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Giving decline threatens scholarships

March 15, 2010 United Methodist News Service NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Economic woes in the United States don’t just affect those in the workforce—now they’re affecting those waiting to enter it. A 13 percent decline in giving to United Methodist Student Day, coupled with increases in eligible applicants and reductions in other funds, means several hundred United Methodist scholarship applicants are likely to be disappointed this year, church officials said. They are appealing for donations to be made online before June. full story

Cross-training: Toning up communication through print, digital media

March 15, 2010 United Methodist Reporter IRVING, Texas — If you’re reading this in print, you may have missed the original conversation via Twitter. Then again, you may just want to see it in context, with the legitimacy that comes from being vetted by “mainstream media.” So said the participants in the 2010 UMR Communicators Conference, who touted the benefits of both digital and print media in communicating with church members as well as reaching new audiences. With “Cross-Training: Fit for the Challenge” as the theme, the March 3-5 conference drew 45 church and conference communicators to the Dallas area from across the country. full story

Churches share wisdom of generous giving

March 12, 2010 United Methodist News Service Generous giving is not easy in a recession. It takes commitment, reaching beyond the local congregation, and the faith and courage to make hard choices. It requires emotional, spiritual and financial investment. In looking at conferences and churches that meet their financial commitments, a common theme is their belief in mission beyond their local congregation and regional bodies. “The ‘for the transformation of the world’ part of the denominational mission is far more than an appendage to the ‘make disciples of Jesus Christ’ phrase,” says the Rev. Arthur McClanahan, Iowa Annual (regional) Conference director of communications. “When people experience the spiritually strengthened, worshipful work that goes on in the smallest hamlets, our suburban communities and our inner cities, the opportunity for connectional giving is understood as an extension of ministry. When people are involved, they’re invested. When there’s emotional investment, there’s spiritual investment — and financial investment, too.” full story

White House focuses on faith-based groups

March 12, 2010 United Methodist News Service An “ambitious” 164-page report submitted to the White House this week on partnerships with faith-based organizations already is having an impact, says a United Methodist involved in the process. The more than 60 recommendations from the President’s Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships also have implications for United Methodists, added the Rev. Donald “Bud” Heckman, a United Methodist pastor who sat on the council’s Inter-religious Cooperation Task Force. full story

Conferences struggle to pay apportionments

March 12, 2010 United Methodist News Service NASHVILLE, Tenn. — There are probably 24 million reasons United Methodist churches didn’t pay their 2009 apportionments in full. At the end of 2009, 14 of the 63 annual conferences in the United States paid 100 percent of the money asked of them by The United Methodist Church to support ministries around the world. The total collected was $24 million short of the $150.3 million budgeted and agreed to by members of the denomination at the 2008 United Methodist General Conference, its top policy-making body. The recession, declining membership and a lack of commitment to or understanding of apportionments are some of the reasons that add up to a collection plate that keeps coming back only partially full. The Rev. Tom Seay, pastor of Colonial Heights United Methodist Church in Kingsport, Tenn., might speak for many pastors when he says, “We budget to pay full apportionments, but we do so realizing we probably won’t make it. We have to pay the mortgage and the electric bill first.” full story

Soul searching: Students can make college search a spiritual journey

March 12, 2010 United Methodist Reporter Katie McDermott is thinking ahead. A high school junior, she’s researching colleges she might like to attend, thinking about her major and visiting with admissions officers. She’s also making connections with campus ministry leaders at the schools she might like to attend. full story

Special session of General Conference unlikely

March 10, 2010 United Methodist News Service Do not expect a special session of General Conference in advance of the 2012 meeting in Tampa, Fla. The limited amount of time available to put together a special session, the cost and the U.S.-focused agenda for a worldwide meeting of United Methodist leaders are among the reasons such a session is unlikely, church leaders said in interviews this week. “My personal read suggests there may not be a call” for a special session, said Bishop Gregory Palmer, president of the United Methodist Council of Bishops. “I don‘t see the votes to do it.” full story

