April 9, 2003
UMCOR plans for Iraq relief assistance

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (UMNS) – The United Methodist Committee on Relief is prepared to offer training and technical assistance to many of the church-based humanitarian efforts in Iraq, according to the Rev. Paul Dirdak.

Dirdak, who leads the agency, explained those plans when UMCOR directors gathered April 8 during the spring meeting of the agency’s parent organization, the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries.

In surveying its international professional staff, he reported, "we have identified five technical competencies which we believe are of such a high quality that we think our partner agencies will want to make use of our skills." Such assistance would be provided at UMCOR’s expense, he added.

Dirdak said the agency has made a commitment for a communications person with experience in war zones to be made available to the entire ecumenical relief community. Other skills UMCOR staff can offer include assessment of shelter, community economic development, food security, refugee camp management and youth development needs; help with temporary and permanent shelter construction; assistance with the procurement, storage and distribution of food; and advice on secure programs for returning civilians.

UMCOR plans to channel its own humanitarian response to Iraq through partner agencies there, such as the Middle East Council of Churches. That organization includes Presbyterian and Chaldean congregations that already have set up humanitarian programs in their communities.

Dirdak also reported a deepening relationship between UMCOR and Norwegian Church Aid, facilitated by the Rev. Tove Odland, a Board of Global Ministries director from Norway. He expects UMCOR will provide direct support to the Norwegian agency for its work in Iraq.

UMCOR will not open its own field office in Iraq, he said, in part because of the costs involved and the large number of other relief agencies expected to set up shop there. The United Methodist agency also has been busy establishing three other new field offices in the past year – in Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Manhattan (in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks).

Both Dirdak and the Rev. Randy Day, chief executive of the Board of Global Ministries, expressed concern about the U.S. Department of Defense’s interest in directing and overseeing humanitarian relief and post-war reconstruction in Iraq.

"UMCOR has been bold and forthright in insisting that humanitarian aid and reconstruction be under the United Nations," Day told board directors in his April 8 address. "It has joined other U.S. and international agencies in overtures to the Pentagon to separate clearly humanitarian work from military practice."

Dirdak explained that having uniformed and armed personnel participate in large-scale distribution of relief supplies or reconstruction efforts would blur the distinction between combatants and relief workers.

"Relief personnel rely upon their non-combatant neutrality for their safety and, in many places, safety is becoming perilously thin," he said. "Allowing soldiers to do what relief workers know far better how to do risks the lives of relief workers everywhere."

UMCOR is collecting funds to support relief work through its Iraq Emergency Advance No. 623225-4. Checks can be dropped in church collection plates or mailed directly to UMCOR at 475 Riverside Dr., Room 330, New York, NY 10115. Credit-card donations also can be made online at http://gbgm-umc.org/umcor or by calling (800) 554-8583.


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April 7, 2003
Committee calls for change in mandatory retirement age

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) – Calling forced retirement at age 70 "antiquated and ageist," the United Methodist Committee on Older Adult Ministries finalized proposed legislation that will relax the rules on mandatory retirement for lay employees, pastors and bishops of the church.

Meeting March 25-27, the committee forwarded the resolutions to the churchwide Board of Discipleship for submission to the 2004 General Conference. The top assembly of the church meets every four years and will gather in Pittsburgh.

"God does not take away God’s blessing, including opportunity to serve in full capacity, simply because someone has reached the age of 70 years or older," the resolutions state.

The action involves amending or changing paragraphs 714.3; 356.1; 430.1 and 409.1 in the 2000 Book of Discipline, the church’s law book.

"The committee is concerned about ageism in the church," said the Rev. Richard Gentzler Jr., director of the Center on Aging and Older Adult Ministries at the Board of Discipleship in Nashville.

"Chronological age should not be the determining factor for removing people from their positions," he said.

The wisdom of age is often overlooked, said David Maldonado Jr., president of Iliff School of Theology in Denver. He was invited to speak to the committee about theological education as it relates to aging and ministry with older adults in United Methodist-related seminaries.

