National & World News
June 12, 2003
Agency proposes expanding United Methodist ad campaign
By Nancye Willis*
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) – The success of the United Methodist Church’s U.S. television campaign has led the denomination’s communications officials to propose expanding the program beginning in 2005.
United Methodist Communications launched the effort, "Igniting Ministry," in 2001 to raise awareness of the denomination through a series of national cable television commercials. The expansion, if approved by the church’s top legislative body next year, would include ads designed to appeal to young people as well as people outside the United States.
"We believe Igniting Ministry has been a significant factor in bringing people to our churches," said the Rev. Larry Hollon, UMCom’s top executive. "In the past two years, we’ve heard many amazing stories of how the ads’ messages have touched hearts and caused them to seek fellowship in our churches."
UMCom will ask the denomination’s 2004 General Conference for $10.25 million annually in 2005-08 to continue and expand Igniting Ministry. General Conference, which gathers every four years, will meet next May in Pittsburgh. The 2000 assembly, meeting in Cleveland, approved nearly $20 million in total funding for the campaign’s first four years.
Since Igniting Ministry’s debut, more than 92 million people have seen the denomination’s "open hearts, open minds, open doors" messages, according to UMCom officials, citing statistics provided by the agency’s advertising agency. Building on that platform, the agency wants to expand Igniting Ministry to reach more unchurched people more often, both in the United States and beyond.
Under the plan, Igniting Ministry’s core television element in the United States would continue and expand, Hollon said. "To keep awareness of United Methodism and interest in visiting a congregation high and steady year-round, we want to augment Igniting Ministry’s established three annual Lenten, back-to-school and Advent ad placements with 22 additional weeks of ads on cable news networks."
Local training in welcoming and hospitality and the number of matching grants would increase. To date, a total of $3 million in grants has been awarded to enable local church campaigns that supplement the national advertising.
In addition, the youth and global components are being planned because "we believe people of all ages and all over the world want to hear stories of hope, healing and redemption and a clear voice of affirmation and acceptance," Hollon said.
A need to reach 14- to 18-year-olds is dictated by the relatively small number of active youth among United Methodists, a phenomenon shared by many mainline denominations, he said. An Igniting Ministry youth component would be aimed at "getting youth to enter into a United Methodist youth ministry and giving them a reason to stay," he added.
The youth component would be a grass-roots effort including coordinated local church resources and advertising materials instead of a national television campaign.
Additionally, Hollon said, "a global component would involve four partnerships between United Methodists in the United States, Africa, Europe and Asia to establish a media presence." Church leaders in various areas would collaboratively determine the nature of each of four partnerships and choose appropriate, specific supportive communications linkages and training.
"For U.S. partnerships, Igniting Ministry would create and place cable and broadcast TV spots; for partnerships outside the United States, we will collaborate with the people in those areas to produce appropriate communications systems," Hollon said.
"The church is able to develop messages to communicate life-changing, life-affirming stories," he said. "In these partnerships, we will develop this capacity further."
About 1.5 million of the denomination’s members live outside the United States, where church growth, particularly in Africa, has driven the membership figures above 10 million, according to a recent report from the church’s Council of Bishops. Official denominational statistics show that 2001 average weekly worship attendance was at more than 3.5 million, the highest in five years.
The Rev. Steve Horswill-Johnston, a staff executive at UMCom, leads the Igniting Ministry effort. Complete information on the expansion proposal is available at http://www.seespotrunagain.org.
*Willis is editor of the Public Information Team at United Methodist Communications in Nashville, Tenn.
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June 10, 2003
Partnership enhances Web services to local churches
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS)--United Methodist Communications entered into a partnership June 10 with Praktikos Technologies of Birmingham, Ala., to offer hosting and other Web technology at reduced costs to local congregations.
The subscription service, "E-zekiel" allows churches to create Web sites without relying on volunteers or staff persons with technical knowledge. Church webmasters have a choice of more than 250 Web site "templates" – high quality graphical designs that give a Web site its look and feel. Content is added through a Web interface that operates like a simple word processor. Other than a computer and access to the Internet, no software or technical skills are required.
"Local church Web initiatives are a significant part of the church reaching out to the world and being relevant in today’s culture," said the Rev. Larry Hollon, UMCom’s chief executive.
"More and more people look at a church’s Web site before deciding whether to attend. The Web is becoming a meeting place for Bible study, small group discussion, finding and signing up for volunteer activities, and building communities of spiritual faith with people across the globe. The Web, when implemented properly, enhances and strengthens the church and brings more people into communion with Christ."
