Members of the Tennessee-Western Kentucky Conference of The United Methodist Church serve with others in collaboration and faithfulness to the mission and ministry of the church. In more than 400 congregations located in Middle and Western Tennessee and Western Kentucky, our focus is offering Christ to a hurting world, one neighborhood at a time.

The following priorities guide our Discipleship:

  • Professions of faith: reaching people who have yet to know Jesus.
  • Culture of call. As disciples of Jesus, we are all called to be in the world as the body of the resurrected Christ. As we reclaim our culture of call, the “church” in all its forms and expressions will be revitalized.
  • Dismantling and disrupting racism in our lives and the TWK. This is DNA work, not a program.
  • Leadership development of clergy and laity. Every disciple is a spiritual leader, learning and growing as faithful followers of Jesus.
  • Mental health and well-being of clergy and laity as they serve as spiritual leaders.

History of the TWKUMC

The legacy Tennessee and Memphis conferences of The United Methodist Church joined to become the Tennessee-Western Kentucky Conference on January 1, 2022.

The birth of this new conference took several years of collaboration and planning. The Plan of Union, approved by both legacy annual conferences in June 2021, was approved by the Southeastern Jurisdiction of The United Methodist Church (SEJ) at a Special Called Session on July 21, 2021.

The conference meeting center and episcopal offices are located at 1908 Grand Ave. in Nashville, TN. Staff work schedules vary and the building is secured, so please contact us to make an appointment if you wish to meet with staff or drop something off at the office.

See below for the TWK Vision, Mission, and Values updated 2023

Our Vision:

Uniting to embody the love of Christ in Spirit-led actions one community at a time.

Our Mission:

To discover, equip, connect, and send lay and clergy leaders who shape congregations that offer Christ to a hurting world, one neighborhood at a time.

Our Values:

  1. The local church as the disciple making center
  2. Transparency and integrity in our communication
  3. Seeking a purposeful and more generous way of love
  4. Courage to explore possibilities and take risks by being nimble, experimenting, permitting failure, and staying the course
  5. Empowering all leaders and enabling leaders with gifts and graces for the task
  6. Seeking input from both people and useful data
  7. We welcome diversity, rooted in Christ, a deep love of one another, celebrating our differences

Strategic Focus:

Develop transforming lay and clergy leaders to engage the mission field to grow fruitful and faithful congregations.

 

Scriptural References:  
Psalm 46:4 Hebrews 11:1 1 Corinthians 15:58
Romans 12:1-8 Acts 2:42 Acts 20:28
Hebrews 10:24-25 2 Cor. 1:12-14 Matthew 25:14-30
Proverbs 11:4 Proverbs 19:20 Luke 14:28
Galatians 3:28 Revelation 7:9-10 James 2:1-13
Colossians 1:16-17 Psalm 117:1-2 Ephesians 2:13-22
Ephesians 4:1-6 Matthew 28:19-20 Colossians 3:12-17

TWK Vision - Developed Spring 2023

WHO WE ARE TO BE:

  1. A people who are rooted in Christ and Spirit-led.
  2. A people who seeks to journey purposefully, humbly, and joyfully together, helping one another along The Way of Love prioritizing relationships over ideas.
  3. We are to show the world another way; to be the Beloved Community through acts of love, reconciliation, and justice.

WHAT WE ARE TO DO:

  1. Equip and Empower Laity to be Disciples and to Lead the Church in the World for transformed lives; Nurture and empower spiritually-rooted lay leadership.
  2. Provide professional care and support for Lay and Clergy Leaders who are suffering from burnout, fatigue, stress, trauma, healing needs. Soul care is needed. Rest and reflection time are needed. Help people rediscover their solid foundation and their community.
  3. Develop authentic loving relationship with God and others through the work of communal spiritual discernment.
  4. Clarify, Teach, Reinforce Wesleyan Theology with an emphasis on the essentials of Grace and Love; imago Dei, Open Table, baptismal vows, Scripture as Inspired and the need for Spirit-led, thoughtful interpretation.
  5. Following the lead of the Spirit, discover new ways of being Church:
    • Transition to a Parish Model where the focus is on being in relationship with the community.
    • Utilize online community building and discipleship formation.
    • Be the Beloved Community in the world.
    • Lighthouse/The Vine - Helping those left behind by disaffiliating churches to find new community, to process trauma/hurt, to forgive, to deepen their faith, to have hope.
    • Change processes, systems, and practices to be more organic/flexible/decentralized and less institutional/centralized.
    • Be open to radical change. Have the courage to bring Spirit-led change and to be changed. Reimagine how we use buildings and space. Perhaps it’s no longer Sunday-centric; smaller and deeper, more organic; not building-focused, being a movement. God is everywhere. Look for new places to cultivate community; Be the church in the streets.
    • Identify Pathways to the new church that is emerging – how do we get from here to there?

6.  Relaunch Campus Ministry as the place where future leaders are formed; clarifying roles, providing resources, support and accountability, and correcting inequities. Encourage local church partnerships.