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First United Methodist Church of Tampa is historic, but also much diminished in membership and attendance. Those members who remain want to keep it going, but they're up against denominational leaders who favor a fresh approach to ministry in downtown Tampa.
The Tampa Tribune has a full story about the dispute. Click here.
The Baltimore-Washington Conference of the UMC has narrowly approved a resolution to let UM pastors perform same-sex marriages and ceremonies in jurisdictons where gay marriage rights exist. Click here for a story.
Greetings, e-Readers,
Some United Methodist Church leaders say strong measures are needed if the denomination is going to reverse its membership decline in the United States. Bishop Will Willimon of the North Alabama Conference is one such voice, and he has introduced a dashboard on the conference Web site to track and publicize which churches are doing well—and which aren’t—in attendance, giving, baptisms, and outreach. The UMC is making software available to help other conferences do the same, but critics say vitality in a church can’t always be measured by numbers. Staff writer Mary Jacobs reports on the buzz, positive and negative, about the dashboard movement within Methodism.
This has been a horrific year for tornadoes in the United States, and Joplin, Mo., named for a Methodist minister, was devastated by one on May 22. Among the destroyed or severely damaged buildings were United Methodists churches and a UMC district office. The fatalities include members of local UM churches. Our coverage draws on Missouri Conference and United Methodist News Service reports and photos.
The tornadoes that earlier hit Tuscaloosa, Ala., prompted the Wesley Foundation of the University of Alabama to want to help in the cleanup. The students put out a call to other collegiate Methodists for reinforcement, and the response was strong. Staff writer Mary Jacobs has the story.
We’ve got other news articles and features in this edition, including one by Mary Jacobs on Eboo Patel, a high profile Muslim American who leads the Interfaith Youth Core. United Methodist News Service provides an account of the recent Change the World weekend, where United Methodist volunteers pitched in for some 2,000 service projects. UMNS also reports on the denomination’s efforts to purify water in Haiti, and Religion News Service describes a Southern Baptist seminary’s work toward a searchable database of changes that crept into the New Testament during the early years of hand-copying.
As for commentaries, the Rev. Laurie Haller takes on bullying within churches, and Bishop Woodie W. White writes about making a marriage last for the long haul. We also have an interview with the ever-provocative theologian Stanley Hauerwas, on the subject of dying well. History of Hymns gives background on the recent, Transfiguration-themed hymn “Christ’s Own Bidding.”
We’re grateful for our writers and our readers. Let us hear from you at news@umr.org.
Sam Hodges
Managing editor
shodges@umr.org
Fred Koenig handles publications for the Missouri Conference of the UMC, and he has knocked himself out to put a human face on the Joplin tornado tragedy as it relates to United Methodists. Here's the most recent recent of several dispatches he has provided us:
Rev. George Triplett of Trinity UMC knows he is one of the very fortunate ones in Joplin. His house and church were not damaged by the tornado. But the devastation still hit very close to home.
“My daughter lost every, my sister lost everything, at least five families in my congregation lost their homes, and a couple more homes were damaged,” he said.
Triplett was at a family graduation party in Webb City when the tornado was ripping through Joplin. His daughter was tired from work, and decided not to make it to the party, but she woke up from her nap and changed her mind, and went to Webb City with her two boys not long before the tornado came. When she returned home there was nothing left of her house.
Triplett’s other daughter is a surgical technician at St. John’s hospital, but she was off that afternoon, and was also at the graduation party in Webb City.
Pam Davis, Triplett’s sister, was at home with her grandchildren. She got everyone into the bathtub in the bathroom in the middle of house when the tornado hit.
“After it passed, they opened the bathroom door and found that the tornado had taken everything but the room they were in,” Triplett said. “The only walls still standing were the walls that were around them.”
Triplett’s daughter-in-law, Marti, was at home at Hampshire Terrace apartments. She also took refuge in her bathroom, and got under the sink and held onto the pipes.
