and devotion under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.” This holistic understanding grounds the five discipleship dimensions measured in this review.
• Multiply Impact: Listening and discerning with the broader community to align ministry with God’s call, leveraging congregational assets—people, property, networks, and resources—for the greatest good and the flourishing of neighbors.
• Organizational Health: The internal capacity of a congregation to sustain mission, including financial stability, leadership development, conflict resolution, clarity of vision, and alignment of time and resources toward disciple-making and community impact.
• Racial Justice: In accordance with ¶5, Article V of The Book of Discipline, The United Methodist Church proclaims the value of each person as a unique child of God and commits to confronting and eliminating racism in all its forms. Racial justice involves both personal and systemic transformation and active collaboration for equity in church and society.
• See & Value All the People: A vitality practice in which congregations intentionally build authentic relationships across differences, confront injustice, create belonging, and reflect the diversity of their communities in leadership, worship, and ministry.
• Witness: A public act of word and/or deed that shares what one has personally experienced of Jesus Christ. Witness includes personal testimony, evangelism, invitation, and visible expressions of faith in daily life.
• 100% Vital Church: A 100% Vital church is a congregation that intentionally forms and sends disciples of Jesus Christ; reflects and honors the full image of God in its community; engages beyond its walls to meet tangible needs through meaningful mission with people and partners; fully stewards its people, property, and resources to advance justice and the flourishing of neighbors; and cultivates healthy relationships, courageous leadership, and aligned systems that sustain and expand its witness. 

Mission Alignment Reflection is a shared leadership practice of reflection, alignment, and recalibration around the mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

It creates intentional space for congregational leaders to pause, pray, listen, and reflect on how their ministries, relationships, priorities, and resources align with God’s mission.

No.

Mission Alignment Reflection and Missional Action Planning (MAP) are designed to complement one another.

MAP provides a framework for congregations to engage their communities, experiment faithfully, and move toward greater missional impact.

MAR helps congregations regularly reflect on whether their attitudes and behaviors remain aligned with the mission and vision of the United Methodist Church.

Congregations will receive invitations into different forms of support and engagement based on patterns reflected in the 2023 Discipleship Ministries Report and ongoing district conversations.

Some churches will be invited into the Mission Alignment Reflection process.

Others may first be invited into discipleship learning, coaching, and training experiences designed to strengthen disciple-making practices.

It is our hope that eventually all congregations adopt an annual rhythm of mission alignment reflection.

No.

Mission Alignment Reflection is not intended to function as clergy evaluation or a congregational grading system.

It is designed as a reflective leadership practice that helps congregations identify focused next steps around discipleship and community engagement.

Leadership teams engage guided conversation around five dimensions:

• Deepen Discipleship
• See & Value All People
• Live and Love Like Jesus
• Multiply Impact
• Organizational Health

From that reflection, congregations identify:

• one discipleship goal
• one community engagement goal

Mission Alignment Shepherds are trained clergy and lay leaders who help congregations engage the reflection process prayerfully and fruitfully. Their role is to:

• guide conversation,
• encourage participation,
• support discernment,
• and help congregations stay centered on mission.

Shepherds are not evaluators or inspectors. They are companions and guides in the reflection process and also provide support in organizing and documenting the conversation.

Both clergy and lay leaders may serve as Shepherds.

We are especially seeking leaders who:

• listen well,
• have demonstrated the ability to create space for and facilitate honest conversation,
• value discipleship and community engagement, and
• feel called to support congregations in reflective leadership practices.

Selected leaders who express interest will be invited to participate in a retreat in September (dates will be determined through a scheduling poll) designed to prepare and equip Shepherds for this work.

The retreat will include:

• theological grounding,
• orientation to the reflection process,
• facilitation practices,
• and opportunities for shared learning and relationship-building.

An apprenticeship model will also be utilized to support practical learning and skill development. New Shepherds will have opportunities to learn alongside experienced leaders as they grow in guiding congregations through reflective conversation, discernment, and focused goal-setting.

Because Mission Alignment Reflection is intended to be relational and adaptive, preparation will emphasize accompaniment, listening, spiritual leadership, and creating space for honest and hopeful conversation.

Churches today are navigating significant cultural change, leadership fatigue, and shifting patterns of participation.

Faithful congregations need intentional opportunities to pause and ask:

• Are we forming disciples in ways that meet this moment?
• Are we joining the work God is already doing in our communities?
• Are our ministries aligned with the mission Jesus has given us?

Mission Alignment Reflection creates space for those conversations.