This translation is not completely accurate as it was automatically generated by a computer.
Powered by
Delegates consider legislation during the 2008 United Methodist General
Conference in Fort Worth, Texas. In 2012, delegates will face varying
proposals to restructure the church. A UMNS file photo by Mike DuBose.
View in Photo Gallery
A UMNS Report
By Heather Hahn*
5:30 P.M. ET Jan. 30, 2012
Plans to restructure The United Methodist Church’s 13 general agencies could imperil ministries that local congregations need and value, say agency executives.
“We need vital congregations,” said Gilbert C. Hanke, the top executive of United Methodist Men. “But we also need a vital general church at the same time to do what it is we as United Methodists are called to do.”
Hanke and 12 other members of the United Methodist General Secretaries Table released a statement
Jan. 26 to respond to proposals that would consolidate agencies,
shrink their governing boards and potentially slash their funding. The
General Secretaries Table consists of the chief executives of the 13
general agencies.
The group’s statement urges 2012 General Conference
delegates to “identify essential functions best provided by the general
church system and support those functions through organizational
structure, resource allocation, and churchwide action.”
General Conference, the denomination’s top lawmaking body, will meet
April 24-May 4 in Tampa, Fla. Hanke, who is also a General Conference
delegate from the Texas Annual (regional) Conference, and at least five
other agency heads have issued personal statements sounding a note of
caution about the restructuring plans.
What will the restructure affect?
One significant piece of legislation — the result of the multiyear
Call to Action process — would consolidate nine of the general agencies
into a new United Methodist Center for Connectional Mission and
Ministry under a 15-member board.
The legislation also would allow the new center’s board to
redistribute up to $60 million toward funding theological education,
recruiting young clergy and laity, and fostering vital congregations.
The legislation does not specify where that total will come from,
but agency executives expect either a majority or the entirety of the
money will come from the World Service Fund, which provides most of the
funding for agency work.
Agencies already face more than a 6.5 percent cut to the World Service Fund
under the 2013-16 budget of $311.6 million, which the denomination’s
General Council on Finance and Administration has submitted to General
Conference. The redistribution potentially would represent another
reduction of nearly 20 percent.
“That being the case, the essential functions of all general
agencies will not continue,” Hanke said. “There is not a single one
that can take that large a reduction.”
Under the restructuring legislation, United Methodist Men would be
among the few agencies that remain a separate body. However, Hanke
joined other agency executives in expressing concerns about what the
redistribution of $60 million in general church funds could mean for
the ministry his and other agencies provide.
United Methodist Men, for example, relies on the World Service Fund for 25 percent of its budget.
Without United Methodist Men, Lee Donley said his congregation and
others would lack the resources for the men’s ministries and Boy Scout
troops that help churches grow.
For example, he cited the commission’s Understanding Men’s Ministry
program, which helped Oxford (Mich.) United Methodist Church, his
congregation near Detroit, set up ministries that appeal to men ranging
from Bible studies to service projects.
“I feel very strongly that if we don’t get more men in our church,
we’re going to suffer for it,” said Donley, who was first drawn to his
church by men’s ministry and is now president of the North Central
Jurisdiction’s United Methodist Men.
But that program and other general agency resources could be in jeopardy, Hanke said.
Slightly more than a penny of every dollar given by local church
members in the United States supports the ministries of general
agencies through the World Service Fund, according to the General Council on Finance and Administration.
Over the decades, the downturn in U.S. membership and declining
revenue already have forced general agencies to eliminate some staff
positions and programs. The number of staff positions in 13 general
agencies has decreased from 3,139 in 1971 to 1,384 in 2010.
The loss of $60 million means, “there will be fewer missionaries,
fewer Sunday School resources, less advocacy for peace and justice,
fewer scholarships and less assistance to the growing part of the
church: Africa and the Philippines,” said Jim Winkler, top executive of
the United Methodist Board of Church and Society.
Where did changes come from?
At least one agency executive, however, is not wary of the restructuring proposal or the funding changes.
Neil M. Alexander, the president and publisher of the United
Methodist Publishing House, has been a leader throughout the Call to
Action process that led to the legislation. He also signed on to the
General Secretaries Table statement.
“While the (executives) do not all agree on either one analysis or a
number of proposed improvements, the General Secretaries Table wanted
to be sure that United Methodists know that we share common commitments
around core values and the specific affirmations found in the
statement,” he said.
