Aug. 26, 2002
Web site devoted to apportioned funds, designated giving
By Cindy Solomon*
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) — United Methodist Communications will launch an updated Web site devoted to telling the stories of people whose lives have been impacted by apportioned funds and designated giving.
Sharing God’s Gifts, www.umcgiving.org, will start Sept. 3. It replaces Your Church Dollars at Work, found at the same address on the denomination’s www.umc.org Web site.
"The Sharing God’s Gifts Web site brings to life the story of our connected mission and ministry as United Methodist disciples of Jesus Christ," said Kent McNish, director of marketing at United Methodist Communications.
The updated site will allow United Methodists easy access to stories, facts, and figures about conference benevolences, special appeals, apportioned funds and other giving programs.
"Sharing God’s Gifts started out as a resource kit containing materials that United Methodist pastors and church leaders could use to educate and update church members about congregational giving," McNish said.
It will feature personal stories about people who have benefited from the Black College Fund, Africa University, the Ministerial Education Fund, the World Service Fund, "special Sundays" and the Advance.
Each apportioned fund and designated giving program will have its own series of pages. The site will also contain downloadable resources such as logos and space ads, a "contact us" form and links to other United Methodist agency sites.
*Solomon is a marketing consultant and free-lance writer living in Franklin, Tenn.
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Aug. 29, 2002
Internet guild plans live webcast for church communicators
By Matt Carlisle*
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) – Churches of all sizes can explore new ways of doing online ministry through an upcoming audio webcast sponsored by the United Methodist Web Ministry Guild.
The guild will offer the free, interactive event, "We Built Our Church Web Site: Now What?" from 9 to 11:30 a.m. CDT Oct. 31. The webcast will originate from the Radisson Hotel in New Orleans, prior to the start of the annual meeting of the United Methodist Association of Communicators. Participants will be able to query panelists either as audience members or by e-mail. Instructions are available at www.UMC.org/webministry.
The guild supports local church Web developers who use the Internet to extend their church’s mission and ministry. Web as a ministry will be the focal point of the first of two panel discussions. Top Web ministers from around the country will discuss how they developed their online ministries.
Scheduled speakers include:
Mark Stephenson, who started the Ginghamsburg CyberMinistry in 1997. Ginghamsburg Church, a United Methodist congregation in Tipp City, Ohio, has more than 50,000 user visits per month at its Web site, www.Ginghamsburg.org. The site has more than 2,500 pages, with features that include streaming video. An electrical engineer by training, Stephenson works as a chief scientist at Science Applications International Corp., a high-tech research and technology company.
The Rev. Faith Green, associate pastor of communication, technology and public relations for Hope United Methodist Church (www.hopeumc.org) in Southfield, Mich. A graduate of the divinity school at Harvard University, she also worked as a journalist reporting for National Public Radio, CBS radio, ABC radio and several Christian networks, including Focus on the Family.
Amy Texley, director of information for United Methodist Church of the Resurrection (www.cor.org) in Leawood, Kan., one of the denomination’s fastest-growing churches. She has applied concepts used in high-growth business to this high-growth church, which focuses on reaching non-religious and nominally religious people.
The second panel discussion will focus on streaming on the Web. Web developers from churches using cost-effective forms of streaming will share their experiences. They will explain how even small churches can make use of this technology.
Communicators attending the annual meeting as well as church Web developers can participate as members of the live audience. Those who attend will receive an interactive CD containing Web ministry resources. Support for the guild is provided by Nashville-based United Methodist Communications.
*Carlisle is executive producer of the United Methodist Church’s Web site, www.umc.org. He is on staff at United Methodist Communications in Nashville, Tenn.
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Aug. 29, 2002
Texas pastor charged with wife’s murder
By United Methodist News Service
A United Methodist pastor in Texas is free on bond after being charged in the beating death of his wife.
The Rev. Michael David Tabb, 41, was arrested Aug. 14 for the murder of Marla Tabb, 35, in the east Texas town of Troup on Aug. 5. He was released on a $50,000 bond posted by family members. The case will be presented to the grand jury, but no date has been set.