"In theological education, the assumption is often that pastoral care equals problems, having to take care of the aging. Aging is part of God’s creation; it is not a condemnation," he said.

Committee members are concerned about training pastoral candidates to care for and minister to older adults. The members discussed the idea of hosting a symposium that would bring together seminary professors and those working in older adult ministries to develop course work for seminaries.

In other action, the committee:

• Proposed and forwarded to the United Methodist Board of Church and Society a resolution titled, "Deficit Spending and the Elderly," protesting such spending to finance foreign conflicts.
  
• Voted to contact all general board and agency heads to evaluate compliance with a General Conference call to examine pension policies.
  
• Endorsed creation of a chair of gerontology at Africa University, a church-related school in Zimbabwe.
  
• Discussed creating a general church award for each annual conference to use in recognizing an individual or congregation doing extraordinary ministry with older adults.
  

Approved a June 30 deadline for sending in applications for grants for older adult ministry programs. The committee will review and award the grants at its Aug. 15-17 meeting.


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April 10, 2003
Task force will seek ways to streamline General Conferences
By Jackie Campbell*

PITTSBURGH (UMNS) – In an effort to better control costs, a newly formed United Methodist task force will examine ways to improve the operation of the church’s top legislative assembly.

The group’s goal will be to produce a document that looks at the pros and cons of current and proposed procedures for conducting the church’s business at General Conference. The assembly draws nearly 1,000 delegates together every four years to make decisions affecting the church’s operation, laws and stands on social issues. It will meet again April 26-May 7, 2004, in Pittsburgh.

The Rev. James Perry, chairperson of the church’s Commission on the General Conference, appointed the task force, or "jump start" subcommittee, at an April 3-4 meeting in the host city.

"2004 is the first time that finance is going to be the driving force in issues in General Conference," said Bishop Bruce Blake of the Oklahoma Area. The church should consider proposals that could streamline operations, including examining the petition process by which legislation is brought before the assembly, he said. Members may also look into the frequency and length of General Conference sessions.

The cost of hosting the General Conference provided an example of the need to study alternatives. The Western Pennsylvania Annual Conference host committee for the 2004 gathering has a budget of $300,000 – nearly eight times more than the $40,000 cost of hosting the event in Pittsburgh in 1964, said the committee’s Rev. Alan Morrison.

Because the current cost is too great for a single annual conference to bear, Morrison said, Western Pennsylvania has asked for contributions of $5,000 from each of the conferences in the Northeastern Jurisdiction. It also will seek help from the church’s general agencies and the United Methodist Foundation.

The subcommittee will work to provide information for future General Conference commissions to consider in proposing change. Members of the task force include: the Rev. Gail Murphy-Geiss of Centennial, Colo., facilitator; the Rev. Paul Extrum-Fernandez of West Sacramento, Calif.; Roland Siegrist of Linz, Austria; the Rev. Denny White Jr. of Charlotte, N.C.; and Aileen L. Williams of Rochester, Minn.

In other action, the Commission on the General Conference approved a proposal from the host committee to defray costs by selling the badges required for visitors to the conference for $2 each. The committee has designed a souvenir welcome badge that will sell for $2. T-shirts and denim logo shirts also will be sold.

The commission also spent time working on language-related concerns. The group decided to ask that bishops in the church’s central conferences – regional units in countries other than the United States – be responsible for notifying General Conference planners of the names of delegates who will require translators for legislative work sessions and other activities, and the languages they speak.

Plenary sessions of the 2004 General Conference will be simultaneously translated from English into five languages – German, French, Portuguese, Spanish and Swahili.

For legislative work sessions, requests for translators in any language must be made in advance. Organizers said they would attempt to secure services for consecutive translation in any language if a request is received before the General Conference.

The commission selected the languages for simultaneous translation based on input from bishops of the central conferences.

