Nov. 6, 2002
Budget problems translate to missionary cuts

NEW YORK (UMNS) – Continuing budget problems will mean a reduction in the number of mission personnel employed by the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries in 2003.

The reason for such cuts became apparent during the board’s annual meeting in October, as treasurer Stephen Feerrar reported a continuing decline in assets and cash flow and the need for ongoing cost containment. (See UMNS story #492.)

The exact number of mission personnel positions or the specific positions that will be affected have not been determined, according to Edith Gleaves, the executive in charge of the board’s mission personnel unit. A moratorium also has been declared for the recruitment of new missionaries for next year, although applications will be accepted for 2004.

But the United Methodist Missionary Association is expressing concern about how any cuts may affect missionaries and their work, particularly the "standard support" or traditional missionaries serving in various countries around the world.

Howard Heiner, a retired missionary who has led the association for several years, said the association presented six requests for immediate action to the mission personnel committee during the board’s annual meeting in October. The requests were referred to the agency’s policy and legislation committee and tabled for review in the spring, he reported.

Statistics released during the October meeting show a current total of 949 commissioned mission personnel, including 344 traditional missionaries and the remainder in a variety of categories, such as deaconesses, mission interns, church and community workers, and Korean-American mission pastors.

The Board of Global Ministries also has 873 noncommissioned mission personnel, including 537 associated with the nongovernmental organization of the United Methodist Committee on Relief and 297 rural chaplains. An additional 329 work as partner church mission personnel, either as people in mission in their own country or as international people in mission.

The total number of mission personnel is 2,151, serving in 74 different nations, which is a decrease of 130 from the total reported in April 2001.

In 2003, contracts for 293 mission personnel in various categories will expire. Decisions about whether a specific contract will be renewed will be based on a number of factors, according to Gleaves.

One of those factors is consultation with mission partners about needs and priorities, added Deborah Bass, another staff executive with mission personnel. "We’re not summarily recalling folks," she said.

Some contracts, such as for the mission intern and US-2 programs, are designed to be limited to a three-year term, Gleaves pointed out. Another example is the 10-10-10 program, an attempt to partner with the denomination’s annual (regional) conferences to encourage new, innovative mission work. "That program was intended to be a three-year jump-start program," she said, explaining that the conferences must decide whether to continue the work as part of their own budget once the term expires.

Missionary candidates themselves have changed in recent years as more emphasis is placed on recruitment outside the United States. "Our last few (candidate) classes have been very indigenous to the countries we are partnering with," Bass noted.

In areas where traditional missionaries have served, placements are being reassessed. One recent example was Japan, where some missionary assignments related to teaching positions have ended. Mission partners there have decided to increase their emphasis on work with women, children and families, Bass said, and those are the missionary positions being retained. "As partners adjust their priorities, we are trying to do the same," she added.

Other missionaries may decide on early retirement. "We’re getting a lot more baby boomers who are in the field and need to come home and take care of aging parents," Bass explained.

In fact, retirements will impact the number of reductions required. "In one region alone (Middle East, Europe and North Africa), there are 26 people retiring in 2003," Gleaves said.

One of the missionary association’s ongoing complaints about the Board of Global Ministries has been the lack of communication between staff and the missionary community. Heiner believes there would be more cooperation about issues such as early retirement if the missionaries were provided with better information instead of "receiving a letter out of the blue that you’re being terminated," which he said was the situation with the missionaries in Japan.

The missionaries do understand that the agency has a financial crisis that its treasurer is trying to address, according to Heiner. "We are trying to be cooperative," he added. "We know a lot of the people on the staff are hurting, too."

The requests for action submitted by missionaries at the October board meeting included a letter of explanation to all staff, missionaries and host organizations outlining board actions being taken to alleviate the financial crisis and how financial priorities are being established for the future. The missionaries want a mechanism that allows board directors to draw upon the experiences and perspectives of missionaries before decisions are made, an appeal process for policy decisions, and assurance that the downsizing of mission personnel will not result in discrimination due to age, country or type of assignment.

