The Seven Pathways

Following are the Seven Pathways as described in Bishop Al Gwinn’s “2006 State of the Church Address” at 2006 Annual Conference, including a later modification from the Council of Bishops in the Pathways.

Our Council of Bishops has identified SEVEN PATHWAYS that we will focus on as we center on making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world:

  1. Transforming existing congregations. Once again, this at the heart of our vision here in this conference and I will speak more about this pathway later in this address. Acts 10: 28
  2. Developing new congregations in churches that are more than 10 years old it takes 72 members to win one disciple. In churches that are between 5 to 10 years old it takes 17 members to win one disciple. In churches that are less than 3 years old it takes 2 members to win 1 disciple for Jesus. That alone should show us what powerful tools of evangelism new church launches are. Further, it is important to remember that we now have 20 percent of our churches where 80 pwercent of the American population lives. Revelation 1-3
  3. Strengthening clergy and lay leadership. This is at the heart of our vision here this conference and I will speak more about this pathway later in this address. Philippians 3:13-14; 2nd Timothy 2:14

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