Meeting Minutes List

Describe the item or answer the question so that site visitors who are interested get more information. You can emphasiMinutes from Kingdom Advancement Commission
Sunday, March 15 & Monday, March 16, 2026
Bishop in Attendance: Kimba Evariste
Members in Attendance: Wes Griffin, Paul Lawler, Linda Davis, Sherri Tabaka-Morrissey, Max Wilkins, Kabah Kasongo Mwenze, Steve Cordle, Simon Mafunda, Jeff Jernigan, Luciano Pereira da Silva, YoonHee Kang, Mwenge Muyombi, Fe Olonan, Heather Carter-Young, Terry Vanderslice, Greg West, Amber Tolbert
Visitors in Attendance: Zach Kingery, Mike Morrissey
Sunday, March 15, 2026
Welcome – Wes Griffin
Opening Worship – Mike Morrissey, Kabah Kasongo Mwenze, Steve Cordle, Linda Davis
Following music led by Mike Morrissey and a reading of Acts 1:1-8 by Kabah Kasongo Mwenze, Steve Cordle shared a message encouraging Commission members to allow the Holy Spirit to direct our movement. The early church advanced through obedience to the Holy Spirit. This often looked like new expressions of ministry. He encouraged members to remain open to new expressions of ministry and Spirit-led movement within the Global Methodist Church. Linda Davis concluded worship with Holy Communion.
General Updates – Wes Griffin
2025 Executive Summary. The Kingdom Advancement Commission celebrated and reviewed our 2025 Executive Summary to the Connectional Council and Assembly of Bishops. Highlights included:
• Over 400 new church plants focused on multiplying disciples
• 23 training events equipped people for evangelism and church planting • Launched ENGAGE Acts 1:8 Mission Mobilization Training for global impact • Created the GMC Kingdom Advancement Portal & Multi-Language Online Resource Library with Over 1200 Resources Available
• 40 missional partners approved
• Ongoing development of Conference Partnerships and Ambassadors
• Compassionate response to 15 disasters in Africa, the Caribbean, and the USA caused by floods, hurricanes, war, oppression, disease, drought, and other unpredicted crises.
• Connectional giving provided $680,450.77 in humanitarian relief grants that served more than 3,000 individuals and families affected by crisis. Since 2024, the Disaster Response Team has delivered a total of $1,570,535.17 in humanitarian relief grants that met urgent needs and restored hope to communities in times of disaster.
A short video highlighting Kingdom Advancement ministries—including photos and clips of activities such as baptisms, disaster response, and church dedications—is being prepared for presentation at General Conference.
The Ablaze Initiative has been launched and provides a clear framework for equipping the church around church planting, missions mobilization, and disaster response. These 2-to 5-day training events equip participants to multiply the training locally. Trainings began in Kyrgyzstan in March and will be held in Bulgaria, Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa prior to the end of June. The Commission will report on these accomplishments at General Conference.
Commission Nominations for Next Cycle
Commission nominations for the next General Conference cycle are due soon. Newly elected commissions will serve six-year terms beginning November 1, 2026.
Kingdom Advancement Commission members extensively discussed the critical importance of continuity in Kingdom Advancement commission membership and the value of retaining experienced leaders and established relationships.
The discussion resulted in a specific recommendation to the Nominations Committee and General Church that at least half of the KA Commission members be retained so that the programming and momentum that has been achieved is not lost.
GMC General Church Gathering Report – Paul Lawler & Jeff Jernigan
Paul Lawler and Jeff Jernigan reported on a recent gathering of GMC leadership including the Assembly of Bishops, Commission chairs, Church staff, and the Connectional Council. Discussions of note focused on contract labor, episcopal leadership, leader collaboration, and the GMC’s identity as a movement. Being both a movement and an institution is not a contradiction — institutions can be structured to fuel movement — but actual movement happens at the local church level.
Regionalization of certain practices was raised as a healthy and necessary conversation — distinguishing what must remain global from what can be contextualized regionally. This work is targeted for General Conference 2032.
Members discussed General Conference committee priorities for Kingdom Advancement Commission members.
Team Updates
Church Multiplication & Evangelism – Max Wilkins, Steve Cordle
Luciano Pereira da Silva shared a reflection on Acts 8:39-40 and the ministry of Philip, noting that God uses those with a disposition to obey rather than those with titles or positions, that movement often requires stepping outside comfort zones, and that the church does not need institutional authority to go — only the presence of Jesus as promised in Matthew 28.
All Commission work must be filtered through the mission of making disciples who make disciples – the only means by which scriptural holiness spreads globally. If we take our eyes off the mission, then we will no longer be mission-driven.
Congregational, and possibly denominational, DNA is established in the first 18–24 months of launch and is extremely difficult to reset afterward. The GMC has attempted to establish healthy DNA but now faces the challenge of resetting the DNA in local churches, the nuclei of mission.
Based on available reporting, 423 new churches were planted in 2025. Reliable reporting remains a challenge in some regions; however, members celebrated significant growth in emerging areas, especially within the Oasis Conference, where pastors face persecution yet continue to experience remarkable growth. One pastor baptized 68 people — an
extraordinary milestone in a region where Muslim-background baptisms have been rare.
The team established a regional coordinator structure in 2025, with seven of eight regional teams now in place. The Oceania position is expected to be filled later this year.
While the GMC grew from approximately 4,000 to 7,000 churches in 2025, much of the North American growth came through transfers from other denominations, with as many as 50% of churches that joined in North America already struggling before the transition. The team reaffirmed the importance of prioritizing church multiplication among new believers, a phenomenon happening in emerging regions, and focusing especially on underserved regions.
