wfn.org | Locating churches first step in 'Find-A-Church' project

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

Dec. 21, 1999 News media contact: Thomas S. McAnally Nashville, Tenn. (615)
742-5470 (10-21-71BP) {679}

NOTE TO EDITORS:  A photograph showing the  "Find-A-Church Project"  Web
site page is available for use with this story. 

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) -- Few counties in the United States are without a
United Methodist Church and yet the denomination doesn't know where they are
located!

Incredible but true. The denomination has mailing addresses for all of its
36,000-plus congregations but no way of locating a large percentage of them.
That's particularly embarrassing for a denomination that prides itself on
its organizational sophistication, says the Rev. Steven Horswill-Johnston, a
staff member of United Methodist Communications (UMCom).  

Currently 40 percent of all mailing addresses maintained by the denomination
are post office boxes, he reports. The remaining percentage include street
locations for some churches but also parsonages and other contact persons. 

The lack of verifiable street addresses became problematic when UMCom sought
to develop a project to help individuals find local United Methodist
churchs.  

Denominational agencies often receive calls from individuals seeking a
United Methodist church in a community to which they are moving.  Already,
40 percent of the calls received by  Infoserv, a nationwide, toll-free
information service,  are asking for church address information,  according
to Horswill-Johnston. 

UMCom staff, cooperating with their colleagues at the General Council on
Finance and Administration in Evanston, Ill., are hoping to have all United
Methodist churches identified by name, street address and telephone number
by July 2000.  

Once in place, the Find-A-Church Project would allow anyone to find the
church's official Internet Web site at www.umc.org and enter a postal zip
code or city.  The names, addresses, pastors, and phone numbers of all
United Methodist churches will appear on the screen, and an easy-to-read map
will show each church's exact location.  

Individuals without access to the Internet can call Infoserv at 800-251-8140
and get  the information by phone.  The Web site and telephone information
service are both administered for the denomination by UMCom, headquartered
in Nashville.

To get the street addresses of churches, UMCom staff  members are turning to
the 517 district superintendents in the United States.  In mid-January each
will receive a Find-A-Church packet asking for the information. 

Bishop Sharon Rader, president of UMCom's governing body, is encouraging her
colleagues on the Council of Bishops and the superintendents in their
respective areas  to support the effort.   She is also assuring them that
the addresses will not be sold, leased or shared with outside vendors for
commercial purposes and will not be used for mailing purposes.

The Find-A-Church project has unlimited evangelistic possibilities,
according to Horswill-Johnston.  One of those, he illustrates, is "Igniting
Ministry," a major UMCom initiative for a nationwide media campaign.  " When
viewers see television commercials about the United Methodist Church they
can log onto the Internet and find a church near them."

For more information on the project, call toll free 888-278-4862.

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United Methodist News Service
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