Conferences share best practices to attract young clergy

By United Methodist News Service

DALLAS (UMNS) - Concerned about the critical need for more young clergy in The United Methodist Church, representatives from 13 annual (regional) conferences are brainstorming ways to assist young people who are called to ordained ministry.

"We stand a better chance at success in helping people hear God's call if we are intentional about fostering environments in our communities of faith that make the possibility of hearing God's call more plausible," said the Rev. Brandon Harris, associate pastor of Anniston (Ala.) First United Methodist Church.

Harris, of the North Alabama Annual Conference, is among representatives of United Methodist conferences already engaging in some of the best practices for developing young clergy. Leaders from those conferences gathered Oct. 28-30 in Dallas to share what works and map strategies for developing ordained leaders across the denomination.

Local recruitment
Sponsored by the United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry, the meeting was organized because of the critical role that annual conferences play in inviting and developing young adult clergy, according to the Rev. Meg Lassiat, the board's director of Student Ministries, Vocation and Enlistment.

"As young adults consider ordained ministry, enroll in candidacy and work through the process, their relationship with their annual conference is crucial for their future in ministry," Lassiat said.

The United Methodist Church has identified development of new clergy as one of four areas of focus for the denomination for the foreseeable future. A 2005 report revealed less than 5 percent of United Methodist elders are under age 35.

Attending the "best practices" event were representatives from the annual conferences of North Alabama, Baltimore-Washington, Central Pennsylvania, Central Texas, Florida, Holston, Minnesota, Mississippi, North Carolina, North Georgia, Oklahoma, Texas and Western North Carolina.

Participants said it was helpful to share effective strategies from across the denomination.

"One of the deepest resources we have is our connectional system, which provides an organic opportunity to collaborate with others," said the Rev. Bart A. Fletcher, pastor of Belgrade Avenue United Methodist Church in North Mankato, Minn.

"The best practices meeting reminded me that God is at work in all corners of the world, amidst demographic and theological diversity, to raise new leaders in the Christian movement."

Although Fletcher said the Minnesota conference has attracted sufficient candidates in recent years, he believes the conference must work proactively to ensure continued leadership when, in the next decade, 50 percent of its active elders will be retired.

Exploring the call
Lassiat asked each conference to send a description of what they do to invite and train young people in leadership and to help encourage young adults to consider ordained ministry. The feedback was compiled into a report, and representatives were asked to "think about how annual conferences invite, train and retain youth and young adults at all points along the discernment and candidacy process." A compilation of their best practices is scheduled to be available at www.explorecalling.org in mid-December.

Fletcher said he hopes the Minnesota conference will initiate a pilot project called "The Discernment Academy" to provide high school and college students the opportunity to discern vocational call.

"I hope this will include opportunities for personal spiritual growth through discernment, enlisting the partnership of seasoned lay and clergy leaders, and utilizing cohort groups that will engage an action-reflection model for a period of up to two years," Fletcher said.

Participants talked about identifying and creating ways to encourage each other and other annual conferences to be more intentional and effective in helping young adults and youth hear and respond to God's call to ordained ministry.

"As clergy, we often get so focused on our everyday ministry, where we are serving and what is coming up next, that we lose the ability to see in a wider context who God may be calling to serve in Christian vocations," said the Rev. Amelia Sims, director of Residency in Ministry for the North Alabama Conference.

"For ordained clergy and those in the ordination process, it is helpful to look again at our own call-to-ministry stories. Many of us can see not only the hand of God in our call but the work of the Holy Spirit through other persons - clergy and laity alike."

The North Alabama conference had only 16 ordained elders under the age of 35 and even fewer probationary elders under 35 in 2006.

"It is up to us to really think about and be able to articulate why younger adults would be able to grow and flourish in their ministry in this annual conference. We need to be extending the invitation rather than waiting for them to just show up," Sims said.

Sims has focused on extending the invitation since she joined the conference staff. A recruitment team organized this fall has begun to look at the best ways of recruiting young seminarians at five local theological schools.

In addition, Harris is working to identify local churches that have been effective in developing high-quality candidates for ministry, as well as churches that have strong potential for this task.

A new culture
The Rev. Carol Bruse, associate director of the Center for Clergy Excellence for the Texas Annual Conference, said the meeting was a strong step forward in addressing an important issue across the denomination.

"I think I left that meeting most excited about the potential for us as a group - with the support of Bishop Janice Riggle Huie, president of the Council of Bishops, and the support of many of the bishops of the conferences represented at the meeting - to help create a culture of call for The United Methodist Church," she said.

Bruse said such a culture can be developed "as we continue to meet annually, continue to share our best practices with one another and with other conferences, and continue to brainstorm ways we can work together to influence conferences not yet represented at that table."

*This report was compiled by the Rev. Angela Sims, director of Residency in Ministry, North Alabama Conference, and Vicki Brown, associate editor, Office of Interpretation at the United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry

Nothing But Nets Contest Winners to Get VIP Tour of United Nations

NEW YORK: Two United Methodist youth will get a free trip to the Big Apple this week, including VIP passes and a private tour of the United Nations. The two girls won the trip as a result of their youth groups’ fund-raising efforts for Nothing But Nets, a campaign to prevent malaria through the purchase and distribution of life-saving mosquito nets in Africa.

United Methodist Communications sponsored the fund-raising contest for youth groups to raise money for Nothing But Nets. Each $10 donation pays for an insecticide-treated bed net, distributes it to a family in Africa, and provides education on its proper use to prevent malaria. The youth groups competed in categories based on average worship attendance at their churches.

Erika Hilton of First United Methodist Church in Aliquippa, Penn. and Amanda Annonio of Lester's Chapel United Methodist Church in Columbiana, Ala. were selected to represent their youth groups on the trip. Erika’s youth group raised $1,300, and Amanda’s group raised $1,185.

“We hope the tour will enrich the girls’ understanding of the United Nations and our partnership with the United Nations Foundation in Nothing But Nets. They will also tour the United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries while they are in New York, and learn more about how the denomination works in ministry with people around the world,” said the Rev. Larry Hollon, chief executive at United Methodist Communications.

“I've never been to New York before,” said Erika. “I just wanted to help the kids in Africa.”

Amanda said she got involved in Nothing But Nets after she heard about it from her youth pastor Shaun Styers and youth coordinator Sandra Annonio--who is also Amanda's mother. The group decided to make the cause their main fundraiser for the year. "I thought this was the one fundraiser we could help the most people with," said Amanda.

Youth groups across the United Methodist connection have employed a variety of creative methods to raise funds.

Erika’s youth group took a collection from the church and from the youth group, sold strawberries and ice cream at a strawberry festival, held a rummage sale, and sold hoagies.

One of the ways that Amanda’s group raised money was through a “change” drive. “We as a youth group collected and painted soup cans for the members of our congregation to take home. Then we asked them to bring them back to church once their can was full,” said Amanda.

To learn more about Nothing But Nets, visit www.umc.org/nets or www.NothingButNets.net .

Agency clarifies General Conference survey concerns

By J. Richard Peck*

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) -- The United Methodist Church will begin its official online survey in December of the 992 delegates to its 2008 General Conference.

In November, however, some U.S. General Conference delegates were asked to participate in a telephone survey by the Conquest Communications Group, a Richmond, Va., firm that declined to identify the survey's sponsor.

General Conference organizers emphasized that the Conquest survey is not being conducted by or for The United Methodist Church.

"The denomination's survey will be done by e-mail and will come directly from my office," said the Rev. Alan J. Morrison, business manager for General Conference and an executive staff member of the United Methodist Council on Finance and Administration.

Unofficial survey
Paul Black, a General Conference delegate from the Illinois Great Rivers Annual (regional) Conference, says he received a call Nov. 26 from Conquest. When he asked who was sponsoring the survey, the caller responded that it was The United Methodist Church. Pressed about which church agency had commissioned the survey, the caller was unable to offer specifics. Black declined to participate in the survey.

Morrison said two other delegates reported being asked by Conquest to participate in a survey.

Contacted by United Methodist News Service, Conquest officials cited a "non-disclosure" agreement with its clients and declined to identify the survey's sponsor.

"The agent who was conducting the survey spoke out of turn," said Vic Gresham, a Conquest partner. "The response that the 'denomination' was paying for the survey is not correct."

Gresham said the survey caller was "just trying to get through the survey" and "has been dealt with and will no longer distribute incorrect information."

After checking later with the sponsor, Gresham said the sponsor did not want him to disclose how many delegates were to be interviewed, how many questions were asked or the nature of the questions.

The Charleston (W.Va.) Gazette reports that most of Conquest clients are groups seeking to elect Republicans to various political offices.

