Annual Celebration Features Innovative New Church Starts

The annual dinner and celebration of the MetroWest Builders was held on Sunday, February 19th at Good Samaritan United Methodist Church in Edina.  The program featured Rev. Dan Johnson, Director of Congregational Development for the Minnesota Annual Conference leading a panel discussion focusing on the diversity of new church communities being planted in our Conference.  Some are community focused, such as Spirit River Community UMC in Isanti.  Others are affinity focused, such as Mosaic UMC, who specifically reaches out to homeless young adults in the Brooklyn Center/Brooklyn Park area.  Some are campus based, such as the Hamline University Campus Ministry in St. Paul.  Others reach out to specific ethnic groups, such as Korean Evangelical UMC in Hopkins.  Others are mission based such as STORM Faith Community UMC which isn't one worshipping community, but four, meeting in house churches across the metropolitan area.  One characteristic shared by all of these innovative congregations was that they have service to the larger community as one of their founding values.