We often hear these two Scripture verses, “Without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5, NKJV) and “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13, NKJV). These verses are great reminders of who is truly empowering our ministries. But as we look at our world, even our own sphere of influence, it can sometimes feel overwhelming as we think about living out Jesus’ vision in Acts 1:8. This simple verse reminds us of our greatest resource, “… when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (NIV).
There it is — it is the work of the Holy Spirit in us! While we may be tempted to lean into what we can see, remember, God is moving in ways we cannot see. When we rely on God’s power, we will inevitably be led step-by-step into our Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth.
The Church Multiplication and Discipleship (CMAD) team of The Wesleyan Church (TWC) has been leaning into the Holy Spirit’s leadership, saying our next “yes” to what he has been laying out. What an amazing year 2024 has been in seeing all that God has been doing in CMAD’s departments!
Our Next Gen department, under the leadership of Santes Beatty, has been bringing renewal and fostering connections across districts among Next Gen leaders (kids, youth and young adults). The Holy Spirit moved mightily at the fall FUEL Conference where 300 Next Gen leaders came together for personal and ministry renewal. These leaders are continually being equipped with practical training through monthly virtual Next Gen Connect meetings. It is inspiring to hear stories of leaders making a difference in their Acts 1:8 context.
In addition, TWC’s kid’s ministry was awarded a $1.25 million grant to fund the Kids in Worship Initiative, a project aimed at transforming how the church engages children in corporate worship and prayer experiences.
For more information go to wesleyan.org/nextgen.
Our Discipleship department, under the leadership of Katie Lance, has been focused on helping leaders develop a culture of disciple-making within their church. Last year, 45 leaders completed the Mobilizing Disciple Makers course. The new WeDisciple app launched, providing pathways for regular discipleship connections and valuable discipleship resources. The Wesleyan Worship Collective was also launched, serving to gather, equip and mobilize worship leaders to lead with a disciple-making vision.
Throughout the year, pastors and leaders were resourced through monthly webinars, sermon series kits and four learning communities (Hispanic ministry, Church Revitalizations, Multiethnic ministry and Discipleship culture shifting).
For more information, go to wesleyan.org/discipleship.
Our Multiplication department, under the leadership of Jesse Pratt, has been helping leaders lean into an Acts 1:8 movement. The Church Multiplication Collective (CMC) facilitated another Exponential Multipliers Learning Community. Over 250 Wesleyan churches have now gone through this paradigm-shifting learning experience. The CMC also launched the Multipliers Journey and is helping churches in every district create a multiplication culture and contextually refine their Acts 1:8 strategies. The CMC team is seeing a “friends on mission” culture emerge in every district with pastors and leaders unifying and partnering together to see more sending churches take ownership for planting new churches.
For more information, go to wesleyan.org/cmc.
Our New Church Development (NCD) department, under the leadership of Aimee Pratt, continues to connect, resource and network leaders as they lean into the church planting systems available through TWC. Along with assessing, coaching and training church planters, one helpful demographic resource being utilized by over 400 Wesleyan churches is MissionInsite. MissionInsite is a comprehensive demographic database tool that equips church leaders with insightful information to help them understand how to impact their communities with the good news of Jesus. It is exciting to see a growing number of churches (of all shapes and sizes) looking to start new churches in different cultures. Many NCD equipping resources are being translated into Spanish and French.
For more information, go to wesleyan.org/multiplication.
Hephzibah62:4 (a subsidiary of TWC), under the leadership of Jodi Lewis, launched the Disability and The Church Conference Grant in 2024. This grant helps local Wesleyan church leaders gain insight into disability and mental health related topics as well as assisting churches in launching multi-faceted disability ministries. A new resource helping churches advance the cause of sanctity of human life was recently released and can be found at hephzibah.org/sohl.
In addition to these church resources, Hephzibah62:4 has provided financial grants to four adopting families and four foster and adoptive families in crisis.
For more information, go to Hephzibah.org.
Without a doubt, from the CMAD perspective, TWC is headed in the right direction — transforming lives, churches and communities with the hope and holiness of Jesus Christ. We are confident God will continue to do great things through our diverse Kingdom Force as we follow the Holy Spirit’s lead!
Rev. Dr. Ed Love is the executive director of the Church Multiplication and Discipleship Division of The Wesleyan Church.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