“She felt the wind picking her legs up, and dropping them back down again and again. She just held on and prayed,” Triplett said. “There are no walls standing at her apartment. She was exposed.”
Triplett is thankful his family members all made it through, and says his heart goes out to everyone who lost loved ones in the storm, and to people who are showing an outpouring of the love God and doing all they can to help.
The Catholic archbishop in Liverpool, England has, on the advice of the Vatican, decided against allowing a Methodist ordination service in Liverpool's Metropolitan Cathedral. Click here for a story.
The Rev. Kory Knott of Argyle United Methodist in North Texas shot an amazing video of a developing tornado. His footage made the Dallas Morning News Web site this morning. If you click on the link, hang on through the advertisement, then look to the column at right for the video shot by the pastor. "Argyle pastor films tornado" is the headline.
Bishop Robert Schnase of the Missouri Conference reports that three members of Webb City UMC died in the tornado that ripped through the Joplin, MO., area. Click here for his full update on UMC-related loss there.
The Missouri Conference reports that UMC pastors and families in Joplin, MO., are safe, but one church there (St. James UMC) has been destroyed and another (Saint Paul UMC) has been badly damaged by the tornado yesterday. Here's the conference's full bulletin:
A tornado went through central Joplin at about 5:30 p.m. Sunday. The core of the city received extensive damage, with the reported death toll at 89 on Monday morning, and expected to rise as search and rescue efforts continue.
“Our hearts and prayers go out to all those who grieve the loss of loved ones and who have suffered the destruction of homes and businesses following Sunday’s devastating tornado in Joplin. Several United Methodist churches have been directly affected. We pray for God’s comforting presence among those who feel completely overwhelmed. And we give God thanks for all those ready to help and serve and give and pray so that people can rebuild their lives. I invite United Methodists to respond prayerfully, courageously, and generously during these weeks to come. May God’s grace be known through our serving.”
Communication is very limited in the Joplin area at this time, as much of the cell-phone service is out, and several Internet providers in the area are down. Many roads are blocked with debris, and only professional emergency responders are being allowed in the area at this time.
Southwest District Superintendent Sandra Nenandal has been able to confirm the safety of all of the United Methodist pastors and their families who are in Joplin. St. James UMC has been destroyed, and Nenandal has heard that the Southwest District Office (located next to St. James UMC) also has extensive damage. At Saint Paul UMC (located near St. John’s Hospital) the sanctuary, worship center and fellowship hall have extensive damage, and the children’s wing is damaged to a lesser extent.
Missouri Conference disaster response coordinators are coordinating with the State Emergency Management Agency. The Missouri Conference equipment is being prepared to deploy. Personnel from UMPACT (the Conference property insurance provider) are standing by prepared to assess damages when they receive permission to enter the area.
Individuals and volunteer teams are urged not to self deploy at this time. Only professional emergency responders are being allowed to enter the damaged zone. There will be a large number of volunteer opportunities available after the area is secured. If you want to volunteer in Joplin, please e-mail Audrey Phelps at phelps@umocm.com and she will add you to a list of volunteers that will be notified when opportunities become available.
Trained Early Response Teams will be needed to respond to the Joplin tornado damage in the coming days. Right now it is important to note that we are still in the emergency phase of this disaster and we must wait for police, fire, rescue, and medical officials to make the area and those inhabiting it safe and secure. Early Response Teams should contact Audrey Phelps at phelps@umocm.com or 573-474-7155 and tell her how many people you would be able to bring and what resources you will have with you.
Individual donations for disaster response in Joplin can be made online on the Missouri Conference website at www.moumethodist.org/joplin.
Bishop Schnase is urging churches to collect a special offering this Sunday to assist with the disaster response in Joplin. The Missouri Conference has established a fund to receive monies into the Disaster Response account #7465. Churches are encouraged to collect a special offering this Sunday (May 29). Donations for relief may be made through the local church or checks marked #7465 may be made payable to the Missouri Annual Conference and mailed directly to the Treasurer’s Office at 3601 Amron Court, Columbia, Missouri, 65202.
