NATION & WORLD

Church, growing in Baltics, seeks official status in Lithuania
U.S. annual conference sessions begin in May
Purpose, passion drive church growth, pastor says
Churches needed in war on AIDS, May tells Congress members
Agency urges end to ethnic profiling
NCC members focus on ‘Poverty March’
April event will explore Great Commission
Bishops award 31 Children and Poverty grants

UMNS National News Briefs

Feb. 26, 2002
Church, growing in Baltics, seeks official status in Lithuania

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) – Since the end of the communist era in Eastern Europe, the United Methodist Church has been growing steadily in the Baltic states of Latvia and Lithuania.>
Recognized as a traditional church in Latvia, the denomination is seeking similar status in Lithuania, where Methodism is regarded as a sect. Bishop Oystein Olsen, whose Northern Europe Area includes the Baltics, is optimistic that such recognition will be coming soon.

The church operates "rather freely" in both countries, Olsen told United Methodist News Service on Feb. 23. However, without state recognition in Lithuania, it cannot buy its own land and it is not exempt from taxes.

As a result, individual church members had to buy the land for a new sanctuary in Pilviskiai and lease it back to the congregation for 99 years. Moreover, government taxes are adding $36,000 to the $226,000 construction cost. Donors in the United States, including the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, are covering the bill; First United Methodist Church of Green Bay, Wis., has raised $100,000 for the Lithuanian congregation, its partner church.

Church officials are in dialogue with the Lithuanian government about the denomination's status. The church officially requested recognition as a traditional church in 1999, and since then it has been working closely with the Ministry of Justice on the matter. On Jan. 16, the Parliament's human rights committee approved the request for recognition, and the full assembly is to vote on the committee's recommendation this spring or summer. "We expect to be recognized," Olsen said.

"The Baptists were recognized last year," said William Quick of Detroit, coordinator of partner church ministries in Lithuania and Latvia for the Board of Global Ministries.

With the vote on the United Methodist Church approaching, recent radio and newspaper reports in Lithuania have warned about the dangers of waves of sects seeking government approval. Olsen said those reports are "very troubling."

U.S. partner churches for congregations in the two countries met Feb. 22-23 in Nashville for the first Lithuania-Latvia Initiative Consultation. The United Methodist Board of Global Ministries sponsored the meeting, drawing 110 people from 16 states and the Baltics.

At the end of the meeting, Olsen said he felt that the participants would go home with a strengthened commitment to ministry in Latvia and Lithuania. "That is crucial for the church and for the growth of the church in these countries," he said.

Nine United Methodist churches in Lithuania and 12 in Latvia have reopened since the end of the Soviet era in the early 1990s, according to Quick. Churches began reopening in Latvia in 1992 and in Lithuania in 1995, he said.

Total church membership in Latvia is 1,000, with a wider Methodist community of 2,559. In Lithuania, the church has 434 members and a wider community of 1,102 people.

The church is growing through the Wesleyan approach of doing evangelism and performing good works, Olsen said. "This is a very holistic way of being in ministry."

Since the end of communism in Europe, the church has been growing aggressively, and the Board of Global Ministries has been a vital part of that, according to Quick. Along with providing financial resources, the board has assigned seven missionaries to Lithuania and four to Latvia.

The church is training indigenous leaders in both countries, particularly in Lithuania, where all of the pastoral leadership so far has come from the United States. Five Methodists are attending the Lutheran theological school in Klaipeda, Lithuania, and a sixth is attending the Methodist seminary in Tallinn, Estonia, with plans to return to Lithuania. In Latvia, the pastors are indigenous.

United Methodists in America are supporting congregations and social services all over Latvia and Lithuania. "The social ministries have been phenomenal," Olsen said.

For example, members of Hope United Methodist Church in Flint, Mich., raised $20,000 last year and the Board of Global Ministries added the same amount to build a gym at a boys' prison in Kaunas, Lithuania. The prison houses 300 young people ages 14 to 18. "That gym will be dedicated this spring," Quick said.

"That is a real witness to the government of Lithuania and to the city of Kaunas of the outreach of our church," he added.

Olsen wants to increase the interaction of churches in the Nordic part of his Northern Europe Central Conference with those in the Baltic part. Church members in Denmark are already providing support to congregations in Latvia, and Swedish members are involved in programs in Lithuania.