The E-zekiel service offers ready-made content to keep Web sites fresh and current. Daily United Methodist news headlines and the Upper Room Daily Devotional are the first of many features available on Web sites powered by the E-zekiel service. Web sites may also offer event calendars, online discussion groups, polls and prayer requests, as well as other Web-based technologies.
E-zekiel offers five levels of service, allowing the church to pay only for what it needs. Higher levels of service offer more storage space, Web pages and increased functionality. The service can be purchased on a monthly basis or on a yearly basis that provides an additional discount. As the Web site grows, additional services may be purchased one at a time.
United Methodist churches of various sizes are already using the E-zekiel service. "We went from zero to 60…using the E-zekiel tool," said Irv White, director of marketing for Windsor Village United Methodist Church in Houston. "It was important for us to have a site that was warm, friendly and familiar. The ability to update our own information…is a plus for us."
According to the Rev. Paul Perry, pastor of New Palestine (Ind.) United Methodist Church, "We needed help with our Web site and [E-zekiel was] just what we needed."
The partnership with Praktikos is the result of a multiyear study by UMCom staff of the Web needs of local churches. A high percentage of churches with Web sites polled by the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries-- in conjunction with UMCom –said they desired more sources for fresh Web content and simplified technology.
"Part of our job is to help local church webmasters match their needs and abilities to the right service," said Steve Downey, leader of UMCom’s Web ministry team. "No one solution is right for everyone, but the E-zekiel service fills an important niche with a combination of simplicity and features."
To learn more, or purchase the service, go to: www.umc.e-zekiel.com. A free, 30-day trial is also available on this website.
(Want to create your own graphics? Hosting is FREE @holston.org, just contact us for more information.)
E-zekiel adds to the growing list of technology products and services offered by United Methodist Communications through its TechShop initiative. TechShop offers a variety of computer hardware and software at significant discounts to United Methodist organizations. During its first two years of operation, TechShop has saved the church more than $8 million on Microsoft software alone.
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June 5, 2003
Ten women receive seminary scholarships
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) – Ten seminarians are recipients of an annual scholarship given to women over 35 who are preparing for ordained ministry in the United Methodist Church as a second career.
The women each have been awarded a $5,000 Georgia Harkness Merit Scholarship for the 2003-04 academic year. Recipients of the award must be enrolled as full-time students in a master of divinity degree program at a University Senate-approved theological school and certified candidates for ordination. The senate is a United Methodist organization that certifies schools for affiliation with the church.
The recipients, their schools and annual conferences are:
- Constance N. Barnes, Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary, Columbia, S.C.; South Carolina Annual Conference.
- Catherine N. Davis, Hood Theological Seminary, Salisbury, N.C.; Western North Carolina Conference.
- Joanne Marie Davis, Perkins School of Theology, Dallas; Missouri Annual Conference.
- Johnna Jalene Galloway, Phillips Theological Seminary, Tulsa, Okla.; Arkansas Annual Conference.
- Stephanie M. Harmon, Phillips Theological Seminary, Tulsa; Oklahoma Annual Conference.
- Jodi Sellars Smith, Perkins School of Theology, Dallas; North Texas Annual Conference.
- Karen Jean Sorden, Iliff School of Theology, Denver; West Michigan Annual Conference.
- Gay Lynn Tonelli, Union Theological Seminary, New York; Virginia Annual Conference.
- Linda A. Warehime, Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington; Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference.
- Sandi S. Whelan, Drew Theological Seminary, Madison, N.J.; Wyoming Annual Conference.
Since 1983, the Harkness awards have been given in memory of the life and service of teacher and theologian Georgia Harkness, who died in 1974. She was instrumental in the decision by the 1956 General Conference to give women full clergy rights in the former Methodist Church.
Award recipients must demonstrate leadership traits that she embodied: scholarship, spiritual leadership and social justice leadership.
For more information, contact the Division of Ordained Ministry at P.O. Box 340007, Nashville, TN 37203-0007 or (615) 340-7409, or visit www.gbhem.org/Harkness.html online.
This report was adapted from a press release by Pamela Crosby, a staff member of the Office of Interpretation at the United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry in Nashville, Tenn.
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June 5, 2003
Young African-American pastors form coalition
A UMNS Report
By Linda Green*
A new coalition has been formed to provide mentoring support to young African-American clergy and head off a potential shortage of black pastors in the United Methodist Church.
African-American pastors who are starting out in ministry often feel alone and isolated. Many become frustrated because they have no one to mentor them through the obstacles of ministry, to lead them through the quagmire of local church business and denominational politics, or to listen to their concerns.
