wfn.org | Budget problems translate to missionary cuts

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Nov. 6, 2002  News media contact: Linda Bloom7(212) 870-38037New York
10-34-71B{508}

NOTE: Stephen Feerrar's name is spelled correctly.

NEW YORK (UMNS) - Continuing budget problems will mean a reduction in the
number of mission personnel employed by the United Methodist Board of Global
Ministries in 2003.

The reason for such cuts became apparent during the board's annual meeting
in October, as treasurer Stephen Feerrar reported a continuing decline in
assets and cash flow and the need for ongoing cost containment. (See UMNS
story #492.) 

The exact number of mission personnel positions or the specific positions
that will be affected have not been determined, according to Edith Gleaves,
the executive in charge of the board's mission personnel unit. A moratorium
also has been declared for the recruitment of new missionaries for next
year, although applications will be accepted for 2004.

But the United Methodist Missionary Association is expressing concern about
how any cuts may affect missionaries and their work, particularly the
"standard support" or traditional missionaries serving in various countries
around the world.

Howard Heiner, a retired missionary who has led the association for several
years, said the association presented six requests for immediate action to
the mission personnel committee during the board's annual meeting in
October. The requests were referred to the agency's policy and legislation
committee and tabled for review in the spring, he reported.

Statistics released during the October meeting show a current total of 949
commissioned mission personnel, including 344 traditional missionaries and
the remainder in a variety of categories, such as deaconesses, mission
interns, church and community workers, and Korean-American mission pastors.

The Board of Global Ministries also has 873 noncommissioned mission
personnel, including 537 associated with the nongovernmental organization of
the United Methodist Committee on Relief and 297 rural chaplains. An
additional 329 work as partner church mission personnel, either as people in
mission in their own country or as international people in mission.

The total number of mission personnel is 2,151, serving in 74 different
nations, which is a decrease of 130 from the total reported in April 2001.

In 2003, contracts for 293 mission personnel in various categories will
expire. Decisions about whether a specific contract will be renewed will be
based on a number of factors, according to Gleaves.

One of those factors is consultation with mission partners about needs and
priorities, added Deborah Bass, another staff executive with mission
personnel. "We're not summarily recalling folks," she said.

Some contracts, such as for the mission intern and US-2 programs, are
designed to be limited to a three-year term, Gleaves pointed out. Another
example is the 10-10-10 program, an attempt to partner with the
denomination's annual (regional) conferences to encourage new, innovative
mission work. "That program was intended to be a three-year jump-start
program," she said, explaining that the conferences must decide whether to
continue the work as part of their own budget once the term expires.

Missionary candidates themselves have changed in recent years as more
emphasis is placed on recruitment outside the United States. "Our last few
(candidate) classes have been very indigenous to the countries we are
partnering with," Bass noted.

In areas where traditional missionaries have served, placements are being
reassessed. One recent example was Japan, where some missionary assignments
related to teaching positions have ended. Mission partners there have
decided to increase their emphasis on work with women, children and
families, Bass said, and those are the missionary positions being retained.
"As partners adjust their priorities, we are trying to do the same," she
added.

Other missionaries may decide on early retirement. "We're getting a lot more
baby boomers who are in the field and need to come home and take care of
aging parents," Bass explained.

In fact, retirements will impact the number of reductions required. "In one
region alone (Middle East, Europe and North Africa), there are 26 people
retiring in 2003," Gleaves said.

One of the missionary association's ongoing complaints about the Board of
Global Ministries has been the lack of communication between staff and the
missionary community. Heiner believes there would be more cooperation about
issues such as early retirement if the missionaries were provided with
better information instead of "receiving a letter out of the blue that
you're being terminated," which he said was the situation with the
missionaries in Japan.

The missionaries do understand that the agency has a financial crisis that
its treasurer is trying to address, according to Heiner. "We are trying to
be cooperative," he added. "We know a lot of the people on the staff are
hurting, too."

The requests for action submitted by missionaries at the October board
meeting included a letter of explanation to all staff, missionaries and host
organizations outlining board actions being taken to alleviate the financial
crisis and how financial priorities are being established for the future.
The missionaries want a mechanism that allows board directors to draw upon
the experiences and perspectives of missionaries before decisions are made,
an appeal process for policy decisions, and assurance that the downsizing of
mission personnel will not result in discrimination due to age, country or
type of assignment.

On Nov. 2, the missionary association began circulating a proposed action
plan for the financial crisis to board directors; Bishop Joel Martinez, the
board president; and Latin American bishops meeting in Puerto Rico with the
United Methodist Council of Bishops.

The plan stresses better denomination-wide communication about the mission
agency's financial woes in order to "challenge conferences, supporting
churches, host organizations, directors, staff and mission personnel to join
in a cooperative and coordinated response to the financial crisis..."

As board president, Martinez is called upon to establish an emergency
advisory group to develop a plan of action regarding the reduction of
mission outreach because of a lack of funding. The missionaries request that
such action be based on a country-by-country review of mission projects and
personnel.

The association also is urging Martinez to make a special appeal to the
Council of Bishops for increased funding. Jurisdictional representatives and
conference secretaries related to the Board of Global Ministries could help
coordinate "an urgent campaign to find resources for mission outreach," and
retired association members are volunteering to assist with that fund
raising. 
 
The Covenant Relationship Program - part of the Advance for Christ and His
Church, a voluntary giving program - has offered United Methodist
congregations the chance to directly support missionaries since 1974. Along
with the denomination's World Service Fund and undesignated Pledge to
Mission funds from local United Methodist Women units, the program is one of
three financial support bases for all mission personnel commissioned through
the Board of Global Ministries.

But contributions to the Covenant Relationship Program have not kept pace
with costs. The annual expense for one full-time missionary, for example,
jumped from $20,000 in 1974 to about $45,000 in 1999.

According to Gleaves, only 4 percent of local churches participate in the
program. She pointed out that their contributions have been "far outpaced by
the increase of missionaries and cost to support missionaries."

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