The Nashville meeting was the first time that support groups for the Lithuanian and Latvian churches had met jointly. Hans Vaxby, Olsen's predecessor, saw the need for building a bridge between churches in Lithuania and Latvia, Quick said.

"The vision is that there comes the day when there will be a provincial conference for the Baltics," Quick said. A provincial conference often is a first step toward a regional unit of the church becoming a full annual conference. Such a conference would also include Estonia, which has 28 United Methodist churches, he said.

Mary Foster of Chapel Hill, N.C., a member of the Duke Chapel Community in Durham, was among those attending the meeting as a newcomer to the church's Baltic outreach. "This helped me understand É what is going on and how we go about getting involved," she said. After she reports back to her congregation, the church members will discuss next steps, possibly including a trip to the Baltics and seeking a Lilly Foundation grant to enable two Lithuanians to attend Duke on scholarship.

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Feb. 26, 2002
U.S. annual conference sessions begin in May
By United Methodist News Service

United Methodists in Missouri will vote on whether to merge their two annual conferences into one regional unit of the church when they gather this summer.

The Missouri East and West annual (regional) conferences will vote on the merger on June 3. If approved, the union would take effect on Jan. 1, and the number of annual conferences in the United States would go to 64.

During their 1999 annual meetings, both conferences voted to move toward union by 2004.

The 65 regional gatherings in the United States will begin May 8-11 when the Troy Annual Conference convenes in Burlington, Vt. The sessions will end with the California-Pacific Conference in Redlands, meeting June 18-23, and the Kentucky Conference in Lexington, June 19-23.

Some annual conference sessions outside the United States begin this month, and others are scheduled throughout 2002. Dates for the Africa conferences are incomplete.

Annual conference members, including lay and clergy representatives from every local church, will approve budgets, receive reports from conference boards and agencies, adopt programs of mission and ministry, and address social concerns.

During the sessions, annual appointments of all clergy members of the conference will be announced, new deacons and elders will be ordained, and candidates for ordination will be approved.

U. S. ANNUAL CONFERENCES

North Central Jurisdiction

Dakotas, June 4-7, Sioux Falls, S.D.
Detroit, May 17-20, Adrian, Mich.
East Ohio, June 17-21, Lakeside, Ohio
Illinois Great Rivers, June 6-9, Peoria, Ill.
Iowa, June 6-9, Ames, Iowa
Minnesota, May 29-June 1, Saint Cloud, Minn.
North Indiana, May 30-June 1, West Lafayette, Ind.
Northern Illinois, June 6-9, DeKalb, Ill.
South Indiana, June 6-8, Bloomington, Ind.
West Michigan, May 31-June 3, Grand Rapids, Mich.
West Ohio, June 6-9, Lakeside, Ohio
Wisconsin, June 5-8, Madison, Wis.

Northeastern Jurisdiction

Baltimore-Washington, June 6-9, Washington
Central Pennsylvania, June 6-8, Grantham, Pa.
Eastern Pennsylvania, June 12-15, Grantham, Pa.
Greater New Jersey, June 19-22, Atlantic City, N.J.
New England, June 5-8, Wenham, Mass.
New York, June 5-8, Hempstead, N.Y.
North Central New York, May 31-June 2, Syracuse, N.Y.
Peninsula-Delaware, June 5-9, Princess Anne, Md.
Troy, May 8-11, Burlington, Vt.
West Virginia, June 13-16, Buckhannon, W.Va.
Western New York, June 7-9, Buffalo, N.Y.
Western Pennsylvania, June 12-15, Grove City, Pa.
Wyoming, May 30-June 2, Scranton, Pa.

South Central Jurisdiction

Central Texas, June 2-5, Waco, Texas
Kansas East, June 6-9, Baldwin City, Kan.
Kansas West, June 12-16, Salina, Kan.
Little Rock, May 29-June 1, Little Rock, Ark.
Louisiana, June 2-5, Shreveport, La.
Missouri East, May 31-June 3, Columbia, Mo.
Missouri West, June 3-6, Columbia, Mo.
Nebraska, June 6-8, Lincoln, Neb.
New Mexico, May 29-June 1, Glorieta, N.M.
North Arkansas, June 5-8, Conway, Ark.
North Texas, June 2-5, Plano, Texas
Northwest Texas, June 12-15, Midland Texas
Oklahoma, May 27-30, Tulsa, Okla.
Oklahoma Indian Missionary, June 6-9, Antlers, Okla.
Rio Grande, June 6-9, Abilene, Texas
Southwest Texas, May 29-June 1, Corpus Christi, Texas
Texas, May 26-30, Houston

