e-Review archive
Global Connection
March 2008
 

Filipino church leaders criticize alleged corruption

March 4, 2008      United Methodist News Service Allegations of a corrupt business deal that would have garnered millions of dollars in payoffs to Philippine President Gloria Arroyo and her husband have United Methodist leaders declaring that now is the time to "exorcise this evil spirit." full story

Assembly delegates to consider over 1,500 petitions

March 5, 2008     United Methodist News Service Nearly 1,000 delegates to the United Methodist General Conference are now wading through 1,564 pieces of proposed legislation to be considered during the April 23-May 2 meeting in Fort Worth, Texas. full story

Caucus says empower black churches, communities

March 6, 2008     United Methodist News Service LOS ANGELES — African-American United Methodists must engage in the Wesleyan code in their own zip codes to help black churches and African-American communities. That was the message to nearly 400 participants at the Feb. 27-March 1 annual meeting of Black Methodists for Church Renewal. The gathering focused both inwardly and outwardly to examine the realities and challenges of following John Wesley's three general rules for a faithful Christian life: doing good, doing no harm and staying in love with God. full story

Africa University endowment reaches $44 million

March 6, 2008      United Methodist News Service LOS ANGELES — United Methodist churches and annual conferences increased their giving to Africa University by 2 percent in 2007 and helped the Zimbabwe school's endowment reach $44 million. The 16-year-old university, though challenged by Zimbabwe's astronomical inflation rate, is managing to cope with political and economic crises, according to a report delivered Feb. 26 to the Africa University Development Advisory Committee. full story

Regarding children: ending racism a child at a time

March 7, 2008 United Methodist Reporter Is it safe to take children to a neighborhood where they're obviously out of place or even risking danger? On the other hand, is it “safe” to ignore the real world? Audrey Ward shares her perspective. full story

GEN-X RISING: Preach salvation, not self-help

March 7, 2008 United Methodist Reporter In his Gen-X Rising column, Andrew Thompson takes issue with popular preaching that focuses more on self-improvement and reaching one’s potential than on the very real need for divine grace. full story

WESLEYAN WISDOM: Ostrich posture or eagle vision on itineracy?

March 7, 2008 United Methodist Reporter Wesleyan Wisdom columnist Donald Haynes says it’s about time for the UMC to re-visit the idea of itineracy for its clergy. He regrets that he moved around so much in his own clergy career. full story

Immigration and integration

March 7, 2008 General Board of Church and Soceity of The United Methodist Church On a typically hectic morning as I prepared to leave home for an early appointment at the office, I was vaguely aware of the radio in the background. Then something caught my ear: A commentator was offering opinions on the history of immigration; either that, or he was offering opinions on the history of integration. The confusion was my fault. I had only partially been paying attention. Which was it? The consternation about issues regarding our borders cannot be understood apart from ethnic and racial perspectives about the people who cross them. My confusion proved to be a revelation. full story

Campaign launched to stop U.S. deal with India

March 7, 2008 General Board of Church and Soceity of The United Methodist Church WASHINGTON — The United Methodist Board of Church & Society is among 23 organizations that have launched a campaign to stop the Bush Administration’s proposed nuclear trade agreement with India. The agreement would exempt India from long-standing U.S. and international restrictions on states that do not meet global standards to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons. full story

Church remembers Evangelical United Brethren roots

March 7, 2008      United Methodist News Service Forty years ago this spring, The United Methodist Church became The United Methodist Church. On April 23, 1968, delegates from the Methodist and Evangelical United Brethren churches voted to merge their denominations at a Uniting Conference in Dallas. Four decades later, as United Methodists return to the Dallas area for the 2008 General Conference, many former EUBs remain active in ministry and have differing opinions on how best to remember the denomination of their youth. full story

Commentary: Interviewing pastors 'an awful job'

March 10, 2008     United Methodist News Service I recently spent a few days at a retreat for the Minnesota Annual Conference Board of Ordained Ministry where about 30 of us-mainly clergy but a few lay folks such as me-interviewed people wanting to be pastors. It's an awful job. It really is. And I mean that in a couple of ways. full story

