Liberian president to address United Methodists

A UMNS Report by Linda Bloom*

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the president of Liberia, will speak to the United Methodist General Conference during its meeting next spring in Fort Worth, Texas.

Johnson Sirleaf, who is a United Methodist, is scheduled to address the denomination's top legislative body on April 28. She accepted the invitation to speak in a Sept. 8 letter to L. Fitzgerald Reist II, secretary of the General Conference.

"As a strong and proud Methodist and in recognition of the work that the United Methodist Church has done in Liberia, particularly in providing education and medical services to our rural population, I am pleased to accept and look forward to joining you in Fort Worth on that day," she wrote.

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

Johnson Sirleaf also will accept the Bishop James K. and Eunice Mathews Bridge-Building Award from the United Methodist Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns.

The award will be presented during an April 29 dinner in Fort Worth and is connected with the agency's Bridges of Unity Endowment. The endowment was created as a way of developing future generations of ecumenical and interfaith leaders, according to the Rev. Larry Pickens, the commission's chief executive.

Johnson Sirleaf "has worked to heal her war-ravaged nation" through dialogue and community-building, Pickens noted, modeling "the commitment to peace and community building" that symbolizes the Mathews and their lives.

At age 67, Johnson Sirleaf became the first woman elected as head of state in modern African history after the Liberian presidential election in November 2005. The Harvard-educated economist and former World Bank official is an active member of First United Methodist Church in Monrovia, the capital, and spoke of her faith several times during her Jan. 16 inaugural speech.

Bishop Peter Weaver, then president of the United Methodist Council of Bishops, presented her with a Bible signed by the bishops of the church. First lady Laura Bush, who is also a United Methodist, led the U.S. delegation at the inaugural.

In a January interview with United Methodist News Service, Johnson Sirleaf praised The United Methodist Church's contribution to the peace process in Liberia, which was torn by civil wars beginning in 1989 and ending in 2003.

"The church has just been instrumental in promoting peace," she said. "On an individual basis, those who go to church for prayers and for comfort - that has all contributed to the peace. Our nation is a very religious one, so the church has played a dominant role."

Johnson Sirleaf said United Methodists in the United States and elsewhere "should recognize the important role, the historical role, (that) The United Methodist Church has here that is so profound. They should know that fact that it has continued and continues to grow in importance and in service to the nation."

*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New York.

World Methodists to meet next in Durban, South Africa

Traditional Korean singer Hyung-Chul Kim sings at the opening worship of the 2006 World Methodist Conference in Seoul, South Korea. The executive committee of the World Methodist Council has selected Durban, South Africa, as host site for the 2011 global gathering. A UMNS file photo by Joan LaBarr.

A UMNS Report by Linda Bloom*

The World Methodist Council has selected Durban, South Africa, as the location for the 2011 World Methodist Conference.

The assembly convenes every five years to bring together members of the worldwide association of churches in the Methodist/Wesleyan tradition. It will meet the first week of August in 2011.

The location was chosen by the World Methodist Council's executive committee from among three invitations offered by church bodies, according to the Rev. George Freeman, the council's executive director. The executive committee met Sept. 15-20 in Sydney, Australia, hosted by the Uniting Church of Australia.

The presentation on Durban by the Methodist Church of Southern Africa was led by Bishop Ziphozihle Siwa of Port Elizabeth, bishop of the Grahamstown District, and Meme Mackine, a lay leader.

Durban was a runner-up to Seoul, South Korea, when the location of the 2006 World Methodist Conference was selected. With more than 3 million residents, it is South Africa's second-largest city.

Freeman said South African Methodists want their global counterparts to meet in Durban "so they could experience the changes that have taken place in southern Africa since apartheid ended."

The Rev. Mvume Dandala, a South African Methodist who is a council officer and also chief executive of the All African Conference of Churches, encouraged the selection of Durban, noting the importance of the South African people believing in themselves.

"Our coming there would help affirm all the churches in their ministries," Freeman said. "We will do our best to find ways to enable people not just to see the city of Durban but to see the Methodist family at work."

The Rev. George Mulrain of Antiqua, president of the Methodist Churches of the Caribbean and the Americas, is chairman of the planning committee for the 2011 event.

At work in the world
In other business, the council's executive committee unanimously agreed "to ask our member churches to make the first Sunday in Advent as a day of prayer for peace in the world," according to Freeman.

Committee members also voted to create a council staff position of youth and young adult coordinator, beginning as a part-time job with the aim to become full time in 2011. The coordinator will work with existing youth networks and be responsible for a pre-conference seminar in 2011.

As a model, Freeman cited the work of Fabiola Grandon of Chile, the full-time youth and young adult coordinator for the Council of Evangelical Methodist Churches of Latin America.

The executive committee approved new membership of the Wesleyan Methodist Church of New Zealand, which was created in the late 1990s and had its roots in the Methodist Church of New Zealand but left over theological differences, according to Freeman.

"That fact that the Methodist church of New Zealand endorsed their application for membership was an important part of that process," he added.

Strategic planning
Richard Heitzenrater, professor of Wesley studies at Duke Divinity School, led the executive committee in a process of strategic planning as the council begins to consider updating its constitution and bylaws, vision statements and operational procedures.

A task force was elected to continue that work, delivering an interim report when the executive committee next meets in 2009 in Chile and a full report in 2011 "with a new and clear vision for global Methodism," Freeman said.

Bishop Sarah Davis of the AME Church is the task force convener. Members are the Rev. J.C. Park, Methodist Church in Korea; Archbishop Michael Stephen, Methodist Church of Nigeria; the Rev. Hal Brady, St. Luke United Methodist Church, Columbus, Ga; the Rev. Amos Nascimento, Methodist Church of Brazil; and Joshua Rathman, Methodist Church in India. Tracy Merrick, a United Methodist from Wexford, Pa., is serving as a consultant, and Heitzenrater will lead the strategic planning.

*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New York.

Agency forwards resolutions on pornography, sexual ethics

By Linda Bloom*

SAN FRANCISCO (UMNS) - Sexual harassment and misconduct remains a concern of the church, according to the United Methodist Commission on the Status and Role of Women.

As the denominational watchdog on issues of sexual ethics, the agency is submitting updated legislation for the United Methodist General Conference to consider when it meets April 23-May 2 in Fort Worth, Texas. The legislation was approved by the agency's governing commissioners at their Sept. 20-22 annual meeting.

COSROW also has prepared a resolution on what it has determined to be a "disturbing trend": use of Internet pornography by clergy, laity or volunteers, often on church-owned computers.

"The use of pornography continues to increase as it becomes more accessible (via the Internet, for example) and allows more immediate, realistic and anonymous sexual contact and gratification," says the resolution on "Prevention of the Use of Pornography in the Church."

Such harmful and addictive behavior alters relationships and sexual perceptions, and the church needs to be aware of those dangers, the commission says.

The resolution declares that "the use and abuse of pornography in church programs, on church premises and with church property by persons in ministerial roles (lay and clergy) is a form of sexual misconduct, a chargeable offense for laity and clergy in The United Methodist Church."

Suggested actions include sexual ethics training at various levels, training on issues of pornography, and strict oversight of church-owned computers and technology.

Updated resolutions
The updated resolution on "Sexual Misconduct (formerly called Sexual Abuse) Within Ministerial Relationships" lays out specific definitions of various forms of sexual misconduct and characterizes such behavior as "an exploitation of power."