Southeastern Jurisdiction

Alabama-West Florida, June 2-5, Montgomery, Ala.
Florida, May 28-May 31, Lakeland, Fla.
Holston, June 9-12, Lake Junaluska, N.C.
Kentucky, June 19-23, Lexington, Ky.
Memphis, June 2-5, Paducah, Ky.
Mississippi, June 2-5, Jackson, Miss.
North Alabama, June 2-5, Birmingham, Ala.
North Carolina, June 6-9, Fayetteville, N.C.
North Georgia, June 11-14, Augusta, Ga.
Red Bird Missionary, May 10-11, London, Ky.
South Carolina, May 26-29, Orangeburg, S.C.
South Georgia, June 2-5, Albany, Ga.
Tennessee, June 9-12, Brentwood, Tenn.
Virginia, June 16-19, Roanoke, Va.
Western North Carolina, June 6-9, Lake Junaluska, N.C.

Western Jurisdiction

Alaska Missionary, May 30-June 1, Anchorage, Alaska
California-Nevada, June 12-16, Sacramento, Calif.
California-Pacific, June 18-23, Redlands, Calif.
Desert Southwest, June 5-10, Mesa, Ariz.
Oregon-Idaho, June 12-15, Salem, Ore.
Pacific Northwest, June 12-16, Tacoma, Wash.
Rocky Mountain, May 29-June 1, Salt Lake City, Utah
Yellowstone, June 13-15, Billings, Mont.

CENTRAL (OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES) CONFERENCES

(Information on some conferences is unavailable; other conferences have already met.)

Austria Provisional, May 22-26, Vienna, Austria
Bulacan Philippines, April 23-26, Estrella Subd. Guiguinto, Bulacan, Philippines
Bulgaria Provisional, Sept. 25-29
Central Congo, June 23-30, Wembonyama
Central Luzon Philippines, May 22-26, Baguio Episcopal Area
Czech & Slovak Republics, April 18-21, Bratislava
East Africa, December
East Congo, June 16-22, Kinau
Equator & Oriental Congo, June 2-9, Kisangani
Germany East, May 22-26, Aue, Germany
Germany North, June 18-23, Delmenhorst, Germany
Germany South, June 11-16, Gerlingen & Boblingen, Germany
Germany Southwest, June 5-9, Waldfischbach-Burgalben, Germany
Hungary Provisional, May 6-10
North Central Philippines, April 3-7, Baguio Episcopal Area
Northeast Philippines, May 29-June 2, Baguio Episcopal Area
Northern Philippines, April 10-14, Baguio Episcopal Area
Northwest Philippines, May 8-12, Baguio Episcopal Area
Pangasinan Philippines, May 15-19, Baguio Episcopal Area
Poland, June 12-16, Chodziez
Russia, Aug. 15-18, Moscow
Switzerland-France, May 29-June 2, Basel
West Angola, Oct. 21-27, Luanda
West Congo, July 2-9, Kinshasa
Yugoslavia-Macedonia Provisional, Oct. 9-13, Macedonia

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Feb. 28, 2002
Churches needed in war on AIDS, May tells Congress members
By the Rev. Dean Snyder*

WASHINGTON (UMNS) Ð The global war against AIDS cannot be won without the church, a United Methodist bishop told a congressional briefing.

"Religions, denominations and churches cannot conquer AIDS alone, but it will not happen without us," said Bishop Felton Edwin May of the denomination's Washington Area. "Religion more than any other influence shapes the values of individuals and societies. It touches more individual lives more directly and more consistently than any other institution."

May made his statement during a congressional breakfast briefing sponsored by the House International Task Force on HIV-AIDS on Feb. 26.

The bishop was one of four speakers for the briefing on "The Faith-Based Community Responds to HIV-AIDS," attended by 90 congressional staff members and representatives of Capitol Hill advocacy groups concerned about global AIDS.

Panelists emphasized the importance of churches and faith communities in efforts to address the global pandemic.

Dr. E. Anne Peterson, a physician and former missionary to Africa, now serving as assistant administrator for global health for the U.S. Agency for International Development, said her agency has worked with faith-based organizations in the fight against AIDS since 1986. "It is a growing partnership," she said.