"There was unanimous support among the bishops for Portuguese and French translation," Blake said. "And the Congo bishops felt very strongly that Swahili was needed in simultaneous translation."

The 10 million-member church has more than 1 million members in Europe, Africa and the Philippines. Most of the delegates who represent those areas at the conference speak English, German, French or Portuguese.

The Advance Daily Christian Advocate, which contains a delegate handbook and other conference materials, including proposed legislation, will be produced in English, French, German and Portuguese. The cost of translating the voluminous document from English into the three other languages is about 17 cents per word, or an estimated $605,000 to $675,000. The 2004 conference will be the first for which the book will be available in a language other than English.

A suggestion to provide Advance Daily Christian Advocate material in Spanish was not accepted. The Rev. Roberto L. Gomez of Mission, Texas, a Hispanic member of the commission, said the benefit would not justify the cost for a small number of Spanish-speaking delegates – in contrast to a greater number of delegates who would speak only French, for example. He said funds could be better used to translate changes made in the Book of Discipline and other materials for Spanish-speaking church members after the General Conference. He also noted that it was more important that the National Plan for Hispanic Ministry be given 30 minutes for a presentation during the assembly.

The commission heard a report from worship planners, who said they envision a General Conference opening service that surrounds delegates and church leaders with songs from all over the world. The songs will celebrate a renewal of baptism and Holy Communion, emphasizing the conference theme, "Water Washed and Spirit Born."

Banners, dancers and a variety of drummers and musicians will emphasize the worldwide nature of the gathering in the opening service, said the Rev. Barbara Day Miller, dean of worship at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology in Atlanta and music director for the General Conference. "It will emphasize the transforming, renewing spirit of God, using words from the hymn ‘Wash, O God, Your Sons and Daughters’ by Ruth Duck."

The Rev. Carlton R. Young, the editor of the United Methodist Hymnal, has produced an expanded arrangement of the hymn for the opening service, Miller said.

Representative choirs from throughout the church will participate in worship each morning of the General Conference. Other groups will be invited to offer music or dance at various locations around the Convention Center.

"We had 75 groups apply to participate, and we will be choosing some of them to invite," Miller said. Applications came from throughout the United States and from international groups, as well.

*Campbell is a staff writer for the Western Pennsylvania Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church.


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April 11, 2003
Black caucus needs new vision to remain viable, leader says
By Linda Green*

LOS ANGELES (UMNS) – If the United Methodist African-American caucus wants to continue providing a prophetic voice in times of injustice and a pastoral presence in times of crisis, it needs a new vision, leaders of the group say.

Speakers, workshop leaders, Bible study leaders and others led this refrain at the April 2-5 annual meeting of the National Black Methodists for Church Renewal. The 530 people in attendance focused on the emotional, spiritual and physical renewal of African-American churches and communities.

Representing more than 380,000 African-American United Methodists, the 36-year-old organization has fulfilled its original purpose of advocacy, leadership development and connecting blacks to the church at large, but "we missed out on the pulse of the church," said the Rev. Vincent Harris of Houston, newly elected caucus chairperson.

BMCR must reassess its mission, he said. "We have not felt what is going on in our churches and we have not connected to that." BMCR is so disconnected from local churches that people do know what the organization is, are skeptical about the things that it does or feel that the caucus is not relevant to their needs, he said.

"We are at a point where people or local churches today do not see us as viable as we once were," Harris said. "If BMCR has had some influence, where has it been? It has been with those people who were the original founders, and they have been able to penetrate the church and make decisions that really did affect local churches."

The question today, he said, is: How does BMCR bring a new generation into understanding what the caucus is and how they can be effectively involved in it?

BMCR must first address the health of black United Methodist congregations. "We have found that most African-American congregations are sick; they are unhealthy," Harris said. The caucus "must find a way to infuse medicine – the medicine of revival and renewal – into these churches so that we can boast about the church in a way that the church needs to be boasted about."