General Conference first committed to the elimination of sexual misconduct in the denomination in 1988. Since then, 35 annual conferences have created oversight teams on harassment issues, and many conferences require sexual misconduct awareness training. The Commission on the Status and Role of Women also has provided support to both victims and church officials "in thousands of cases," according to the resolution.

Suggested action items included renewing the stand against sexual misconduct in the church, with the commission continuing to coordinate an interagency group addressing prevention, education, intervention and healing. Work also must be done through the church's episcopal areas, annual conferences and schools of theology.

The updated resolution on the eradication of sexual harassment reports that recent surveys show sexual harassment "remains a significant problem" in the church despite a "relatively high awareness" of the denominational policy.

Beyond the sexual misconduct issues, COSROW continues to advocate for full participation of women within the denomination.

An updated resolution, "Every Barrier Down: Toward Full Embrace of All Women in Church and Society," celebrates that:

.One in four United Methodist pastors today are women, compared to less than one in a hundred in 1972.
.Sixteen of the 63 active United Methodist bishops worldwide are women.
.Women account for half of all students enrolled in United Methodist seminaries seeking ordination.
.The Women's Division, United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, "is the largest and most prolific mission working entity" in the denomination.

But, the resolution also points out, "there are still areas of leadership, of professional ministry, of decision-making and areas of discipleship for which the church will not trust, value, revere or allot resources to women to the same degree as their brothers in the faith."

Challenge to the church
COSROW is challenging the denomination to "listen anew to women, with new emphasis on women of color." Other challenges include recruiting women leaders, championing economic parity and justice, adopting a "no tolerance" posture on sexual violence, harassment and abuse, organizing women in theological exploration and teaching and creating a "report card" on overcoming sexism for each agency and annual conference.

The commission also is submitting a new version of "Being the Church Amid Disagreement," a resolution that encourages "a ministry of mindfulness" and care in areas of discord.

For the denomination's book of law, the Book of Discipline, the commission would like to see the word "gender" added to Paragraph 4, on inclusiveness of the church and Paragraph 16, on the powers and duties of General Conference.

*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New York.

Survey considers gains for women in United Methodist Church

By Linda Bloom*

SAN FRANCISCO (UMNS) - The "glass ceiling" for United Methodist clergywomen seems to be senior pastor positions at churches with 1,000-plus members.

That was one finding of the 2007 local church survey conducted by the United Methodist Commission on the Status and Role of Women.

The percentage of female senior pastors in the denomination's largest churches was 7 percent, up slightly from 5 percent in 2003 and 2 percent in 1999.

The Rev. Gail Murphy-Geiss, who prepared the survey results, acknowledged the small increase, but noted that "social change is slow. I think that (percentage) is actually good news, despite the small number."

Murphy-Geiss, a United Methodist clergywoman and staff member of the Department of Sociology at Colorado College, presented the survey findings during COSROW's Sept. 20-22 annual meeting in San Francisco. The agency has conducted a local church survey every four years since 1970 in preparation for the United Methodist General Conference, the denomination's top legislative body.

This year, COSROW received a 26.29 percent return rate on questionnaires sent to a random sampling of 1,035 United Methodist churches - similar to the return rate in 2003. Murphy-Geiss believes the returns are representative of the larger church, particularly because the percentage of female bishops and district superintendents indicated in the survey responses match with those currently serving annual (regional) conferences.

Survey results show a "statistically significant correlation" between the size of the church and the gender of its senior pastor. Men and women are equally likely to serve medium-sized churches, but women are more likely to serve smaller churches and men to serve larger churches.

Among the survey's other findings:

.One in five churches has no women ushers at all, particularly churches with less than 100 members;
.Women more often serve as chairpersons of church committees, but men dominate leadership positions for administrative councils and boards of trustees;
.Inclusive language is more likely to be used in larger churches, in larger communities, in churches with women pastors and, regionally, in the denomination's Western Jurisdiction;
.Church members tend to consult women pastors on pastoral care issues - ranging from depression to work or family problems to child abuse - more often than male pastors.

Since 1996, The United Methodist Church has required that each annual conference and local church adopt a sexual harassment policy. In her report, Murphy-Geiss noted that more churches have done so.

"The very smallest churches continue to have the longest way to go toward the goal of 100 percent, but in every other category, at least six out of 10 churches are in compliance, and in the largest churches, that number is almost nine out of 10," she wrote.

"One way to get at the churches that are lagging behind is to train the pastors," Murphy-Geiss told COSROW directors.

*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New York.

Commission offers lifeline to women in church

By Linda Bloom*

SAN FRANCISCO (UMNS) - For individual women in the church, the United Methodist Commission on the Status and Role of Women can be a lifeline.

The Rev. Elizabeth Lopez, for example, remembers the support that the Rev. Nan Self, then a commission executive, offered to her more than 30 years ago. New to ordination and the church bureaucracy, Lopez said she found herself in a bewildering, humiliating situation as a nominee for the board of directors of the denomination's General Council on Ministries.

Self sought her out and gave her the encouragement she needed, Lopez told commission directors during their Sept. 20-22 annual meeting in San Francisco. Even now, COSROW "is still the voice of countless women," she said.

The commission has created "the space for women to speak," added Lopez, who currently serves as superintendent of the Metro West District of the United Methodist Minnesota Annual (regional) Conference. "If this voice is silenced, how will the church be accountable?"

'A powerful gift'
Bishop Mary Virginia "Dindy" Taylor of Columbia, S.C., who is COSROW's president, said that, as a clergywoman, the commission "has been a support group throughout my ministry."

She told United Methodist News Service she was pleased to hear stories from individual women - whether seminarians and professors at Boston University or Native American clergy and lay women in Oklahoma -- as the commission met over the past four years and to lead advocacy work that has resulted in "much more attention" to issues of sexual ethics and misconduct in the church's annual conferences.

"To see how the church is progressing is a powerful gift," the bishop said.

COSROW's achievements during the past quadrennium have included developing and distributing a new online curriculum, "Women Called to Ministry," for local churches; bringing more than 200 church leaders and representatives of five church agencies together to discuss prevention of sexual misconduct; launching a sexual ethics newsletter and Web site; and participating in the 2006 celebration of the 50th anniversary of full clergy rights for women in The United Methodist Church.

Survey planned
A denomination-wide survey on issues related to clergy spouses, conducted in cooperation with the United Methodist Board of Pension and Health Benefits, is being planned, according to a report from M. Garlinda Burton, the commission's chief executive.

"We have reached out to clergy spouses and said to the church that we need to pay attention to the concerns of clergy spouses and families and ensure that they are not isolated and taken for granted as they serve alongside the clergy family member, and that the church must provide support and pastoral care when there is a divorce or other crisis in the clergy family," she said.

Monitoring, reporting and advocacy for the inclusion of women at all levels of church life remain priorities for the commission, and Burton encouraged departing directors to continue the ministry.

"Your local church and annual conference should have at least a basic policy for preventing and addressing sexual misconduct and abuse, and if they don't, they should have you 'up in their faces' asking why and offering to facilitate training and policy development," she declared.

"Women and girls should be more visible in traditional and nontraditional leadership roles - and more men should be teaching Sunday school and working in partnership with their sisters," Burton added.

"Christian education should include curricula and discussion about the forgotten history of women as preachers, judges, prophets, disciples and leaders from the Old Testament right through to today. Your annual conference should have monitoring tools and teams at work each year."