United Methodist News Service asked the major caucuses that focus on social issues in the church if they knew anything about the Conquest survey. Leaders of each caucus said they were not sponsoring the survey and did not know who might be paying the bill. Caucuses responding included the Institute on Religion and Democracy; Good News; the Confessing Movement; the Methodist Federation for Social Action; and the Church within a Church.

Official survey
The official survey is being coordinated by the GCFA Office of Analysis and Research and the church's Connectional Table in cooperation with the general agencies of the denomination. The survey is similar to ones conducted for the church prior to each General Conference.

The GCFA survey will be available in French and Portuguese. Additional inquiries regarding the official delegate survey should be directed to Scott Brewer, GCFA director of analysis and research, at sbrewer@gcfa.org.

General Conference, the top policy-making body of the 13.5 million-member United Methodist Church, will meet April 23-May 2, 2008, in Fort Worth, Texas. Delegates -- half clergy and half laity -- will come from the United States, Africa, the Philippines and Europe.

The assembly is the only body that speaks for the entire denomination. It meets every four years to set church policy, approve a churchwide budget and speak to social and moral issues of the day.

*Peck is a retired clergy member of New York Annual Conference and serves as a freelance writer for United Methodist News Service.

Pan-Methodist commission urges 'full communion'

A UMNS Report By Linda Green*

Members of the Commission on Pan-Methodist Cooperation and Union want to affirm their Wesleyan heritage and mutual covenant as churches in full communion with one another.

The commission adopted a resolution to that effect during its Nov. 15-17 meeting in Chicago. The body includes representatives of The United Methodist Church and three historic African-American Methodist churches - the African Methodist Episcopal, African Methodist Episcopal Zion and Christian Methodist Episcopal.

African Methodist Episcopal Zion Bishop Nathaniel Jarrett, who chairs the commission, said the resolution reflects uncertainty about whether commission members are in full communion with one another.

Full communion, Jarrett explained, means that each of the Methodist bodies recognize and accept their common connection with Wesleyan tradition, recognize and honor various orders of ministry, agree on the basic tenets and doctrines, and acknowledge that there are ministries "we are fully called to and obligated to share in."

"We are one people, yet diverse, yet one," he said.

In the resolution, the commission:

• Understands its churches have a doctrinal compatibility with Scripture as the foundation for all its beliefs, the historic creeds of the church, and the Wesleyan standards including the Articles of Religion, the Standard Sermons of John Wesley, his Explanatory Notes on the New Testament, and affirms the General Rules of Methodism;
  
• Affirms that each pan-Methodist church is in full Eucharistic fellowship with the others;
  
• Affirms that, by disciplinary action, its church ordinations are accepted as valid and in historic connection to John Wesley. Thus, ordained ministers are interchangeable upon approval by the bishops of the clergy involved and in compliance with denominational educational standards; and
  
• Affirms that its churches are partners in mission and will work together at all levels and through cooperation and collaboration to share a common witness to Jesus Christ and the mission of making disciples for the transformation of the world.
  

"This resolution would remove all doubts," Jarrett said, adding that the commission is both enthused about and committed to the statements. "All the implications are things that we already subscribe to, celebrate and are involved in. The resolution codified what we have already been doing in so many instances."

A framework of understanding
According to the Rev. Larry Pickens, top executive of the United Methodist Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns, the resolution is a framework of understanding among the churches.

"Being in full communion gives a visible sign to our unity in the Pan-Methodist Commission," he said. "As we further clarify our ongoing relationship and the ways we can cooperate together, full communion is an indication that we are committed to unity as we state and demonstrate our mutual respect for each other."

To take effect, the resolution must be affirmed by the 2008 general conferences of The United Methodist Church, the African Methodist Episcopal Church and the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, and the 2010 meeting of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church.

Two other churches, the African Union Methodist Protestant Church and the Union American Methodist Episcopal, were earlier approved as new members of the Commission on Pan-Methodist Cooperation and Union. The 2008 and 2010 general conferences are expected to approve the full membership of these two churches into the commission.

New name
The general conferences also will vote on a proposal to change the name of the commission to the Pan-Methodist Commission. The proposal stems from conversation among Methodist bishops last March about the lack of clarity about the word "union."

"We could never arrive at a clear definition, and the Methodist bishops felt that we should call selves the Pan-Methodist Commission and continue doing what we do and remain committed to the areas we are engaged in," Jarrett said.

The commission, he said, "need no longer wrestle with what union means but remain united in our work. We do not know what union will look like, but we will know it when we are there."

*Green is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in Nashville, Tenn.

General Conference basics explored in online course

By United Methodist News Service*

How are delegates elected to the United Methodist General Conference? How many votes are required for the assembly to approve a petition? What is the role of bishops in the once-every-four-years gathering? And why is it important to keep a copy of the Daily Christian Advocate handy throughout the proceedings?

These and many other questions are answered in "Exploring General Conference," a five-session online course offered by United Methodist Communications for anyone wanting to learn more about the denomination's top legislative body and how it works.

The course is free and being offered to give people a basic working knowledge of the church's legislative process in advance of the 2008 General Conference. About 1,000 delegates will gather next April 23-May 2 in Fort Worth, Texas, to set church policy, approve a budget and speak on behalf of the denomination regarding social and moral issues of the day.

"The course is ideal for anyone attending the 2008 General Conference, including communicators and delegates, as well as United Methodists interested in learning more about how the denomination makes decisions," said site administrator Cheryl A. Hemmerle.

Participants can begin the course anytime between Nov. 15 and Dec. 26 and move through the sessions at their own pace. Additional sessions will be offered from January through next May.

Launched Nov. 15, the course garnered more than 150 participants in its first three days and is expected gain momentum as General Conference approaches, Hemmerle said.

Betty Jackson signed up because she will serve as a volunteer marshal at the 2008 meeting.

"I'm really excited about going," said Jackson, a member of Ebenezer United Methodist Church in New Johnsonville, Tenn. "I'm taking this course in hope it will give me an idea of what will be going on."

Arthur Sponagel is participating in "Exploring General Conference" because he wants to learn more about United Methodism. After spending most of his life in two other denominations, he has been a United Methodist since 1986.

"One thing I like about Methodism is you are expected to continue studying. I hope to learn more about how the church operates," said Sponagel of St. Paul's United Methodist Church in Las Cruces, N.M.

In addition to interactive features such as videos and quizzes, participants can participate in forums to ask questions and share ideas.

Among other things, the course includes information about:

• The history, role and purpose of General Conference;
• How delegates are elected, their role and responsibilities;
• How petitions, the general church budget and other important matters are decided through General Conference;
• Social issues facing The United Methodist Church and the denomination's stance on those issues; and
• Highlights of the 2004 General Conference and what's ahead for 2008.
  
  To register, visit http://training.umcom.org. For more information, call (888) 278-4862 or e-mail training@umcom.org.
  
  *This story is based in part on a news release prepared by Diane Denton of the United Methodist Office of Public Information, United Methodist Communications.
  
  

United Methodist Russians, U.S. supporters meet

By Elliott Wright*

A United Methodist youth choir from Kurgan, Russia, performs hymns and Russian spirituals during the 13th Consultation of the United Methodist Russia Initiative. UMNS photos by Jerry Campbell.

LEAWOOD, Kan. (UMNS) - United Methodist congregations in Russia today are somewhat like the churches to which the Apostle Paul wrote his letters: young and striving toward maturity.

This comparison, made by Bishop Hans Växby of Moscow, struck a positive cord at the 13th Consultation of the United Methodist Russia Initiative, a program that also embraces Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova.

"That really speaks to me, and I can use it in talking about our mission," said Rochelle Lacy, the Russia Initiative coordinator in the Northwest Texas Annual (regional) Conference. Many other participants from the United States had similar responses.

"For someone living in Russia, Ukraine, Moldova or Belarus, it is not difficult to identify with the congregations of the New Testament," says Bishop Hans Växby in his keynote address.

The image of the initiative's youth and development was evident in the energy and confidence of the Eurasian clergy and laity who helped to lead the consultation. There were 275 attendees, of whom 67 were from Russia and nearby areas.

The initiative, launched in 1991 under the leadership of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, is a partnership among Eurasian and U.S. annual conferences and congregations committed to church growth and development in Russia. It covers most but not all of the United Methodist Eurasia Episcopal Area led by Växby.

Youthful challenges
"For someone living in Russia, Ukraine, Moldova or Belarus, it is not difficult to identify with the congregations of the New Testament," the bishop said in his keynote address. "Paul is writing to new local churches with multiple challenges."

The challenges in Eurasia, he said, include the fact that new church starts are not always recognized by the surrounding society. The leadership is young, congregations struggle with their identities, and questions come up concerning teachings as well as behavior. The bishop gave a wide range of examples, also pointing to indications of maturity within the 15-year-old revival of Methodism in the former Soviet Union.

