Notice for Pastors from the Treasurer’s office

The Table I and Table II worksheets will be mailed from the conference treasurer’s office IMMEDIATELY after Christmas. Please watch your mailbox for the arrival of these forms and instructions. The completed forms will be due back in the treasurer’s office by JANUARY 31, 2003.

Youth VIM trip, July 5-13, to Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference

Apply now to join the Youth Volunteer in Missions Team to the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference, July 5-13. The team will consist of 30 youth and six adults. Every team member will attend a one-day team building and training event before the trip. Team members and their churches are responsible for cost of the trip which is $399 per person. Scholarship funds are available. Applicants must be at least rising ninth graders for the school year 2003-2004. Special consideration will be given to churches whose youth normally do not have an opportunity to participate in mission experiences. The number of youth from an individual church is limited to 6. Applications are due by January 1, 2003 with a $50 non-refundable processing fee, payable to the Memphis Conference and mailed to Katie Peterson, 106 Churchill Street, Somerville, TN 38068. For more information call Peterson at (901) 466-7215.

Society of St. Andrew (Potato Project) given highest charity rating

The Society of St. Andrew (Advance Special #801600-0), a grassroots hunger-relief organization better known as the Potato Project, recently received the highest possible charity rating from Charity Navigator, a national nonprofit organization. In giving the rating, Charity Navigator said, “Receiving four out of a possible four stars is an ‘Exceptional’ rating. Your organization exceeds industry standards and outperforms most charities in our database. We applaud your charitable efforts.” More than 96 cents of every dollar donated to SOSA goes directly to saving food and giving it to the hungry. The Society of St. Andrew is a year-round operation distributing food to all 48 contiguous states. It has gleaning networks in 15 states and New England. Since SOSA began salvaging fresh produce in 1983 with the help of hundreds of thousands of volunteers, the organization has saved more than 405 million pounds, which provided 1.2 billion servings to the nation’s hungry. For more information, call 1-800-333-4597; or go to www.endhunger.org.

Lambuth posts upcoming events for January

Lambuth University’s Jane Hyde Scott Center is designed to assist churches in meeting their mission, spiritual, and educational needs. The center provides a variety of workshops for clergy and laity.

The upcoming events for January, 2003 are:

January 14: Lambuth’s Office of Scholarship and Financial Aid will team up with the Memphis based Financial Educators Association to help provide a Financial Aid workshop for parents in the Memphis area. The workshop will be held at Christ UMC, 4488 Poplar, at 7 PM. Admission is free. For more information, contact Enrollment Management at 1-800-Lambuth.

January 19: A Leadership-Training workshop will be held at entitled “Evangelism in the 21^st Century.” The workshop will be held at Broadway UMC, 701 Broadway, in Paducah, Ky., from 2 PM to 4:30 PM. It will demonstrate contemporary methods for “Evangelizing in the Name of Christ” and is designed for all age groups.

January 28: A “Christian Stewardship: Moving from Financial Success to Significance” workshop will be held in the Wisdom Parlor of Lambuth University’s Varnell~Jones Hall. The workshop has been crafted to help people discover ways to define and clarify legacy objectives as well as provide a basic understanding of the potential obstacles that may challenge one’s efforts. For more information or to register, please contact Tom Schneider at 1-800-Lambuth or e-mail schneide@lambuth.edu.

Mission agency budget cuts source of rumors, dismay

 GBGM Board prez responds  to questions raised about cutbacks 

By Bishop Joel Martinez

President, General Board of Global Ministries

 As President of the General Board of Global Ministries, I am deeply touched and strongly encouraged by the outpouring of concern that has greeted reports that the agency must temporarily reduce the number of active missionaries as a result of financial realities.

I am not, however, surprised by the responses because mission and missionaries are near to the heart of United Methodist life and culture. We are a Church IN mission, all the time; a global, mission Church.

I am not disturbed that some letters and calls express dismay at the turn of events. People who care about the Gospel of Jesus Christ are understandably distressed when the Church must even temporarily reduce the number of laborers in the mission field.

The last dozen years have been a remarkable era of new mission initiatives and mission personnel growth. Our roster of professional mission personnel stood at 2,151 persons in October 2002. We have celebrated these mission successes in prayer and song, and we are reluctant to change our words or our tunes.