African-American churches are located in communities that are "dying or sick," he noted. "The church shouldn’t be sick. The church should be a place where people come to get well."

BMCR must invite both clergy and lay to understand that congregations and communities need to move toward healing and wholeness, not just in a corporate way but in a hands-on way, he said. "The people need to know that congregations need to be healthy, communities need to healthy, and we have to be a part of that movement."

Harris, who has attended the organization’s national meetings since 1985, said he has always questioned, "what we do, why we do and how does that relate to the gospel and what we are called to be as a church." He said his understanding has been fuzzy.

As the chairperson, Harris wants to clarify BMCR’s role for a new generation. The organization should be able to say that after nearly 40 years, its mission is consistent with that of the church universal: to be the people of God, serving in places where it needs to be.

"Today BMCR is moving, it’s healing and it’s transforming," he said, stating his immediate vision for the organization.

Harris said the group is recuperating from the brokenness left by wounds of disappointment and despair, and the wounds of seeing the church – and the black church, especially – not grow as it should. For healing to be successful, he said, two things must occur.

The first is organizational healing within the relationships and attitudes of African-American United Methodists. Harris said many are frustrated that BMCR does not accomplish the things it sets out to do.

The second healing is needed at the grass-roots level, he said. Local congregations must understand that their churches need healing to move forward.

"People have settled for what BMCR’s original vision was, and today, we not only need to take a look at where we’ve come from but also at what we need," Harris said. "BMCR is no longer a teen-ager. It is an adult, but we have some teen-age and adolescent attitudes in the organization. We have to move from our milk to our meat."

Transformation, he said, involves a plan of action and setting goals and relevant objectives for local churches and the caucus. People are dying, hurting and scared, and BMCR needs to find ways to help local churches address those concerns, Harris said.

While many churches have adopted the "what people need and what people come with" models of doing ministry, BMCR’s model was adapted from "one that was middle-class and like the regular church, where we don’t want to get our hands dirty."

"It is past time to get our hands dirty," he said, "and let the people who are doing the work in the ministries of our churches … (tell) about what they are doing in those ministries that has been transforming in their lives."

In other business, BMCR members elected officers and approved four resolutions for delegates to consider during the 2004 General Conference, the denomination’s top legislative body. The assembly will meet in Pittsburgh.

Besides Harris, others elected were Brenda Mims-Wilson, Oakland, Calif., vice chairwoman; Velva Hardaway, Dayton, Ohio, recording secretary; and Josefa Bethea, Greensboro, N.C., treasurer.

One resolution calls upon the General Conference to support the continuation of the Strengthening the Black Church for the 21st Century initiative, which members said is a vital ministry that strengthens the entire church. The initiative focuses on restoring, revitalizing and renewing black churches for mission and ministry.

Another resolution urges increased support for the church’s Africa University in Zimbabwe. BMCR is calling on the General Conference to make the 10-year-old school a priority by allocating "an apportionment of $10 million over a four-year period and an additional $10 million to be raised through World Service Special Gifts to continue development, construction and endowment of Africa University."

The caucus also encourages General Conference to continue the Black College Fund as an apportioned fund for the 2005-2008 period at the previously funded level of $45 million. The caucus and fund officials note that local United Methodist congregations average 86 percent payment of their annual Black College Fund apportionment, and the resolution to General Conference urges payment of 100 percent.

Supporting the Black College Fund and other apportioned ministries is difficult in some annual conferences because of an accounting practice known as bundling, which drew criticism from the Rev. Jerome King del Pino, top staff executive of the United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry. With bundling, several connectional funds are lumped together in such a way that local churches are unable to understand the purpose of the funds or to easily identify the funds they are supporting. That practice is also affecting giving to Africa University and the Ministerial Education Fund.

"Once bundled, it becomes difficult for the bishop and (annual conference finance officials) to lift one fund above another in interpreting the specific apportionment that is included in a particular bundle," del Pino said. His agency oversees the Black College Fund.