Spiritual life is deepening, he said, offerings are growing, and there are increasing requests for educational materials. Plans are under way to translate into Russian the Disciple Bible Study II series, which is published by United Methodist Publishing House. The first Walk to Emmaus, a Christian discipleship retreat, will be held in Russia next year, and plans are under way to publish in Russian The Upper Room, the daily devotional guide from the United Methodist Board of Discipleship.

As one step toward maturity, consultation participants suggested that U.S. congregations in the Russia Initiative - now called "supporting congregations"- be renamed "partner churches," indicating that something more than financial support is involved.

Faithful living
In a brief interview, Växby said the greatest immediate opportunity for United Methodists in his area is for the congregations and their members to "live the Christian faith openly within their times and places; to live so that the inner and outward holiness of our Wesleyan understanding can be seen by the society at large."

At present, one regular and four provisional annual conferences make up the Eurasia Episcopal Area, with a total of 106 congregations and officially recognized Bible groups and 105 ordained clergy. The smallest conference is Ukraine and Moldova with 15 congregations or Bible groups and 14 clergy members. The others range from 20 to 26 congregations/groups and from 18 to 30 clergy members.

Eight new congregations have been started in the last year, and six are being planned for 2008. Leadership for new congregations is a primary educational emphasis at the Moscow seminary and in some of the partnerships with U.S. congregations.

The Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, which served as host for the consultation, and its pastor, the Rev. Adam Hamilton, are deeply involved in partnership to build leadership for reaching unchurched people who form the primary audience of the mission in Eurasia.

A consultation workshop on leadership for the future introduced a model developed at Bethany United Methodist Church in Austin, Texas.

Roots and growth
Methodism existed in both eastern and western Russia prior to the Communist Revolution of 1917, virtually vanishing until the fall of the U.S.S.R. in the late 1980s. The United Methodist Church was formally reintroduced into Russia in 1992 and is a legally recognized denomination in a predominantly Russian Orthodox country. It began with five congregations.

Several independent congregations have recently sought admission into The United Methodist Church. Among these is the Church of the Great Commission in Chisinau, the only United Methodist Church now in Moldova, a republic between Ukraine and Romania.

United Methodism in Eurasia is ethnically and culturally diverse, a fact explored in a consultation paper on "Cross-Cultural Ministry in the Eurasian Context" prepared by the Rev. Natalya A. Shulgina, a doctoral student at Emory University, Atlanta. There are Korean Russian United Methodists along with European Russians, others of Asian background and members of other cultures.

The Rev. Irina Mitina of the Church of the Resurrection in Voronezh, a city in southern Russia, was in charge of music for the Kansas event. A choir from Kurgan, a city in Siberia, provided special music. Much of the worship was in both Russian and English, with simultaneous translation provided by the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries.

There are three United Methodist congregations in Voronezh. Near this city, the church owns a camp and conference center that needs extensive work. This facility is slowly being physically renovated through the joint efforts of Russian United Methodists and United Methodist Volunteer-in-Mission teams from the United States.

The seminary in Moscow operates a small residential study course, now with three students, and a much larger extension program, currently with 16 students. Those in the extension program come to the school for designated periods of time each year. The Rev. Tobias Dietze is director of theological education.

U.S. partners
Becoming a U.S. "supportive" congregation, or partner, with a Eurasia congregation is a considerable commitment. The average level of assistance is between $6,000 and $9,000. Support includes pastoral salary, housing and benefits, along with cost of rental space for worship.

The Rev. Dr. W. James Athearn of Clear Brook, Va., is coordinator of the Russia Initiative for the Board of Global Ministries and can be reached at jimathearn@gmail.com.

Currently, the mission agency has two missionaries working with the church in Russia, four in Ukraine and two in Kazakhstan. While Kazakhstan is part of the Eurasia Area, it is a separate mission program focused on Central Asia.

The Russia Initiative and its many components can be supported through a range of projects and ministries linked to the Advance for Christ and His Church, the designated mission giving program of The United Methodist Church.

A list can be found online at GiveToMission.org by entering "Russia" or "Ukraine" in the country line.

*Elliott Wright is the information officer for the Board of Global Ministries.

Philippine judicial leader speaks against killings, Second in a Series

Philippine Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato Puno welcomes retired United Methodist Bishop Susan Morrison to a luncheon in Manila held last August for the United Methodist Board of Church and Society's Social Creed Task Force. UMNS photos by Kathy L. Gilbert.

By Kathy L. Gilbert

MANILA, Philippines (UMNS) - Philippine Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato Puno is a United Methodist who has become a powerful voice in the fight to stop extrajudicial killings and abductions that have haunted his country since 2001.

"I like to believe that of all the Christian denominations, The United Methodist Church has the best social action ideas," said Puno. "I like to think that the better part of me is the Methodist part."

Recently, Puno held a summit in Manila on the extrajudicial killings, putting a spotlight on the nation's human rights crisis. The summit included representatives from the judicial, executive and legislative branches of government, as well as scholars, members of the legal profession, the militant left, religious leaders and media.

Puno said one of the most compelling reasons to hold the summit was "to prevent us (from) losing eye contact with these killings and disappearances, revive our righteous indignation and spur our united search for the elusive solution to this pestering problem."

Human rights groups have documented more than 800 extrajudicial killings in the Philippines since 2001 when President Gloria Arroyo took office. They say Arroyo's military have targeted political activists, including clergy.

Bold step
On Sept. 25, the Supreme Court in Manila approved a Puno-supported court rule on the writ of amparo, under which the military or police cannot simply deny involvement in abductions or extrajudicial killings. Rather, they also must prove they are not involved and, under court order, open their detention facilities for inspection.

In an interview with United Methodist News Service, Puno explained why he is using his power to enact the writ of amparo and why he has taken the bold step to put the Arroyo government, police and military on guard.

A court rule broader than the writ of habeas corpus was needed, he said.

"You begin with the writ of habeas corpus," he said. "It is a remedy where a person who has been detained illegally by the public authorities can be asked to produce the body of the victim.

But when the public authorities, especially the police or the military, make their return to the writ in their answer, they just say the body is not with us. And that is it. That's the end of the remedy."

The writ of amparo goes deeper. "It imposes greater obligations on the part of the public authorities as well as persons who may have a caused the disappearance, or the extrajudicial killings," he said.

"Today, the Supreme Court promulgated the rule that will place the constitutional right to life, liberty and security above violation and threats of violation. This rule will provide the victims of extralegal killings and enforced disappearances the protection they need and the promise of vindication for their rights," Puno said in a Sept. 25 statement. The writ took effect Oct. 24.

Churches must help
Puno believes people have been "anaesthetized" over the escalation of killings and disappearances. Many are afraid of becoming targets themselves if they report the killings.

He knows he is putting his own life in danger by speaking publicly about such injustices, and he appreciates the three United Methodist bishops in the Philippines who also have been outspoken about the killings.

"The church has a great role in the Philippines," he said, noting that churches helped to bring down the regime of President Ferdinand Marcos in 1986.

Puno hosted a luncheon in August for the United Methodist Board of Church and Society's Social Creed Task Force and other religious leaders and discussed his vision for the country's future.
"Let me counsel that in Third World countries where people experience unending exploitation, where years of dehumanization have brutalized people as worse than useless, there is a worrisome weariness on the credibility gap between our words and our works; more accurately, between the Lord's word and our work," he said.

The United Methodist task force was in the Philippines to present a proposed denominational Social Creed to Filipino church leaders for feedback and input. Other religious leaders invited included United Methodist Bishops Solito K. Toquero, Benjamin A. Justo, Leo A. Soriano, Jose C. Gamboa Jr., Emerito P. Nacpil and Daniel C. Arichea Jr.; Rev. Ignacio Soliba, chairman of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines and prime bishop of the Episcopal Church; Bishop Deogracias Iniguez, Ecumenical Bishops Forum; Bishop Nathaneal Lazaro, IEMELIF Church; Rev. Manuel Rapisura, Philippine Central Conference.

In response to Puno's address, United Methodist Bishop Susan Morrison, former chair of the task force, called the meeting "a gift beyond measure."

"I've had the opportunity to preach to two presidents and one king, but this is first opportunity I've had a chief justice preach to me," she said. "And may I add an incredibly prophetic and challenging sermon!

Paraphrasing Scripture, Morrison told the chief justice: "Your Christian brothers and sisters in the faith community rise up and call you blessed, and know we will be continually praying for you and your faithful witness and ministry and for this great country of the Philippines."

*Gilbert is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in Nashville, Tenn. This report developed out of her trip to the Philippines in August.