She urged women of all ages, both clergy and lay, to study and work together, fighting sexism and "mentoring new women into faith and leadership."

*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New York.

There is life in Zimbabwe, native tells development committee

By Linda Green*

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMMS) - Even as the African country of Zimbabwe falters under a staggering inflation rate of 7,500 percent, "there is life," says a Zimbabwean native.

Speaking to members of the Africa University Advisory Development Committee Sept. 21 and Sept. 22, the Zimbabwean - who asked for anonymity out of concern about government repercussions - said that while numerous challenges face the sub-Saharan country, the most difficult is shortages of basic commodities on market shelves.

However, food is available outside the established channels. "One has to stretch a little bit to make sure food is on the table," she added.

The development committee, established in 1993, works with the Africa University Development Office in Nashville and agencies of The United Methodist Church to raise money for the school's capital, endowment and operational needs.

Waiting for change
The Zimbabwean native assured the committee members that while the country is facing turbulent times, "there is life in Zimbabwe." "We are surviving," she said.

What is happening in Zimbabwe is not new to Africa. "The history of Africa and the history of a lot of African countries is that they all have gone through some of these adversities and have come out of it," she said.

The country has experienced water shortages and drought, a lack of foreign currency, electrical outages, political repression, economic hardships and poverty. An estimated four out of five Zimbabweans live below the poverty line. Since 2002, an estimated 3 million residents have fled to South Africa alone, while others have gone to Zambia and Botswana.

"A few years ago, Angola faced similar economic challenges, but today has the fastest-growing economy in the world, at 35 percent, making it three times the growth of the United States," said the Zimbabwean, who does business throughout the continent.

Critics of Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe blame government mismanagement for much of the nation's woes. At 83, Mugabe has been Zimbabwe's only president since the country achieved independence from Britain 27 years ago. His tenure has been marked by economic crises that include chronic shortages of food and fuel. Unemployment today is estimated at above 80 percent, and human rights leader Desmond Tutu, former Anglican archbishop of Capetown, has called for Africa and the world to pay attention to Zimbabwe's plight.

School carries on
Despite all that is happening, Africa University officials say the school continues to function unaffected by the politics of the country. While it is affected by commodity shortages, the university farm helps make up for that by providing vegetables, milk and eggs for the school.

The university also "continues to operate without any interference from the government," says James Salley, director of institutional advancement.

He told the committee that all of Zimbabwe awaits a change. "We believe a change is going to come to Zimbabwe. The people are waiting for that change. It will not be violent but orderly and in God's time."

A sign of change occurred Sept. 18, when a constitutional deal was approved by the country's ruling and main opposition parties. The constitutional amendments pave the way for joint parliamentary and presidential elections in 2008 and would reduce the president's term from six to five years. Some consider the deal a first step in lifting the country from its economic and political malaise.

The amendments also are expected to re-draw electoral boundaries, increase the number of representatives and move up parliamentary elections by two years.

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

Student diversity increases at Africa University

Alfred Zigbou (left) from Liberia and Konte Noumenoue from Benin are post-graduate students at Africa University in Mutare, Zimbabwe. The United Methodist-related school has 1,300 students from 26 African countries.A UMNS Web-only photo by Sharai Nondo.

By Andra Stevens*

MUTARE, Zimbabwe (UMNS) - The more than 425 freshman who began classes at Africa University in August represent the second largest intake in the university's 15-year history.

In addition, the United Methodist-related university offered admission to undergraduate and graduate programs to more than 650 young people and increased its number of international students by 4 percent.

The university offers its 1,300 students programs in agriculture, business, education, health sciences, the humanities and social sciences, peace, leadership and governance, and theology.

Analdina Miguel, 18, from Angola's capital city, Luanda, is a freshman in the Faculty of Management and Administration.

"I heard about Africa University from a friend, and as soon as I arrived here, I realized at first glance that the infrastructure and environment were superior to other universities back home," Miguel said.

She wants to learn English, which she described as "an asset you can take anywhere in the world," and gain the professional skills that will enable her to help grow her family's business.

"I expect to maximize all the resources that will be availed to me and get the best out of Africa University," said Alfred Zigbou, a Liberian social worker who is being sponsored by the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries.

Zigbou has enrolled in the master's degree program in the university's Institute of Peace, Leadership and Governance for training that he hopes will help him contribute to improving socioeconomic policies and development efforts in Liberia.

"My passion is for serving people," he explained. "I want to see a more equitable distribution of wealth in communities back home and to help foster and sustain peace in my country."

More countries represented
Students like Zigbou and others from West and Central Africa have made this year's intake the most geographically diverse in the university's history. Twenty-six African countries are represented among the student body, giving the institution its highest percentage of international students to date.

The freshman class includes two young women from the Central African Republic and a young woman from The Gambia. These three students are the first from their countries to enroll at Africa University.

An evolving partnership with the African Capacity Building Foundation has also contributed to increased diversity in the student population. The three-year, $12 million-initiative involves offering a master's degree program in public sector management to senior civil servants from across East and Southern Africa. It is aimed at improving the capacity of African governments to manage their economies, social infrastructure and state enterprises.

In August, the university welcomed the second group of foundation-funded students, numbering 29 from eight African countries - Botswana, Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

"Botswana, Mozambique and Tanzania have sent participants for the first time this year and from the pioneer group of countries, we have new participants, all of which confirms confidence in the program, the host institution and the host country," said Hardson Kwandayi, the program's coordinator.

Learning about others
Mekonnen Azele Temechen, a personnel administrator in Ethiopia's foreign ministry, said "being here will be a chance to share experiences with other African brothers and sisters, and will also be an opportunity to see how other public sectors are being managed in Africa."

Already, Mario Antonio, a freshman studying for a degree in psychology in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, has made friends who are enriching his learning experience.

"I'm meeting people from so many countries on the campus," he said, "and it's enabling me to learn more about other people, expand my views about how other people live and have an appreciation of their backgrounds."

*Stevens is director of Africa University's Office of Information and Public Affairs.

Annual conference campaigns support Africa University

By Linda Green*

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) - Two United Methodist conferences devastated by Hurricane Katrina are moving beyond their own needs to addressing a continuing denominational need: support for Africa University in Zimbabwe.

The Louisiana and Mississippi annual (regional) conferences are among the U.S. conferences enacting campaigns to endow chairs and sponsor scholarships, build buildings and engage in hands-on ministry at Africa University. The Africa University Advisory Development Committee learned about the campaigns during its Sept. 22 meeting.

In 2005, Louisiana pledged to build a dormitory at the university, and today the conference's African-American churches are leading the three-year effort. A conference group will travel to the university in November to learn more about the university's needs.

Since January, the Mississippi Conference has been trying to endow a scholarship in the university's Faculty of Theology. Through the Black Church Initiative, Mississippi also is working to build a dormitory. Aubrey Lucus, president emeritus of Mississippi Southern University, and Ella Lucus, his wife, provided a $100,000 matching gift to the Mississippi Conference and the scholarship in the Faculty of Theology will be named in their honor.

"The church sees in Africa University a physical representation of hope," said the Rev. Lloyd Rollins, director of development for the Africa University Development Office.

That is particularly true for church members in Louisiana and Mississippi, he added. "With all they have been through with the turmoil of Katrina, the No. 1 thing that I have seen as a native Mississippian is that hope reigns supreme," Rollins said. "It is hope that says that not only can we continue to overcome what we have experienced but we can continue to do what we have committed to do in Africa."