Nik Fahmee, director of the Malaysia AIDS Council, said his organization's efforts to educate Muslim clerics have been an essential part of its strategy to lessen the stigma that prevents open discussion of the causes of AIDS. A fatwa, or decree issued by Malaysia's Muslim leaders, endorsed the use of condoms by married couples when one or both partners is HIV-infected, representing a major breakthrough in AIDS education in his country, he said.

Pernessa Seele, founder of Balm of Gilead, a Manhattan organization providing AIDS education and prevention within the African-American community in the United States, announced new initiatives by her group to coordinate similar efforts in Africa. "The faith community is unparalleled in its ability to reach African people," she said.

Panelists and participants in the briefing expressed concern about the difficulty religious groups sometimes experience accessing public funds to support global AIDS ministries. Peterson noted that few religious groups are expected to receive funding from initial grants being made by the Global AIDS Fund, a $1.9 billion international project initiated by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Stressing the importance of clinics, schools and missions operated by church groups in the nations most impacted by AIDS, May urged governmental leaders to make sure bureaucratic procedures are not allowed to hinder the fight against AIDS

He encouraged them to wage war against the terror of the disease. "This terror generated by HIV-AIDS must be hunted down and eliminated, never to live again," he said.

"We need to think consistently and in the same thought patterns when we wage this war as when we wage another," he added. "We have managed to appropriate billions of dollars in the twinkling of an eye. A death is a death. A human life is a human life."

The church has a unique role to play in the fight against AIDS, according to May. "Religion serves as the conscience of government and commerce," he said. "It is a source of courage to those in hard places and a source of comfort to those who have no other hope. It offers forgiveness and new beginnings to those who have pursued self-destructive paths.

"Religion cannot face the plague of AIDS without government and business by our side," he said, "but neither can you do it without us."

Following the briefing, Mark Harrison, an executive with the United Methodist Board of Church and Society, said his agency has issued an action alert asking United Methodists to support a 2003 federal budget allocation of $2.5 billion for global AIDS programs.

Peterson said she believes Congress is willing to allocate increased funding to fight global AIDS but that congressional members are waiting to see how successful the first round of Global AIDS Fund grants will be. "We need to do a first set of grants to show that this is a viable process," she said.

"We are thinking inside the box," May replied. "We need to take steps quickly and effectively to save lives."

Snyder is editor of UMConnection, the newspaper of the Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference.

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March 7, 2002
Agency urges end to ethnic profiling
By Joretta Purdue*

SEATTLE (UMNS) – The United Methodist agency that monitors racial issues for the denomination has called upon the U.S. government to "stop the exploitation of civil liberties" of citizens and immigrants in the name of national security.

The churchwide Commission on Religion and Race is calling on the government to "stop the cycle of violence, racial profiling, interrogating and wiretapping (of) individuals based on their religion, ethnicity or national origin." The commission also is asking that the government not target immigrants for deportation based on ethnicity, and that the government protect the moral and constitutional rights of all people. The requests were contained in a resolution adopted during the commission’s March 1-3 meeting.

The resolution also called on Congress to defeat any bill that would weaken civil rights, human rights and privacy rights, and to "pass legislation that re-institutes any and all civil rights and liberties that have been modified pursuant to executive orders issued since Sept. 11, 2001."

In another resolution, the commission members expressed support for the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, which has urged the Washington franchise of the National Football League to change its name from Washington Redskins.

The United Methodist Church opposes sports teams’ names and mascots that demean racial minority and ethnic groups, the commission stated. The resolution also noted that the term "redskins" dates to a time when bounty hunters were paid for the murder of Native Americans as evidenced by scalps called "redskins."

The commission affirmed its decision to avoid holding meetings in the Washington metropolitan area as long as the franchise is known as the Redskins. The members agreed to communicate this policy to the council, news media and others in the area.

Concerned about cases of racial discrimination and threats against Native Americans, the commission directed staff to look into the agency’s processes for investigating and dealing with such cases, to see if such situations can be made into teaching moments for the church and to tell how the commission members can support staff members in the work of confronting racism.

In other business, the commission authorized 17 grants from the Minority Group Self-Determination Fund, worth a total of $318,180. Nine of the grants totaling $145,430 were given to local churches; three grants totaling $100,000 were awarded to national or regional groups; and five grants adding up to $72,750 went to group ministries or community partnerships.

Grants of $18,000 each were awarded to local churches for the Grands Program – Strengthening 21st Century Families in Little Rock, Ark.; Poder Para Triunfar (Empowering Future Generations) in Tucson, Ariz.; the Korean American Christian Cultural Center in Hartford, Conn.; and the First L.A.P. Inc. in Honolulu.