Slain Filipino pastor's family awaits justice, First in a Series

By Kathy L. Gilbert*

Jonathan Sta. Rosa recounts how his brother, the Rev. Isaias Sta. Rosa, was abducted from his home and killed by masked gunmen in August 2006. More than 800 people in the Philippines have been killed under suspicious circumstances since 2001. A UMNS photo by Kathy L. Gilbert.

MANILA, Philippines (UMNS) - Jonathan Sta. Rosa was sitting quietly at home when masked gunmen stormed into his house demanding information about his brother, the Rev. Isaias Sta. Rosa.

The gunmen ordered him to take them to his brother's house and knock on the door.

"They pointed their guns at us and ordered us to lie on the floor," Jonathan recalled with a shaky voice. "They tied (Isaias) up and beat him and then dragged him out of the house. We heard gunshots and we ran outside and called for help from our neighbors."

The family found Sta. Rosa's body a short distance away near a creek.

On Aug. 3, 2006, the Rev. Sta. Rosa became one of more than 800 people killed in the Philippines under suspicious circumstances since 2001 when President Gloria Arroyo took office. More than 200 others have disappeared. Human rights organizations blame the nation's military personnel for allegedly killing political activists including lawyers, community leaders, journalists and clergy. Victims have included church workers and others who work with the poor and marginalized.

Sta. Rosa, who was in his mid-40s, was a local pastor, freelance writer and project consultant for nongovernmental organizations, as well as a member of Legazpi City United Methodist Church. He was well known for his work with the poor.

At the time, United Methodist Bishop Leo A. Soriano, who leads the church's Davao Area, condemned the killing and urged civil and military authorities to bring the guilty parties to justice.

"While we grieve and express sympathy to the bereaved family, we also express outrage over this diabolical act," the bishop said. "Therefore, I urge all United Methodists and all God-fearing people to be vigilant and fight all forms of injustice and condemn these acts in the strongest possible term."

The family is still waiting for justice.

Found next to the pastor's body was another dead man identified as an army corporal. On his body, police found military orders for Sta. Rosa's death. Jonathan says the discovery of the second body links his brother's death to military involvement.

Jonathan and other family members have been called to testify, but the case was dismissed "due to lack of evidence," he said.

Now Jonathan lives in fear for his life. He is unable to go back to Malabago, Daraga, Albay, where he and his brother lived. The church is providing a safe place for him in the meantime.

"I am thankful for The United Methodist Church because they are providing assistance for the victims and their families," he said. "We need people to speak out, to add to our voices."

*Gilbert is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in Nashville, Tenn. She compiled this report based on her trip to the Philippines in August.

Convocation focuses on living 'the United Methodist way'

A UMNS Report
By Linda Green*

LAKE JUNALUSKA, N.C. (UMNS) - "Do no harm. Do good. Stay in love with God."

Nearly 1,000 United Methodists from throughout the world learned those three simple rules Nov. 9-11 and committed to teach them to others as they extend the church's mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

The occasion was the first joint meeting in almost 40 years of the United Methodist bishops and their cabinets. Three Simple Rules: A Wesleyan Way of Living, a new book by Bishop Rueben Job, was one of the convocation's guides.

In the book's preface, the retired bishop writes that in the fast-paced and complex world of the 21st century, people of faith are ready for a more faithful way of living and discipleship.

Methodism founder John Wesley articulated how to live faithfully and then practiced and taught those principles.

"And now it is up to us to see if we will take it, teach it and practice it until it becomes our natural way of living - a way of living that will mark our life together and our lives as individual Christians," Job said.

Throughout the convocation, the bishops emphasized a commitment to teaching the rules of United Methodist living in order that people and congregations may be strengthened and grow in faith.

The convocation brought together district superintendents and others charged with leading their annual (regional) conferences to develop clarity around the church's purpose, mission and identity and to prepare to lead the church in new ways.

"If our church is going to reach its potential, we have to lead the church differently," said Kansas Area Bishop Scott Jones. While bishops and their cabinets are not the only denominational leaders, Jones said they are crucial to moving the church into the future.

"We are people who, through our offices and through our full-time service, shape the lives of annual conferences in significant ways, and we wanted to have a conversation together to move the church forward in effectiveness of living the United Methodist way," he said.

Missouri Area Bishop Robert Schnase, presenting from his book Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations, described how effective congregations engage in radical hospitality, passionate worship, intentional faith development, risk-taking mission and service and extravagant generosity.

The convocation was the first gathering of bishops and cabinets since 1969, just after the merger of the former Methodist Church and the former Evangelical United Brethren Church to form The United Methodist Church.

Jones hopes that holding the gathering six months before the 2008 General Conference will build momentum toward understanding God's calling for the church.

Rediscovering identity
The Rev. Veronica Palmer, a New Jersey district superintendent, called the event long overdue. "It is about time we get on board and start turning our church around," she said.

New York West Area Bishop Violet Fisher agreed and delivered a sermon called "We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For," using the title of a song by the African-American group Sweet Honey in the Rock. She said United Methodist leaders live in God's world as God's co-workers to enhance the welfare of people.

"We are called out of our insulated individualism into solidarity with the other people, not only at home but also around world," said Fisher. "The world is waiting for us."

Iowa Bishop Gregory Palmer, president-elect of the Council of Bishops, told the convocation that United Methodists "must rediscover the vocation of being full-time Christians."

The church and all Christians must breathe in the spirit of God, and then breathe out in service to the world, said the Rev. Karen Greenwaldt, top executive of the United Methodist Board of Discipleship. The church thrives, she said, when it offers hope and love not only to those inside but to the wider world.

"Imagine what could happen if all of us, by the grace of God and prepared by the Holy Spirit, start to move in the same direction," said Houston Bishop Janice Riggle Huie, president of the Council of Bishops.

The United Methodist Church in Africa and the Philippines know how to make disciples of Jesus Christ while the church in the United States is losing members. Huie said United Methodists in the United States need to stop bickering among themselves and focus on spirituality, their identity as United Methodists and what God is calling them to be and do.

The gathering, she said, "was a time to rethink who we are as United Methodists and how we live into, lean into, step forward and move into this mission that God has given us."

The United Methodist way
The Rev. Isaac Ken Green, a district superintendent in the Sierra Leone Annual Conference of West Africa, attended the convocation to "learn who we are as United Methodists, the direction we are going and get acquainted with the United Methodist way."

The convocation, he said, was an opportunity to learn because individual knowledge is not sufficient in helping bring people to Christ. "Everyone has his or her own knowledge, his or her own view, but this was about coming together and seeing what is missing in us so that we can improve."

For the Rev. David Muwaya of Uganda, East Africa, the United Methodist way "means working together as (a) global church, building relationships with churches within our own conference and with churches elsewhere, bringing together people to share our history and to determine where we move from here."

The Rev. Linda Wiberg, director of connectional giving for the California-Nevada Annual Conference, said living the United Methodist way means getting in touch with the Wesleyan spirit and the movement that John Wesley and his brother, Charles, helped to create.

"It is about intentionality and personal piety and social holiness," she said. "They are in partnership with one another and give us a whole Gospel to proclaim."

Prior to the gathering, participants read and discussed "The United Methodist Way: Living the Christian Life in Covenant with Christ and One Another," a paper commissioned for the convocation by the Council of Bishops. The paper is available at http://www.gbod.org/extendedcabinet/UMWay.pdf.

*Green is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in Nashville, Tenn.

Bishop: Fruitful congregations engage in five practices

Bishop: Fruitful congregations engage in five practices

Bishop Robert Schnase presents the five core practices of successful congregations to the convocation of United Methodist bishops and their extended cabinets.UMNS photos by Linda Green.

By Linda Green*

LAKE JUNALUSKA, N.C. (UMNS) — Radical hospitality means more than treating people well when they walk through the church doors, said Bishop Robert Schnase to participants in a convocation of United Methodist bishops and their extended cabinets.

Such hospitality offers people the embrace of Christ, is rooted is Scripture, welcomes the stranger and "is about congregations that have as much passion, desire and care for those who are not a part of the congregation as they do for those already a part of the congregation."

Schnase told nearly 1,000 participants at the Nov. 9-11 event that congregations desiring to be effective and fruitful in ministry should engage in five core practices, which he also outlined in Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations, published last spring by Abingdon Press.

In addition to offering radical hospitality, the other practices are passionate worship, intentional faith development, risk-taking mission and service, and extravagant generosity.

The convocation, the first in nearly 40 years, sought to help bishops and their cabinets, including lay leaders, clarify the church's purpose, mission and identity.

The bishop of the Missouri Area, Schnase told the group he is keenly aware of the negative images often generated by the United Methodist mission statement of "making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world" — images of individuals using guilt or pressure tactics to bring people to Christ.

"The United Methodist Church makes disciples through congregations," Schnase said. "It is through congregations that practice the basic elements of faith communities that go back to the second chapter of Acts."

