wfn.org | News In Brief - July 26, 2002

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Brief items for use in local church newsletters
prepared by United Methodist News Service

Providing health care coverage for active and retired employees of the
United Methodist Church is becoming increasingly difficult for the church's
regional units, or annual conferences. Rising costs are forcing many
conferences to reduce their coverage, pass more costs on to participants or
drop people from their plans altogether. The Board of Pension and Health
Benefits will conduct focus groups around the United States this fall to
discuss ways to address the health care problem.

The Rev. Christopher L. Miller, who had been pastor of Pemberton United
Methodist Church, was appointed to help United Methodists in New Jersey
respond to those suffering directly or indirectly from the Sept. 11
terrorist attacks on July 1. As the coordinator of outreach ministries for
the Greater New Jersey Annual Conference, he will direct the Healing,
Encouragement and Advocacy in Response to Tragedy (HEART) unit for the
conference's long-term response.

The National Council of Churches is in its healthiest financial state in the
past 12 years, according to the Rev. Robert Edgar, the ecumenical agency's
chief executive. The United Methodist pastor pointed to a balanced budget in
2002, a three-year, $500,000 grant from the Lilly Endowment and the addition
of $625,000 to long-term reserves as proof of the agency's emergence from
the financial cloud of the last few years.  

A 13-member delegation, representing 12 different United Methodist annual
conferences, arrived July 19 in the Middle East as part of a continuing
effort to broaden the denomination's advocacy for a just and lasting peace
in Israel and the Palestinian lands. The group has witnessed both the
psychological toll and physical destruction caused by the long-term
occupation of the Israeli military in the Palestinian territories. 

While the war is over for many of Angola's soldiers, relief organization
officials are uncertain if peace will last. Action by Churches Together
(ACT), an international alliance of churches and agencies responding to
emergencies, is working to ensure a better future for the former fighters
and their families. The United Methodist Committee on Relief is a major
member of ACT.

Rhonnie Hemphill, former chief development officer at Church World Service,
was named as the first director of the United Methodist Church's
Historically Black Colleges and Universities Endowment. He will help the 11
historically black higher education institutions related to the denomination
in their campaign to raise an endowment of at least $300 million. 

One urban ministry program in each of 10 annual conferences in the
Northeastern Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church has received the
2002 Kim Jefferson Award. The awards were presented by the jurisdiction's
urban steering committee, which is led by the Rev. Anthony A. Arrington,
pastor of Mother African Zoar United Methodist Church in Philadelphia. Since
the jurisdiction established the award in 2000, 29 urban ministries have
been recognized.

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United Methodist News Service
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