Other grants to local church programs included $17,000 to the B.T. Webb Outreach Ministry in Gadsden, Ala.; $12,000 to the Cambodian Community Outreach in Santa Ana, Calif.; $17,000 to Hermandad, a ministry for Hispanics in Keyport, N.J.; $15,430 to Not Home Alone in Dallas; and $12,000 to the After School Achievement Club in Jackson Heights, N.Y.

Grants for serving a larger community through cooperative efforts included $18,000 awards to Jefferson County Methodist Faith & Family Mentoring Program Inc. in Pine Bluff, Ark., and Derechos Humanos/Indigenous Alliance in Tucson, Ariz. Others in this category are $14,750 for the SRO Organizing Project in San Francisco; $10,000 to Solidarity c/o FLOC in Toledo, Ohio; and $12,000 to Money Management for Indian Families in Rapid City, S.D.

Two awards were given to national caucuses: $35,000 for the Los Angeles office of the executive director of the Pacific Islander National Caucus of United Methodists and $60,000 to the Black Methodists for Church Renewal for administrative and program support related to its Dayton, Ohio, headquarters. The Southeast Native American Advocacy Project in Raleigh, N.C., was also given a grant of $5,000.

The commission decided to create and give "Diversity at Work" awards to general agencies of the church, and it endorsed a multicultural convocation that the Southeastern Jurisdiction is planning to hold in August 2003. Also related to the Southeastern Jurisdiction, the commission decided to seek a follow-up report on the 16 recommendations for inclusiveness made during the commission’s review of the jurisdiction in 1994 and to seek more information about the Work Place Discipleship Program.

A proposal to reduce the number of commission meetings was defeated. Because the commission’s September 2001 meeting was cancelled following the events of Sept. 11, the proposal would have eliminated only the gathering that is scheduled for February preceding General Conference in 2004.

Bishop Elias Galvan of the church’s Seattle Area both presided over the meeting and welcomed the commission members to the Northwest. The Rev. Chester R. Jones, the commission’s top executive, called the members to a covenant relationship to fulfill their call to leadership.

The next meeting of the commission is scheduled for Sept. 18-22 at Gulfside Assembly in Mississippi.

Purdue is news director of United Methodist News Service’s Washington office

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Feb. 28, 2002
NCC members focus on ‘Poverty March’

NEW YORK (UMNS) – In years past, when U.S. churches committed themselves to resolving problems such as slavery, child labor and legalized racial discrimination, they became agents of social change.

Now, through its decade-long "Mobilization to Overcome Poverty," launched in November 2000, the National Council of Churches (NCC) hopes to stimulate the same type of commitment. The month of March each year is designated as a time to heighten awareness and monitor progress of the 10-year initiative.

"We want to make poverty as abhorrent in this century as slavery was a century and a half ago," said the Rev. Robert Edgar, a United Methodist pastor who serves as the NCC’s chief executive.

The aim of the poverty mobilization is not necessarily to create new programs, but to organize around existing projects, share information and set realistic goals regarding such issues as housing, health care and public education. "Over the years, I hope we’ll fine-tune what is achievable," he added.

"The bottom line is we’re really trying to get people to change how they think about the poor," Edgar said.

This year’s "Poverty March" will highlight the work of NCC member communions and partners and provide a focus on poverty issues in the United States. The agency’s Web site, www.ncccusa.org, will feature Bible references, facts and figures on poverty, a listing of events, related sermons and daily descriptions of poverty programs throughout the month, beginning March 1.

Advocacy on public policy regarding poverty also is a key focus in March, according to Brenda Girton-Mitchell, director of the NCC’s Washington office. In 1996, Congress eliminated the old federal welfare program and replaced it with a new plan called Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF). The fact that TANF and other "safety net" programs for the poor – the Food Stamp Program and Child Care and Development Block Grant – are up for reauthorization by Congress this year is "really driving a lot of our work together," she said.

She noted that the economic impact following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks has pushed some people closer to poverty level. "The things that people are asking for (in assistance) are increasingly more basic," she added.

Edgar pointed out that even after such a long period of economic prosperity in the United States, children are no better off. "We have more poor children today than we did 10 years ago," he said.