On Nov. 2, the missionary association began circulating a proposed action plan for the financial crisis to board directors; Bishop Joel Martinez, the board president; and Latin American bishops meeting in Puerto Rico with the United Methodist Council of Bishops.

The plan stresses better denomination-wide communication about the mission agency’s financial woes in order to "challenge conferences, supporting churches, host organizations, directors, staff and mission personnel to join in a cooperative and coordinated response to the financial crisis…"

As board president, Martinez is called upon to establish an emergency advisory group to develop a plan of action regarding the reduction of mission outreach because of a lack of funding. The missionaries request that such action be based on a country-by-country review of mission projects and personnel.

The association also is urging Martinez to make a special appeal to the Council of Bishops for increased funding. Jurisdictional representatives and conference secretaries related to the Board of Global Ministries could help coordinate "an urgent campaign to find resources for mission outreach," and retired association members are volunteering to assist with that fund raising.

The Covenant Relationship Program – part of the Advance for Christ and His Church, a voluntary giving program – has offered United Methodist congregations the chance to directly support missionaries since 1974. Along with the denomination’s World Service Fund and undesignated Pledge to Mission funds from local United Methodist Women units, the program is one of three financial support bases for all mission personnel commissioned through the Board of Global Ministries.

But contributions to the Covenant Relationship Program have not kept pace with costs. The annual expense for one full-time missionary, for example, jumped from $20,000 in 1974 to about $45,000 in 1999.

According to Gleaves, only 4 percent of local churches participate in the program. She pointed out that their contributions have been "far outpaced by the increase of missionaries and cost to support missionaries."

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Nov. 13, 2002
61 United Methodists to serve in 108th Congress
By Albert J. Menendez


WASHINGTON (UMNS) - With 61 United Methodists elected to serve in the 108th Congress, the denomination has maintained its third place ranking in overall membership.

The next Congress, which will be seated in January, will include 12 United Methodists in the Senate and 49 in the House of Representatives. Among the United Methodists in both houses, the Republicans will outnumber Democrats 38 to 23.

Because of the peculiarities of the 2002 election, this compilation is based on 531 members of Congress.

Four races remain undecided following the Nov. 5 elections. A runoff will be held in the Louisiana Senate rate and in that state's 5th Congressional District Dec. 7. Special elections to replace the late Rep. Patsy Mink of Hawaii's 2nd District will occur Nov. 30 for the current term and Jan. 4 for the full term that begins next year.

Texas contributed the largest number of congressional United Methodists, 11, followed by five in Ohio, four from Florida and Georgia and three from Nebraska. Twenty-nine states elected at least one Methodist to Congress in this election cycle, compared to 23 states last time.

Thirty-four United Methodists (56 percent) represent states in the South or Border South, while 20 hail from the Midwest. Only four come from the Northeast (none from New England) and three from the Pacific Coast states.

United Methodist members have declined by four since the 107th Congress. Only three new United Methodists appear in the 62-member freshman class. They are C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-Md.), John Kline (R-Minn.) and Tom Cole (R-Okla.).

In Alaska, Sen. Frank Murkowski was elected governor in November, and under that state's laws, he will name his successor to the U.S. Senate in December.

In terms of strength within state delegations, United Methodists are strongest in Nebraska, where three of five members are Methodists, and in New Mexico, where two of five members are Methodists. A third of the members from Arkansas, Kansas, Texas and Wyoming are Methodists.

The United Methodists are third in congressional membership, behind the Roman Catholics, who are first, and the Baptists. The Presbyterians, Episcopalians and Jews are fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively, as they have been in the 107th Congress. Nondenominational Protestants, Lutherans, Mormons and nondenominational Christians fill out the top 10 religious groups represented in Congress.

The tabulations are based on the religious affiliations reported by congressional staffs to Congressional Quarterly and to the Almanac of American Politics. The affiliations of the newly elected members of the 108th Congress appeared in CQ's Guide to the New Congress, issued Nov. 7.

Menendez is a free-lance writer and director of research for Americans for Religious Liberty.

