Dear Church Family, This weekend at all four worship services we'll explore our broad strokes vision statement for BUMC. During the services we will share what kind of Christians and church we believe God wants us to become in the months and years ahead. This vision statement is part of our larger "MAP" (Ministry Action Plan) process which includes the following six components:

• Values (foundational principles of our church) • Mission (the work God has called us to do) • Context (our unique setting at BUMC) • Vision (the kind of church we believe God wants us to become) • Strategies (practical steps to live out our values, mission and

vision) • Assessment (vital signs and timelines for evaluating our

progress) Over the past year, leaders of our church invested a lot of time, prayer and dialogue into building our initial MAP (Ministry Action Plan), which was recently affirmed and approved by our Church Council. In short, our MAP is our system for doing ministry. It will serve as the infrastructure and framework for everything we do in the future. Building a MAP is like building a foundation for a house. Now that we have our initial MAP in place, we have the capacity to build concrete strategies for our ministries in the years to come. In fact, that process has already begun. A few examples follow:

• We are developing personal work plans for our staff, giving clear expectations for their ministry, and aligning their work with our larger mission.

• Our Church Council has approved a new church governance structure which will allow us to be more fruitful in the years to come.

• We are working on a process to strengthen financial stewardship at BUMC.

• We have plans to perform a strategic campus/facilities assessment later this year.

• In the months ahead, more and more of our leaders will be introduced to our MAP framework, allowing this process to unfold throughout the church.

• We have begun developing MAPS (Ministry Action Plans) for some of our major teams, including Discipleship and Missions and Outreach. In time, every team in the church will have their own specific MAP, all of which will be aligned with our master MAP.

Additional strategies for helping us live out our values, mission and vision will continue throughout 2013 and beyond. For example, we've had exploratory discussions with our lay leadership, Bishop and Cabinet about engaging in a "restart" where we partner with a declining church for the purpose of revitalization. We don't know if this will become a reality, but we are praying about the possibility. We are also working on ways to better live out our four-fold mission statement to "seek," "connect," "prepare," and "send." Developing concrete plans around our mission statement will be our lead team's top priority this year. Of course, our ministries and strategies will constantly change and evolve as we move into God's future at BUMC. Over time, this intentional ministry MAP process will help BUMC flourish into the church God wants us to become. To use a biblical analogy, this first round of our MAP is like leaven in the bread or a mustard seed in the ground. It starts out small. But over time, it will make a huge impact on our life together. For example, several of us recently visited a UMC congregation in Florida that has been using this MAP process for many years. Howard and Sandy Old's son Wes is one of the pastors at this thriving church. After seven years of

working this MAP process, the church has experienced significant renewal and transformation, growing spiritually, numerically, and in ministry. In the days to come, we'll be sharing more details about our MAP, especially as we finalize more of our practical strategies. This weekend, however, we'll focus solely on our big picture vision statement. I hope you will be here to learn more about this important part of our life together. Finally, it was good to receive Emsley Meier; Ruby Kate Meredith; Andy and Rene Claybook; and Bill Tuck as new members. Welcome to our church family.

In Christ's Love and Service, Martin