Girton-Mitchell believes the churches are more committed to tackling the problems of welfare reform now than they were in 1996, when TANF was first adopted, and that they want to create opportunities for the concerns of the poor to be heard. The NCC Washington Office will host a March 13-15 meeting on TANF that will include representatives of state and local councils of churches.

Last November, the NCC General Assembly passed a resolution noting that the purpose of the three programs up for renewal by Congress, as well as other programs to assist low-income people, "should be the reduction and elimination of poverty, not the reduction of caseloads." Each program should provide assistance to help low-income families obtain safe and affordable housing, access to affordable health care, developmentally oriented child care, a nutritious diet and the opportunity to contribute to society through employment or in other ways, the resolution added.

Current time limits for TANF participants should be replaced with an individualized plan, with termination only for those who refuse to participate, the NCC General Assembly said. Adults caring for the elderly or disabled should be exempt from work requirements, and those enrolled in secondary education should be counted as meeting work requirements.

The resolution concluded: "No family should be worse off as a result of moving from welfare to work than it was while receiving assistance."

Feb. 27, 2002
April event will explore Great Commission
By Elaine Justice*

ATLANTA (UMNS) -- Christian evangelism leaders from around the world will gather in April to address crucial issues of faith and mission in the 21st century.

The "Consultation on the Great Commission," April 3-6 at Emory University's Candler School of Theology, will provide an international context for the United Methodist Church to consider critical issues related to evangelism and mission. In giving the Great Commission, Jesus told his followers to share the gospel throughout the world.

"The design of the consultation is to bring the church's best thoughts and practices together so that local congregations and church agencies can be better prepared to relate the Good News ... indeed our Great Commission," said Stephen Gunter, A.J. Moore Associate Professor of Evangelism at Candler and on-site coordinator of the event.

More than 30 people, representing many aspects of Christian thought and mission work, will lead plenary sessions, focus seminars and worship services on such topics as witness material, faith sharing, prison ministries, the "Disciple Bible," and presenting the gospel in multicultural settings. Presenters will include the Rev. Randolph Nugent, top executive of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries; Bishop Kenneth Carder, leader of the church’s Mississippi Area; the Rev. Richard Wills, pastor of Christ Church, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.; the Rev. Maxie Dunnam, president of Asbury Theological Seminary, Wilmore, Ky.; noted evangelism pioneers the Rev. H. Eddie Fox and the Rev. George Morris; and Thomas G. Long, Bandy Professor of Preaching at Candler.

Through presentations and focus groups, the participants will be challenged to think in new ways about the Great Commission.

Worship will be held three times a day, with evening services taking place at area United Methodist churches. The April 3 service will feature Long, named by Newsweek magazine as one of the nation's top preachers. Planned for April 4 is a missionary sending service presided over by North Georgia Bishop G. Lindsey Davis. Andrew Walls, a British Methodist and one of the world's foremost missions experts, will deliver the message on April 5.

Co-sponsors of the consultation include Candler, the United Methodist Board of Discipleship, the churchwide Board of Global Ministries, the Foundation for Evangelism and the World Methodist Evangelism Institute.

Participants must register in advance. For information, call (404) 727-6352 or send an e-mail to candleralum@emory.edu or srates@emory.edu.

Justice is associate director of Emory University’s Office of University Media Relations.

Feb. 27, 2002
Bishops award 31 Children and Poverty grants
By United Methodist News Service

A United Methodist bishops’ task force has awarded grants totaling $150,472 for ministry programs designed to aid children living in poverty.

The task force made the 31 one-time awards to assist local churches throughout the denomination’s five U.S. jurisdictions in addressing the needs of children who are poor. Later in the year, another $50,000 will be given in similar awards for ministries outside the country.

The grants, of $5,000 or less, were awarded after the task force members reviewed all 60 applications received. The denomination’s Council of Bishops is raising funds for the program through its Bishops’ Initiative on Children and Poverty, Advance Special No. 982200-8.

Several of the latest grants will support beginning or expanding after-school or Saturday programs for children. The bishops also are funding outreach programs targeting homeless families, immigrant families and families in other difficult situations. Some programs focus on the children themselves, others on the adults in their lives, and some plan a combination of approaches.

The churches receiving grants include large urban congregations and small rural ones.

Seven active and six retired bishops, plus Bishop Donald A. Ott, the council’s initiative coordinator, serve on the task force, which meets four times a year. Three of the bishops on the task force are from the church’s central conferences, regional units outside the United States.

The task force has had help from staff liaisons with several churchwide agencies as well as six unpaid consultants who brought specialized knowledge to the group.