United Methodist Members of the 108th Congress

Senate (12)
Jeff Sessions R Alabama
Zell Miller D Georgia
Daniel Inouye D Hawaii
Larry Craig R Idaho
Richard Lugar R Indiana
Pat Roberts R Kansas
Debbie Stabenow D Michigan
Ben Nelson D Nebraska
Jeff Bingaman D New Mexico
Hillary Rodham Clinton D New York
John Edwards D North Carolina
Craig Thomas R Wyoming

House (49)
Robert Cramer D Alabama
Jim Kolbe R Arizona
Marion Berry D Arkansas
Mike Ross D Arkansas
Robert Matsui D California
Allen Boyd D Florida
Ric Keller R Florida
Jeff Miller R Florida
Bill Young R Florida
Mac Collins R Georgia
Charlie Norwood R Georgia
Johnny Isakson R Georgia
Steve Buyer R Indiana
Jerry Moran R Kansas
Edward Whitfield R Kentucky
Jim McCrery R Louisiana
Richard Baker R Louisiana
Wayne Gilchrest R Maryland
C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger D Maryland
Mike Rogers R Michigan
John Kline R Minnesota
Bennie Thompson D Mississippi
Lee Terry R Nebraska
Tom Osborne R Nebraska
James Saxton R New Jersey
Heather Wilson R New Mexico
Richard Burr R North Carolina
Paul Gilmor R Ohio
Rob Portman R Ohio
Ted Strickland D Ohio
David Hobson R Ohio
Steven LaTourette R Ohio
Tom Cole R Oklahoma
John Peterson R Pennsylvania
Donald L. Sherwood R Pennsylvania
Bart Gordon D Tennessee
Sam Johnson R Texas
Ralph Hall D Texas
Joe Barton R Texas
Pete Sessions R Texas
Lloyd Doggett D Texas
Chet Edwards D Texas
Kay Granger R Texas
Larry Combest R Texas
Solomon Ortiz D Texas
Gene Green D Texas
John Culberson R Texas
Rick Boucher D Virginia
Rick Larsen D Washington

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Nov. 6, 2002
Study examines why gay United Methodists stay with church
By United Methodist News Service

Despite the United Methodist Church’s restrictive policies regarding homosexuality, many gays and lesbians remain in the denomination because they feel accepted at their local churches.

That’s a key finding of a study conducted by Jamie Bigham Stroud of Philadelphia, a marriage and family therapist licensed by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The longtime United Methodist conducted her research as part of a doctoral dissertation for the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality in San Francisco.

"Many have said it’s the local church that keeps them connected, not the denomination as a whole," Stroud told United Methodist News Service in a Nov. 4 interview. "People say it’s their heritage or identity."

One respondent simply stated, "It’s my church, too."

As a child growing up in the denomination, Stroud said she was taught that everyone was welcome in a Methodist church. When she grew older, she realized that some people weren’t as welcome as others.

Three years ago, Stroud, married and the mother of three adult daughters, joined the board of the Reconciling Ministries Network, which advocates for the full inclusion of people of "all sexual orientations and gender identities" in the church. She now serves as the national coordinator of that group’s Parents Reconciling Network.

Through that work, friendships with gays active in the church, and a situation where her youngest daughter felt frustrated over not being able to have a union ceremony performed by a United Methodist pastor or in a United Methodist church, Stroud became curious about why gays and lesbians remained with the denomination.

She based her dissertation on the responses of 358 people who primarily identified themselves as gay, lesbian or bisexual, although she is continuing to accept questionnaires and will incorporate new responses before publishing the information in a book.

Responders represented 42 U.S. states and China, Mexico and the Philippines. Of that number, 243 were active in local United Methodist churches; 237 were financially supportive; 84 were inactive members or attended other churches; 13 attended but didn’t contribute; and one contributed but didn’t attend.

She said she had anticipated more responses would come from the West Coast and was surprised that the denomination’s Southeast Jurisdiction had the most responses at 26 percent, followed by the Northeast, 22 percent; Western, 19 percent; North Central, 18 percent; and South Central, 14 percent.