United Methodist Women mark Iraq war anniversary

March 11, 2008     United Methodist News Service STAMFORD, Conn. — United Methodist women across the United States are being encouraged to organize and participate in prayer services and peace vigils on March 19 to mark the fifth anniversary of the U.S.-led war in Iraq. That encouragement comes from the Women's Division, United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, which met March 7-10 in Stamford. full story

Bishop Paup to lead Board of Global Ministries

March 11, 2008     United Methodist News Service STAMFORD, Conn. — United Methodist Bishop Edward Paup has been elected to lead the church's Board of Global Ministries, which oversees global missions and is the denomination's largest agency. The election came March 11 during the board's spring meeting. He will assume the post of general secretary on Sept. 1. Until that time, Bishop Felton May will continue as the interim top executive. full story

Church agencies renew distance-education partnership

March 12, 2008     United Methodist News Service NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Two United Methodist agencies have renewed a partnership to develop distance-education systems across Africa using satellite and radio. The top executives of the United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry and United Methodist Communications symbolically re-signed an agreement to work together to address denominational focuses on leadership development, health, poverty and congregational development. full story

Pan-Methodists re-evaluate board roles

March 12, 2008    United Methodist News Service LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The African Methodist Episcopal Church has withdrawn its support of a resolution affirming full communion with the other denominations in the Pan-Methodist Commission, and it is reconsidering having representatives on United Methodist agencies. Speaking at the March 6-8 meeting of the Pan-Methodist Commission, Bishop Earl McCloud, the ecumenical officer for the AME Church, said the withdrawal was based on a series of events, primarily those that led up to the dismissal of the Rev. Larry Pickens as leader of The United Methodist Church's ecumenical agency. Last November, the commission adopted a resolution affirming full communion and mutual support of the churches in the Pan-Methodist Commission. But since then, the bishop said, "I've changed my mind." full story

Religious activists attend advocacy 'boot camp'

March 13, 2008     United Methodist News Service WASHINGTON — More than 700 people participated in a four-day "boot camp" for religious activism culminating with a day on Capitol Hill to advocate for "true security" around the world. The sixth annual Ecumenical Advocacy Days, held March 7-10, provided hands-on training for speaking with U.S. lawmakers on justice issues ranging from the war in Iraq to rebuilding the Gulf Coast in the United States. full story

Nothing But Nets raises $18 million in first year

March 13, 2008     United Methodist News Service NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Nothing But Nets, an anti-malaria campaign of The United Methodist Church and other partners, raised more than $18 million from 60,000 donors during its first year. A new report issued by the United Nations Foundation said the total was raised as of Dec. 31, 2007, to buy and distribute insecticide-treated sleeping nets for families in Africa. The sum includes more than $9.4 million donated by individuals, $3 million in matching funds from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and $5.7 million contributed through "Idol Gives Back," a two-night "American Idol" television special benefiting organizations that help children in poverty. full story

United Methodist Men slate new methods, officers

March 13, 2008     United Methodist News Service NASHVILLE, Tenn. — In the same year that the ministry of United Methodist Men is celebrating its 100th anniversary, annual conference presidents of United Methodist Men learned of new methods to reach men in the next 100 years. The National Association of Conference Presidents (NACP) of United Methodist Men, meeting Feb. 28-March 2, also elected new officers and set plans for its 2009 national gathering, to be held in Nashville after a long tradition of meeting at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind. "I'm more excited than I've ever been before about men's ministry," said the Rev. David Adams, top staff executive of United Methodist Men. full story

Q&A: The Jewishness of Jesus

March 14, 2008 United Methodist Reporter Dr. Mark Chancey has made an auspicious start as the new chair of SMU’s religious studies department. Always passionate about promoting interfaith understanding, he was the featured lecturer at a Jewish synagogue recently on “The New Testament: First Century Jews, First Century Christians.” A member of Northaven United Methodist Church in Dallas, Dr. Chancey’s scholarly work has focused on the New Testament, early Christianity and early Judaism and the archaeology of Palestine. He spoke recently with staff writer Mary Jacobs. full story