More campaigns under way
In August, more than 425 freshmen and 225 graduate students began classes at Africa University, the second largest intake in the school's 15 years. Total enrollment is 1,300 students, representing 26 African countries.

The Desert Southwest Annual Conference is planning to endow a chair in the Faculty of Health Sciences and will launch a capital funds campaign. The Memphis Conference is working to establish a "Dream Farm" initiative at the university to provide a self-sustaining model to serve as lab and training facility.

A staff/faculty house is the focus of a campaign led by Ed and Cathy Fry of Laguna Beach (Calif.) United Methodist Church, while the youth from First United Methodist Church, Birmingham, Mich., donated a million pennies to assist Africa University in responding to HIV/AIDS on the continent.

Since 2006, an effort has been under way in the Virginia Annual Conference to provide a district by district scholarship fund at Africa University. In Missouri, a three-year campaign will endow a chair in the Faculty of Education, to be named in honor of C. Jarrett Sr. and Mai Gray, recognizing their years of service to the church and the community. The effort will be publicly launched Nov. 19 with a gala at Saint Paul Theological Seminary in Kansas City.

Western North Carolina has provided $625,000 to endow scholarships for two students from the Central Congo Area, the first installment of a $2 million scholarship and building campaign.

The Peninsula-Delaware and North Texas annual conferences are also planning other campaigns.

A symbol of hope
The United Methodist annual conferences see Africa University as a "true representation" of hope, which is enabling people to live in peace, with dignity and the basic necessities, and with good governance, Rollins said. "Hope is the education that will lead anybody to any dream that they happen to have."

Although news reports from Zimbabwe are often grim, Rollins said that "United Methodist churches and annual conferences are made up of people who look at reality and who also realize that today's reality is not tomorrow's reality."

"This is faith," he said. "We have faith that what they hear about Africa University is the truth."
Bishop Ernest Lyght, president of the advisory committee and the development committee of the Africa University Board of Directors, said the hope that Africa University provides is education.

A key component of alleviating poverty is education, he said. As annual conferences and individuals become educated about Africa University, they get excited about the institution and about the difference that their dollars can make in enabling people to have a different attitude and view of the world, he said.

When Africa University was created in 1988 and opened in 1992, not everyone expected that it would be what it is today, Lyght noted. "It continues to be a product of faith in action because there are times when I wonder how the university is able to do what it does," he said. "It does what it does because it is a faith-based institution and that God is our leader."

The development committee, established in 1993, works with the Africa University Development Office in Nashville and agencies of The United Methodist Church to raise money for the school's capital, endowment and operational needs.

In addition to the annual conferences, at least 40,000 United Methodist congregations have faithfully supported Africa University. In 2006, the university netted its largest percentage of apportionment payments "in what I see is a sign of the increasing understanding within The United Methodist Church of the value of this ministry and a celebration of what we are doing," said the Rev. Ken Bedell, a staff member of the United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry.

Congregations also support Africa University through the Usahwira program, named after a Zimbabwean-Shona word meaning "a relationship that is closer than family." The program enables churches to make a four-year commitment to help a student receive an education at the university. The program has been a steady source of scholarship funds since 2002, and churches can contribute up to $5,400 a year in support of a student.

In other business, committee members:
.Learned that the Africa University endowment had reached $45 million.
.Learned that the St. Jude Clinical HIV/AIDS Trials will begin in Mutare, Zimbabwe, in January.
.Participated in "saturation" events on Sept. 23 and visited 12 United Methodist churches in Nashville to talk about Africa University.
.Created an honorary alumni association to enable high school and college students to give $50 donations in support of the university.
.Heard that the 12 African bishops committed to sending four students annually from each of their episcopal areas to the university.

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

Men's study shows commitment, need for growth

By Andrew J. Schleicher*



NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) - United Methodist men are committed to the church but lack close male support, a new report says.

The Study of Men report was conducted by the Commission on United Methodist Men and will be submitted to the 2008 General Conference, the top legislative body of the denomination. The study was undertaken at the request of the 2004 General Conference.

The report is based on a survey of 1,350 people of similar demographics to the total number of men in The United Methodist Church. The results were presented by Gil Hanke, commission president, during the board's Sept. 15-16 meeting.

Gil Hanke presents the Study of Men report findings to members of the General Commission on United Methodist Men at their Sept. 15-16 meeting in Nashville, Tenn. A UMNS photo by Andrew J. Schleicher.


The commission oversees the work of men's ministry throughout The United Methodist Church. United Methodist Men has approximately 239,000 members in the United States in a denomination with about 8 million U.S. members.

Among the report's findings, 86.5 percent of respondents attend church almost every week, with 65 percent in small groups or a men's program. Half of those surveyed said they had a strong connection to their congregation that is growing stronger. An additional 26 percent felt as connected to their church as they did in the previous year. Reflecting on a personal spiritual life, 75 percent said they use a devotional at least several times a week.

In consideration of their families of origin, 76 percent of respondents said their fathers were "somewhat" or "very" religious. Also, 42.6 percent said their fathers attended church once a month or less.

While only United Methodist members were surveyed, the respondents thought a "lack of interest in religion" was the top reason the church does not reach as many younger men.

"Societal emphasis on individualism/materialism" and "distrust of organized religion" also were widely held beliefs regarding this struggle.

"Only 27.2 percent of the men have a close male friend that knows or supports them," the report states. "The reviewers felt that if a majority of men have difficulty establishing and maintaining a heart-level relationship with another man, a majority would also have difficulty with a heart-level relationship with God." Sixty-eight percent of the respondents also said that the senior pastor could do more to support men in the congregation.

In the months leading up to the 2008 General Conference, the Commission on United Methodist Men will organize a think tank selected by Hanke and the Rev. David Adams, top staff executive, to reflect further on the study and report. The results of the think tank will be published and made available to the church.

*Schleicher is a freelance writer living in Nashville, Tenn.

Centennial celebration to promote United Methodist Men

By Andrew J. Schleicher*

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) - United Methodist Men will mark 100 years of men's ministry in 2008 in a year-long celebration that also aims to grow the organization as it works to move more men into discipleship.

Directors of the Commission on United Methodist Men, which met Sept. 15-16, have proposed 12 months of activities for local churches to celebrate the anniversary.

Approximately 239,000 people are part of United Methodist Men in the United States in a denomination with about 8 million U.S. members.

"What our challenge is that, in the church, we got nothing but volunteers," said the Rev. David Adams, top staff executive for the commission, in his opening address to directors. "But God calls us to go into the world and to make what? Disciples. … We have got to step up and help men move from that volunteer stage into the discipleship stage."

Adams pointed out that "when men are growing in Christ, they impact the whole church."
In a recent commission survey of men in The United Methodist Church, respondents cited a "lack of interest in religion" as the top reason the church does not reach more young men, followed by "societal emphasis on individualism/materialism" and "distrust of organized religion."

The centennial celebration will allow United Methodist Men to showcase its work and ministries over the course of 12 months and demonstrate its impact on society.

Each month of 2008 is designated with a theme, beginning with ethnic and human relations in January. Activities suggested for that month include recognition of the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. and holding a joint meeting of men's groups with a church of a different ethnicity. February's theme is scouting and youth-serving agencies, camping and mentoring. March is "Celebrating Women through their Contributions to UMMen."

Every local church, including those without chartered United Methodist Men's groups, will be encouraged to join in the party.