Laity constituted 264 of the respondents, while five gave no information. Looking at the clergy respondents, 72 ordained and 17 in the ordination process, Stroud was surprised by the number who indicated they were "out" or open about their sexual orientation to some degree. Her research showed that 23 people were "out" to family and friends and 19 had been open with their church members.

In terms of relationships, 154 reported they were in same-gender relationships, 44 were in other-gender relationships, 62 reported a history of divorce or separation and 102 said they were dating.

Whatever their category, many respondents shared an active involvement in the local church, bolstering the finding that the congregation was key to keeping them in the denomination. They take part in or lead groups such as the administrative council or finance committee, participate in United Methodist Women and United Methodist Men units, and serve as Sunday school teachers, annual and general conference delegates, and lay leaders.

"It is the church of my childhood. I love it," a respondent wrote. "When I was in seminary, I searched for another denomination that ‘fit’ – I went to every mainline Protestant denomination I could find. When I returned to the UMC, I felt at home and alive."

Other factors that help retain the connection are the denomination’s Wesleyan theology, historic focus on social justice, availability of welcoming or reconciling congregations and just plain stubbornness, according to Stroud. People who said they were stubborn "also indicated they weren’t just sitting back and letting it be. They were speaking up in many instances, where they could, to work for change."

Not surprisingly, respondents expressed negative feelings about denominational policies that declare the practice of homosexuality to be "incompatible with Christian teaching" and prohibits the ordination of gay people and union ceremonies for same-sex couples. The major difference in response between clergy and laity, Stroud said, is that people who were not clergy didn’t experience as much limitation as to what they could do in the local church.

Once her book is published, she hopes church members will read it to gain another perspective about people who are affected by what the denomination does.

"I wish General Conference would realize that Christ came for all people," a respondent wrote. "I was created by God as I am and, as many of my friends and co-workers would attest, being gay is only one part of my personality. To be treated differently simply for that one part, either positively or negatively, bothers me."

More information about Stroud’s study and an opportunity to respond to her questionnaire are available at www.GUMresearch.org, her Web site.

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Oct. 29, 2002
United Methodists accept new mission churches in three countries

STAMFORD, Conn. (UMNS) – Churches in Cambodia, Honduras and the Cote d’Ivoire have been formally approved as "mission churches" by the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries.

A welcoming service concluded the presentation during the board’s Oct. 21-24 annual meeting, marking the initial entrance of the three church bodies into the United Methodist Church.

Par. 563 of the United Methodist Book of Discipline allows the Board of Global Ministries to initiate, administer and coordinate a mission, defined as an administrative body for work inside or outside the structures of an annual or missionary conference.

"The purpose of a mission is to provide ministry with a particular group or region whose needs cannot be fully met with the existing structures and resources of the annual conference(s)," the paragraph says. "It may also be the initial stage in moving toward the formation of a provisional or missionary conference."

The fledgling congregations in Cambodia and Honduras have sprung from the mission agency’s work in those countries. But the Protestant Methodist Church of Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) is an autonomous, 1.4 million-member Methodist communion that grew out of the British Methodist tradition.

Methodists in that French-speaking West African country are divided into three districts – Grand Bassam, Dabou and Abidjan – and the two missionary districts of Bouake and Daloa. The denomination has 853 local churches, with 89 active pastors, including four women, and 38 evangelists. It runs a number of schools, as well as an orphanage and the Protestant Methodist Hospital in Dabou.

Bishop Joseph Humper, who leads the United Methodist Church of Sierra Leone, said that he and other United Methodist bishops in West Africa consider the Methodist Church of Cote d’Ivoire to be "spirit-led" and "people-focused." He believes that church could act as a springboard for United Methodist mission in other African countries.

The Board of Global Ministries first became involved in Cambodia in the 1980s, through refugee assistance and rehabilitation and reconstruction work through international and ecumenical organizations. In 1983, the agency established the United Methodist Church Indochina Caucus to help nurture expatriate Christian faith communities and to explore mission outreach in Cambodia and other parts of Indochina. By the end of that decade, Cambodian United Methodists living outside their country began returning to share their faith.