Practical framework
Schnase said bishops, cabinets, pastors and lay leaders must do all they can to help congregations fulfill the church's mission. The five practices offer a practical framework and a common language to help churches understand their mission and fit it into their lives in a practical way, he said.

These fundamental processes are so "critical to a congregation's mission that failure to perform them in an exemplary way results in congregational deterioration and decline," Schnase said.

By the same token, repeating and improving those practices lead congregations to health, vitality and fruitfulness.

"These words capture the core process by which God uses congregations to make disciples," Schnase writes in his book. "Congregations offer the gracious invitation, welcome, and hospitality of Christ so that people experience a sense of belonging; God shapes souls and changes minds through worship, creating a desire to grow closer to Christ; God's Spirit nurtures people and matures faith through learning in community; with increased spiritual maturity, people discern God's call to help others through mission and service; and God inspires people to give generously of themselves so that others can receive the grace they have known."

Schnase said every group and ministry in the church should engage in radical hospitality.

"Radical hospitality is about taking the second mile, going the extra step, not being pleased to just get along but offering our very best and our very highest," he said. "Our greatest strength is that we love one another, and our lives are so interweaved that we don't know that this keeps people out and is not hospitably bringing people in."

Every church thinks they are friendly and they are — "to the people already there." But radical hospitality requires looking inward and outward. "It stretches us," he said.

Worship, learning and service
The practice of passionate worship isn't routine and isn't a performance, he said. Its purpose is to connect people to God and deepen a relationship with God and one another. "It is worship that allows us to see the world through God's eyes. It is God's way of changing our hearts and minds," said Schnase.

While worship may take many forms, passionate worship must be authentic, engaging, interrelational and life-changing, he added.

As worship creates a desire for more learning and growth, Schnase said the most authentic and Wesleyan component is intentional faith development. This third practice of a fruitful congregation refers to the purposeful learning in community that helps people mature in their faith and grow in their knowledge and love of God. Such opportunities include Bible studies, Sunday school, vacation Bible school and small groups.

This leads to risk-taking mission and service that make a difference in the lives of others for God's purpose, whether or not they will ever be part of the community of faith, he said.

Churches cannot be satisfied with having individuals bring canned goods to build a Thanksgiving basket and think they have fulfilled the mission of Jesus Christ. "This is something we ought to be teaching first-graders to do instead of it being the central mission of the church," Schnase said.

Risk-taking means "moving out of our comfort zones" and "doing things that we would not have ordinarily done if it had not been for our relationship with Christ," he said. "The stretch of Christian discipleship is to take on the practices of love that move us out of our comfort zone and take us to places we would never have been if it had not been for our desire to follow Jesus Christ."

Extravagant generosity
A maturing Christian eventually reaches a point of understanding that all of life belongs to God, leading to a desire to offer oneself "fully back" to Christ. Such is the practice of extravagant generosity, according to Schnase.

"Churches that are thriving are those that unapologetically teach, preach and practice the tithe," he said, and they are not afraid to talk about it. These churches do not focus on the desire to receive more money but on the Christian's need to grow in the spiritual quality of generosity.

Unlike the church in Africa and the Philippines, which are growing exponentially, United Methodists in the United States are being "smothered by a consumerist, materialistic society."

The practice of extravagant generosity puts God first and allows God to reshape the giver's life, he said.

During the convocation, participants demonstrated extravagant generosity by contributing $8,824 to Nothing But Nets, the church's anti-malaria campaign.

Schnase notes that the five practices are critical to a congregation's life because they reflect the ministry of Jesus Christ. He reminded the convocation that Jesus' ministry was radical, passionate and intentional and that Jesus also was a risk-taker.
# # #
*Green is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in Nashville,

Lawyer calls Philippine killings an 'attack on liberty', Fourth in a Series

By Kathy L. Gilbert*

Edre Olalia is an officer for the Counsels for the Defense of Liberties, a group of legal professionals advocating for human rights in the Philippines. A UMNS photo by Kathy L. Gilbert.

MANILA, Philippines (UMNS) — Victims of extrajudicial killings in the Philippines include more than 30 lawyers and judges whose deaths amount to an "attack on liberty," says one attorney fighting for justice in his homeland.

Those casualties from the law profession are just a small part of a larger evil in which peasants, farmers, church workers, doctors and other human rights advocates are being killed, said Edre Olalia, international officer for the Counsels for the Defense of Liberties.

"The Counsels for the Defense of Liberties was formed because the conveners realize that the killings and attacks on lawyers — a significant number of which are human rights lawyers — are not separated from the larger human rights situation," Olalia said.

More than 800 people have been killed and hundreds are missing since President Gloria Arroyo took office in 2001.

Philippine Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato Puno, a life-long United Methodist, called a summit in Manila in August to shine a spotlight on the crisis. During the subsequent months, the rate of killings has decreased, but disappearances are on the rise, according to Olalia.

"There’s a perceptible shift after the worldwide condemnation and concern and especially after the summit," he said.

Olalia was part of a delegation to the United States for the National Council of Churches' Ecumenical Advocacy Days and the International Conference on Human Rights in the Philippines, both held last March in Washington. The National Council of Churches in the Philippines has produced a report "Let the Stones Cry Out: An Ecumenical Report on Human Rights in the Philippines and a Call to Action," which has been distributed globally.

The Philippine delegation, which also included United Methodist Bishop Solito Toquero and other United Methodist clergy, met with the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs and with staff of the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Relations.

The delegation asked senators and representatives to review U.S. military aid and development assistance being sent to the Philippines to ensure that Arroyo is not using the assistance to violate human rights and commit extrajudicial killings.

Human rights for all
Olalia is also part of the National Union of Peoples' Lawyers, which held its first congress in September. He said this organization is "our long-term answer to the human rights situation."

"The horrible state of human rights and the continuing political killings, enforced disappearances, tortures, massacres, illegal arrests and detention, filing of false charges for political reasons and violations have created a need for a more organized approach to the rendering of legal services," the lawyers’ group said.

"There has been an unprecedented increase in violations of human rights, and the brazenness, brutality and impunity by which they are being perpetrated by the military, police, paramilitary groups and death squads under the command, control, inducement or tolerance of the administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo have reached alarming proportions," the union added.

Olalia said there are legal complications in arresting those responsible for the murders and abductions.

"History has taught us that no sitting president has been tried ... — let me qualify that — no sitting president who is an ally of the United States," Olalia said.

However, one important shift is that more victims are living to tell their stories. Olalia said it is crucial for churches and other organizations to continue conducting fact-finding missions in behalf of human rights.

"Don’t ever stop speaking out," he said. "The moment the outside world stops speaking out, that’s the time that the evil will come out again. People are dying not only because of poverty but because of what they believe."

*Gilbert is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in Nashville, Tenn. She compiled this report based on her trip to the Philippines in August.

Filipino doctor takes courageous stand to help victims, Third in a Series

Dr. Reggie Pamuges is the founder of Health Action for Human Rights, an association of health care workers campaigning against extrajudicial killings and human rights violations in the Philippines. A UMNS photo by Kathy L. Gilbert.

MANILA, Philippines (UMNS) - Dr. Reggie Pamuges knows he could be killed or arrested for going into prisons, refugee camps and morgues to examine victims of human rights violations.

He goes anyway.

"I am afraid of being targeted," Pamuges admits. "Someday I won't return home because I've been assassinated or abducted."

The fear doesn't stop him because his desire for justice is stronger.

Pamuges is among health professionals, church workers and human rights advocates who are taking a courageous stand against the Philippine government that they blame for more than 800 extrajudicial killings and hundreds of abductions since 2001.

"I was working as a community doctor during my first year after passing the medical boards, and I noticed that people were being killed or abducted," he said. "All people have the right to medical treatment but, from my experience, the government has neglected its responsibility."

Pamuges started complaining about human rights violations and eventually formed a nongovernmental organization of doctors, nurses and other health professionals to serve victims.

Health Action for Human Rights was formed in 2000 and is committed to educating people about their rights to health care. The group campaigns against the killings and forced disappearances, especially among the poor, marginalized and indigenous people.

Pamuges was part of a fact-finding and medical mission conducted by The United Methodist Church in a highly militarized community in the province of Nueva Ecija.

Treating victims
Pamuges' mission brings him face to face with the face of torture. He describes examining the Rev. Berlin V. Guerrero, a United Church of Christ pastor abducted in front of his church in May. Guerreo was with his wife and three children when masked gunmen grabbed him. The family called Pamuges and asked him to visit Guerrero the next day.

"I noticed that Pastor Berlin had abrasions on both wrists because of the handcuffs," he said. "He was punched like a punching bag. He told me that he was interrogated for almost 6-12 hours and he was punched, kicked and had a plastic bag held over his head until he passed out."