United Methodist Men begin new chapter

March 10, 2010 United Methodist News Service NASHVILLE, Tenn. — United Methodist Men want to be known less as a group of retired old men eating out and more as advocates for the hungry. Marking a new era, the organization has elected a new chief executive, is expanding its hunger ministries and is creating a new online learning center. full story

REFLECTIONS: Reducing number of bishops doesn’t fix membership loss

March 10, 2010 United Methodist Reporter For some 25 years, as the United Methodist Church has experienced a steady membership decline, there has been something of a debate on church growth. Some church leaders have constantly touted the view that numbers don’t really matter; that there are other factors that are more important. Now, it appears that 40 years of membership decline resulting in the loss of some two million members obviously does matter after all. The church, through the action of the General Conference on recommendation of the General Council on Finance and Administration, mandated that we eliminate one bishop in four of the five jurisdictions in the United States. Membership loss, coupled with new financial realities, has required an assessment of our financial viability. Unfortunately, the review did not include a more comprehensive approach and merely focused narrowly on the episcopal areas as the place to make some radical financial decisions. full story

Women’s commission born in turbulent times

March 9, 2010 United Methodist News Service Black Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm ran for President, but in the end, Richard Nixon defeated George McGovern. Antiwar demonstrators — 100,000 strong — took to the streets to protest U.S. involvement in Vietnam. A gallon of gas cost 55 cents, a new house less than $30,000. “The Godfather” was the top-grossing movie and Helen Reddy’s “I Am Woman” took 14th place on the Billboard charts. Into this world was born the United Methodist Commission on the Status and Role of Women. Created by the denomination’s top legislative body four years earlier as a study commission, it eventually became a full-fledged standing commission. full story

Chile mourns for quake victims, plans response

March 8, 2010 United Methodist News Service A week after the 8.8 magnitude earthquake that rocked Chile, Methodist leaders are helping the country respond in pastoral and practical ways. full story

Giving, membership decline in recession

March 8, 2010 United Methodist News Service NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The recession continues to affect giving to The United Methodist Church at a time when the denomination is experiencing its largest percentage decline in membership since 1974. United Methodist churches in the 63 annual (regional) conferences of the U.S. contributed 84 percent of what the denomination budgeted to support ministries around the world in 2009. The total apportioned was $150.3 million; $126.3 million was collected. Meanwhile, membership dropped 1.01 percent to 7,774,420 in 2008, according to the latest data from the United Methodist General Council on Finance and Administration. The council coordinates and administers finances for the denomination. Average worship attendance was down 1.83 percent. What continued, amid sacrifices, was the work of the church, officials said. “With the economic ups and downs of 2009, church leaders are reporting that ministry happened on tighter budgets, and the people of The United Methodist Church are still supporting the mission of the church,” said Moses Kumar, top executive of the council, and Bishop Lindsey Davis, president of the council. full story

Going green when going under

March 8, 2010 United Methodist Reporter MAHWAH, N.J. — In a world that is increasingly renewable, recyclable and energy-efficient, many Americans already spend much of their lives in an eco-friendly environment. Now they can spend eternity there, too. full story

Offering is UMCOR’s ‘backbone’

March 5, 2010 United Methodist News Service NEW YORK — Eight days after the January earthquake in Haiti, Melissa Crutchfield led a small team to the island to start assessing emergency needs for the United Methodist Committee on Relief. The ability of her team to get to Haiti quickly was due in part to One Great Hour of Sharing, an annual churchwide offering for UMCOR taken on the fourth Sunday in Lent. full story

New country, new life: Is adoption the best way to help Haitian orphans?