In June, Tabb began a two-church appointment that includes First United Methodist Church in Troup and Walnut Grove United Methodist Church in a nearby community. He had been serving as a Navy chaplain since the beginning of 1998, which was about the time that he married Marla, his second wife. The couple, both from Texas, had returned to the state from Camp Lejeune, N.C.
Accompanied by his lawyer, Tabb had voluntarily surrendered to authorities.
Tabb is accused of beating his wife to death in the master bedroom of their parsonage home. Authorities said they found traces of blood on his shoes and in the bed of his truck. The blood samples are undergoing DNA analysis. The murder weapon, believed to have been a wooden table leg, has not been found. The police continue to collect information.
"We’re definitely doing a lot of follow-up," said Lt. Larry Wiginton of the Smith County Sheriff’s Department. "We’re very aggressive on this case."
Tabb called the sheriff’s office at 5:50 p.m. on Aug. 5 to report that he had found the front door of his home ajar when he returned from running errands, according to the arrest affidavit. He had entered to find his wife’s body on the floor of their bedroom. Tabb said he had taken their 2-year-old son with him and their 6-week-old son was in a playpen in the living room. Tabb said he knelt beside his wife and touched her arm then left the room.
The affidavit reported that traces of blood were found on Tabb’s shoes. Authorities said the pattern of the blood on his shoes was inconsistent with those of someone walking into a crime scene to give aid. The day after the murder, detectives found traces of blood in the pickup. Both the shoes and the truck appeared to have been cleaned, the affidavit said. The arrest affidavit said the couple had both verbal and physical altercations during their marriage.
A memorial service was held for Marla Tabb at First United Methodist Church in Tyler during the Sunday service Aug. 11. Her funeral had been Aug. 9 at her family’s church in Beaumont, Texas.
The Texas Annual (regional) Conference has appointed the Rev. George Helton, who is retired, to serve as interim pastor for the churches, and it is providing counselors to children, youth and adults in both congregations, according to the Rev. David McKay, conference spokesman in Houston. Tabb, who was ordained an elder in 1996, had served churches in the conference’s Beaumont and Houston-North districts before becoming a Navy chaplain.
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Sept. 3, 2002
Christian educators plan national conference
By United Methodist News Service
The Christian Educators Fellowship will hold a national conference Oct. 3-7 in Norfolk, Va., featuring worship, workshops and resources for Sunday school teachers, youth pastors, directors of children’s ministries, program directors, pastors and others.
The fellowship is an organization for Christian educators in the United Methodist Church. It is affiliated with the denomination’s Board of Discipleship, based in Nashville, Tenn.
"By Rivers of Living Water," is the theme for the event. Participants will be able to choose from several mini-plenary sessions and multiple workshops.
A keynote speaker will be the Rev. Gary Gunderson, director of the Interfaith Health Program of Emory School of Public Health and author of Deeply Woven Roots and Playing to Our Strengths. He will lead a session on "Drawing From Deep Wells: Leadership for Community Transformation."
"Participants will explore the ways that the living water the world needs is more likely to be found beneath us, deep in the ‘aquifer’ of meaning, coherence and traditions that nurture mature faith," he said.
Registration deadline is Sept. 10. For information on the conference, contact the fellowship at (615) 749-6870 or go to www.cefumc.org online.
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Sept. 3, 2002
Church executive urges Bush not to attack Iraq
WASHINGTON (UMNS) – The chief staff executive of the United Methodist Church’s advocacy and action agency is calling on the White House not to attack Iraq but to seek a peaceful solution through the United Nations.
"The Bush administration has declared its intent to launch a war against Iraq, ignoring the advice of its allies, many members of Congress, key experts and millions of U.S. citizens," said Jim Winkler, staff head of the denomination’s Board of Church and Society, in an Aug. 30 statement.
"With unprecedented disregard for democratic ideals and with an astonishing lack of evidence justifying such a pre-emptive attack, the president has all but given the order to fire," he said.
