wfn.org | Communications agency sharpens focus, resources on Hispanics

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

Oct. 18, 1999 News media contact: Tim Tanton·(615)742-5470·Nashville, Tenn.
10-32-71B{543}

NOTE: This report is accompanied by a sidebar, UMNS story #544.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) - The United Methodist Church's communications
agency is launching an initiative aimed at better meeting the needs of
Hispanic communities in the United States and Puerto Rico.

Hispanics collectively are the fastest-growing ethnic group in the United
States, and will account for 29 percent of the population by the year 2050,
according to research commissioned by United Methodist Communications
(UMCom). In serving them, the church will have to provide more sharply
focused resources and also overcome a sense of disconnectedness that many
Hispanics feel in the denomination, research showed.

Governing members of the United Methodist Commission on Communication
approved the strategic plan at their Oct. 14-15 meeting in Nashville. The
initiative will include establishing a Hispanic Resources Team, refocusing
the agency's el Interprete magazine, and using radio, television and the
Internet to reach Hispanic people more effectively.

"I am really very, very happy to hear this report and these
recommendations," said Samuel de la Rosa, president of La Junta Consultiva
de Comunicaciones, an advisory group that worked with a UMCom task force on
the plan. If the recommendations are carried out, "I will be the happiest
man on the face of the earth," said de la Rosa, of Puerto Rico.

The commission endorsed the UMCom plan unanimously and affirmed it with
applause.

"It is a major piece of work," said Bishop Sharon Rader of Sun Prairie,
Wis., president of the commission.

One of the overarching findings of the research is that Hispanic United
Methodists feel distanced from the denomination, said commission member
Felix Gutierrez of San Francisco, who worked with the group that produced
the report.

"Despite the ideal of a united community of faith, Hispanic United
Methodists across the nation and in Puerto Rico exhibited a palpable sense
of marginalization from the United Methodist Church, and disconnection from
Hispanics in other jurisdictions," according to the research by Valdez &
Associates of Mountain View, Calif.

The research also showed that Hispanics value the larger church in their
lives and want to develop a stronger connection to it, Gutierrez said. This
presents a strategic opportunity for strengthening the United Methodist
Church's Hispanic communications efforts, he said.

"The church is important to us, and we want to feel we are important to the
church," he said.

UMCom's plan has five objectives:

·	Encouraging the United Methodist Publishing House to offer
Spanish-language Bibles for purchase and distribution. UMCom will encourage
the Publishing House to use advertising space in el Interprete, and it will
promote the availability of the scriptures through the magazine, the
Noticias news digest and mailings.

·	Establishing the Hispanic Resources Team. The team will initially
consist of 2.5 staff positions. It will identify services and resources for
Hispanic United Methodists, edit a publication on communicating resources
and networking ideas for local ministry, work on increasing the distribution
of the Noticias news digest, and develop training for local Hispanic
communicators. The team will work with other departments at UMCom as well as
coordinate joint efforts with churchwide agencies such as the Board of
Discipleship, The Upper Room, the National Plan for Hispanic Ministry and
the Publishing House.

·	Supporting enhanced resources for Hispanic United Methodists. These
will include publishing a "high-quality magazine from a Hispanic
perspective" aimed at providing and networking resource ideas for local
church ministries; offering Noticias as a more timely news update via e-mail
and fax; and exploring the possibility of audio-cassette resources for
church leaders and members.

·	Cooperating with the United Methodist Board of Discipleship, the
Publishing House, The Upper Room and other agencies to develop effective
resources and services. UMCom will provide addresses and information to the
discipleship board "to develop a comprehensive set of addresses and
contacts," and it will support the development of a World Wide Web page for
Hispanics.

·	Developing forums aimed at identifying issues and needs, so that the
denomination can more effectively serve Hispanics and other racial-ethnic
groups. The forums would bring together experts on contemporary ministry,
agency staff and representatives of ethnic minority communities.

In addition, the Commission on Communications "will consult with leadership
of the Methodist Church in Puerto Rico to encourage the expansion of
communications ministries in that (autonomous) denomination," the plan
stated.

At this point, UMCom's budget would not increase for the initiative, said
the Rev. Arvin R. Luchs, a UMCom staff executive. The initial goals can be
achieved by focusing staff resources more effectively, he said. For example,
resources in some areas that are being directed almost exclusively to the
Anglo community can be provided in Hispanic communities too, he said. 

The Hispanic Resources Team would do that work, he said. "What we're talking
about is a group that leverages and lobbies internally with the agency's
resources that it currently has."

Survey respondents overwhelmingly favored the magazine format as a way to
reach Hispanics. UMCom's el Interprete received favorable marks in the
research, but every group of respondents said the magazine had an "East
Coast bias" - including respondents on the East Coast.

The United Methodist Church has about 33,000 members in Hispanic-chartered
congregations. The largest percentage, about 48 percent, are of Mexican
origin, while 40 percent are Puerto Rican and the rest are Cuban, Central
American or South American. "Hispanic communications work is not ethnic
minority work; it is multiethnic minority work," Luchs said.

That diversity is reflected in other ways - language, geographic
distribution, and economic and educational levels. Hispanics in the church
"are not linguistically homogeneous," according to a study by Carmen T.
Bernard, a research consultant hired by UMCom. While some Hispanics are
Spanish-dominant, others prefer to speak in English or a combination of both
languages.

In other business, the commission approved a key document that will be used
in the search for a new general secretary for UMCom. The document describes
characteristics and skills that are being sought in the new chief executive.
Due to health problems, the Rev. Judy Weidman is on leave from the position
until she retires next June, and Peggy West is serving as acting general
secretary. 

The document will be circulated to people who might know of potential
candidates or who could be interested in the position themselves. The
deadline for receiving resumes and nominations is Dec. 31. A nominee will be
presented at the commission's March 21-22 meeting in Nashville, said Bob
Edgar, search committee chairman. "It is unlikely that we will have a
general secretary in place prior to General Conference," he said.

The commission and staff members also videotaped messages of support to
Weidman.

Other items on the commission's agenda included:
·	Taking action related to the proposed Igniting Ministry media
campaign (see UMNS story #544).
·	Hearing an update on work with the Odyssey channel. Viewership has
increased since Hallmark and Jim Henson Entertainment became partners in the
network last year, according to UMCom staff executive Wil Bane.
·	Approved proposed legislation that strengthens the denomination's
open meetings laws.
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