The torture wasn't just physical, according to Pamuges. The pastor said his abductors threatened to kill his family and rape his wife and daughter.

The reason given for Guerrero's arrest was that he was a rebel sympathizer. He was later charged with murder and remains in prison today.

Rallying for justice
Speaking in August to United Methodist News Service, Pamuges had just attended a rally calling for the release of Jonas Burgos, an agriculturist missing since May.

"I think if President (Gloria) Arroyo remains in power, the extrajudicial killings, the assassinations, abductions, tortures and human rights violations will just go on," he said.

Meanwhile, critical national needs go unmet. Pamuges said the government only spends 1.2 percent of its budget on health care.

"People are malnourished. How can you work and help the government when you are hungry?" he asked.

Asked where he finds the courage to go on, Pamuges answered, "I believe that someone out there will take care of me, and only (God) knows when it is my time to die."

Editor's Note: Since this interview, Human Rights Watch reported that Pamugas was arrested Sept. 26 while he and others staged a rally against the Human Security Act. He was later released.

*Gilbert is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in Nashville, Tenn. She compiled this report based on her trip to the Philippines in August.

United Methodists consider new Northeast boundaries

By United Methodist News Service

When delegates to the Northeastern Jurisdiction of The United Methodist Church meet next July, they could decide to merge two episcopal areas, folding four conferences into one.

The jurisdictional boundaries committee is expected to consider the proposal - coming from four United Methodist annual (regional) conferences largely based in New York - when it meets in February.

The new episcopal area and its one conference essentially would replace two current episcopal areas - New York West and Albany - and reduce the number of bishops in the jurisdiction from 10 to nine. The proposed date for the change is in 2010.

On Oct. 6, members of the four annual conferences in Pennsylvania, New York and Vermont linked together electronically and overwhelmingly approved the resolution in a historic special session.

The resolution reads: "The people of the North Central New York, Troy, Western New York and Wyoming, in order to revitalize the mission of The United Methodist Church in the region to make disciples of Jesus Christ, agree to request the Northeastern Jurisdictional Conference to create a new Episcopal Area and a new Annual Conference from all or portions of these and/or other contiguous conferences, with the Pennsylvania churches of the Wyoming Annual Conference considering alignment with the Central Pennsylvania Annual Conference and the Vermont churches of the Troy Annual Conference considering alignment with the New England Annual Conference, to be implemented in 2010."

Both the Wyoming Conference, which includes some churches in Pennsylvania, and the Troy Conference, which has some Vermont congregations, had passed enabling resolutions related the possibility of realigning conference boundaries along state lines.

Through an Internet connection designed specifically for the Oct. 6 special session, all clergy and lay members present at the four locations came face-to-face with their counterparts.

Bishop Violet Fisher presented a message from Liverpool, N.Y., where the North Central New York Conference was in session. Bishop Susan Hassinger was at Marywood University in Scranton, Pa., for the Wyoming Conference, then appeared on screens in Liverpool and Jamestown, N.Y., as well as Green Mountain College in Poultney, Vt., to present her part of the message for the opening worship service.

Retired Bishop S. Clifton Ives, who served in West Virginia, presided in Western New York, and retired Bishop F. Herbert Skeete of New York presided in the Troy Conference.

"Three years ago, our four conferences began a dialogue which revealed a strong commitment and desire to respond effectively to Christ's claim upon our lives and service," Fisher said.

"We have been engaged in a spiritually grounded and prayerful process of discernment. We have been listening attentively for God's will for our lives … for our future."

Hassinger noted that the denominational boundaries have not always been the same as the current ones.

"We know we have not been all that we might be," she added. "Often, we focus more on survival and maintenance than on reaching out in 21st-century ways that connect Christ with the people around us. In our local congregations and in our annual conferences and in the general church, we struggle how to provide the mission and service and outreach that Christ asks of us when financially and numerically we are declining."

According to a formula in the United Methodist Book of Discipline, the number of bishops in a jurisdiction is based primarily on church membership. The recent membership decline in the Northeastern Jurisdiction meant a reduction in bishops was probable.

The Rev. Jan Marsi, who leads the Wyoming Conference's boundaries task force, also told the special session delegates it is expected that the denomination's 2008 General Conference will receive recommendations to reduce the number of bishops in each of the five U.S. jurisdictions by one.

Marsi pointed out that since the four conferences were among the jurisdiction's smallest and the Albany Episcopal area was the last formed, in 1990, "we in these four annual conferences have had reason to feel that changes would likely affect our areas."

The Rev. Bill Gottschalk-Fielding, chairperson of North Central New York Conference's boundaries task force, said the four conferences believe the new episcopal area with its one conference can fulfill a new missional strategy for the region.

"We look toward the creation of a new annual conference which is strong enough to recruit and deploy leaders creatively, to support the ministries of its local churches and to communicate powerfully beyond our church walls," he said.

*Information for this story was provided by directors of communications for the four conferences: Sandra Brands, Troy; Sharon Fulmer, North Central New York; Don Perry, Wyoming; and Marilyn Kasperek, Western New York.

United Methodist institutes changing lives in the Philippines

By Kathy L. Gilbert*

MANILA, Philippines (UMNS) - Two 100-year-old United Methodist institutions of higher education in the Philippines are producing Christian leaders who are making a difference around the world.

Union Theological Seminary and Harris Memorial College also have been instrumental in bringing Methodism to the South Asian country.

Founded in 1907, Union Theological Seminary is an ecumenical theological institution offering bachelor's degrees in religious education, Christian education, early childhood education, church music and theology. Master's degrees in divinity and theology as well as doctorate degrees in theology are offered on the campus in Cavite, Philippines, on the southern shores of Manila Bay.

Union was born out of the 1907 merger of the Presbyterians' Ellinwood Bible School and the Methodists' Florence B. Nicholson Seminary. The United Brethren, Disciples of Christ and Congregational Church joined the seminary in the following years.

The college celebrates its centennial Nov. 20-23 and more than 1,000 are expected to converge on the campus.

On Nov. 20, the Philippine National Historical Institute will unveil identical markers on the facade of the old Union Theology Seminary building in Manila and in the atrium of the library building on the campus in Dasmariñas, Cavite. The observance will celebrate Union's significant contribution to Philippine evangelization.

Preaching the Word at Union
"Preach the Word is the motto of the seminary," said the Rev. Romeo L. del Rosario, the school's president. "Through the years, the evangelization that resulted from the program and ministry of the seminary helped shape many of nation's best leaders in the different fields and areas of life."

The seminary has been an inspiration for many Filipinos, and its impact "reaches the shores of many lands," he said. Union is located on a 97-hectare property surrounded by 1,200 mango trees. Students help raise vegetables, and they supply fresh produce to the college and community. Also on campus are fish ponds, beehives and a greenhouse for growing mushrooms. Various farm animals - cows, goats, turkeys and poultry - walk undisturbed through the campus' lush green acres.

"We think we have a unique opportunity where we are to teach and inculcate the divine call to care for the earth and to be faithful stewards of its gifts. If we can be gentle with the earth, it will also care and provide for us," del Rosario said.

Most of the seminary students come from the farming areas or agricultural regions of the Philippines, and their cultures are strongly and significantly linked to the land.

"We are in the process of shaping a curriculum that recognizes this and that honors the theology of land that the students already bring with them to the seminary. We need to tap this as a resource in teaching and in linking the students' training and education in the seminary to the realities of life in the various localities where they will return to serve."

Pioneering women of Harris
United Methodist women dedicated to the care and nurture of children and youth have been changing lives for more than 100 years as graduates of Harris Memorial College.

"I have heard it said that the pioneering work of deaconesses in its early years in the Philippines contributed significantly to the growth of Methodism in the Philippines," said Rebecca Asedillo, staff executive for the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries. "They were involved in evangelism, early childhood education and Christian education in the local churches."

For more than 100 years, the college has been the only training center for deaconesses in Southeast Asia. It was established in 1903 and has played a major role in the ministry, life and mission of The United Methodist Church, said Christina M. Mainyabat, director of the center for Christian education and discipleship at Harris.

Harris pioneered early childhood education as the Philippines' first school to establish kindergarten and train kindergarten teachers, noted Phebe Crismo, a deaconess serving in the Davao episcopal area. "Deaconesses work day in and day out," she said of her sisters in the ministry.

Called to be in ministry with children and the marginalized, these Filipino women are often underappreciated, according to Mainyabat.

"As deaconesses we would like to see ourselves not only confining our ministries within the four walls of the church, but also as God would use us to make a difference in the lives of people, especially those who are neglected, who are marginalized, who are outcast in the community and the wider society," she said.

Asedillo said the role of deaconesses is often stereotyped.

"When I was studying to be a deaconess, churches tended to expect deaconesses to be able to play the organ, sing and conduct choirs," she explained. "I hope that is no longer the case because we all have varying gifts, and each gift deserves to be treasured and affirmed."