As part of the observance, the commission is asking members of United Methodist Men to contribute $12 - one dollar for each month - to be disbursed at the beginning of 2009 to the various ministries highlighted throughout the celebration.

A long heritage
Men's ministry has been a part of the Methodist heritage since Charles and John Wesley established holy clubs in 1729 at Oxford University. The 1908 General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, meeting in Baltimore, authorized the creation of Methodist Brotherhoods, making men's ministry a part of the denominational structure.

One-hundred years later, the 2008 General Conference will recognize the anniversary when the denomination's top legislative body meets next spring in Forth Worth, Texas. Every General Conference delegate will receive a commemorative pin. A video presentation will be sensitive to both the Methodist and Evangelical United Brethren history of the church, as each formed a men's ministry around the same time.

Part of the commission's work in strengthening men's ministry is through the creation of men's ministry specialists. Adams said the goal is to have one specialist in each district by 2012. These specialists will be trained and will have experience organizing men's events. They will be available to assist other church leaders in assessing, equipping and motivating for men's ministry.

In other business
The commission provides oversight for all men's and scouting ministries in The United Methodist Church.

In other business, its directors heard a report on preparations for the 10th national gathering of United Methodist Men and adopted the theme "FocUS on the Cross." The event, which formerly convened at Purdue University in Indiana, will be held in July 2009 in Nashville. The commission hopes to build in activities that will be of interest to younger men and youth.

The commission noted that 2008 has been designated as the year of the volunteer with the Boy Scouts of America and that the organization hopes to add 1 million new volunteers by 2010. The Boy Scouts are considering joining the Nothing but Nets campaign, of which the people of The United Methodist Church are a founding partner. The commission agreed that United Methodist scouting programs could become involved in Nothing But Nets even if Boy Scouts of America does not get on board.

Camilo Toledo Jr., a commission member from the Philippines, reported on a new scouting project in his country. Robert Powell of the UMM Foundation pledged that the foundation will provide funding for the program's needs.

The commission heard an update on requests for the Strength for Service to God and Country devotional book. The Strength for Service Task Force received and filled 17,000 requests for the book in June and July - most of which went to military chaplains. The book is now available in Cokesbury, Borders, Barnes & Noble and Wal-Mart stores.

In legislation being sent to General Conference, the commission proposes that conference presidents submit additional detail in annual reports to the commission. The commission also asks that its membership be expanded from 23 to 25 to permit additional central conference and at-large representation.

*Schleicher is a freelance writer living in Nashville, Tenn.

UMNS News Commentary by Benjamin Yosua-Davis: Can United Methodists follow their call?

Benjamin Yosua-Davis stands against the backdrop of United Methodist-related Drew University Theological School in Madison, N.J., where he is a third-year student and also a ministerial candidate in the New England Annual Conference.A UMNS photo by Russel Kirby.

Young adults, especially young clergy, are the "in" demographic in church circles. Bishops, seminary professors, church growth gurus and even The New York Times are asking the perplexing question: Why aren't young people going into local parish ministry?

The answers are numerous, ranging from the arduous candidacy process, to the content of seminary education, to the grueling and often isolating work in the local parish.

While it's trendy to talk about young adult leaders, or the lack thereof, oftentimes the voice of young adults seems curiously lost in the discussion. The church therefore should pay close attention to the Generation X/Y Conference, a gathering of about 50 young adults that was generated, organized and led by a group of motivated young church leaders. If ever there was an event "of the people," this was certainly it. It was in this place - an environment of youthful collegiality with two non-United Methodist presenters and hardly a conference or denominational hierarch on site - that the voice of the "young adult" emerged.

Divided loyalties
Tim Keel and Doug Pagitt facilitated the May event at Mount Sequoyah Conference and Retreat Center in Fayetteville, Ark., bringing their perspective as highly connectional, non-denominational pastors at the leading edge of postmodern ministries in the United States. They contextualized the concerns of young adult leaders clearly, reminding them that their first priority is to follow God, not an institution - a statement that many attendees found both comforting and disturbing.

Participants voiced both deep love for and deep frustration about the denomination. They expressed a passionate loyalty and appreciation for United Methodism, yet also a conviction that the church they love may end up killing them spiritually. This pain does not come out of disconnected idealism, but rather an intelligent, painful realism that has made many realize that their leadership in traditional parish ministry and traditional churches is bringing them farther away from God's call for their lives.

A deeper issue ran under the surface of almost all the conversations, namely, "Can I follow Jesus, be faithful to my call and remain United Methodist?"

There was a sense among many (although not all) that the church has not created space for young adults to be faithful disciples as they understand it. Instead, like a round peg in a square hole, they feel jammed into ministries that do not fit their gifts, into churches where they feel sucked dry and futile, into ministries that others define for them, without any room to explore what it means to be both Christian and postmodern at the same time. There was a sense that for many, The United Methodist Church is not looking for gifted Christian ministers; rather they are looking for by-the-book, work-within-the-system professionals who would pay their dues, innovate only within the system and not rock the boat.

Issues of process and education
It's important to note that not everyone felt disconnected, frustrated and isolated. One group of participants shared that they are quite content where they are and feel that the church is providing them with a way to authentically live out their call. Others had found ways to create space within their ministries so that they could be themselves and serve their congregations.
Still, two concerns emerged as universal themes among those at the conference.

First, no one approves of the candidacy process for ministry in The United Methodist Church. Nearly everyone can tell stories about horrendous difficulties moving through a system that doesn't really seem to want them and makes their lives unnecessarily difficult - from lost paperwork, to contradictory information from different church agencies, to one conference requiring that all forms be completed on a typewriter and refusing to make them available in an electronic format. People spoke about how discouraging it is to go through a process that seems more concerned about bureaucracy and less concerned about discernment and preparation.

The second major concern, especially among young clergy, is seminary education. While many appreciate individual professors and individual courses, there is a general sense that seminary education is critically disconnected from ministry on the ground, especially ministry in the 21st century. Many question whether their schools have a clear idea about what it takes to be an effective church leader and, almost universally, young clergy leaders do not feel equipped to be leaders when appointed to their first parish. This seems to be true regardless of which United Methodist seminary they attended.

Affirmation in sharing
The conference provided moments of hope as well. Many left feeling refreshed and affirmed to know other people are having the same concerns while experiencing the same calling. There was a strong determination not to give up on United Methodism. Many felt called to be agents of change - prophetic voices within the institution, calling it to renewed faithfulness for a new generation.

In the end, gatherings such as this should both delight and frighten those in power who enjoy talking about young Methodist clergy. This "young clergy" demographic has a voice, but it's not one that will fit previous molds. Hope and fear, people of The United Methodist Church. Great renewal and great change are coming with this new generation.

*Yosua-Davis is a third-year student at United Methodist-related Drew University Theological School, Madison, N.J. and a certified candidate for ministry in the New England Annual Conference.

Sandra Lackore announces retirement as finance chief

Sandra Lackore discusses the financial state of The United Methodist Church during its 2004 General Conference in Pittsburgh. Lackore has served as the top executive of the denomination's Council on Finance and Administration for 12 years and will retire effective June 30, 2008. A UMNS file photo by John C. Goodwin.

By Marta W. Aldrich*

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) - Sandra Lackore will retire next June after serving 12 years as chief executive of the agency that administers finances for The United Methodist Church and safeguards its legal rights and interests.

