Congregational Excellence
Bob Farr - Episcopal Candidate
Bob Farr has been a leader in the United Methodist Church since he was a teenager, serving as president of the Conference Council on Youth Ministries. But his love of the church and its traditions does not keep him stuck in a system that is in decline; rather it makes him passionate about seeking transformation.
Farr has sought church transformation since he first started his ministry. From his first student appointment at the age of 18, every church he has served has grown by at least 50 percent during his appointment. During his last two local church appointments, he started a new church that grew to an attendance of 450, and he took a church in decline that was averaging 505 in attendance and led its growth to 1,064.
Since July of 2007, Farr has served on the Missouri Conference staff as director of the Center for Congregational Excellence. Even before this appointment, he was very active in church consulting. As Director of the Center for Congregational Excellence, Farr has been responsible for new church starts, congregational transformation and collaborative learning among congregations, clergy, lay and Hispanic. During these past five years, Farr has had oversight of 16 new church starts in the Missouri Conference.
In his current position Farr pioneered the Healthy Church Initiative, a consultation process which does a thorough, in-depth analysis of a local church, develops a prescription for transformation, and offers the services of consultants to churches that agree to adopt the prescriptions. A dozen other United Methodist Conferences have now adopted similar church revitalization programs modeled after the Healthy Church Initiative.
The program was extended to small membership churches with the introduction of the Small Church Initiative. The majority of pastors in Missouri are now part of a peer mentoring group through a program that was implemented by Farr. More than 300 lay leaders have participated in a lay leadership development program, with 36 trained facilitators in the Conference.
This summer Farr published a book called Renovate or Die, which articulates his vision and the processes he uses to implement church turnaround. Though Farr has a bias toward action and much prayer and discernment, he remarkably loves to spend quiet time on his back porch enjoying the 2 acres of timber behind his house in Lake Sherwood, which he calls his personal retreat center for prayer, direction and discernment.
Farr was born August 22, 1959. He graduated from Central Missouri State University in 1981 with a Bachelor’s degree in organizational communications and a minor in fire safety. He graduated from Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University in 1985 with a Masters of Divinity. In 2011 Central Methodist University awarded him an honorary Doctorate of Divinity. The Missouri Conference General and Jurisdictional Conference delegations unanimously endorsed his candidacy. Farr now seeks to follow his call to the episcopacy so that he might put his passion for church revitalization to work as a Bishop of the United Methodist Church.
For more about Farr’s work with the Healthy Church Initiative, please go to www.healthychurchinitiative.com.
GBOD offers free webinars for church leaders Register at www.gbod.org/committee_resources
January 18 at 1:30 PM CST: PRINCIPLES OF CHURCH RENEWAL FOR DS’S
Key factors for setting a path toward renewal of district congregations
January 31 at 6:30 PM CST: GOAL SETTING FOR VITAL CONGREGATIONS
A guide for setting realistic numerical goals for your congregation on the website umvitalcongregations.org
February 9 at 6:30 PM CST: 10 COMMANDMENTS FOR CHURCH WEBSITES
A website is the new front door to your church. Patrick Steil, Webmaster for the North Texas Conference and owner of ChurchBuzz.org, will walk you through 10 Commandments that transform your website into the BEST outreach and communications tool that has ever been possible.
February 23 at 6:30 PM CST: HEALTHY CHURCH LEADERS – KEY FACTORS
SPRC has a key role for health of body, mind and soul for your pastor and leaders. GBPHB's Center for Health shares key factors for a healthy ministry environment.
Training for new church leaders is also available. One-hour recorded modules are available for the Church Council, Trustees, Nominating Committees, Finance leaders, and S/PPRC. Individuals can watch at home or church groups can view the modules when they meet. Encourage the pastors and laity in congregations to learn their jobs with these modules posted at www.gbod.org/committee_resources
Five Major Areas of Ministry
- Healthy Church Initiative
- Established Church Congregational Transformation
- New Church Development
- Pastoral Leadership Development
- Hispanic Ministries
The Center for Congregational Excellence staff would be happy to provide more information in these areas...
- Healthy Church Initiative (HCI)
- New Church Development
- Congregation Intervention
- Congregational Transformation
- Hispanic Ministries
- Urban Renewal
- Ethnic Local Church Task Force