In 'therapy': Wrangling over fences? Try open-range ministry

March 14, 2008 United Methodist Reporter Old fences die hard, and sometimes take on a life of their own — just like some United Methodist Church rules and regulations, says Eric Van Meter in part three of his imagined therapy sessions with The United Methodist Church. full story

AGING WELL: Family dynamics affect hard end-of-life choices

March 14, 2008 United Methodist Reporter When family relationships are strained, it can put an added burden on how to handle tough medical decisions for elderly loved ones. full story

Politics and the pulpit: guide to IRS codes on political activity of religious organizations

March 14, 2008 General Board of Church and Society of The United Methodist Church WASHINGTON — Can a minister, rabbi, imam or other member of the clergy endorse a candidate from the pulpit or speak on political issues of interest to voters? Is a church or other house of worship legally permitted to register voters or distribute voter guides? Answers to these and many other questions are contained in “Politics and the Pulpit 2008: A Guide to the Internal Revenue Codes Restrictions on the Political Activity of Religious Organizations.” full story

Court of Human Rights reaffirms absolute prohibition on return

March 14, 2008 General Board of Church and Society of The United Methodist Church STRASBOURG, France — The European Court of Human Rights reaffirmed on Feb. 28 that the ban on deporting people to countries where they are at risk of torture or ill-treatment is absolute and unconditional. The judgment in Saadi v. Italy is being hailed as a major reassertion of the importance of the rule of law by 11 international human rights groups. full story

United Methodist membership down, constituency up

March 14, 2008      United Methodist News Service While professing U.S. membership continues to decline in The United Methodist Church, the number of constituents is steadily increasing, according to new denominational statistics. full story

Church makes tax filing less taxing for people needing help

March 17, 2008     United Methodist News Service NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tax season can be one of the most dreaded times of the year, but one United Methodist congregation is approaching it as an outreach opportunity — an outreach that includes hot coffee and fresh donuts. full story

Conferences will bid farewell to 16 bishops

March 17, 2008 United Methodist News Service Some United Methodist annual (regional) conferences meeting this spring and summer will say goodbye to retiring bishops and become better acquainted with the candidates they have endorsed to succeed them. The 2008 meetings will be the last for 11 retiring U.S. bishops. In July, their successors will be chosen by jurisdictional conferences, and the new bishops will begin serving effective Sept. 1. In addition, five bishops from the central conferences - regions in Africa, Asia and Europe — will retire this year or next. full story

Faith leaders call for living wage, honor King

March 18, 2008    United Methodist News Service MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Forty years after the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. came to Memphis to support striking sanitation workers making poverty wages, faith leaders say King would be shocked to see millions of Americans continuing to be paid poverty wages. About 150 leaders from across the United States gathered March 13 in Memphis for an interfaith celebration to continue King's work for living wages. The event was held at historic Centenary United Methodist Church, where the Rev. James Lawson was pastor in 1968 and organized major religious support for striking sanitation workers living with poverty wages, racial discrimination and dangerous working conditions. In large part because of faith and community support, workers won a union contract after being on strike for 65 days, a few days after King was assassinated on April 4, 1968. full story

Church acts on pension needs in Africa, elsewhere

March 20, 2008     United Methodist News Service MAPUTO, Mozambique — It is 6:15 on a cool Wednesday evening, and people are streaming into Legina Mabunda's garage. Behind the tin door, people are sitting in white plastic lawn chairs and wooden kitchen chairs, and they are packing together tightly on a long bench that runs along one wall. Children cover every inch of a mat spread on the floor. Mabunda, 83, opens her home to people from her local United Methodist church every evening. She used to rent out the garage for extra income but decided the church needed the space more than she did. That's pretty amazing, since Mabunda, widow of a retired United Methodist pastor, has been receiving only $20 a month in pension since his death in 1989. full story