Flood Buckets will be collected at Annual Conference Session next week. For a list of flood bucket contents go to www.umocm.com.
Greetings, e-Readers,
The Civil War began in 1861 – 150 years ago. And Methodists were in the thick of it. Indeed, Abraham Lincoln himself said in a letter that the Methodists were, based on their size, the most important church in contributing to the war effort. Methodism shaped the Civil War, and the Civil War definitely shaped Methodism, as our cover story makes clear.
A shrinking church and a recession spell revenue problems for the UMC. Budget cuts are in the offing, and United Methodist News Service was on hand at a recent meeting where denominational leaders considered just how extensive those cuts will need to be.
United Methodist ministers-in-training at the Claremont School of Theology will be studying with aspiring rabbis and imams. That’s because a $50 million gift has made possible the establishment of Claremont Lincoln University, an “interreligious” graduate school that will go on the same Southern California campus. Our story spells out the plans, and notes the objections of some conservative Methodists, who worry that the interfaith emphasis will come at the expense of evangelism.
Other stories this week include a feature on a female Methodist pastor who got a holy haircut, having her head shaved to help raise funds to fight cancer and a report on a visit to Arkansas by the leader of the Methodist seminary in Moscow.
We also offer our regular History of Hymns column, and a handful of commentaries, including Donald W. Haynes on “catholicity” as a Wesleyan virtue, and Andrew C. Thompson on how “Methodist” and “mainline” shouldn’t be synonymous.
Let us hear from you at news@umr.org.
And thanks for being a reader.
Sam Hodges
Managing editor
shodges@umr.org
UM-affiliate Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Ill., has announced a $5 million commitment to its unrestricted endowment, from Mary Joy and Jerre Stead. Mr. Stead is chair of the school's trustee board. The couple earlier agreed to endow three full-tuition, plus-stipend scholarships. More than $67 million has been pledged toward Garrett's $100 million campaign.
A few months ago I wrote a story about United Methodist Churches, including Aldersgate UMC in Virginia, that opened their doors to Islamic groups for prayers. The Daily Show did the same story recently - albeit with a somewhat different take, as you can imagine. There's some profanity in this report (it's bleeped out but it's still pretty obvious) so consider yourself warned.
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-may-5-2011/big-mohammed-s-house?xrs=share_copy
Claremont School of Theology in California is announcing today a $50 million naming gift from a United Methodist Couple - Joan and David Lincoln. The gift will establish Claremont Lincoln University, an interreligious graduate school.
Faculty and courses will come from the Claremont School of Theology, the Academy for Jewish Religion, California, and a new institution for Muslim scholarship being developed by the Islamic Center of Southern California.
Claremont School of Theology will retain its name and identity as a Christian clergy training school, and will continue its United Methodist Church affiliation, officials said.
"Joan and I are particularly pleased with the idea of creating a multireligious university that reflects the power and potential of the `Golden Rule,' which the many religious communities have in common," said David Lincoln.
The new school was already in the works, under the name "University Project." As Claremont Lincoln, it will be at the center of a new consortium of graduate schools for religious education.
Claremont Lincoln will offer masters and doctoral programs in interreligious studies, comparative religions, conflict resolution, sustainability, politics and religions. The first classes will be this fall.
Claremont President Jerry D. Campbell said theology students will benefit from access to the new school's broad curriculum.
"We need to prepare our students to minister in an environment that contains many more religions than the mostly Christian environment they encountered in the past," Campbell said. "If seminary students have experience with leaders from other religious traditions, they will be better prepared for effective ministry in multi-religious communities."
The Lincolns are members of Paradise Valley United Methodist Church, near Scottsdale, Arizona. David Lincoln has been a trustee of the theology school since 2003.