Sadly, the stereotype does still exist, according to Crismo, and some deaconesses are even expected to clean the church they serve. Deaconesses often live in substandard housing, and the highest paid ones make about $200 a month.

"I visited one deaconess who told me she was so filled with joy at having lodging, but when I saw where she was living I was furious," she said, adding that the woman and her children were living in a passageway between the church and the kindergarten. "The exhaust from the toilet was in her room, and she and her children slept on a mattress on the floor. They cooked their meals outside."

Today, deaconesses have expanded their functions to include community development, advocacy and care for the vulnerable segments of the larger society, according to Asedillo.

"Even while the option of ordination is open to them (and many women, including deaconesses) have taken that option, it seems the majority of deaconesses remain as deaconesses because that is where they have found their calling - 'to serve the present age.'"

*Gilbert is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in Nashville, Tenn.

Large Church Initiative National Training Event Comes to Orlando, January 21-28, 2008

Hundreds of United Methodist clergy from around the world are expected to arrive in Orlando, January 21-28, 2008, for the Large Church Initiative National Training Event. Meeting with the theme, “Making a World of Difference,” the event will be held at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church in Orlando, just a few miles from the main entrance of the Walt Disney World Resort.

The Large Church Initiative National Training Event is geared for churches with worship attendance greater than 350. It provides inspiration and tools for lead pastors, associate pastors, staff, and lay leaders of the larger churches in The United Methodist Church. The event is sponsored by the Large Church Initiative, the General Board of Discipleship, and the Southeast Jurisdiction Larger Church Consultation.

The theme is based on Acts 1:8. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Throughout the week-long event, participants will follow the path set by the early disciples by moving from their own homes/local churches (Jerusalem), to our common communities (Judea and Samaria), and then to the world (ends of the earth).

The excitement starts Monday, Jan. 21, with a reception commemorating Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, with Dr. Trudie Kibbe Reed, President of United Methodist-related Bethune-Cookman University, and the renowned Bethune-Cookman Concert Chorale. Other speakers during the week include the Rev. Gil Rendle, formerly with the Alban Institue and currently with the Texas Methodist Foundation; the Rev. Dr. Gary Mason, from the East Belfast Mission in Belfast, Northern Ireland; and the Rev. David Beckmann, director of Bread for the World. The closing speaker will be Bishop Peter Storey from the Methodist Church in South Africa.

Registration is now open by visiting www.st.lukes.org, and clicking on the “Make A World of Difference” logo.

United Methodist bishops plan racism dialogues

By Linda Green*

LAKE JUNALUKSA, N.C. (UMNS) - The bishops of The United Methodist Church are struggling with the issue of racism and how to eliminate it from the church, society and even their own Council of Bishops.

The council voted during its Nov. 4-9 meeting to conduct three dialogues over the next two years to examine racism within the council, how the church perpetuates racism through its culture, processes and policies, and to raise awareness of global racism.

Bishop Linda Lee

"Racial division is like termites in the wood," said Wisconsin Bishop Linda Lee, who chairs the council's racism task force.

The dialogues are among several task force proposals approved by the bishops during its fall meeting. The council had agreed last spring to address the problem following a plea from one bishop of color that the bishops look inward on the issue of racism.

The bishops represent 11.5 million United Methodists in the United States, Africa, Europe and the Philippines. Of the 50 active U.S. bishops, 12 are African American, four are Asian American and two are Hispanic. The council also has 12 African bishops and three from the Philippines.

Lee noted the lack of ethnic representation among those addressing the council from the podium and others serving in the body's critical leaderships positions. Many bishops of color, Lee said, "have felt insulted and assaulted by both attitudes and behavior which wound the soul."

"There are ongoing and, for the most part, we believe, unintended consequences of racist beliefs which are doing harm to bishops of color in this room," the task force said.

The United Methodist Church is preparing for its global legislative session next spring, held once every four years, with a focus on unity and hope.

"Yet in some ways the things we are preparing to offer our beloved church are like a good architectural design," said Lee, also president of the churchwide Commission on Religion and Race. The design is good, but there are "termites in the wood being used to build the house" and, if they are not exterminated, the building is at risk, she said.

Daily reality
While some bishops view racism in the council as a non-issue, Lee asserted it is a daily reality on the council and in the world. "Our task as bishops in the midst of these realities is both within and without," she said.

Lee offered examples of recent racist and unjust acts toward people of color throughout the United States, including issues of immigration, financial inequalities, ethnic representation on churchwide boards and agencies, closing of ethnic congregations and a 30 percent reduction in racial and ethnic representation to the 2008 General Conference since 2004.

In spirited discussion, including a confession of racism from one retired bishop, the council amended one of their Seven Vision Pathways that calls the church to "expand racial/ethnic ministries" to new wording calling the church to "end racism and authentically expand racial/ethnic ministries."

The council will change the document's preamble to incorporate diversity and to assert that the church's mission of making disciples for the transformation of the world can be achieved "only when we embrace being one church of diverse people in many places and work to eliminate individual, institutional and societal racism," said Bishop Bruce Ough, chairman of the council's plan team.

The Seven Vision Pathways serve as the bishops' blueprint for leading the church in making disciples for Jesus Christ. They focus on developing new congregations; transforming existing congregations; teaching the Wesleyan model of forming disciples of Jesus Christ; strengthening clergy and lay leadership; reaching and transforming the lives of the new generations of children; eliminating poverty in community with the poor; and expanding racial/ethnic ministries.

"Because of the interactive nature of the Seven Vision Pathways, we cannot start new congregations without dealing with the inherent racism in how we go about doing that, we cannot develop leaders, clergy or lay leadership in the church without dealing with the issues of racism that are a part of that process," Ough said.

Self-examination
Lee said the dialogues are designed to help the bishops "communicate with each other honestly and build a beloved community." In so doing, bishops will model and lead the church into being a community in which "grace abounds and the love we have to share is lived out fully," she said.

The bishops will develop and implement a self-monitoring process on eliminating racism from its body, using the resources of the Commission on the Status and Role of Women and the Commission on Religion and Race, two of the church's monitoring agencies.

"We cannot effectively lead the church to eliminate racism unless we are dealing with it among ourselves," said Ough, bishop of the West Ohio Annual (regional) Conference.

Following the dialogues, the "council will determine the most fruitful means by which to give pastoral guidance to the church on the issue of eliminating racism and incorporating diversity," Ough said.

Under a dialogue schedule approved by the council, the bishops next spring will focus on racism within the council and how to move forward. During that meeting, the council will develop a statement for the church on eliminating racism in the church and society. The bishops also are working on a pastoral letter addressing immigration.

In fall 2008, the bishops will focus on institutional racism within the denomination and the practices and stumbling blocks that occur as the church struggles to be inclusive and "justice-oriented." A manual emerging from that dialogue will be used by their cabinets and annual conference leaders.

The third dialogue, planned for fall 2009, will help raise awareness about how racism and ethnic injustice contributes to global health disparities, poverty and environmental degradation.

"We believe that if we take these steps with the dialogues, we can begin to address this particular issue which continues in the church and society," Lee said.

Bishop Fritz Mutti, retired, said the dialogues will move the council and the church in the right direction. "I give thanks to the little rural church I grew up in where I learned that racism is wrong. … In the ensuing 40-some years, I have learned that racism is prejudice and the exercise of power by the majority," he said.

Mutti reflected on his experience of leading church agencies and chairing the Commission on Pan-Methodist Cooperation and Union, which includes United Methodist and historic African-American Methodist denominations.

"It is always about race when you deal with a white dominate church and the white church does not get it. We just don't get it," he said.

*Green is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in Nashville, Tenn.

U.N. Foundation seeks partnership with United Methodists

By Linda Green*

United Nations Foundation executive Michael Madnick addresses the United Methodist Council of Bishops as Bishop Janice Riggle Huie listens.A UMNS photo by Linda Green.

LAKE JUNALUSKA, N.C. (UMNS) - The United Nations Foundation wants to partner with The United Methodist Church in a major global health initiative that goes beyond the anti-malaria Nothing But Nets campaign.

Foundation spokesman Michael Madnick said the organization hopes the denomination's 2008 General Conference will lay the foundation for an initiative encompassing the diseases of poverty: malaria, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis.

With a grant from the foundation, the church is conducting a feasibility study to determine if support for an expanded health initiative exists among annual conference leaders, health care institutions and other groups.

In a Nov. 7 presentation to the United Methodist Council of Bishops, Madnick said the foundation hopes not only to partner with the denomination to educate and mobilize people to fight diseases of poverty, but also to inspire people worldwide to know they can make a difference.