"There is no place in this system where people who fit our dynamic can go and share," said the Rev. Troy Benton, associate pastor of Hope United Methodist Church in Southfield, Mich. "The coalition represents the potential for the life or death of pastoral ministry among African Americans in the United Methodist Church, and we have not had one system or group that specifically speaks to our needs."
Formally launched in March, the National Coalition of Young Adult African-American pastors seeks "to be a support vehicle for young adult African-American clergy in a structure that is not exactly advantageous and that does not see their full talent," said Benton, the coalition’s vision leader.
The coalition’s mission is to promote Christian conferencing among black pastors under age 41, and to respond to the Great Commission of making disciples of Christ by providing mentoring support for those clergy. In addition to training and mentoring for new pastors, the group hopes to produce "life coaches" for future clergy.
"The National Coalition of Young Adult African American Pastors could end up being a profound blessing to the church," said the Rev. Vance Ross, chairman of the design team for the Convocation for Pastors of African American Churches and pastor of First United Methodist Church in Hyattsville, Md. "The denomination is lacking in major numbers young adults in its membership and that problem is becoming an epidemic in the African American, African and Caribbean sector."
Benton affirmed that the coalition is an attempt to respond to the "plight of African-American leadership in the United Methodist Church." In the next five to 10 years, 20 percent to 30 percent of African American clergy in the denomination will retire from active ministry. In addition, the number of African Americans entering seminary is steadily decreasing, he said.
"We know this from trying to recruit people from our churches to enter ministry," Benton said. "There is this gap of leadership that will hit the black church. Wanting to be the people who live out the call faithfully to serve and be servants, we talked about how it could be done in light of the particular economic, social, political and religious realities that face us as young adult African-American clergy." The denomination has a little more than 500 young adult African-American pastors, he said.
Citing research, Benton said the largest age group of African-American clergy is between 49 and 53, and those pastors will retire in the next 10 years. The following average mean group is about 29 years old. "This means that if we do not get the ball rolling right now, in 10 to 12 years, we will not be anywhere to be found." The coalition is also forming relationships with other African-American Christian traditions.
Ross said an organization such as the coalition is essential if the church is going to attract and maintain young people for a changing world. And, he asked, what better way to attract them than by having those of their age group teaching and leading in the pulpit?
"Our viability before young people will assume that we take seriously the leaders who are of that age. Seeing them gathered and knowing that they are appreciated and valued and have a place in the denomination means that the church in general, and older clergy and laity in particular, will listen to what they say and have to act on what they discuss," Ross said.
Founded under the banner of the biennial Convocation for Pastors of African American Churches, the coalition is an independent organization, with no official ties to any group in the denomination. The coalition will use leadership networks and groups, as well as national and regional events, to assist clergy in reaching their maximum potential. The group, with young adult membership from across the country, is funded through dues and registration fees, along with contributions from annual conferences.
The group was launched with support from three annual conferences and churches across the United States. It is partnering with the Pacific Northwest Conference in the planning of a new church start and is receiving financial support through the Detroit Conference.
Before the organization’s launch, a group of young African-American pastors gathered to discuss the "journey" of being young adults and clergy members in the United Methodist Church. The conversations focused on the appointment process, long-term pastorates and leadership opportunities for extended ministries among various groups.
"It appears as though there have been opportunities for advanced movement in an increased fashion for people of European-American descent as opposed to people of African American descent," Benton said.
Members of the coalition, all leaders in their annual conferences, shared that their first or second appointments in the denomination were often disappointing assignments compared with those of their European-American colleagues, who received new church starts, immediately became associate pastors of large congregations, or were appointed as youth pastors, he said. "Our churches (African American) really don’t have a number of youth pastor slots.
The coalition will serve as a clearinghouse in responding to calls for positions, congregations or ministries seeking effective people, Benton said. "We want to be a resource for the United Methodist Church (and) be a vehicle to assist the denomination in pushing towards excellence in African-American young adult leadership."
The group also wants a voice in the church’s visioning process. Benton explained that the coalition’s emphasis on "continual transformation thinking" represents a change in emphasis from disciplining and maintenance to regarding evangelism as the church’s primary task. The church, he said, must address the question: "How do we make things more relevant for the seeker who is yet to even come?"
More information on the National Coalition of Young Adult African-American Pastors is available by contacting Benton at ncoumyaaap@hotmail.com or (248) 547-3278.
*Green is United Methodist News Service’s Nashville, Tenn., news director.
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