wfn.org | United Methodist Men's agency shifts focus

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Feb. 21, 2002 News media contact: Linda Green7(615)742-54707Nashville, Tenn.
10-71B{066}

NOTE: This story is accompanied by two sidebars, UMNS stories #067 and #068.

By Rich Peck*

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) - The Commission on United Methodist Men is shifting
its focus from membership to ministry in an effort to help congregations
reach out more effectively to all men.

Traditionally, the agency has focused its efforts on chartering units of
United Methodist Men (UMM) in every local church. Though the denomination's
Book of Discipline requires every church to have a UMM organization, only
7,500 of the 26,200 pastoral charges across the country have chartered
units.

During its Feb. 17-19 meeting, the 40-member commission decided to change
its focus, and it will seek a new paragraph in the Discipline stating that
the agency has a ministry to every male member of the denomination. 

The shift does not end efforts to charter new units. Those efforts were
affirmed and will be intensified during the coming months. The action does,
however, recognize that ministry to men can take many forms, and the
commission wants to help congregations reach out to all men, within and
beyond UMM units. 

"It's our job to say to the church that ministry to men must be a priority,"
said the Rev. Joseph L. Harris, the commission's top executive, in his
report to the board.

Recently elected head of the World Fellowship of Methodist and Uniting
Church Men, Harris also called for the creation of a task force to
investigate ways in which the agency can link with United Methodist and
other Methodist men outside the United States.
 
A persistent theme throughout the three-day meeting was the need to find
ways to reach youth and young men. Some 140 leaders of men's ministries
attending a three-day session before the commission meeting sounded the same
note. Agency directors and conference presidents celebrated the fact that
some 7,000 United Methodist congregations sponsor 413,000 Scouts, making the
denomination the largest Boy Scouts sponsor, and that the agency routinely
gives out thousands of Bibles to youth. However, the UMM leaders also noted
that thousands of young people are leaving the church, and that much work
must be done to address that problem.

One of the commission's longstanding youth ministries has been through its
administration of the denomination's Boy Scouts programs. On Feb. 16, the
directors presented the Good Samaritan Award - the highest honor given by
the church to a youth - to Evan Hunsberger, of Orange County, California.
Hunsberger, a Roman Catholic Boy Scout, received the award for his role in
revising and republishing a 1942 book of devotions for people serving in the
military. 

Following Sept. 11, the commission supported the idea of sending the book,
Strength for Service to God and Country, to U.S. military personnel, and the
directors established a goal of $3 million to fulfill a 1 million-book order
from the armed forces chaplains' services. Hunsberger presented a $2,000
check to the commission to help with the costs. The money came from donors
supporting his dream of sending the book to service men and women around the
world.

During discussions about attracting more young men into UMM, Larry Malone,
director of men's ministries for the commission, told of a men's group that
has been "dipping grits" together for the past 25 years. "This serves an
important need for these men," Malone observed, "but it has nothing to
appeal to young men." The leaders decided to have more information about the
organization posted on the Web at www.gcumm.org and asked the staff to
develop non-print resources that might appeal to young people.

As part of its effort to strengthen men's spiritual lives, the commission
decided to support the launch of a small-group resource this fall called
TQuest (Transformation Quest).
 
The agency believes that men must enrich their own spiritual lives before
they can effectively share their faith with others, said Larry Malone,
director of men's ministry for the Nashville-based agency. "TQuest is a
framework that invites the Holy Spirit to build relationships among men.
Unless we walk closely with God, we're trying to sell something we don't
have."

Through TQuest, study groups consisting of four to six men will meet weekly
for 40 weeks. Resources for the 90-minute sessions include a narrative,
Bible study, personal inventory, personal challenge and a journaling
exercise. Sessions conclude with the men pairing off and praying for one
another. "It's hard to hide out in pairs," Malone said.

In other business, the directors:
7	Organized a committee on restorative justice and agreed to join the
United Methodist Board of Church and Society in a ministry to the families
of incarcerated people.
7	Learned that Cal Turner, top executive of Nashville-based Dollar
General, has pledged  $1 million to support men's ministries.
7	Reviewed a General Council on Ministries survey to help some 1,000
churches evaluate their men's ministries.
7	Agreed to provide an opportunity for men to give an amount above the
normal covenant level of $25 for EMS (Every Man Shares), an individual
pledge that supports UMM at district, conference, jurisdictional levels,
along with the Upper Room prayer ministry, missions, scouting and commission
programs and expenses.
7	Generally praised the UM Men's Congress held in July at Purdue
University, which drew about 4,000 men. A series of administrative and
housing problems has led the planning committee for the 2005 conference to
consider breaking tradition and moving the event away from the West
Lafayette, Ind., campus.
# # #
*Peck is communications consultant for the churchwide Commission on United
Methodist Men.

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United Methodist News Service
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