She shared the news with her staff at the General Council on Finance and Administration on Sept. 17. Her retirement also was announced churchwide by Bishop Mary Ann Swenson, president of the governing board for the agency.

Lackore, 63, will take a three-month family leave beginning Oct. 1 to care for her husband, the Rev. Cecil Lackore, who is scheduled to undergo intensive treatments this fall for acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Her retirement is effective June 30.

The council's executive committee is developing an interim leadership plan, which will be announced later this month, according to a statement from the agency. Lackore will be available for consultation during that time.

Lackore's tenure at the council includes consolidating the agency from three geographically separate offices to one central location in Nashville, establishing a foundation to endow denominational ministries and establishing a denominational insurance company.

"Sandra has dedicated much of her professional life to The United Methodist Church with over 30 years of service …," Swenson said. "Sandra's leadership and vision have resulted in the recent consolidation of council operations along with the gathering of a highly skilled staff."

Swenson said Lackore has guided the council's members and staff "in demonstrating to the denomination an operational culture encompassed in its mission focus: serving the church through the ministry of administration. She has embodied and reflected our vision of servant ministry," the bishop said.

'A new beginning'
Lackore said her retirement next June after General Conference meets in Fort Worth, Texas, will allow for new leadership for both her agency and the Connectional Table for the next four-year budgeting period, which begins in 2009. The Connectional Table works with the GCFA to coordinate the denomination's ministries and finances for making disciples of Jesus Christ.

Lackore noted that, in November, Mary Brook Casad will become the first chief executive of the Connectional Table.

"It is a new beginning," Lackore said in a statement. "I have great hope for the leadership of the (Connectional Table) under Mary Brooke Casad. I will leave GCFA knowing that it is in capable and faithful hands also."

Raised in Boston, Lackore was an administrator and treasurer for the New England Annual Conference (formerly Southern New England) when the council's governing board chose her in 1995 as the first woman to head the agency. She began her career as a church administrator for a congregation in Brockton, Mass., and later was director of a church camp. A former president of the United Methodist Association of Conference Treasurers, she also has been a delegate to multiple General Conferences and Northeastern Jurisdictional Conferences.

Integrity and trust
Lackore's retirement announcement elicited praise for her leadership during the last 12 years.
"One of the things I highly respect Sandra for is the integrity she brings to how our apportionment dollars are spent," said the Rev. Steven R. Jones, a member of the council's executive committee and senior pastor of Williamsburg (Va.) United Methodist Church.

"It's critical there be a sense of trust throughout our connection, and I am inspired by the way Sandra values every dollar that comes to the general church. She honors that trust," Jones told United Methodist News Service.

Jones said Lackore has ensured integrity in the process through a system of audits and its efforts to honor the intentions of General Conference actions. He called her a "visionary person."

"She has an impressive ability to command an understanding of very specific details and yet also to look at the big picture. … She loves our church. It's part of who she is, and she has tried to serve it with every ounce of her being."

The Lackores have three children and three grandchildren. Their daughter, Jennifer Lee Kelley, died unexpectedly in February.

Aldrich is news editor of United Methodist News Service.

Church budget tightens around four areas of focus

By Marta W. Aldrich*

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) - The United Methodist Church is facing the "very hard, very painful" work of cutting ministries and shifting resources while building its denominational budget around four newly named areas of focus.

After months of reviewing a proposed budget that does not keep pace with inflation, the chief executives of the denomination's program agencies pledged to preserve ministries that address those four areas - leadership development, congregational growth, global health and poverty.

However, programs and ministries outside those initiatives will be reviewed for possible adjustments and cuts if the church's top legislative assembly approves the $642 million four-year spending plan next spring, the executives said. The General Conference, which meets every four years, will gather in Fort Worth, Texas.

Agency leaders reported on their budget work Sept. 7 during a joint meeting of the Connectional Table and the governing board of the General Council on Finance and Administration, the two leadership entities that voted in May to send the spending proposal to General Conference.

"The agencies have worked very hard to protect the monies allocated for these major cooperative initiatives," said the Rev. Karen Greenwaldt, chief executive for the Board of Discipleship.

The church's four areas of emphasis are an attempt to focus the mission and ministry of the church at the dawn of the 21st century and have been affirmed by church leadership at all levels - from the Council of Bishops to the Connectional Table to agency boards and many annual (regional) conferences.

"These initiatives are moving forward as projected, with some minor changes" based on the proposed budget, Greenwaldt reported. If General Conference approves the spending plan as proposed, "we will be about the hard work of making very specific internal adjustments."

Feeling the squeeze
The proposed budget for the 2009-2012 period gives an average spending increase of 6.6 percent to the church's nine program agencies, which had asked for an average of 16.6 percent more for the next four years. The increases range from 5.37 percent for the Board of Discipleship to 9.6 percent for the Board of Higher Education and Ministry and 10 percent for the Commission on United Methodist Men. (See details at http://www.umc.org/atf/cf/%7BDB6A45E4-C446-4248-82C8-E131B64247417D/20070530_details_of_proposed_budget.pdf.)

The budget was developed around projected payouts of apportionments, the United Methodist system of receiving contributions from local churches to support denominational ministries. In recent decades, congregations have spent more on local ministries and needs, resulting in a decreasing share of total funds for the denomination.

While agency heads said they are reviewing their spending options, several named specific planned ministries that would not be funded if the budget is approved as proposed.

The Board of Global Ministries is targeting a new pilot project aimed at addressing poverty in rural areas of the United States and also is reprioritizing its missionary ministry, said the Rev. R. Randy Day, the agency's chief executive. The board had asked for a funding increase of almost 23 percent but would receive a 6 percent hike under the proposal.

"The fact is, we lost a lot of dollars we were hoping to have," Day told the joint gathering.

The agency intends to place missionaries first with skills that address the church's new areas of focus - for instance, those with medical training to fight killer diseases and promote global health. "Every time missionaries come up for renewal, we are coordinating and looking at that through the lenses of all four areas of collaboration," Day said. "We can't cover everything, and sometimes we make those painful decisions that these missionaries will not be reassigned and doing what they were doing."

The rural poverty project in the United States is one of six major pilot projects planned by Global Ministries to comprehensively address worldwide poverty, including projects that focus on Latin America and Africa and urban poverty in the United States.

"Many of these countries have just come out of war and fighting, and (there's) disease and unclean water and housing (issues)," Day told United Methodist News Service. "There are immense, immense life-threatening issues around poverty. So as a global church, we have to pay attention to all of those. … It's very, very hard, very painful to let go part of it, but we can only go so far without the dollars."

Shifting resources
As the result of trimming its budget request, the Board of Church and Society will not fund initiatives to advocate for mental health and against human trafficking, said Jim Winkler, who oversees the denomination's social action agency. The human trafficking initiative was in response to an unfunded mandate of the 2004 General Conference, and the mental health initiative was in response to requests from leaders in annual conferences for resources related to mental health. About $481,000 of the agency's budget proposal was earmarked to fund both initiatives over four years.

"We have two staff people who have huge portfolios on health care and on women and children, and they are able to give frankly a fraction of their time to human trafficking and sex trafficking and mental health advocacy," Winkler said, explaining that the board had wanted to hire additional staff to focus on the issues. "They will continue to give that fraction of time."