The Black College Fund has "historically never been fully supported by certain geographic locations in this church," he said. Support of the fund has not been uniformly strong across the denomination.

"It is missionally irresponsible for annual conferences to so bundle their apportionments so that local churches cannot knowingly participate in the missional initiatives that are apportionments and have been approved by the General Conference," del Pino said.

The caucus, which had previously approved the creation of an African-American Methodist Heritage Center, also passed a resolution that would enable the center to use the resources of the United Methodist Church Foundation to establish an endowment fund that would provide support and maintenance for the center’s work.

BMCR nurtured the idea of heritage center in order to preserve the history of African Americans who have been part of the Methodist church since its inception. The churchwide Commission on Archives and History has agreed to be the temporary depository for the collection of artifacts, documents, pictures and other memorabilia until the center has its own facility. Organizers hope the center would be connected to one of the denomination’s 11 historically black colleges or universities.

Members also:

• Heard a report from the Black Staff Forum, a support group for all black staff in annual conference and churchwide agencies. Newly elected officers are: chairperson, the Rev. Lillian Smith, staff member, the United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry; vice chairperson, Helen Allen, staff member, United Methodist Communications; secretary, Cynthia Haralson, staff member, General Council on Finance and Administration; and treasurer, Cedric Foley, staff member, United Methodist Publishing House. The forum honored those churchwide staff people who are retiring this year because of actions by the Board of Pension and Health Benefits.
  
  
• Passed an April 4 resolution urging President Bush and the U.S. Congress to bring the war in Iraq to a speedy end and pursue peace at all costs.
  
  
• Learned that 60 of the denomination’s 64 annual conferences have responded or will respond this spring and summer to the 2000 General Conference mandate to engage in a liturgical act of repentance before fall 2003.
  
  
• Listened to strategies to financially shore up the organization.
  
  
• Heard about the United Methodist Commission on Religion and Race’s Central Jurisdiction Recovery Project, an to preserve materials related to the denomination’s former segregated province and its merger with the geographic jurisdictions.
  

*Green is United Methodist News Service’s Nashville, Tenn., news director.


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April 11, 2003
Global ministries agency sees slight improvement in finances

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (UMNS) – Staff Treasurer Stephen Feerrar had good news and bad news for the financially struggling United Methodist Board of Global Ministries.

With a strong fourth quarter and stringent attention to cost control, expenses came in at $3.5 million below budget in 2002, he told board directors during the agency’s April 7-10 spring meeting. His report did not include financial summaries for the Women’s Division or Health and Relief unit.

Steady World Service receipts, a 15 percent increase in giving to projects supporting missionaries, and a slight improvement in the board’s cash position at the end of the year also were positive signs, he said.

But Feerrar was blunt about upcoming financial challenges, including a further decline in asset values. "As we continue significant cost-containment efforts, ministry becomes more difficult, and staff is stretched thinner and thinner," he reported. "At the same time, significant increases in health and liability insurance costs have taken a bigger bite out of our operating budgets."

Overall revenues of $65.3 million came in at 4 percent below 2001 revenues. Budgeted revenues for 2003 are $61.3 million.

The greatest reduction in board spending in 2002 came in mission personnel, where total costs were reduced $1.4 million. That savings represented effective cost containment and reduction of office staff, the agency said. Cuts in missionary positions did not occur until 2003.

Other savings included a 40 percent reduction in expenditures for institutions and individuals, representing dramatic cuts in grant money.

"We ended 2002 with 55 less GBGM staff positions in New York and numerous programmatic needs unfulfilled in the field," Feerrar said.

The treasurer pointed out that the board’s total assets have declined from $265 million to $162 million since 1999. Only $26 million of that amount is for unrestricted use, but designations have been made for $34 million and another $6 million is a prepaid pension asset, leaving a negative balance of $14 million. "Again, this shows the issue of illiquidity as we would have to realize these losses if we were to sell those assets today," he reported.

