Greetings,
The Southwest Conference Church Growth and Development Committee (CG&D) has had a busy time over the past year, coinciding with the arrival of our new Conference Minister John Dorhauer.

Last fall we had an engaging conversation at a two-day retreat that was the yeast for a report of the CG&D that assessed where we are as conference with growth and development and where we might begin to move in the future. We shared that report with more than 20 key leaders in the Southwest Conference to get their feedback on our Report and Assessment.

After incorporating their insights, we took the report on the road for listening sessions held throughout the Southwest Conference in May. We held six regional listening sessions in: Northern Arizona, Northern New Mexico, El Paso, Texas, Southern Arizona, the West Phoenix Valley and the East Phoenix Valley. A general invitation was sent to all churches in the Southwest Conference as well as an article in the Conference "In The Loop" e-mail publication. Every church received a phone call to personally invite the clergy. To our surprise we had a range of 8-16 people at each of the listening sessions and each session had lively conversation over these four questions:

1.  How would you assess the current ability of the SWC in its work of growth and revitalization?
2.  What are the emerging needs for the Conference regarding growth, development and revitalization?
3.  What challenges and obstacles will be faced?
4.  What resources are needed?

Summary of the listening sessions
We hope when you read this summary; you will begin to envision where we might go in the future as the Southwest Conference. It will take all of us working together, while the Spirit does its part to revitalize and transform.

At its May 28^th meeting, the Church Growth and Development Committee met to process all the reports from the listening visits. The Committee listened for consistent themes that emerged in the listening sessions. This part of the report shares what those themes were:

Question #1: How would you assess the current ability of the SWC in its work of growth and revitalization?

Themes that emerged:

Want to let everybody know who we are as a denomination
We are in a prime area to develop Hispanic churches, but are not currently doing a good job
Church identity-many churches using the God is Still Speaking material, a good, useful tool
People feel more connected to the life of the conference
Ambassador Program - What happened to it?
People want to feel connected in the conference, use the gifts of retired pastors, don’t have associations or enough conference staff
People feel positive about John and the Conference e-newsletter “In the Loop”
Churches are open to people

Question #2: What are the emerging needs for the Conference regarding growth, development and revitalization?

Themes that emerged:

Need to assess the demographics of areas
Individual churches need to know how to develop a strong visitor program
A resource person to coordinate how to start a new church
Use technology to connect people across the conference
Communication-ways to share ideas and programs
Podcast network-to address geographical distance
Making technology available to small churches that don’t have it
Education-lay theological training, how to do Sunday School, pastoral care
Association gatherings
Revitalization should be first, but growth also needs to happen
Need for bilingual resources

Question #3: What challenges and obstacles will be faced?

Themes that emerged:

Who will give up members to start a new church?
Churches helping other churches - can be seen as a turf battle
Developing a communication and technology infrastructure
Most people have plenty of other things to do-busy lives
Culture vs. church-culture isn’t as community oriented as church is
Marketing - communication to the public at large
Overcoming our history with regard to successful new church starts and within individual churches
Money, staffing, people to start a new church
Goal setting

Question #4: What resources are needed?

Themes that emerged

Staff person - maybe a person to do Conference Minister’s maintenance work and let John focus on vision, process, etc. for growth and revitalization
How do we channel our energy and effort strategically?
Look at the resources already available to us in the conference, need to make connections with churches to see the resources, look at successful models in the SWC
Growth and development section on the new conference website - people needed to contribute to this
Workshop sponsored by CG&D, probably on the topic of revitalization
Have a plan
Cameron Trimble-continue to use as a resource

Follow-up report to churches regarding Listening Visits
The Church Growth and Development Committee thanks all who participated in our Listening Visits. In this report, we have shared with you what we experienced in the sessions and the overall themes that emerged. We want to add to that a list of those things that the Conference is, or will soon be doing, in response to what we heard.

We have heard you say that for us to take the work of Growth and Revitalization seriously, we will need an additional staff person. Alissa Marquis, Moderator, and John Dorhauer, Conference Minister, have already met with John Thomas and Steve Sterner about how the National Church might be able to share that cost burden with the Conference. The content of those discussions have been shared with the Executive Committee. Leaders of the Conference will continue to think creatively and seriously about how and when that might happen.

Many of you talked about the need to make better use of emerging technologies for both communication and education. John Dorhauer has been in conversation with denominational leaders about supplying the Conference with Grant money to build a technological infrastructure in the Southwest Conference. While this would have many benefits, of relevance to the work of Growth and Development would be opportunities for live training and workshop presentations to be broadcast throughout the Conference without the burden of transporting participants across many miles and at great expense.

Many of you pointed out that the website could be used as a resource for churches to communicate with each other about what is working in their setting, and what resources they are using to grow or revitalize their ministry. Peggy Ice, our SWC Communications Director, is in the process now of retooling our website to do just that. An entire section of the website will be devoted to Growth, Development, and Revitalization. The website will allow users to warehouse helpful information, to cross-reference materials, and to communicate with each other as they seek newer and more creative ways to revitalize their ministries.

We heard you ask about additional training and education. Last year, we piloted a new Leadership Training program in three different parts of the Conference. 8-10 workshops were conducted in Phoenix, Rio Rancho, and Tucson. Those events are going to be offered annually, and at each one, workshops will be conducted on the themes of Growth and Revitalization. We will also use the Annual Meeting as an opportunity for continuing education on these vital themes.

Finally, we continue to partner with National leaders to help build and construct an infrastructure of support and a long-range mission plan to sustain growth, development, and revitalization in the Southwest Conference. Alissa Marquis and John Dorhauer have also met with David Schoen, Director of the Congregational Vitality initiative, to talk about the unique opportunities for growth here in the SWC. Cameron Trimble continues to be an essential consultant to the SWC, and will be tapped in the coming months for support and leadership.