United Methodist Communications, slated to receive an increase of just more than 6 percent after asking for almost 8 percent, will adjust its communications assets to support the four areas of emphasis, according to the Rev. Larry Hollon, chief executive. The agency plans to reduce the number of communicator training events in Africa from 12 to six. It also will shift some advertising dollars in its Igniting Ministry media campaign budget from traditional media avenues to less expensive online advertising outlets, he said.

Hard choices
Greenwaldt called it premature to give specifics about changes at the Board of Discipleship before a final budget is approved by General Conference. Her agency - charged with the responsibility for overseeing the area of focus on congregational growth - would receive a 5.4 percent spending increase after asking for 8.7 percent.

"We have to identify what specific items we can no longer address deeply and well," she said. "… How do we hand those off? How do we develop partnerships? Which ones simply have to go away?"

Church representatives attending the joint session expressed concern that some cuts would impact poor and powerless people who depend on the church to speak in their behalf.

"When you consider some of our rural communities, the only light left on in town is The United Methodist Church," said the Rev. Beverly Wilkes Null, a district superintendent in the Illinois Great Rivers Conference and a member of the Connectional Table.

"We understand that, as United Methodists, we can't do it all," she told United Methodist News Service. "--But the reality is that human trafficking and sex trafficking is a hot-button issue and we need to be invested in it, and perhaps there are some other things we ought to divest in. Let's not sacrifice our ministry to the poor and the disadvantaged."

The Rev. Carl Schenck, pastor of Manchester (Mo.) United Methodist Church and a member of the Connectional Table, told the agency executives that their work on the budget "must have been both extremely wearying and painful."

"But the preservation of the coordinated initiatives and their potential to sweep the imagination of the church is so incredibly great … and holds such incredible possibility," Schenck said. "-- Fruit can be borne out of this weariness and pain. It can be large."

*Aldrich is news editor of United Methodist News Service.

Bishop: Pressure remains on Christians in Pakistan

Bishop Alexander John Malik presides over the diocese of Lahore and is moderator of the Church of Pakistan. A UMNS photo by John C. Goodwin.

By Linda Bloom*

NEW YORK (UMNS) - Six years after the tragedy of Sept. 11, Christians in Pakistan remain under intense pressure as religious extremism has increased, according to a bishop there.

"Christians in Islamic countries are viewed with suspicion," said Bishop Alexander John Malik during a Sept. 10-12 visit with United Methodist and Episcopal leaders in New York. He presides over the diocese of Lahore and is moderator of the Church of Pakistan.

Immediately after Sept. 11, "our churches were attacked, institutions were attacked, Christians were killed," he told staff at the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries. Part of the problem, he added, is the mindset among Muslims "that all Christians are westerners and all westerners are Christians."

Buoyed by opposition to the U.S. war on terror, as well as U.S. intervention in Afghanistan and Iraq, Osama Bin Laden "has become a hero" to some people in Pakistan, the bishop said. "Capturing Osama will not solve the problem. (He) is an ideology now."

Malik said Christians have regained some rights under Pakistan's current president, General Pervez Musharraf, including the ability to reclaim church-related schools and colleges that had been nationalized in 1972. About 50 percent are now run again by Christians, although they face competition from Muslim-run schools, he said.

"He (Musharraf) has brought back the Christians and other minorities into the mainstream," Malik said.

The result of a union in the 1970s of the Methodist, Anglican, Lutheran and Scottish Presbyterian denominations, the Church of Pakistan has eight dioceses presided over by eight bishops. Malik, formerly of the Anglican Church, estimates that Christians make up about 3 percent of the population of Pakistan.

The bishop said the union has had its problems, particularly with issues of property and personalities, but noted that the new generation of Christians in Pakistan do not identify themselves by a previous denomination.

Women still are not ordained in the Church of Pakistan, although the topic has been under discussion. Malik said he personally is in favor of women's ordination but believes it should not occur until a majority of church members approve it.

He noted that one of his three daughters is theologically trained and married to a Baptist pastor in England. She does not wish to seek ordination in the Church of England, however, until the Church of Pakistan changes its policy, he said.

The growing Muslim extremism in Pakistan is leading some Christians to live abroad. "We are losing our intellectuals and professionals at a big rate," Malik said.

Malik receives threatening letters for speaking out in support of Christians in Pakistan. "But I have to defend my community," he said. "I have to give them hope."

The bishop wants to share that hope with others. "We have a message for the world - a message of love, peace and light - which we must spread," he said.

*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New York.

United Methodist growth continues in former Soviet Union

MOSCOW (UMNS) - United Methodist congregations continue to spread across the vast expanses of what was once the Soviet Union.

In the Sept. 3 issue of his Method-EAST newsletter, United Methodist Bishop Hans Vaxby offered details of the most recent church growth. Vaxby, based in Moscow, leads the United Methodist Church in Eurasia.

His tour of the Eurasian annual conferences began in May in Ekaterinburg, the third largest city in Russia, and home to First United Methodist Church, which he called "one of mother churches in modern United Methodism in Eurasia." Olga Kotsuba, part of the leadership team in 1991, is now the church's senior pastor as well as superintendent of the Ural District.

Five new church groups were registered during the East Russian and Central Asia Annual Conference meeting at First Church. They included new church plants in the Urals, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan, a local church that reopened in Vladivostok and an independent congregation that applied to become part of the denomination.

Vaxby likened the atmosphere to that of pioneer America. "Due to the vast distances (five time zones), many of the pastors and lay delegates have not seen each other since last year," he explained. "Organizational finesses like written reports are not always available. But testimonies about Jesus and the urgency of the mission is there. The church is on the move."

The South Russia Provisional Annual Conference meets annually at Camp Voronezh, also known as Camp Crystal, a church-owned retreat center 20 miles outside Voronezh. The center already has been put to good use, according to the bishop, but needs some improvements in order to attract outside groups and become financially self-sufficient. Financial support and Volunteers In Mission visits are needed for the foreseeable future, he said.

Celebrating new status
In June, the Central Russia Annual Conference met at the denomination's theological seminary in Moscow. The chapel there serves as the sanctuary for three United Methodist congregations on weekends - Kimgansan Church on Saturdays; Moscow, or Central Church, another of the mother churches in Russia, on Sunday mornings; and Raduga Ministry on Sunday afternoons.

During the week, the Russia United Methodist Theological Seminary also provides an office for the bishop, area communicator, administrative director of education and the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries' area finance executive.

The new legal status of the Central Russia Annual Conference was celebrated during the meeting. Previously, it had been part of the Russia Annual Conference, which has been divided into four other separate conferences. Vaxby noted that the annual conference in the Ukraine is already registered and the legal process continues for the three other annual conferences in Russia.

Excited about growth
Participants in the Ukraine and Moldova Provisional Annual Conference discussed the results of leadership training led by the Rev. Adam Hamilton and members of the Church of the Resurrection in Kansas City, Mo., last March.

Members of various churches shared the purpose statements and strategic goals they had created. "Everyone was excited to learn of the progress and growth of the fellow churches in the conference as the concepts learned at the seminar were implemented at the local level," Vaxby noted.

One of the conference's newest congregations is the Great Commission United Methodist Church in Kishinev, Moldova. Pastor Leonard Chorny said the congregation intends to plant other United Methodist churches throughout Moldova, a country that borders Ukraine to the south.

In early July, the Northwest Russia Provisional Annual Conference met at a resort center on the Finnish Gulf, in the St. Petersburg District. Highlights included the wedding of one of the pastors, Zemfira Abramova, the ordination of an elder and the commissioning of six new pastors.