March 5, 2010 United Methodist Reporter Before the devastating quake, Haiti had about 380,000 orphans; some estimate a million more children were orphaned in the disaster. In response, the U.S. State Department has allowed into the country almost 1,000 Haitian children who had already been matched with prospective parents. Meanwhile the Haitian government has stopped taking applications for adoptions. For now their priority is identifying newly orphaned children and reuniting others with surviving family in Haiti. Is adoption the best way to help Haiti's children? full story

COMMENTARY: On making disciples

March 4, 201 United Methodist Reporter In the first of a three-part series, the Rev. Mike Slaughter says disciples of Christ should not be in the business of making churches, but in going out and making more disciples. full story

‘Wesley’ may be coming to a theater near you

March 4, 2010 United Methodist News Service NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A Moravian preacher is bringing the film “Wesley” to a movie theater near you. The two-hour movie that is slowly building a platform in theaters across the United States not only brings to life John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, but also his mother, brother, Georgia girlfriend and an assorted group of uptight religious leaders and hired thugs. The Rev. John Jackman, 53, pastor of Trinity Moravian Church in Winston-Salem, N.C., says he got into the movie business as a way of telling stories of redemption, and Wesley’s story has enough action for several films. full story

Innovative churches worship despite blizzard

March 3, 2010 United Methodist News Service BALTIMORE It’s said that “neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night” will keep mail carriers from completing their rounds. Apparently, recent record snowfall didn’t prevent some United Methodist pastors in Maryland from completing their sermons. Thanks to high-tech innovations like webcasting and social media — and simpler options like conference calls — some clergy in the Baltimore-Washington Annual (regional) Conference conducted Sunday services in blizzard conditions. full story

A mighty wind: Southwestern U signs wind-power agreement

March 2, 2010 United Methodist Reporter GEORGETOWN, Texas — Southwestern University, a United Methodist-affiliated liberal arts college in Georgetown, Texas, signed an agreement in January that will let the school meet all its electric needs for the next 18 years from wind power. The agreement makes Southwestern the first university in Texas to have all of its electricity supplied by wind power, and one of fewer than 20 universities in the country to have a totally “green” source of power, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. full story

United Methodist News Service coverage of the response in Haiti

Feb. 18-March 2, 2010 United Methodist News Service Recent headlines: • Agency aids Haitian medical evacuees • United Methodists keep focus on Haiti • Haitian adoptions require moral discernment full story

Rethink Church campaign captures advertising awards

March 2, 2010     News media contact:   Diane Degnan * 615-742-5406*   Nashville United Methodist Communications Office of Public Information   NASHVILLE, Tenn. —  Advertising produced on behalf of The United Methodist Church has won regional and local Emmy and ADDY awards, United Methodist Communications has announced. full story

Methodists in Chile assess quake toll

March 1, 2010 United Methodist News Service Methodists in Chile are beginning to assess damage after the massive Feb. 27 earthquake. Bishop Mario Martinez of the Methodist Church in Chile said on Feb. 28 that church buildings in the districts of Chillán, Los Angeles, Segunda de Temuco and Primera y Segunda de Santiago suffered major damage from the earthquake. He had no news of injuries or deaths. full story

Megachurch revitalizes downtown congregation

Feb. 26, 2010 United Methodist News Service KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The megachurch has come to the city, bringing new life to a historic downtown sanctuary. United Methodist Church of the Resurrection, a 12,000-member congregation based in nearby Leawood, Kan., established a third campus at the Grand Avenue Temple, a United Methodist Church which has been at the same location since 1866. The result is the older church, which in recent years has lacked a self-supporting congregation even as its Lazarus Table ministry reached out to the homeless, is undergoing a spiritual and physical renewal. The new congregation, Resurrection Downtown, averages 240 worshippers each week, and is developing vital evangelism, music and small group ministries. The commitment of members of the Church of the Resurrection goes beyond time and treasure. Six couples sold their homes and moved downtown. full story

United Methodists applaud health care summit

Feb. 26, 2010 United Methodist News Service   At the end of the day, the health care summit held in the nation’s capital Feb. 25 produced “more heat than light,” said Bishop Gregory Palmer, president of the United Methodist Council of Bishops. United Methodist lawmakers and church leaders reacting to the forum applauded President Barack Obama’s effort to debate health care reform in public, but are unsure whether any progress was made. full story