The Rev. Gayle Landis of Lakewood UMC in Dallas will get her Doctor of Ministry diploma in a ceremony tomorrow at Southern Methodist University's Perkins School of Theology. Her son Zach Landis will get his Master of Divinity degree in the same event. Zach has been a youth pastor at First UMC in Sherman, Texas, and expects to be commissioned next year as a provisional elder by the North Texas Conference.
The United Methodist Church's Connectional Table just wrapped up a big meeting focused on the denomination's finances. The picture is not pretty.
Due to declining numbers and giving in the United States, the UMC will likely have to cut its budget by 6 percent.
United Methodist News Service has a full report on the meeting.
The "2011 State of the Church Report" for the UMC is online, and it puts numbers to the well-known trends, including shrinking membership in the U.S. and Europe and rapid growth in Africa and the Philipines.
Some notable factoids:
* Through UMC work in Africa, nearly 500,000 insecticide-treated bed nets have been distributed as part of the Imagine No Malaria effort
* UM membership in the U.S. dropped by 8 percent from 1999 to 2009 but grew in Africa by 134 percent and in the Philippines by 161 percent
* The rate of decline in the U.S. was 0.4 percent in 1998-99 and jumped to 1.22 percent in 2008-2009
* Local churches in the U.S. reported more than $6.15 billion in contributions in 2009
To read the full report, go first to this press release, then click on the link in the story to get a PDF file.
Greetings, e-Readers,
For some United Methodists, mainly retirees, there’s nothing like hitting the road again, to camp and to offer Christian service. Staff writer Mallory McCall recently traveled to Mineola, Texas, for a UM camping jamboree. She weaves into her account some of the background and current challenges of the denomination’s camping movement.
Southern Methodist University just had a visit from perhaps the world’s best-known Buddhist, the Dalai Lama. SMU gave the spiritual leader of Tibet an honorary degree, and he gave remarks, pausing long enough to pull on an SMU cap. Staff writer Mary Jacobs reports from the scene.
The Rev. Ralph Lloyd Roy, a retired UM elder in the New York Conference, took part in the Freedom Rides that helped integrate the South 50 years ago. He provides a compelling account of his historic journey.
A small UM church in Toledo, Ohio, bought billboard space to proclaim “Being Gay is a gift from God.” Meanwhile, the denomination’s Judicial Council struck down a New York Annual Conference policy that would have allowed clergy to marry someone of the same sex. Both stories are in this issue, and both come from United Methodist News Service.
In commentaries, we have a Memorial Day-related reflection by Bishop Woodie White on the cost of the freedoms most of us take for granted. Missy Buchanan’s “Aging Well” column looks at how a group of older United Methodists has formed a special bond with a young seminarian from South Korea.
There’s plenty more in this issue, including “History of Hymns” on Charles Wesley’s “Christ, Whose Glory Fells the Skies,” Associate Editor Bill Fentum’s preview of 3-D movie Dolphin Tale, and a UMNS report on the last graduation at Lambuth University.
Thanks for being a reader,
Sam Hodges
Managing editor
shodges@umr.org
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has removed its celibacy requirement for unmarried clergy. Thus it becomes the latest mainline denomination to decide to allow ordination of gays. The move was approved last year by the denomination's national assembly, but required ratification by a majority of presbyteries. That came Tuesday night with a vote by The Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area. Click here for the AP story.
With his warmth, wit and irresistible giggle, the Dalai Lama charmed his audience this afternoon at Southern Methodist University’s McFarlin Auditorium in Dallas. The Nobel laureate and spiritual leader of Tibet was on campus to receive an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from the University, and to deliver a lecture at the Hart Global Leaders Forum, a gathering of about 2,000 local high school students. SMU faculty and staff and about 500 members of the general public also attended.