North American churches continue to face challenges moving from a church-growth mindset to a multiplication mindset. Multiplying disciples and churches has not been a priority for most North American churches. The team has partnered with Exponential to address this through cohort training, which has demonstrated measurable success in encouraging pastors toward multiplication-focused ministry.
Bishop Evariste reported ongoing partnership with One Mission Society, including 261 churches planted in Congo, 42 in Zambia, and emerging work in South Africa.
Missions Mobilization & Unreached People Groups – Sherri Tabaka-Morrissey
Terry Vanderslice opened with a reflection on Psalm 67 and the concept of mobiology. The church has largely shifted sending responsibilities to mission sending agencies which are struggling to recruit. The antidote is mobiology: calling and mobilizing the local church and every believer to participate in God’s mission.
Sherri presented the team’s work organized around the Acts 1:8 framework of Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth. This framework helps local churches broaden their understanding to include evangelism, disciple-making, and mercy ministry as integral to mission at every level — local, regional, and global. Churches are being equipped through Engage training to integrate evangelism into outreach efforts.
The Kingdom Advancement Portal has launched and is awaiting integration with the GMC website. The portal includes a multilingual resource library and a database of GMC missional partners. The team prioritizes missional partnerships with theologically Wesleyan organizations but also maintains an Apostolic Ministries category for orthodox ministries specializing in disciple and church multiplication in unreached areas.
Regarding conference partnerships, most US partners are at capacity. The goal is for current sustainability partnerships to evolve into genuine missional partnerships. While there has been some pushback regarding partnership guidance, the team continues to communicate the importance of cultivating healthy, sustainable partnerships while addressing concerns related to unhealthy dependency and financial practices. The establishment of prayer partnerships and quarterly gatherings for partnership and missional leaders will strengthen collaboration among conferences.
Disaster Response – Linda Davis
Kabah Kasongo Mwenze shared reflections connecting disaster response to Matthew 25, emphasizing that serving those in crisis is serving Christ himself. The disaster response team takes seriously the call to serve by quickly responding to needs, and in doing so, reflects the love of Jesus. Disaster response in the African context not only meets physical needs but opens doors to present Jesus; Africa is growing spiritually as a result.
One of the GMC’s biggest challenges is how local churches and conferences will be autonomous yet unified. Disaster response is never purely logistical — it is always accompanied by the proclamation of the gospel, therefore, it can serve as a unifying ministry across the GMC by demonstrating the integration of evangelism and social holiness. Community preparedness and resilience efforts are important components of long-term ministry effectiveness. This kind of meaningful disaster response work will require dedicated staffing and sustainable funding.
A standardized base camp curriculum has been developed to provide consistent disaster response practices across conferences, though some resistance has emerged. Shared frameworks and common language, along with strong relational and prayer support within disaster response ministry teams, are essential for effective global coordination.
Monday, March 16, 2026
Welcome and Opening Prayer – Wes Griffin
Approval of Previous Minutes
The minutes from February 12, 2026 were approved via email prior to this meeting. Strategic Planning Discussion
Evangelism has not received sufficient emphasis across the connection despite being included within the Church Multiplication and Evangelism team. Greg West joined the Commission specifically to strengthen focus in this area.
Members discussed the urgent need for intentional discipleship training and equipping.
• Coordination is ongoing between Commission and the Discipleship, Doctrine, and Just Ministry Commission to address discipleship strategy.
• Questions remain regarding where discipleship training best fits organizationally – within the current commission structure or as part of a task force.
• A single denominationally-approved discipleship pathway would not adequately serve all cultural contexts within the GMC.
• There are concerns about insufficient training of clergy and laity in how to do discipleship.
• Evangelism and discipleship training should not be separated by being split across commissions.
• Africa in particular faces urgency in this area because of the need to train pastors quickly.
Paul Lawler continued reporting on the GMC leadership gathering, noting that the General Church is responsible for equipping conferences while conferences are responsible for equipping local churches. The movement of Jesus occurs in and through local churches that have been equipped then empowered.
The Commission participated in small-group discussions addressing vision for the future of the GMC by discussing:
• What is the greatest challenge for the GMC?
• What tactical steps must we take to fulfill our mission?
• What needs to be said that is not being said?
• If you could personally talk with the leaders of the GMC to aid effectiveness in evangelism, mission, and discipleship, what would you say?
Impact Middle East Travel Report – Amber Tolbert & Heather Carter-Young
Amber and Heather reported on their January 2026 vision trip with GMC missional partner, Impact Middle East (IME). Lessons learned will help guide discussion around how the GMC, particularly local churches, might engage in ministry with unreached people groups and in creative-access contexts through the work of IME.
Kingdom Advancement Portal – Amber Tolbert
Amber introduced the Kingdom Advancement Portal, highlighting missional partners, the resource library, and multilingual resources.
https://kingdomadvancement.globalmethodist.org/
General Conference Legislation – Wes Griffin
Members discussed Paragraphs 514 and 515 of the Book of Doctrines and Discipline in consideration of General Conference petitions. Terms like evangelism, discipleship, and
movement should be defined so meanings are clear yet allow flexibility across cultural contexts. Members reviewed the legislative process and petition submission procedures. Petitions are due May 1.
Closing Prayer – Bishop Kimba Evariste
Adjourned at 4:52pm ET
Upcoming Meetings
July 9, 2026 ∙ October 1, 2026
9am Eastern Time (New York)
Length: Two Hours
Via Zoom
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