The Last Guard: United Methodists stay with toughest Katrina cases

Feb. 26, 2010 United Methodist Reporter NEW ORLEANS — As the recovery work from Hurricane Katrina drags on into its fifth year, most relief money and volunteer help has shifted from places like New Orleans to more media-saturated, current disaster regions like quake-affected Haiti. Many people even find it hard to imagine that post-Katrina recovery work is still taking place. The most destitute families in Louisiana and other hurricane-affected regions, however, have yet to receive help: Some 2,500 family units in New Orleans and surrounding areas still live in trailers provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA); others have not yet returned from nearby states where they fled to escape rising floodwaters. Entire blocks of houses in New Orleans’ impoverished neighborhoods are still boarded up in disrepair. A few die-hard United Methodist volunteers, however, have not yet given up on “the least, the last and the lost” hit hard in 2005 by back-to-back hurricanes Katrina and Rita. United Methodists, in fact, are the last guard of post-Katrina recovery work. full story

Contemporary church begins in coffee shop

Feb. 24, 2010 United Methodist News Service KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Both worship services at Broadway United Methodist Church are as traditional as the majestic stone structure and the 100-year-old sanctuary. When the congregation decided to evangelize people looking for a different spiritual experience, members wanted to do more than just add a contemporary service. They started a new worshipping community with its own pastor and own identity in the coffee shop at Broadway. full story

General Board of Higher Education and Ministry launches mobile Web site

Feb. 24, 2010   News media contact: Vicki Brown *  615-340-7383  * Nashville, Tenn. General Board of Higher Education and Ministry The General Board of Higher Education and Ministry is the first United Methodist general agency to provide a Web site that is specifically designed to be accessed from cell phones and other  mobile hand-held devices such as iPhones and BlackBerries. full story

COMMENTARY: Physical challenges prompt father’s questions on grace

Feb. 24, 2010 United Methodist Reporter As someone often torn between strict law and “mushy” grace, John Meunier wonders how his son’s autism will affect his son’s journey in faith. full story

Young clergywomen blaze new trails

Feb. 19, 2010 United Methodist News Service After a recent worship service at Branches United Methodist Church in Florida City, Fla., the Rev. Audrey B. Warren returned to the sanctuary to turn off the lights. There, draped in Warren's stole and with the microphone in hand, was 4-year-old Cassandra. "I didn't catch what she was saying, but I have to believe that she was 'playing pastor,' " Warren recalls. "If that is not progress ... I don't know what is. How amazing for young girls to dream of being pastors." At 26, Warren herself belongs to a distinct minority: young women who are lead pastors. full story

Sharing abundance: Food ministries fight hunger in America

Feb. 19, 2010 United Methodist Reporter Department of Agriculture statistics show the number of U.S. households lacking enough food “for an active, healthy life” is at its highest level in at least 15 years. In a nation of staggering abundance, too many still go without adequate food or shelter. Across the U.S., United Methodist churches are stepping up to help out the least of these. full story

COMMENTARY: Sins of nomission afflict many churches

Feb. 18, 2010 United Methodist Reporter A large number of United Methodist congregations are struggling with money, members, commitment and leadership. Many of these churches aren’t doing anything wrong — in fact, they aren’t doing much at all. And that’s the trouble. full story

AGING WELL: What to tell grown children about aging grandparents

Feb. 18, 2010 United Methodist Reporter It can be difficult to be stuck in the middle of adult children and ailing parents, says Missy Buchanan. It’s vital to have honest dialogue with your children about the affects of aging. full story

Lenten self-denial aids Côte d’Ivoire

Feb. 17, 2010 United Methodist News Service United Methodists are being encouraged to respond to a Lenten/Easter challenge to help Radio Methos, the church’s newly launched radio station in Côte d’Ivoire. The goal is $70,000, the cost of broadcasting for one year. full story

WESLEYAN WISDOM: Finding our way into a new UMC future

Feb. 17, 2010 United Methodist Reporter The challenge of United Methodism today is to make a paradigm shift and redefine some of the attitudes and structures entrenched in our 20th-century ethos. We have arrived at a “perfect storm” of the reality about the relationship between the local church and the larger connection. full story