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Editor’s Note: As the 2012 General Conference approaches,
United Methodist News Service is looking at details of legislation and
offering information to help readers better understand how the church
works. A number of proposals are aimed at restructuring the denomination
and its general ministries, so UMNS asked the top executives of each
agency to answer five questions about their agency's role in the church. This is the response from the United Methodist Board of Church and Society.
A UMNS Report
7:00 A.M. ET March 27, 2012
1. One issue to be debated at General Conference is
restructuring. What would the church miss if your agency no longer
existed?
First, without the United Methodist Board of Church and Society, the
church would lose its voice in the halls of power in the White House,
the Congress of the United States and at the United Nations. No other
entity of the denomination has the staff, resources, expertise,
connections and contacts to accomplish advocacy grounded in our United
Methodist Social Principles.
Further, the church would lose the 60-year-old United Methodist
Seminars on National and International Affairs Program, the summer
Ethnic Young Adult Summer Intern Program, the annual Young Adult Clergy
Gathering, and numerous other leadership-development efforts that have
shaped and molded leaders in our denomination for generations.
The church’s leadership in Faith United Against Tobacco, Faiths
United to Prevent Gun Violence, Churches for Middle East Peace, the
Domestic Hunger Coalition, the Washington Interreligious Staff Council,
the Coalition for the Prevention of Alcohol Problems, the National
Coalition Against Legalized Gambling, the Interfaith Center for
Corporate Responsibility, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights,
and other interfaith and ecumenical coalitions would be lost. There
simply would be no one to carry on our denomination’s leadership and
presence in these society-improving efforts.
The denomination also would lose many seminars, training events and
scholarships targeted to the central conferences on domestic violence,
peace and justice, the Social Principles and human rights, among other
matters.
2. What is your agency’s primary mission? How do you accomplish this in the most effective manner?
Church and Society’s prime mission is to seek the implementation of
the United Methodist Social Principles and other policy statements
adopted by the General Conference. We carry this out through a program
of education, witness and action.
The past half century has seen dramatic and positive changes in our
denomination and the society at large through our role in justice
movements focused on civil rights; women; the environment; rights and
dignity of all people; ending the Vietnam War and those in Iraq and
Afghanistan; ending the nuclear arms race; ending apartheid in South
Africa; stopping HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, and eradicating
world hunger. Our denomination, through the Board of Church and
Society, in particular, has been on the front lines of all of these
Christ-inspired efforts for peace and justice.
3. Name at least one exciting thing in which your agency has
been involved during the current quadrennium. How does it relate to
the Four Areas of Focus?
Church and Society played a central role in securing federal
regulation of tobacco in the United States. Our top executive was on
the front row at the bill-signing ceremony at the White House in
recognition of The United Methodist Church’s vital role in this effort
that will save at least 650,000 lives around the world in coming years,
many of them United Methodists. This relates directly to the global
health emphasis of the denomination.
4. How does the average United Methodist pastor or member
benefit from your agency’s work? Social advocacy? Curriculum?
Scholarships? Please give a concrete example, ideally quoting a
testimonial from someone outside of your agency.
Albert Otshudi Longe, 20, from the Central Congo Episcopal Area and a
student at Africa University, wrote about his internship.
“In June 2011,” he said, “I participated in the Ethnic Young Adult
Internship sponsored by the Board of Church and Society in Washington,
D.C. The … program trains young adults to handle advocacy work for
social justice in various placements around Washington. The interns
come from the five ethnic minority caucuses of The United Methodist
Church, including Native Americans, Pacific Islanders,
Hispanic/Latinos, African Americans and Asian Americans. The program
challenges young adults to live out their faith.
“The internship has transformed me and strengthened my ability to
advocate for social justice and be a voice of the voiceless,” Longe
wrote. “The internship has been a source of inspiration for me, and I
believe will also be for the many youths of Africa who are serving God.
It will be a great joy to have my fellow African brothers and sisters
participate in the program.”
5. How much money and how many employees does it take to maintain the work your agency is currently doing?
Church and Society has 22 staff and receives some $2.8 million each
year in general church funds. That amount covers only half of the
agency’s operating expenses.
Learn more: Website of the United Methodist Board of Church and Society.
For more information, visit the 2012 General Conference website.
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