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Catching the Vision of Harvest 2020
to Build Growing Congregations
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 Nearly 200 lay leaders of the Northern Illinois Conference were called on by
Bishop Hee-Soo Jung be “dreamers, movers, shakers, life transformers, and change agents”
on behalf of God. Laity leadership from local churches gathered in mid January to learn more about Harvest 2020, a movement to build new faith communities and strengthen discipleship in congregations. Leaders heard Bishop Hee-Soo Jung in his first major address since returning from renewal leave talk about the
“clear and compelling purpose of Harvest 2020” which is to “apply the gospel to change our world culturally and spiritually.”
The Bishop told leaders, “True religion is not a private matter. It transforms life in all of its dimensions and causes us to offer a public witness and to share concern for the poor, the sick, those whose lives are broken in our midst.”
The Bishop outlined some characteristics of “maintenance congregations” vs.
“growing congregations.” Maintenance congregations ask, “How will this program affect me?” while a growing congregation says,
“Will this increase our ability to teach those outside our walls?”
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 The Bishop challenged leaders to see if these questions posed by John Wesley
describe their congregations, “Is there faith?”, “Is there fire (passion)?” and
“Are their fruits?”
Leaders were also told that laity are a “gold mine”. Pastors come and go, but laity has the long, systemic view of a congregation and a community.
“If we don’t tap into laity leadership, we can’t get where God’s kingdom needs to be.” The Bishop announced a two year commitment to visit every congregation in the conference to continue to share his vision of church growth through Harvest 2020.
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During a Q & A session, Dianne Garrison, lay leader from Ingleside UMC told the Bishop,
“I have not heard you talk about budgets or funding today, I expect that will come later but I think I understand that growing new faith communities is first a journey of the heart and spirit.” Garrison said she is generally
“turned off” by the formality of meetings, but this day inspired her.
“The sincerity of the Bishop” touched her heart. Garrison said that the Bishop has really has a big vision and hearing him helped her catch part of that vision as well. Offering an example of a non-traditional kind of outreach for a new faith community – the vision of Harvest 2020, was
Michelle Johnson, Lay Delegate to Annual Conference from Bethany of Fox Valley UMC. Johnson shared a story about driving through Los Angeles for the Rose Bowl, in a
“transitional” neighborhood where there were boarded up buildings and graffiti. Suddenly the landscape changed and there were beautiful murals and a skate park full of kids. I thought it was probably a community center, but when I turned around to look out the window, I saw that this beautiful part of the neighborhood belonged to a United Methodist Church.
“It was an old traditional, steepled church building, but they had found a way to connect to a changing community,” said Johnson. Her example typified the creativity offered by the Harvest 2020 movement which invites congregations to assess community needs, and start new faith communities to meet those needs. Johnson said she was proud of this example of the going outside the walls of your congregation to reach into your community in love.
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