Blogging benefits: pastors discover online community enhances preaching

March 21, 2008 United Methodist Reporter   United Methodist pastors are finding that online community over the Internet flexes their theological muscles, and their preaching and ministry are better for it. full story

COMMENTARY: Modern worship more than just entertainment

March 21, 2008 United Methodist Reporter As worship styles grow and change, we are called to grow in our understanding that there is more than one acceptable way to worship God, says Michael Pence. full story

COMMENTARY: What is old is new again

March 21, 2008 United Methodist Reporter The worship style debate on “traditional” versus “contemporary” has run its course, says Craig Kennet Miller. It's time to move beyond labels and into transformational experiences that shape lives. full story

GEN-X RISING: Crunching the numbers

March 21, 2008 United Methodist Reporter Gen-X Rising columnist Andrew Thompson thinks that for United Methodists, statistics from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life suggest the current crisis of decline is a question of Christian formation. full story

WESLEYAN WISDOM: Restoring a passion for souls

March 21, 2008 United Methodist Reporter If United Methodism is to survive in a changing religious landscape described in a new survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, we need to reclaim our Wesleyan heritage. “Saving souls” is not the domain of only Pentecostals and fundamentalists, after all—this is our heritage and language, too! full story

United Methodists begin Midwest flood response

March 24, 2008      United Methodist News Service Many residents in Arkansas are experiencing a "nightmare" as they deal with a series of weather-related systems affecting parts of the U.S. Midwest, according to Maxine Allen. Families affected by the Feb. 5 tornadoes suffered an ice storm two weeks later and in March were dealing with devastating flooding along a nearly identical track. "People are in a fragile mental state, wondering, 'Why me?' " said Allen, the disaster response and missions coordinator for the United Methodist Arkansas Annual (regional) Conference. Allen is working with partners and the United Methodist Committee on Relief to assess the needs created by all three events and organize response and recovery. full story

Curriculum invites children to build 'rock solid' faith

March 24, 2008     United Methodist News Service NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Hank the Hammer and friends will help children build a "rock solid heart of faith" with a new Sunday school curriculum being offered this fall by the United Methodist Publishing House. "Rock Solid: Building a Heart of Faith" will invite children ages 3-13 to lay a solid biblical foundation and construct a personal relationship with God. full story

Youth experience 'night walk' as homeless teen

March 25, 2008     United Methodist News Service CHICAGO — As he wanders Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood trying to stay warm on a bitterly cold night, 12-year-old Henry Nash seems relieved and grateful he only has to be homeless for an hour. "I can go home and sleep and eat and what not; and someone out here can't, and they just have to spend the night and go hungry," Henry says. "It's really, really kind of sad when you think about it." This cold dose of reality is the goal of Night Walk, an urban immersion experience that helps individuals encounter street life at night from a homeless youth's perspective. The experience is sponsored by The Night Ministry, a nondenominational, nonprofit organization that serves Chicago's most vulnerable people. full story

Meet Ben Scharfstein, 'the inviting guy'

March 26, 2008      United Methodist News Service JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. — Ben Scharfstein is bubbly. He's full of stories and smiles and warm affirmation that immediately put you at ease. "OK, darlin'," he says, when informed that his noon appointment is running a few minutes late. "Don't you worry about it," he says later, when the appointment turns out to be later still. With coffee cup in one hand and oxygen tank in the other, he waits in the entry hall at Munsey Memorial United Methodist Church, just like he waits for the people he invites to worship. He promises them he'll be there, to greet them and sit with them and make them feel darn glad they came. Scharfstein is the "inviting guy" at this East Tennessee church, but it wasn't long ago when he didn't attend church at all. He is so glad to be alive and back in church, however, that he wants to share his joy with others. full story