He urged United Methodists "to oppose this reckless measure" and to encourage President Bush to find peaceful means for resolving the threat posed by Iraq. U.S. officials are concerned about reports that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein has stockpiled weapons of mass destruction.
"Our church categorically opposes interventions by more powerful nations against weaker ones," Winkler said. "We recognize the first moral duty of all nations is to resolve by peaceful means every dispute that arises between or among nations." He cited the denomination’s resolution "Support for Self-Determination and Nonintervention," originally passed by the church’s highest legislative body in 1988, then amended and readopted in 2000. That body, the General Conference, determines United Methodist policy.
"United Methodists have a particular duty to speak out against an unprovoked attack," Winkler said. "President Bush and Vice President Cheney are members of our denomination. Our silence now could be interpreted as tacit approval of war.
"I beseech the president and vice president to provide leadership into a new era of Christian discipleship," he said. "We must as a people and nation recast our personal and national priorities so that God’s creation and the needs of the least, the last, and the lost are first in our hearts."
Winkler’s statement followed an Aug. 29 plea from 37 Christian leaders from the United States, Britain and Canada attending a meeting of the World Council of Churches Central Committee in Geneva (see UMNS story #382). The signers included several United Methodists, among them the top staff executive of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA.
The conflict between the United States and Iraq "can and should be dealt with by the United Nations," Winkler said. "No member nation has the right to take unilateral military action without the approval of the U.N. Security Council, approval the United States has not received. Without such approval, the United Sates will stand in violation of international law."
Questions of noncompliance with weapons inspections should be handled by the United Nations, Winkler said.
"A pre-emptive war represents a major and dangerous change in U.S. foreign policy," he said. "It also sets a terrible precedent for other nations. For example, what would then stop India or Pakistan from carrying out such an attack on one another on the grounds they themselves might be attacked? Pre-emptive war cannot become a universalized principle, lest disaster and chaos result."
This would not be "a just war," Winkler stated. Proof of a real threat to the United States has not been offered, he said, noting that no evidence has shown that Iraq has a nuclear warhead aimed at the United States or even deliverable weapons of mass destruction. "No case can be made that a war against Iraq is justified for the self-defense of the United States. Further, Iraq’s neighbors are not calling for assistance from the United States."
Winkler raised questions about the potential loss of life on all sides, the financial costs of a war and its aftermath, and the consequences for the future of Iraq.
"Congress must exercise its constitutional responsibilities and vote on the question of undertaking an invasion of Iraq," he wrote. "The length of conflict, level of long-term involvement and final outcome are by no means assured."
He warned that Baghdad, a huge city with innocent civilians, would be a major target. "Accidentally or not, we have seen the death of too many noncombatants in Afghanistan in recent months as the result of poor targeting and decision-making. How many more civilians will die?"
"The United Nations estimates its own sanctions [against Iraq], the most severe to ever be imposed on any nation, have already resulted in the deaths of one million people," Winkler observed. And, he noted, the regime of Saddam Hussein has committed many atrocities against its own people, causing great suffering for many years. Winkler offered prayers for the Iraqi people and expressed a yearning "for a just and peaceful government in Iraq."
He urged United Methodists to take seriously Jesus’ instructions to be peacemakers and seek justice. "We must speak out now – to the president, members of Congress and our local media – that the path upon which the president seeks to embark is counter to the teachings of Jesus, [is] inconsistent with the position of the United Methodist Church and is one that threatens the rule of law as a fundamental principle of democracy.
"That the end justifies the means is the weakest of all possible arguments. Our nation deserves better and the world expects better of us."
The full statement follows:
Press Statement
Aug. 30, 2002
For immediate release
Bush Urged to Turn Back From War
The following is a statement of General Secretary Jim Winkler of The United Methodist Church General Board of Church and Society:
The Bush administration has declared its intent to launch a war against Iraq, ignoring the advice of its allies, many members of Congress, key experts, and millions of U.S. citizens. With unprecedented disregard for democratic ideals and with an astonishing lack of evidence justifying such a pre-emptive attack, the President has all but given the order to fire.