In 1990, the first United Methodist congregation within Cambodia, at Tek Thla, was started with assistance from Central United Methodist Church in Stockton, Calif., a Cambodian congregation. By then, proposals were being shaped for launching a mission in Cambodia that would encompass community rehabilitation, education, health care, evangelism and building faith communities. During the same period, Cambodian United Methodists living in Switzerland and France began their own mission outreach to Cambodia.

In the mid-1990s, United Methodists began discussing collaboration in Cambodia and Vietnam with the Methodist Church of Singapore and the Korean Methodist Church. A coordinating board of the Cambodia Methodist Mission was formed in 1997. The first United Methodist missionaries were dispatched in 1998, the same year that land and a building were purchased in Phnom Penh for a United Methodist Mission Center. A Bible school, founded by the Korean Methodist Church, but supported by all partners, opened in 2000.

The United Methodist Mission Initiative in Honduras began planting new congregations in 1998. Currently, 11 churches and 2 communities of faith are in operation, with an average worship attendance of more than 1,250 people. The initiative works collaboratively with the Methodist Church of the Caribbean and the Americas and has received support from the Latin American Council of Evangelical Methodist Churches (CIEMAL) and the Christian Commission on Development.

Training indigenous church members in this Central American country for future leadership roles is the initiative’s top priority. The Fuente de Luz Church in the city of Danli has become the country’s largest United Methodist congregation, making that city the center of the denomination’s work in Honduras.

Rosy Martinez Rodriguez, who serves with her husband Jorge Rodriguez as a board missionary in Honduras, told directors that 75 percent of the Honduran members are young adults, youth and children. Mission work includes support of women, especially those who are victims of domestic violence, she said.

In other mission-related business, board directors:

• Set aside $168,000 to build a mission complex at Magoanini village in Mozambique, located on a site in the capital of Maputo where the United Methodist Committee on Relief built 128 replacement homes following the 2000 floods. The complex will include a church, parsonage, school and clinic.
  
  
• Approved a $100,000 grant to support the Russia United Methodist Theological Seminary and up to $121,000 for the board’s Russia Initiative.
  
  
• Agreed that partnership funds supporting strategic plans for mission in three areas -- $106,000 for the Evangelical Methodist Church in Uruguay, $110,000 for the Dominican Evangelical Church and $90,000 for the Leeward Island District, Methodist Church in the Caribbean and the Americas – would be released over a three-year period as capital gains assigned to the account are realized and cash flow permits.
  
  
• Approved a $40,000 grant to the New York University Robert F. Wagner Graduate School for Public Service to support the Mandela Fellowship for African students attending the masters of science/international public service course, which the board funded in 1999.
  
  
• Commissioned six missionaries, five church and community workers and 12 deaconesses and recognized 11 retiring missionaries during a special worship service.
  

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Nov. 14, 2002
Churches respond to tragedy, damage in wake of tornadoes
By Kathy L. Gilbert and Joretta Purdue

CONVOY, Ohio (UMNS) - An 18-year-old United Methodist, in his first year at the University of Northwestern Ohio in Lima, was killed Nov. 10 when a tornado slammed into the car he was driving.

Nicholas Mollenkopf, a member of Convoy United Methodist Church, was on Lincoln Highway in Van Wert, Ohio, when his car was broadsided by the F4 tornado. He is among at least 36 fatalities reported in five states after a wave of more than 70 tornadoes and thunderstorms blew across the nation Nov. 9-11.

"It is just heartbreaking," said the Rev. Gregory A. Leigh, pastor of Convoy United Methodist Church. "He has been in my home many times. He was such a dear boy."

Convoy United Methodist Church is a designated Red Cross center in the small village of Convoy, about seven miles northwest of Van Wert. "The EMS squad cars were going through the street, giving the ominous alert that a tornado had touched down," Leigh said. "When my wife and I reached the church, it was already wall to wall with people."

He heard about the fatality on a hand-cranked radio at the church. "The chaplain from Van Wert County Hospital called two minutes later and told me it was one of my church members."

