January 1, 2016 through December 31, 2020 were times both exciting and challenging for the Minnesota Conference. We saw new areas of both need and opportunity. Some aspects of ministry became extremely complex in 2020 with the COVID-19 pandemic; the killing of George Floyd and the associated trauma and unrest; and the general social context surrounding the presidential election cycle. Further, because of the pandemic, the conference Constituency Session has been delayed multiple times. This also affects the ministry planned and provided. Still, the Minnesota Conference presses forward in mission with our EYES on Jesus! EYES is an acronym for evangelism, youth ministries, education, spirituality, stewardship, and service. Recognizing that we don’t have space to report all that the Lord is doing, here are some highlights from the past five years.
Evangelism
We cooperated with major media ministries during this period to bring coordinated efforts to Minnesota. Breath of Life, It Is Written, La Voz de la Esperanza, and the Voice of Prophecy each had a part to play in the big picture. There were 133 conference-subsidized evangelistic events; 104 of those were considered non-traditional either because of brevity or content. During this time, we established our literature evangelism ministry which consists of Minnesota Youth Rush (a canvassing program delivering magabooks) as well as a network of churches committed to distributing GLOW tracts.
Through these means as well as the various other ministries, we saw 2,092 members baptized or added through profession of faith. We hope that all these members are also disciples of Jesus. We organized six churches and planted 22 new groups and companies. Our membership grew by 11.6 percent even in some difficult contexts.
Youth Ministries
The biggest event during the past five years was the “Chosen” International Pathfinder Camporee. Minnesota sent 687 Pathfinders and staff to the camporee. The number of clubs varies from year to year, but at the peak, we had 32 Pathfinder clubs in operation, and a peak of 20 Adventurer clubs.
We also operate North Star Camp. We finished construction of the Donna Ward Lodge in 2016 and opened the Rannow Welcome Center in 2018. We continue to fundraise for other capital improvements to the camp. North Star Camp earned accreditation by the American Camp Association for the first time during this reporting period.
During the height of the pandemic, the summer youth camp program went mostly virtual. Onsite family retreats replaced the typical onsite youth activities. Still, over the past five years we have seen hundreds of youth decide to follow Christ, study the Bible, or be baptized.
Education
A new school opened in Rochester and we closed no schools in our system during this reporting period. Our boarding academy, Maplewood Academy had accumulated a debt of approximately a half-million dollars to the conference. That debt has been eliminated. MWA ended 2020 being debt-free and is now operating “in the black,” and the MWA Board intends to keep it that way. All our schools operated through the pandemic either virtually, onsite or in a hybrid mode.
Spirituality, Stewardship and Service
We have held prayer conferences, camp meetings, training seminars and other events intended to revive, reform and strengthen the church for service. We have an accredited Gift Planning and Trust Services ministry which is serving hundreds of church members in the stewardship of their estates. Because of the pandemic and unrest, multiple churches ramped up dramatically their food and assistance distributions in 2020. Tithe income remitted by the churches increased in each of the five years. In addition to the new buildings at North Star Camp, the conference purchased a new office building and sold the old office building, all being debt-free. There are six “new to us” church buildings in the conference, and one brand new school building.
Mission and Vision
Our mission is “To help people realize they are accepted in Jesus Christ, and come to know, love, serve, and share Him.” Our vision is “Recognizing that Jesus will return soon, we will all actively engage in ministry.” This happens through the combined efforts of church members, and the paid teachers, pastors and other ministers all working together in their various ways. We give God all the glory for all the good accomplished. We praise Him for His grace, guidance, mercy and provision!
Justin Lyons is president of the Minnesota Conference.