I ask United Methodists to oppose this reckless measure and urge the President to immediately pursue other means to resolve the threat posed by Iraq. The United Methodist Church has called for "Support for Self-Determination and Nonintervention" for all nations (2000 Book of Resolutions #277). Our Church categorically opposes interventions by more powerful nations against weaker ones. We recognize the first moral duty of all nations is to resolve by peaceful means every dispute that arises between or among nations.
United Methodists have a particular duty to speak out against an unprovoked attack. President Bush and Vice-President Cheney are members of our denomination. Our silence now could be interpreted as tacit approval of war. Christ came to break old cycles of revenge and violence. Too often, we have said we worship and follow Jesus but have failed to change our ways. Jesus proved on the cross the failure of state-sponsored revenge. It is inconceivable that Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior and the Prince of Peace, would support this proposed attack. I beseech the President and Vice-President to provide leadership into a new era of Christian discipleship.
This matter can and should be dealt with by the United Nations. Our Church "support(s) regional and international negotiations arranged in cooperation with the United Nations and held without resort to political posturing." (2000 Book of Resolutions, p. 684) No member nation has the right to take unilateral military action without the approval of the UN Security Council, approval the United States has not received. Without such approval, the United Sates will stand in violation of international law. The administration’s proposed attack is essentially a unilateral U.S. effort that uses as its rationale Iraq’s non-compliance with U.N. Security Council Resolution 687 requiring full compliance with UN weapons inspectors. Arab and European governments strongly oppose an invasion of Iraq. Their views cannot and should not be disregarded. The question of weapons inspection non-compliance should be a matter for the United Nations.
There are those who argue that some military actions are just, however this would not be a just war. No proof has been provided that Iraq has nuclear weapons mounted on launchers aimed at the United States or troops massed on its borders or has developed deliverable weapons of mass destruction. No case can be made that a war against Iraq is justified for the self-defense of the United States. Further, Iraq’s neighbors are not calling for assistance from the United States.
A pre-emptive war represents a major and dangerous change in US foreign policy. It also sets a terrible precedent for other nations. For example, what would then stop India or Pakistan from carrying out such an attack on one another on the grounds they themselves might be attacked? Pre-emptive war cannot become a universalized principle lest disaster and chaos result.
There are questions yet to be asked and answered about many matters including the potential loss of life on all sides, the financial cost of a war and its aftermath, and consequences for the future of Iraq. Congress must exercise its constitutional responsibilities and vote on the question of undertaking an invasion of Iraq. The length of conflict, level of long-term involvement, and final outcome are by no means assured. Presumably, Baghdad, a huge city filled with innocent civilians, must be a major objective of attack. Accidentally or not, we have seen the deaths of too many noncombatants in Afghanistan in recent months as the result of poor targeting and decision-making. How many more civilians will die? What is the reasonable chance of success in this war? How long would it take to rebuild destroyed areas? Can the United States effectively carry out regime change?
The regime of Saddam Hussein has carried out many atrocities against its own people and has been a highly negative influence in international and regional affairs. We all yearn for a just and peaceful government in Iraq. The Iraqi people have suffered greatly for many years and our prayers are with them. The United Nations estimates its own sanctions, the most severe to ever be imposed on any nation, have already resulted in the deaths of one million people.
If we, as United Methodists, are to take seriously the words of Jesus to become peacemakers and seek justice and peace with one another (Matthew 5:1-12), we must speak out now – to the president, members of Congress, and our local media – that the path upon which the President seeks to embark is counter to the teachings of Jesus, inconsistent with the position of the United Methodist Church, and is one that threatens the rule of law as a fundamental principle of democracy. That the ends justify the means is the weakest of all possible arguments. Our nation deserves better, and the world expects better of us.
General Conference is the highest decision-making body of the United Methodist Church. The General Board of Church and Society is mandated by General Conference to seek the implementation of the Social Principles and other policy statements on Christian social concerns through forthright witness and action.
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Aug. 22, 2002
New churchwide task force confronts racism
A UMNS Report
By Tim Tanton*
A new United Methodist task force is pulling together people from throughout the denomination’s agencies to study ways to combat racism in the church, and to enable healing and reconciliation around the issue.
