Church Planting & Planters

Whether emerging from existing congregations or unfolding in new contexts, church planting is spiritual growth embodied – a way to connect deeply with neighbors, cultivate discipleship and expand the Wesleyan tradition with innovation and integrity.

Through cohorts, coaching, funding and peer networks, our conference nurtures planters and faith communities through every phase of development.

Department for Multiplication

At the heart of the Horizon Texas Conference’s church planting efforts is the Department for Multiplication – with the vision of Multiplying Jesus Followers becomes a core commitment. The Multiplication Team equips leaders to explore planting by recognizing that planting looks different in each context, from small group gatherings to multi-site campuses to future independent churches.

LEAD Academy

The Six-Week Leadership Engagement and Discernment (LEAD) Academy is to help participants discover their leadership style, strengths and weaknesses, intercultural competency, and learning style and then to incorporate those discoveries into their leadership practice into a post-Christendom context.

The LEAD Academy is wide net open to any leaders in the HTC who wish to have a better understanding of themselves and what it takes to lead vital congregations in our current context as well as exploring starting new ministries to reach new people.

LEAD Academy 2026 will kick off on October 5.

Genesis

Genesis is designed for leaders who are called to start new congregations or innovative faith communities that seek to reach new people. This six-month cohort, hosted by the Horizon Texas Conference, provides structured support, coaching, and practical tools to help church planters develop a Missional Action Plan for launching new faith communities.

Accelerated Church Expansion (ACE)

The ACE initiative was developed to take advantage of assets that have been accumulated within the Conference to create a self-sustainable program that will allow us to rapidly expand United Methodist Churches within High Growth – Low UMC Presence areas while minimizing the overall risks associated with buying land and building churches. The initiative will be a joint effort between the Center for Multiplication, the Horizon Texas Conference, Texas Methodist Foundation, and ACE Sending Campuses.

The ACE Initiative has five primary goals:

1. To rapidly expand churches within High Growth-Low UMC Presence areas
2. To form partnerships between the Conference, TMF, and Sending Campuses to purchase land and build a phase one building immediately
3. To lay out a ten-year business plan, along with a review board to make necessary changes, to celebrate wins, or if necessary to quickly stop the effort to minimize financial impact
4. To empower key process owners to move quickly to take advantage of market opportunities
5. To create a financial approach that maximizes the use of the Conference’s asset pool while allowing the New ACE Campuses the time to build their congregation in a way that allows the program to be self-funding for future church starts

Revitalization

Revitalization sometimes begins with bold new beginnings. Horizon Texas Conference supports church rebirth strategies as well as adoption and vital mergers. We also support a number of different models of new church starts. Some of them involve:

• Healthy congregations give birth to new expressions of faith.
• Additional worshipping communities within the current church facility
• Future independent churches (mother/daughter model)
• Second sites (multi-site model)
• Others involve the creation of new ministries in growing as well as underserved areas of the mission field.
• New Expressions
• Independent church starts
• Mission Congregations

Revitalization is supported in existing congregations through:

• The Vital Congregations process
• Leadership training and metrics-based accountability
• Resources for storytelling, discipleship, and innovation