Officials from the United Methodist Church's General Council on Finance and Administration spoke today at the Council of Bishops meeting. They projected a "realistic" 4-year denomination budget of $603 million, down 6 percent from the current budget. Their "optimistic" figure is $631 million, and their "pessimistic" figure is $568 million. Any way you cut it, it's less money. One key problem: fewer givers, due to shrinking church. There'll be much more budget talk, and possibly revised figures, before the 2012 General Conference.
The Council of Bishops of the UMC, meeting at St. Simons Island, Ga., today voted for having a fulltime president of the council who would not have to oversee a conference. Bishops forsee a four-year term, with the president serving as chief ecunemical officer as well as leading efforts to allign the denomination and implement its Call to Action reform plan. The move would require a constitutional amendment. Next big stop in the process: General Conference 2012. Currently, the council presidency is part-time, held by someone who has "residential" responsibilities in a conference.
United Methodist News Service reports that the denomination's Judicial Council has voided a yet-to-be-implemented policy in New York and Connecticut that would have allowed clergy to marry someone of the same sex.
Bishop Will Willimon arrived late for this week's Council of Bishops meeting at St. Simons Island, Ga. He was checking on the extent of damage and relief efforts in his North Alabama Conference.
Willimon now says about 15 UM churches in his conference were destroyed by last week's tornades. "Another 15 are unusable for the next 6 months."
Some Methodist church members were among the fatalities in Alabama, but he's not sure how many.
He praised UM relief efforts, saying they're feeding 10,000. Some UM teams, he says, beat the National Guard to the scene.
Willimon noted that he has ten criticzed the denomination's structure and bureaucacy, but appreciates it's highly organized approach to relief work.
"It's great to be in a methodical church at times like this."
By Sam Hodges
Managing Editor
Council of Bishops President Larry Goodpaster challenged colleagues today to lead by example in renewing the struggling United Methodist Church, making substantive changes in how the episcopacy itself works.
“What would it look like to abandon competing interests and personal agendas in order to become a beloved community where grace abounds and where the community supports and holds one another accountable?” he asked.
Bishop Goodpaster gave the presidential address in the opening business session of the Council of Bishops’ spring meeting, underway through May 6 at St. Simons Island, Ga.
The speech, titled “Leading into the Future,” largely avoided specific proposals, though Bishop Goodpaster cited the Call for Action blueprint for changing the denomination, as well as the possibility of having a bishop working fulltime as Council of Bishops leader.
Mostly, Bishop Goodpaster sought to inspire, drawing on the example of Francis Asbury, pioneer of Methodism in America. He challenged bishops to follow Asbury’s, including a willingness to use popular culture to spread the gospel.
“Think emergent leadership,” Bishop Goodpaster said.
The UMC has lost ground in membership for more than 40 years, and the Call to Action represents the current effort to reverse that.
But Bishop Goodpaster, of Charlotte, N.C., said that no solution can be found without increased faithfulness.
“We have stumbled along the way,” he said. “We have built shrines and monuments where we try to capture and confine him. We have created councils, committees, boards and study groups. And, while we are trying to figure out how we can survive, Jesus continues to go on ahead.”
Bishop Goodpaster noted that the meeting occurs after an extraordinary series of natural disasters, both in the United States and abroad. He mentioned, as well, the news of the killing of Osama bin Laden.
“My prayer is that it does close a chapter,” he said after his address. “I hope that the world changes for the better.”
During his address, he called on Bishop Jane Allen Middleton, of Harrisburg, Pa., to offer a prayer in regard to the bin Laden killing.
“We hope for a sense of closure,” she prayed. “O God, let it not be retribution upon retribution upon retribution that knows no end.”
The bishops are, for the first time, attempting to have a “paperless” meeting, to save money and make an environmental statement.
Today’s business session began with tutorials on how to use e-readers, such as Nooks, Kindles and iPads, to access the text of Bishop Goodpaster’s address and other documents.
Bishops were to devote later sessions to discussing implementation of the Call to Action, possible changes in the denomination’s ecumenical operations, and reform of theological education.