When the church formally apologized in 2000 for racism, many of its own African-American members complained about having been overlooked in the process – that the apology was directed more to members of the three predominantly black Methodist denominations. Some said the church should have apologized to its own African-American members first.
A "deeper, more internal step" was necessary, says the Rev. Gilbert Caldwell of Denver.
In response, the Interagency Task Force on Racism has been formed to address racism issues in the church in a more coordinated way. Representatives from all of the church’s general agencies and possibly other organizations are expected to participate in the group, administered by the United Methodist General Council on Ministries in Dayton, Ohio.
"If we’re ever going to deal with our vision to promote racial inclusiveness and eliminate racism, it’s going to have to be more than just something that’s lodged in one agency of the church," says the Rev. Chester Jones, top staff executive of the church’s Commission on Religion and Race in Washington. "It’s going to have to be something with an emphasis on inclusion in all dimensions of the church. … Therefore, it’s going to take all the agencies working in some kind of comprehensive way to address this as kind of a priority."
Jones and the Rev. Bruce Robbins, top staff executive of the Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns, initiated the creation of the task force. Robbins had approached Jones about the concerns raised following the General Conference’s Act of Repentance. Jones suggested that the General Council on Ministries would be the best place to coordinate follow-up work.
Each of the 14 general agencies was asked to send a director from its board, plus a staff member, to serve on the task force. Representatives from church ethnic groups will also be invited, eventually boosting the task force’s size to a little more than 30 members.
The task force wants to go beyond black-white issues, to look at the whole impact of racism and racial and cultural sensitivity, says Nelda Barrett Murraine, a staff executive with the General Council on Ministries.
The group met for the first time in July in Dallas. Caldwell, serving as facilitator, describes the gathering as "a time of candor, pain and honest reflection." At the meeting, he emphasized the need to look at the impact of racism and racial-cultural insensitivity "on those whom I describe as the indigenous, the immigrants and the imported." The group observed that damage has been done to people of all races.
"Our racial legacy in terms of people of African descent has shaped our church in many ways, and we, of course, need to understand that," Caldwell says. Key parts of that legacy have included the formation of "breakaway" denominations – the African Methodist Episcopal, African Methodist Episcopal Zion and Christian Methodist Episcopal churches – and the creation in 1939 of the racially segregated Central Jurisdiction, abolished with the 1968 merger of the Methodist and Evangelical United Brethren churches.
The task force plans to get time on future meeting agendas of the general agencies. It wants to encourage their directors to incorporate diverse worship styles and to address ideas for battling racism. The group is interested in creating opportunities for dialogue and discussing with the agencies how "we move beyond our racism training and workshops to the next level of our call as Christians," Murraine says.
One idea would involve creating "grace zones" for dialogue. Such zones, similar to the truth and reconciliation commission in South Africa, would provide a place for people to talk about their experiences and feelings without fear of repercussion.
"We have to move to a point where we can dialogue about these issues and we can get it all out," Jones says. Through dialogue, the church can move into confession, repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation, he says.
The church has a lot of people who are "walking wounded," dealing with past hurts caused by racism, Jones says. It also has members who are in denial about racism and don’t want to acknowledge the hurt that it has caused not only to African Americans but also to people of otherbackgrounds, he says.
The grace zones would also be geared toward bringing local churches together in districts and communities. Even with the repentance services at General Conference and subsequent annual conference gatherings, "you still have not been able to touch the very foundation, and that’s the local churches," Jones says.
Next steps will include incorporating other ethnic groups into the task force’s work and developing a Web site. Other ideas include having the general council take inventory of church resources for eliminating institutional racism, supporting continuing education for clergy on the issue, and developing a resource on racism as a "faith question."
Jones and Caldwell see the need for the task force continuing beyond the end of the current 2001-2004 period of church work.
"My vision is that it will not end in 2004," Caldwell says. "There is much more subtle and deeper spiritual work that we need to do within the denomination on our racial history and our racial reality."
*Tanton is news editor for United Methodist News Service.
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