Leigh said he has been impressed with the faith of the young man's family. "I am so impressed with the power of resurrection I feel with this family." Nicholas is survived by his parents, Richard and Cynthia, an older brother, J.R., and a younger sister, Michele. The funeral will be Nov. 16 at the Convoy church.

Seventeen deaths have been reported in Tennessee, 12 in Alabama, five in Ohio and one each in Mississippi and Pennsylvania. More than 200 people were injured, and at least 13 states were affected.

The Rev. James D. Howell, pastor of Bethel Van Wert United Methodist Church, said two families in his congregation have lost their homes. Elsewhere in the community, a movie theater manager saved dozens of people by herding them into hallways and restrooms minutes before three cars blew into the theater and the roof collapsed.

In West Ohio, Bishop Bruce Ough said conference disaster personnel are assessing the damage in Van Wert County and are asking for volunteers to help with cleanup in the Van Wert and Continental areas.

In East Ohio, the Homerville United Methodist Church was severely damaged about 6:30 p.m. Nov. 10. A stained-glass window was blown in, and glass was sprayed into the sanctuary. The right side of the roof has no shingles, and the sanctuary suffered water damage. Trustees placed plastic over the open windows and are awaiting a damage estimate from the insurance company.

Northern areas of Alabama experienced several tornadoes. Carbon Hill, Ala., a town of just over 2,000, was devastated. Seven people died in the storms there, and five others lost their lives elsewhere in the state.

A charge conference was under way in the Carbon Hill United Methodist Church when the storms struck on the evening of Nov. 10. After taking refuge in the basement, several members went out into the community to help. That night, about 25 people slept in the church. The next day, the gas supply was cut off, and the shelter was relocated. Church members continued to make and distribute cold sandwiches and soft drinks in the community, where at least two members' homes were among those destroyed.

The Carbon Hill church has also invited the congregation of Grant's Chapel CME Church, which was heavily damaged, to use their facility or to join in their activities while repairs are made to the CME building.

About 100 miles away, between Chelsea and Columbiana, Ala., Lester's Chapel United Methodist Church also served briefly as a temporary shelter.

Seven of Tennessee's 17 fatalities occurred in Morgan County, west of Knoxville. Located in the United Methodist Church's Holston Annual (regional) Conference, Morgan County is an economically depressed area where the biggest industry is the Petros Prison, according to Kevin Slimp, conference communicator.

Of the seven people killed in Morgan County, five lived in Mossy Grove. Two were killed in the Petros and Joyner communities, east of Mossy Grove. Another 28 people were hospitalized, and four of them were still listed as critical two days after they were injured. Many homes in the area were destroyed.

Holston Conference has already applied for and been granted $10,000 for emergency disaster response by the United Methodist Committee on Relief, the denomination's relief and development arm. On Nov. 16 a volunteer work team plans to go into the area, which was closed off while officials conducted a search and accounted for the residents.

UMCOR also has granted $10,000 to the North Georgia Annual Conference. Pickens County - and particularly its seat, Jasper, Ga., about 45 miles northeast of Atlanta - had property damage but no fatalities. The conference plans to send volunteers to the area as soon as authorities permit. The United Methodist church in Tate, Ga., sustained some damage.

In Louisiana, where at least part of the storm system is thought to have originated, heavy rain Nov. 10 caused new flooding. The state is still recovering from Hurricanes Isidore and Lili. UMCOR provided flood buckets filled with cleaning and other supplies in response to a request from the area bishop.

Other areas affected included Mississippi, Florida, South Carolina, Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Indiana and Illinois. Local and area churches are working with residents as needed.

People who want to aid in the disaster recovery may make contributions to UMCOR's Domestic Disaster Response Advance No. 901670-1, specifying "November Storms 2002" on the memo line. Donors may also specify a specific state or conference if they wish. Gifts may be made through local United Methodist churches or by calling (800) 554-8583. Credit-card donations are accepted. Administrative costs are covered by other church funds, so 100 percent of the contributions will go to the program named by the donor.

Gilbert is a news writer in United Methodist News Service's Nashville, Tenn., office. Purdue is news director of UMNS' Washington office.

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