"The initiative task force is grateful for the partnerships with congregations the grants represent," Ott reported. "Advocacy and direct service to children and the poor will result from these funds in 31 locations."

The initiative’s goals are proclaiming the gospel in word and deed, reshaping the denomination in the light of Jesus’ call to care for "the least of these" and providing resources to achieve these daring goals, Ott said. "The grants are a small and positive step in these directions."

As congregations considered applying for grants, they engaged in conversations about the needs of children and the poor in their neighborhoods and communities, the bishop said. "Seeing and understanding the need is the first step toward creating community with children and the poor."

Following is a list of all the grants awarded so far by the initiative task force, which finalized the awards in late January. Each grant is for $5,000 unless a different amount is listed. They are listed by annual (regional) conference:

BALTIMORE-WASHINGTON
Calvary United Methodist Church in Martinsburg, W.Va., for a summer program of professional counseling for 20 low-income children;

Living Springs Christian Fellowship United Methodist Church in Bowie, Md., for outreach to homeless women and children; and

New Zion Center of Hope United Methodist Church in Ellicott City, Md., for assisting homeless women and children.

CALIFORNIA-NEVADA
$4,837 to Trinity United Methodist Church in Anderson, Calif., for an after-school program.

EAST OHIO
Central United Methodist Church in Mansfield for a summer youth program; and New Alexandria and George’s Run United Methodist churches, in New Alexandria and Mingo Junction respectively, for an after-school program.

HOLSTON
Broad Street United Methodist Church in Cleveland, Tenn., for an English-as-a-second-language program to serve immigrant parents in the church’s existing after-school program;
Jellico (Tenn.) United Methodist Church to provide school supplies for needy children in kindergarten through sixth grade;
Mosheim Central, a small-membership church between Johnson City, Tenn., and Greenville, Tenn., for community outreach through food, clothing and financial help; and
St. Luke’s United Methodist Church in Chattanooga, Tenn., for an after-school arts program.

MISSISSIPPI
Vincent United Methodist Church in Grenada for an "I Believe I Can Fly" after-school program combining reading and arts for children ages 7-12 in partnership with two community organizations;
$4,000 to New Hope United Methodist Church in Horn Lake for a two-week summer camp to bring together children and adults from different backgrounds in partnership with other churches and a community organization;
Wesley United Methodist Church in Greenwood for an after-school and Saturday program for children incorporating home visits, tutoring, mentoring and field trips; and
$4,750 to James Chapel United Methodist Church in Lumberton to start an after-school program using a cooperative learning approach with an academic and spiritual focus.

NEW YORK
$2025 to East Pearl Street United Methodist Church in New Haven, Conn., for a neighborhood ministry for unchurched teens; and
First United Methodist Church of Stamford, Conn., for expanding a partnership with a Haitian community center in the areas of mentoring and parent involvement.

NORTH CENTRAL NEW YORK
Riverside United Methodist Church in Elmira for an after-school program for urban children; and
Trinity United Methodist Church in Utica for an after-school program.

NORTH TEXAS
Elmwood (Texas) United Methodist Church for a church and community sponsored after-school program.

NORTHERN ILLINOIS
Adalberto United Methodist Church in Chicago for the development of a Latino Parent Teachers Association in the area;
Centennial United Methodist Church of Rockford for a multicultural after-school program; and
Resurrection United Methodist Church, Chicago, for teaching nonviolence and conflict resolution within a community-based program.

RIO GRANDE
Principe de Paz United Methodist Church in San Antonio for a music and puppet ministry.

SOUTH CAROLINA
Friendship United Methodist Church of Kingstree for a multiservice program.

SOUTHWEST TEXAS
First United Methodist Church of Mason for a summer camp for children; and
Pharr (Texas) United Methodist Church for an outreach expansion organizer/administrator’s salary.

WEST OHIO
New Life United Methodist Church in Columbus for a staff position for ministry to children with poverty;
$4,860 to McKinley United Methodist Church in Dayton for a community computer-learning center;
Gloucester-Jacksonville Charge, north of Athens, for an after-school program;
Jackson Center United Methodist Church, north of Dayton, for an eight-week summer program for children ages 5-12; and
Maynard Avenue United Methodist Church in Columbus for "Godly Play," a children’s discipleship program based on Montessori concepts, and for one-on-one conversations with the adults in those children’s lives for a whole family ministry program.

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