Town hall teleconference
gives snapshot of UMC

United Methodist News Service
The United Methodist Church envisions starting 650 new U.S. congregations by 2012, doubling the number of young people serving as pastors and church leaders, and expanding ministries on behalf of the world’s impoverished people.
Those were highlights from a first-ever teleconference inviting United Methodists worldwide to an April 17 “town hall” meeting with denominational leaders.
The teleconference was timed to coincide with the release of a report by the General Council on Finance and Administration on local church membership, attendance and giving trends.
Called “This is Our Story,” the report presents the denomination as “a faithful, generous people in dozens of nations who continue to make a difference in the lives of people around the world,” said Sandra Lackore, the fiscal agency’s chief executive.
Specifics in 2005 data—the most recent available—include:
> Worldwide professing and baptized membership is 13.75 million in more than 50 countries, compared with 11.35 million in 1995.
> U.S. professing membership is 7,995,429, compared with 8,075,010 the previous year, a decline of nearly 1 percent. Membership has decreased by more than 1.9 million members, or 19 percent, since 1974.
n While 35 percent of U.S. churches grew in membership, 41 percent did not report a single profession of faith.
Lackore was joined on the town hall panel by Bishop Janice Riggle Huie, the Rev. Jerome King Del Pino of the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry, the Rev. R. Randy Day of the General Board of Global Ministries, the Rev. Karen Greenwaldt of the General Board of Discipleship, Jim Winkler of the General Board of Church and Society, and the Rev. Larry Hollon of the General Commission on Communication.
More than 200 callers participated. At the close of the presentation, some asked questions about issues ranging from starting new churches to preserving the environment.
Del Pino cited 2005 research showing there were only 850 commissioned and ordained clergy ages 35 or under in the entire United Methodist Church in the United States.
Reminding listeners that “church planting is a biblical mandate,” Green-waldt said the church must invest its leadership and financial resources to start more new churches. Currently, the denomination starts an average of 90 a year in the United States.
She highlighted a new initiative that aims to train 1,000 new church planters to start 650 U.S. churches by 2012.
Day, who oversees global missions, reported the church has mission personnel and projects in more than 125 countries.
Hollon reported on the proposed Initiative on Global Health to address the diseases of poverty and significantly reduce the incidence of malaria and HIV/AIDS. It includes leveraging funding and creating new partnerships to increase health ministry, communicate about health and advocate for changes in public policy.
Winkler, who heads the church’s social advocacy agency, reminded the church that “ours is an active faith” that must address issues of justice, peace and poverty.
Organizers said the town hall meeting offered a new forum for presenting a snapshot of the denomination and sparking greater dialogue in an informative and interesting way.