The 91 other Board Directors and I stand at the head of the line of those distressed by mission personnel and other program reductions. We experienced heavy hearts as we struggled to balance the budget for 2003. That is our responsibility, and we had to act–and act we did in pain and humility. A great part of the numerical loss in personnel will result from our inability to replace immediately persons who are retiring or those whose nonrenewable terms expire next year. We expect that relatively few missionaries eligible for contract renewal in 2003 will be lost. I hope that United Methodists will understand that the pending personnel reduction is only one part of a larger, challenging financial picture.

Considerable misunderstanding is abroad in the Church about the personnel decision and also about another action taken by the Directors in October 2002. The second is the formation of a Foundation for Mission Endowment Fund which will foster professorships of mission and mission study curricula in United Methodist seminaries and other institutions of higher education.

Unfortunately, some reports have linked the mission personnel and mission endowment fund in ways that distort both. Deployment of missionaries and mission education are inextricably connected in Christian discipleship, but there is no cause-effect relationship between the Foundation for Mission Endowment Fund and a temporary reduction in mission personnel.

To clarify issues, to put the personnel question in the larger context, and to explain the work of the Endowment Fund, the Board has prepared papers entitled: “Missionary Personnel Policy for 2003” and “The Foundation for Mission Endowment Fund.”

The latter paper is a brief, straightforward explanation of an educational initiative long needed, and one that is made possible at this juncture because of the available projected educational services of Dr. Randolph Nugent, retiring General Secretary of the Board. The funds allocated for this work were designated by donors for mission education. The annual budget for this project... includes travel costs, office expenses, telephone, and miscellaneous expenses, as well as compensation for Dr. Nugent.

The paper on missionary personnel is longer but no less straightforward. Presented in question-and-answer format, it covers the extent of expected temporary reduction in mission personnel, the composition of the missionary force, the larger financial conditions that require reduction, the reasons for recent revenue shortfalls, steps being taken to handle the financial strains, and priorities for mission assignment.

The paper will tell you such things as, “Yes, it is true that the General Board of Global Ministries will make no new missionary assignments for 2003,” and “No, it is not true that missionaries whose contracts expire next year will automatically be terminated.”

Some 250 to 300 missionary contracts either come to an end or come up for renewal each year. That total in 2003 is 283. Of those, more than half are short-term personnel, such as US2s and 10-10-10 missionaries (annual conference-based), whose service is not renewable under the terms of these programs. Both are designed for short-term, non-renewable service. Of the 283 persons, 144 are regular (Standard Support) missionaries whose contracts are subject to renewal. Many of these persons will be reassigned. But, as of this writing, no regular (Standard Support) missionaries have been notified that contracts expiring in 2003 would not be renewed.

 Global Gathering still scheduled to take place in April, 2003

In a financially-related issue, the Directors did decide to proceed with plans to produce the Global Gathering IV in April of 2003. The Board has set aside $2.1 million over the last four years for this purpose, some of which will be recovered in the form of registrations and exhibit fees. The Directors believed that this major opportunity to promote mission and missionaries among United Methodists should not be missed when additional funds for programs are needed....

Please ask the People called United Methodists to pray for our missionaries, for the General Board of Global Ministries and its Directors and staff, and for any persons who may be adversely affected by budget reductions across the board. And please ask United Methodists to open their hearts and their wallets so that our mission momentum can be restored to its full potential...

(For copies of the papers mentioned in this letter, please call Cathy Farmer, (731) 664-8480.)

GBGM offers answers on personnel policy, Foundation fund

 Q. To what extent will the missionary force be reduced?

A. The greater numerical loss will come from a shortage of funds to replace mission personnel whose service will naturally end in 2003. In any given year, between 250 and 300 missionary contracts either terminate (and are not renewable) or are up for renewal. For 2003, the number is 283. Some 144 of the 283 are regular missionaries whose terms can be renewed. Many of these 144 will be reassigned and some may be considering voluntary transfer to other forms of ministry. As of this writing, no missionary whose contract is subject to renewal in 2003 has been notified of contractual termination.

 Q. What necessitated the temporary reductions?

A. GBGM is entering a third year of severe financial shortfalls. A basic budget of $68.25 million for 2003 is $16 million less than the budget for 2001. The budgets of every part of GBGM have been cut except for Women’s Division and UMCOR, both of which raise their own funds.