'Great hopes' for year
Delegates from all five conferences attended the denomination's Eurasia Conference in July, which opened with an evangelism festival. Six finalists of a competition aimed at creating the most relevant evangelism project in the Eurasian context presented their original plans.

The most important business item, according to Vaxby, was the development of an extensive policy on church property. The policy includes "a teaching part, a legal part, and, attached, a number of forms and informational documents," he said.

Discussions continue over a revised pension plan, and whether to have one common or five separate boards of ordained ministry.

"The new church year starts with great hopes towards the comprehensive plans for lay leaders and for pastors' continuing education," Vaxby concluded. "Everything is fixed in plans on paper, now the challenge is to put it into practice on the district level with the help of teaching teams and supporters from our supporting congregations and educational institutions and organizations."

Penny Wise? Pound Foolish? The economic cost of domestic hunger

Commentary by Rev. Kenneth C. Horne
Executive Director, Society of St. Andrew
national nonprofit hunger-relief ministry and UMC Advance #801600

BIG ISLAND, VA – There’s a very old expression I want to introduce to you. My father (I respectfully referred to him as “my old man”) used to caution me against what he called being “penny wise and pound foolish”. The basic idea is that refusing to spend enough now to fix a problem properly can wind up costing you much more later. Being penny wise and pound foolish can hurt your personal finances. It can do much worse than that on a national scale. Where our treatment of the hungry is concerned we seem to have a terminal case of “penny wisdom and pound foolishness”.

A recent study has calculated the cost of tolerating hunger in the United States. The study* was commissioned by the Sodexho Corporation and conducted by an old friend of mine, Dr. J. Larry Brown of the Harvard School of Public Health. Larry put together a team of researchers from Harvard, Brandeis and Loyola Universities and conducted a thorough study of the consequences of tolerating serious hunger among 35 million of our fellow citizens. The results of this study are startling.

People who don’t get enough to eat turn to food stamps, and when that’s not enough (and it isn’t) they go to emergency food charities. These charities (like the Society of St. Andrew) provide food to fill the need that food stamps don’t cover. These charities depend on the generosity of donors to keep them functioning. That bill is $14.4 billion a year!

People who don’t get enough to eat get sick more than the rest of us, and, because they can’t go to the doctor like we can, they get much sicker before they get any treatment. They get that treatment in our hospital emergency rooms, where it is most expensive. Their expenses get passed on to the rest of us through higher insurance premiums, which contribute to the rising cost of health care generally. That bill is $66.8 billion a year!

People who don’t get enough to eat drop out of school more than the rest of us, and those that stay in school don’t learn as fast or as well as the rest of us. Because of this they aren’t as productive in their working lives as the rest of us. The lost productivity bill is $9.2 billion a year! Now, I think that number is too low, but I have learned not to argue with Larry, he’s almost always right.

The total annual cost of tolerating hunger in this country is over $90 billion! This becomes even more shocking when you consider that virtually every authority in the field maintains that an additional $10 billion investment in present government feeding programs (food stamps, WIC, etc.) would totally eliminate hunger in this country.

So let’s see………. Refuse to spend $10 billion to fix the problem that’s costing you $90 billion? You would have to be penny wise and pound foolish to make that decision. Yet our “leaders” do that every year, and think they’re saving us money! You’d think we could elect people at least as smart as my old man. Well, maybe next time.

* www.helpstophunger.org/pdfs/Economic_Cost_of_Domestic_Hunger.pdf

Ken Horne is co-founder and Executive Director of the Society of St. Andrew, a national nonprofit hunger-relief ministry based in Big Island, Virginia. The Society gleans (saves) fresh produce that will otherwise go to waste and donates it to the hungry nationwide. It has national and regional offices in four states and gleaning offices in 22 states. Each year, with the help of as many as 40,000 volunteers, the Society of St. Andrew saves 30-40 million pounds of fresh, nutritious produce from farm fields and orchards, providing 90-120 million servings of nutritious food to hungry Americans at a cost of less than two cents per serving.

United Methodist Church now official in Albania

By United Methodist News Service*

Albanians gather outside following a United Methodist worship service. Bishop Patrick Streiff signed formal papers Aug. 20 giving official status to the denomination in the small Balkan country. A UMNS photo by Urs Schweizer.

The United Methodist Church officially exists in Albania.

Formal papers were signed Aug. 20 in the capital city of Tirana by Bishop Patrick Streiff, leader of the denomination in Central and Southern Europe.

The United Methodist Church in Albania has about 150 members and friends in a nation of 3.8 million people.

"We praise God that The United Methodist Church is now officially recognized in Albania," said the Rev. R. Randy Day, chief executive of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries.

"We owe a debt of gratitude to the German United Methodists and other German Christians who developed the recent contacts there and continue to provide spiritual support and material aid. We are deeply pleased that the United Methodism in Albania is being developed in a spirit of collaboration with churches already present in the country."

The small Balkan country has a highly diverse religious heritage including Albanian-Orthodox Christians, Roman Catholics, Muslims and now a slowly expanding Protestant presence. About 60 percent of the people are Muslim, but there is a high degree of religious tolerance.

Streiff sees United Methodists working in close collaboration with other Christian groups and has made contacts with Orthodox, Catholic and other Protestant leaders.

Looking back
Through U.S. missionaries, Methodist work began in Albania in the 19th century when the nation was part of the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire. The mission lasted only a few decades, however. After World War II, the country fell under a rigid, anti-religious brand of communism until the 1990s.

The transition from communism to a republic was not easy for Albania, and poverty was acute in many areas. Methodism was reintroduced from Germany in 1992, and Albanians began to show an interest in the Germans' spiritual motivations. A United Methodist aid center was established in 1997 in the mountain village of Bishnica. By 1998, the first 25 people were baptized and became charter members of The United Methodist Church of Albania.

In preparation for the church's formal organization, Streiff and his predecessor, Bishop Heinrich Bolleter, and a delegation from Christian Association for Humanitarian Aid in Wismar, Germany, visited the primate of the Albanian-Orthodox Church, representatives of the Roman Catholic Churches, the general secretary of the Evangelical Alliance, and other religious and humanitarian groups.

Streiff acknowledged all of the mission work that brought the church to this point.

"The signature for establishing a foundation of the UMC in Albania is not the first step as a church but the consequence of a presence of German Methodists who brought help to suffering people in the mountains of Albania since the 1990s," he said.

"As often in history, the mission began with the initiative of devoted laypeople and their pastor. It is my joy to see the fruit of their ministry and to build on it."

Challenges and opportunities
Because the Albanian economy is weak, a primary challenge is migration from mountain and other rural areas into cities and emigration to other countries to seek a better future. The bishop's office reports that the migration factor has affected the congregation in Bishnica and created many changes including new house groups in Pogradec and Tirana.

The United Methodist Committee on Relief is seeking to strengthen the Albanian economy by helping to create jobs through agricultural productivity.

The United Methodist Church has registered as a not-for-profit organization, and the registration is expected to be ratified by the country's Supreme Court. According to church leaders, having a not-for-profit status will make it easier for United Methodists to own property, and the process also gives the church an opportunity to identify itself to the Albanians.

Two young Albanians, Rigels Kasmollari and Englantin Lushka, have graduated from the theological seminary in Waiern, Austria, and are expected to return home in 2008 to provide indigenous leadership.

*Urs Schweizer, assistant to Bishop Patrick Streiff, provided the primary information for this story.