For the near future, the Board of Global Ministries will continue to "budget conservatively and manage our costs," and hope for a recovery in the capital markets, Feerrar said.

In a separate report, Connie Takamine, Women’s Division treasurer, noted that the division’s total income had dropped from $30 million in 2001 to $27.9 million in 2002. The division also suffered an 11 percent decrease in the market value of its investments.

"This income outlook is a challenge to the Women’s Division, and some dreams may have to be delayed," she said. "But we must not let fear block us from seeking God’s mission, and follow our responsibility as followers of Christ."

Revenues for the United Methodist Committee on Relief fell by 33 percent to $47.6 million in 2002, mostly because of a drop in giving to the Advance Special project called "Love in the Midst of Tragedy," a response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Net assets stood at $34.6 million at year’s end.

But Roland Fernandes, treasurer, noted that despite the shortfall of income, UMCOR controlled its undesignated expenses and added $30,912 to its reserves. "This is the third year in a row that we’ve added to our reserves," he said.


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April 14, 2003
First copies of republished devotional reach troops
By J. Richard Peck*

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) – United Methodists may hold different opinions about the war with Iraq, but they are united in offering prayers and expressing concern for men and women risking their lives there.

The Commission on United Methodist Men is engaged in a national effort to provide all U.S. service men and women with an updated book of daily devotions – a book first sent to U.S. troops in World War II and again during the Korean conflict.

To date, some 25,000 copies of the book Strength for Service to God and Country have been sent to troops stationed in Afghanistan and neighboring nations. The most recent shipment of the 400-page book was sent to the 101st Airborne, based at Fort Campbell, Ky.

The same book was carried 60 years earlier by Eugene Hunsberger during World War II. Hunsberger was given the book while serving in the Navy, and he continued to read from it for the rest of his life.

Three years ago, Hunsberger’s 16-year-old grandson, Evan, asked his grandfather about the book and why it was so meaningful to him. Listening to his grandfather tell how the book had helped him through difficult experiences, the younger Hunsberger had an inspiration.

Evan needed to complete a special project in order to earn the rank of Eagle, the highest level in Boy Scouts. He asked his grandfather if republishing the book as a spiritual aid for U.S. service personnel today would be a good Eagle Scout project. "Not good," whispered Eugene, whose stroke had made speech difficult. "Great!"

After receiving permission from the United Methodist Publishing House to republish the book, Evan and 45 volunteers spent 2,500 hours scanning and correcting copy from the book into computers.

The Commission on United Methodist Men, the agency responsible for scouting ministries in the denomination, supported the idea of sending the book to U.S. service personnel. With the Pentagon’s approval, the Nashville-based agency began trying to raise $3 million in order to give a copy of the book to 1 million members of the military.

While the first edition of the book contained devotions written by hundreds of well-known religious and industrial leaders during the World War II era, the new edition includes writings by Robert Schuller, pastor of the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, Calif.; Gerald Turner, president of Southern Methodist University, Dallas; Andrew Benton, president of Pepperdine University, Malibu, Calif.; Joseph Bottoms, president of DePauw University, Greencastle, Ind.; Cardinal Roger Mahony, archbishop of Los Angeles; Rudy Ruetiger, former Notre Dame football player portrayed in the movie "Rudy"; Hassan Hathout, executive of the Islamic Center of Southern California, Los Angeles; and Kenneth Kanter, rabbi of Congregation Micah, Brentwood, Tenn.

People who want to support the effort can send checks to Strength for Service, P.O. Box 340006, Nashville, TN 37203-0006. To order copies of the book, contact Providence Publishing Corp., 238 Seaboard Lane, Franklin, TN 37067; phone: (800) 321-5692. Additional information is available from Larry Coppock, Commission on United Methodist Men, at (615) 340-7149 or LCoppock@gcumm.org.

*Peck is communications director for the Commission on United Methodist Men in Nashville, Tenn.

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