 Q. How is Foundation for Mission Endowment underwritten?

A. A program budget of up to  $400,000 for the first two years was approved. The money will come largely from investment gains realized on funds restricted by donors to the cause of mission education. Other funds in the first two-year budget are from the Women’s Division and from individual donations given for this purpose. In some cases, seminaries will help with costs. 

Q. Why was Nugent hired?

A. The Foundation honors his 30 years of mission service and benefits from his experience. He has the academic credentials and zeal for mission required to launch the Foundation. 

In just four years, Trinity’s Living Nativity has become a cherished tradition.

Four years ago, the church’s then pastor, Dr. Tom Cary, described the Bethlehem Market Place in Murfreesboro, Tenn. to Trinity’s board members. The description ignited the imagination of many of those present, so Larry and Connie Wilson and Becky Cary, the pastor’s wife, drove to Murfreesboro to check it out.

After seeing it, they knew it couldn’t be duplicated at Trinity which doesn’t have a Christian Life Center or adequate parking for a large crowd. But they thought it could be modified – instead of an indoor walk-through, it would become an outdoor drive-by.

Connie immediately went shopping for patterns and materials and, assisted by Virginia Fitzgerald, started sewing costumes for more than 24 characters.

Their enthusiasm was contagious, so by D-Day, volunteers were lined up to portray nearly 60 people in costume, to serve as greeters and as traffic directors. Other volunteers offered to help the characters get dressed, provide music, and to donate and serve finger food for workers and guests.

The production of the Live Nativity was to be a gift from the church to the community and it has been increasingly successful each year as 900 to 1200 people drive through.

As guests arrive, they remain in their cars and are asked to turn off lights and follow the luminaries that circle the church. Live actors and animals are in spotlighted scenes around the church which depict the birth of Jesus as told in the Book of Luke.

When guests finish the tour, they’re invited to park their cars and go inside for refreshments; or they can simply leave.

Entire families, from a three-year-old to senior citizens, participate. Actors rotate on a 30-minute schedule, requiring two people for each role.

The Rev. Glenn Elliott is the current pastor, but the Wilsons and most of the original cast and crew will be presenting the Living Nativity again this year on Saturday and Sunday, December 21 and 22, from 6-9 PM. The church is located at 409 North Wilson Street, off Highway 79 North and right on Fairgrounds Road. No admission will be charged.

Petitions deadline for 2004 General Conference set

By United Methodist News Service

Individuals and groups that want to change the policies, procedures and practices of the United Methodist Church have until Nov. 29, 2003 to submit petitions to General Conference.

The church’s general agencies must submit their reports for General Conference by Aug. 1 and their petitions by Oct. 1. Those will be included in the Advance Daily Christian Advocate, a publication giving advance program information about the assembly.

The next meeting of the General Conference will be April 27-May 7, 2004, in Pittsburgh.

The General Conference, the only body that can speak officially for the denomination, comprises nearly 1,000 delegates – half clergy and half lay. After each conference, revised editions of the Book of Discipline and Book of Resolutions are released.

General Conference delegates can change anything in the Book of Discipline except the church’s Constitution. Any recommended changes in the Constitution must be ratified by the annual (regional) conferences.

The 2004 assembly will have 11 legislative committees: church and society; conferences; discipleship; faith and order; financial administration; general administration; global ministries; higher education and ministry; independent commissions; judicial administration; and local church.

Each valid petition is given a number and title. Each legislative committee deals with petitions related to a series of paragraphs from the Book of Discipline. Petitions related to the Book of Resolutions are sorted by subject matter. A legislative committee can recommend concurrence or non-concurrence with the language as submitted, or the committee may change the language and then recommend concurrence.

Petitions (three hard copies required and 3.5 inch diskette requested) should be mailed to: Gary W. Graves, petitions secretary, U.M. General Conference, P.O. Box 6, Beaver Dam, KY 42320.

Petitions (three hard copies required and 3.5 inch diskette requested) submitted via commercial overnight carriers (Federal Express, UPS, DHL) should be sent to Graves, petitions secretary, U.M. General Conference, 302 N. Lafayette St., Beaver Dam, KY 42320.

Petitions also can be sent by fax to (270) 274-4590 or by e-mail to petitions@umpublishing.org.