Under the Call to Action legislation, the United Methodist
Publishing House and Board of Pension and Health Benefits, as agencies
supported by fees for service, would remain as separate bodies.
The Council of Bishops and the Connectional Table, which coordinates
the denomination’s ministry and resources, initiated the Call to
Action after decades of declining U.S. membership.
The U.S. membership has decreased by 29 percent since 1968, falling
from 10.7 million members to fewer than 8 million. The average U.S.
member’s age is now 57. After two independent studies, the Call to
Action Steering Team concluded that the status quo of a shrinking and
aging U.S. church is “toxic” and unsustainable.
The Call to Action report exhorted the denomination to redirect its
attention, energy and resources toward fostering and sustaining an
increased number of vital congregations. Agency executives, in their
statement, affirmed that goal.
Another group, the Interim Operations Team, devised the recommended
changes, and the Connectional Table drafted the legislation.
“These proposals can certainly benefit from additional work to
perfect them,” said Alexander, the executive coordinator of the Interim
Operations Team. “At their essence, the proposals call for intense and
concentrated focus on vital congregations, new approaches in
leadership, changes in how we deploy resources and unified governance
and administration of program agency work.”
Other concerns
The potential funding cut is not the only change that worries some agency executives about reorganization proposals.
The Rev. Larry Hollon, top executive of United Methodist
Communications, is troubled that the proposal puts communications in an
office of shared services. That office includes the work now done by
the General Council on Finance and Administration, the United Methodist
Commission on Archives and History and information technology
departments across the agencies.
“The ability to project the church’s voice into the wider public
conversations about faith and values is critical today,” Hollon said.
“In fact, it is a responsibility of our call to be faithful disciples.
Paul, in his letter to the Philippians, admonishes us to bring the
light of the gospel to a culture of darkness. The communications
function of The United Methodist Church is about supporting
disciple-making.”
The Methodist Federation for Social Action, an unofficial progressive caucus, has submitted legislation for an alternative reorganization that preserves most agencies under their own, smaller boards.
However, the group’s proposal also creates a Center for Resourcing
of Operations that combines the roles of the General Council on Finance
and Administration, United Methodist Communications and the United
Methodist Board of Pension and Health Benefits.
That combination of agency functions could pose a liability risk to
the denomination’s finances, said Barbara Boigegrain, the pension
board’s top executive.
“If the (board) is merged with other entities in the church under a
common board, the opportunity for legal action impacting all church
financial assets is much greater,” she explained.
“The temptation to lower conference contributions to the pension
plans in favor of more immediate missional and programmatic priorities
increases dramatically. Today, in the public sector, we see the result
of mixing public priority and authority over the pension funds in the
severe underfunding of many state and public pension plans.”
The Rev. Robert J. Williams, the chief executive of the Commission
on Archives and History, likewise would prefer his agency to remain
separate with its own board.
One of his concerns is that “the proposals concerning the structures
of the general agencies lack any evidence to support claims that the
church will be better off or that more vital congregations will be
created. It is simply an effort to cut the budgets.”
Action already being taken
Both Hanke of United Methodist Men, and Thomas Kemper, the top
executive of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, point out
that the agencies have already taken steps to respond to the Call to
Action.
“We have sometimes been depicted as intransigent, that we don’t want
to change,” Hanke said. “But that’s not true; we have already
changed.”
He points out that even before the Connectional Table devised its
restructuring legislation, most of the agencies were developing their
own legislation to shrink their boards by some 266 members. Hanke said
his and other agencies have increased interagency collaboration and now
meet and provide training online more to curb costs.
Kemper, a German citizen and the first top executive from outside the
United States to lead a general agency, said he recognizes the
strengths of the global United Methodist Church as well as the need for
change. His governing board, the largest of the agencies, has voted to
cut its membership by two-thirds.
“I pray that the 2012 General Conference will take wise and careful
actions that will greatly enliven our whole church and result in greater
numbers of more vital congregations everywhere,” he said. “The general
agencies receive a relatively small percentage of what United
Methodists contribute annually to the church, but in whatever
configuration, these organizations are connective tissue within the
denomination — necessary and vital.”
*Hahn is a multimedia news reporter for United Methodist News Service.
News media contact: Heather Hahn, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
Glad you liked it. Would you like to share?
Showing 10 comments
Reactions