Retired Liberian clergy eke out survival on pensions

March 27, 2008    News media contact:   Linda  Green * (615) 7425470*  Nashville {130} United Methodist News Service GRAND BASSA COUNTY, Liberia — The Rev. JoJoe Vah, his mother and 16 other relatives live in a house that would be condemned by U.S. standards. The home was heavily damaged and looted by rebels during Liberia's long civil war, and now it stands as a burned-out shell. Vah, 78, who retired from active ministry in 2002, was a United Methodist pastor for 53 years. He has no money to repair the damage to his home caused by fire, bullets, water and weather. Receiving no income other than a quarterly pension of US$60, he and his family subsist on rice, soup made from a local nut and items they receive from others.Stories like Vah's abound in Liberia. A news team from United Methodist Communications and members of the denomination's Board of Pension visited the Liberia Annual Conference in 2005 to gain a better understanding of the pension needs in that West African country. full story

Hope for mainline renewal

March 28, 2008 United Methodist Reporter Author Diana Butler Bass believes renewal can happen for mainline Protestant denominations. At the annual School for the Laity at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, she encouraged attendees to rethink tradition and cultivate practices that encourage spreading the gospel. full story

Q&A: Finding that place in the middle

March 28, 2008 United Methodist Reporter The Rev. Adam Hamilton spoke recently about the tendency toward polarization in religion, politics and culture, the longing for certainty, and the radical nature of choosing the middle path. full story

COMMENTARY: A missional future — the United Methodist Way

March 28, 2008 United Methodist Reporter The current institution of The United Methodist Church can be helpful, but it probably won't generate the renewal we need, says Taylor Burton-Edwards of the General Board of Discipleship. full story

Thinking about a new hymnal

March 28, 20087     News media contact:   Dean McIntyre * 877-899-2780, ext 7073 *  Nashville General Board of Discipleship of The United Methodist Church There were significant political, cultural, ecumenical, theological and liturgical changes during the life of the 1966 Methodist Hymnal, and these were all considered in putting together the 1989 United Methodist Hymnal. There have been fewer of these types of changes in the church during the life of the 1989 hymnal, but there have been many other significant changes in liturgy, worship style, musical style and technology. Many of these are behind the proposal to General Conference to approve a new hymnal for The United Methodist Church in the United States. This article discusses those changes and reasons. full story

U.S. state efforts advance to abolish death penalty

March 28, 2008    United Methodist News Service In 1985, Kirk Bloodsworth was convicted of rape and murder and sent to Maryland's death row. In 1993, DNA testing proved he was innocent. He joined the 127 people in the United States who have been released from death rows after being found innocent of the capital crime for which they were convicted. "Because innocent persons are sentenced to death and because there is documented racial and geographical bias, everyone should question the death penalty," said Beth Reilly, a United Methodist working to abolish capital punishment in Maryland. Delegates to the 1956 Methodist General Conference took the historic action of officially opposing the death penalty. Each Methodist and United Methodist General Conference since that time has reaffirmed that position. full story

Commentary: Death penalty law recaptures spirit of '56

March 28, 2008     United Methodist News Service "You have women clergy in The United Methodist Church?" The question was posed to me several years ago by Sister Dorothy Briggs, a new friend in the movement to abolish the death penalty. Acknowledging that she knew very little about the Protestant church, she was delighted to learn that most Protestant churches ordain women. She was especially pleased to learn that The United Methodist Church has female bishops. I went on to tell her about the spirit of '56. In 1956, the Methodist Church gave women full clergy rights. The 1956 General Conference also added opposition to the death penalty to the church's Book of Discipline. There had been church editorials against capital punishment going back at least to the trial and executions of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti in the 1920s, but it wasn't until 1956 that opposition to the death penalty became church policy. full story

Court closes United Methodist church in Russia

March 28, 2008     United Methodist News Service United Methodists are investigating a court liquidation of a church in Smolensk, Russia. Forum 18 News Service reported that Smolensk Regional Court dissolved the United Methodist congregation there on March 24 in response to a suit filed by the regional public prosecutor's office. The church already had been under government scrutiny because of a complaint from Smolensk's auxiliary Orthodox bishop. United Methodist Bishop Hans Vaxby, based in Moscow, told United Methodist News Service in a March 27 e-mail that the denomination is working with a lawyer to follow up on the court's action, including an appeal. full story