"At the end of the day, all the goodwill and all the resources in the world won't mean anything if we are not reaching those who need this help the most," Madnick said. "The church and Coca-Cola get further out into the world than anyone else. If you are not part of the delivery solution, we are all missing the picture."

Partnering for humanity
Founded 10 years ago by media mogul and philanthropist Ted Turner, the U.N. Foundation was created as a public charity to help solve the world's most pressing problems and also to support the United Nations' advocacy and outreach for peace, security and human rights.

In the past, the foundation has partnered with organizations that reach millions of people because "we knew that we needed to mobilize armies of the best kind" to impact global health, Madnick said.

"We believe in alliance for large-scale problem-solving," especially in fighting the diseases of poverty with an emphasis on eradicating malaria, Madnick said.

Madnick told the bishops about the foundation's 8-year-old relationship with the Gates Foundation, which is underwritten by Microsoft founder Bill Gates and his wife, Melinda. As large as the Gates' resources are, he said, the Gates Foundation realized that solving global problems requires inspiring the public, mobilizing political will and improving delivery systems for vaccines.

"The role of faith makes them very excited and interested about a potential partnership with you and others," Madnick said.

The Gates Foundation, he said, noted how United Methodist involvement with Nothing But Nets resulted in collecting $1.5 million in six weeks and helping the campaign amass more than $16 million in 18 months to provide insecticide-treated sleeping nets to families in Africa to prevent mosquito-borne malaria.

"That told us that maybe we had something here," he said, adding that malaria offered a significant portal to educate a mass audience about the realities of poverty and its subsequent diseases.

During her presidential address to the Council of Bishops on Nov. 4, Bishop Janice Riggle Huie of Houston addressed why malaria can be an entry point for global health. "Malaria is intertwined with poverty which is intertwined with education which is intertwined with global warming which is intertwined with malaria," she said.

Church infrastructure
Through its local congregations, The United Methodist Church has a "priceless infrastructure" of committed individuals who want to make a difference, explained the Rev. Larry Hollon, top executive of United Methodist Communications.

The church has people who will volunteer, share skills and information, and contribute money to help people in developing countries, he said. "The church has congregations at the end of the line who understand language and culture," he told United Methodist News Service following Madnick's presentation.

United Methodist Communications and the boards of Global Ministries, Church and Society and Higher Education and Ministry, among others, are partners in the United Methodist Global Health Initiative. That initiative is designed to engage participation and create support across the denomination for expanding health ministry across the world.

The U.N. Foundation hopes to join the church in designing an expanded health initiative to generate significant resources to pool with those from public sectors.

"It is about what comes next. It is beyond nets," Madnick said.

"Our hope is that at your General Conference in the spring that there will be this next level of affirmation of your desire to proceed with this campaign and this partnership with us and with the world. The United Nations Foundation and the Gates Foundation are prepared to be your partners in that effort. … Together, we can get so much more done than we can by ourselves."

*Green is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in Nashville, Tenn

Global gathering increases General Conference costs

Linda Boulos and Isabell Berger translate discussion at the 2004 GeneralConference into English and French for delegates at the United Methodistassembly. The growing number of international delegates, including translation services, are contributing to the projected $6.6 million cost of the 2008 meeting. A UMNS file photo by Paul Jeffrey.

By Steve Smith*

FORT WORTH, Texas (UMNS) - General Conference, the worldwide assembly of The United Methodist Church, is becoming costlier to hold and falling more in the red, partially due to the growing number of international delegates.

Held once every four years, the event's 2008 gathering next spring in Fort Worth is projected to cost $6.6 million, up from the $5.3 million price tag of the 2004 Pittsburgh assembly, even though its length has dropped from 12 to 10 days.

A business report on the gathering was presented during the Nov. 12-13 meeting of the Commission on the General Conference, the convention's planning commission.

The commission also released the order of worship services for the April 23-May 2 gathering, including the speakers and daily themes that revolve around the Council of Bishops' vision for the future of The United Methodist Church.

Meeting at a hotel within a block of the 2008 meeting site, the commission heard projections that the 2012 General Conference in Tampa, Fla., may face a record bill of more than $9 million.

Part of the increase is attributed to the growing number of international delegates as the U.S.-headquartered denomination swells its membership rolls in Africa and the Philippines.

Since 1996, the number of international delegates has risen from 14 percent to 29 percent for the Fort Worth convention and is projected to hit 40 percent in 2012, said the Rev. Alan J. Morrison, the commission's business manager from the denomination's General Council on Finance and Administration.

To handle the influx of delegates from Africa, the Philippines and Europe, bills for spoken and written translations have shot from $380,000 in 2000 to an estimated $1.5 million in 2012, Morrison added.

The increases come at a time when General Conference is expected to consider proposals regarding its worldwide nature and structure.

Costs of being a global church
"The challenge for us is the rising cost of what it means to be a global church," the Rev. David Wilson, vice chairman of the commission, told United Methodist News Service following the meeting. "How do we maintain the unity of The United Methodist Church and pay for that, as well as remain faithful to those in the pews who pay the apportionments to make this happen every four years?"

In addition, cities aren't giving convention planners the competitive rates offered just after the Sept. 11 terrorists' attacks of 2001, when convention business decreased. This year, for instance, rates for five major downtown Fort Worth hotels within one to seven blocks of the convention center run from $124 to $170 for a single/double occupancy room.

Morrison said denominational leaders did not authorize enough money to cover the entire cost of the 2008 gathering, with potential losses reaching $1.3 million. The 2008 General Conference may include a $750,000 loss, but the proposed budget for the Tampa convention includes $870,000 to pay down the shortfall.

Meanwhile, commissioners are considering ways to cut General Conference costs. One petition submitted to the 2008 assembly would limit the number of delegates to between 500 and 600, rather than the current 1,000, at a savings of about $1.5 million.

The commission saved $250,000 by cutting the length of the 2008 General Conference by almost two days, said Wilson, superintendent in the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Annual Conference in Oklahoma City.

The commission also has considered holding General Conference every six years rather than the current four, and meeting during the summers on college campuses where delegates would stay in dormitories rather than hotels.

"We thought we would save money by cutting a day and a half from this conference, but now we're looking at the increasing number of delegates from outside of this country, which is increasing our costs," Wilson said. "In some ways, we can cut costs, but there are other financial issues that we can't control."

'Less doctrinal, more poetic'
The commission heard an update on plans for General Conference worship services, which will be "less doctrinal, more poetic," according to Marsha McFee, worship director.

"The conference's theme, 'A Future with Hope,' infuses everything we do," said McFee, a United Methodist worship consultant from Truckee, Calif. "These are pathways the bishops have determined are important to our faith community and what we need to do as a church. These services will prepare us each day for the work of General Conference by reminding ourselves to celebrate and pray for our work in those different directions."

Bishop Janice Riggle Huie of Houston, who is president of the Council of Bishops, will lead opening worship on April 23, and Bishop Gregory Vaughn Palmer of Iowa, who will succeed Huie as president next May, will guide the closing worship on May 2. Bishop Sharon Brown Christopher of the Illinois Area will deliver the Episcopal Address on April 24.

The worship schedule themes and preachers include:
.April 23-Opening Service of Word & Table, Making Disciples of Jesus Christ for the Transformation of the World, Bishop Janice Riggle Huie of Houston;
.April 24-"The Opening," Transforming Existing Congregations, Bishop Sharon Brown Christopher's Episcopal Address;
.April 25-"The Planting," Developing New Congregations, Bishop João Somane Machado of Mozambique;
.April 26-"The Nurturing," Baptismal Renewal, Strengthening Clergy and Lay Leadership, Bishop William W. Hutchinson of Louisiana;
.April 27-"The Residing," Eliminating Poverty in Community with the Poor, Bishop Minerva Carcaño of Phoenix;
.April 28-"The Building," Teaching the Wesleyan Model of Reaching and Forming Disciples, Bishop Ernest S. Lyght of West Virginia;
.April 29-"The Sustaining," Reaching and Transforming the Lives of Children, ecumenical service with Bishop Mark Hanson, Evangelical Lutheran Church of America;
.April 30-"The Bearing," Ending Racism as We Expand Racial/Ethnic Ministries, Bishop Violet Fisher of New York West;
.May 1-"The Remembering," Reconnecting with Our Call to be Disciples of Jesus Christ who Transform the World, Bishop Hee-Soo Jung of Chicago;
.May 2-"The Releasing," Sending Forth Disciples for the Transformation of the World, Bishop Hope Morgan Ward of Mississippi;
.May 2-Closing Worship, "A Future with Hope," Bishop Gregory Vaughn Palmer.

Commissioners said they pray General Conference will be a holy time that focuses on peace, a common vision, and a mission ultimately leading to a deeper spirituality and sense of hope for the entire denomination.

*Smith is a freelance writer in Dallas.