wfn.org | UMNS# 05123-UMCom adopts plan to lead church into digital age

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

UMCom adopts plan to lead church into digital age

Feb. 28, 2005	 News media contact:   Ginny  Underwood * (615) 742-5470*
Nashville {05123}

By Ginny Underwood*

MARLBORO, Mass. (UMNS)-Using the latest technology, United Methodist
Communications is embarking on a new course to better serve the church
around the world.

The agency's governing directors, meeting Feb. 23-26, voted to enter
into a $1.2 million partnership with Kintera Inc., a San Diego-based
provider of technology services to nonprofit organizations. The move
will allow UMCom to build a technology infrastructure for meeting the
growing expectations of a multimedia world.

"We're not willing to just be satisfied with a good media campaign,"
said Bishop Thomas Bickerton, president of the Commission on
Communication, referring to the denomination's welcoming and advertising
program. "We realize there has to be a convergence of the Internet and
cell phone technology and emerging media across the globe if we're going
to continue to be relevant in communicating our message."

"The commission has affirmed the reality that the world has changed-that
digital media have changed how we perceive the world, how we relate to
each other and how we act out our faith in the world," said the Rev.
Larry Hollon, top staff executive of United Methodist Communications.
"In doing that, this becomes a priority for us to lead the church toward
that new reality."

Kintera provides nonprofit organizations with Web-based resources for
building communities, improving communications, creating and managing
content, and sharing information in real time, according to its Web
site. Clients include UNICEF, the American Cancer Society and the
International Fund for Animal Welfare.

Other general church agencies are considering entering into
relationships with Kintera-a development that would improve
collaboration among the agencies and the distribution of resources to
local churches.

UMCom's new Kintera partnership, funded through the agency's budget,
will support the work of the Central Conference Communications
Initiative, mandated by the denomination's top legislative assembly in
2004. Through the initiative, the agency is working to improve
communication systems and resources for church members in Europe, Africa
and Asia.

"The function that this agency has, as a global communications agency on
behalf of the whole church, is that we step outside of a particular
culture and recognize that we are a part of a global community," Hollon
said.

"This is a new page for our United Methodist Church," said Bishop Joao
Somane Machado, a commission member and leader of the church's
Mozambique Area. "Communication is the key for our work of making
disciples in the world. To be in this agency, to be at this changing ...
is exciting."

Between now and 2008, the Central Conference Initiative will assess the
communications needs of conferences and work with bishops to develop
strategies. UMCom will also help build relationships between those
conferences and their U.S. counterparts, and general boards and
agencies.

"We are very supportive of the UMCom staff in taking bold steps to get
the message of the church in a timely fashion out to the people who need
to know the story of the good news of Christ, as it is exemplified in
the various ministries that are happening across the church," Bickerton
said.

"I think the general church needs to know that this is a commission that
is not afraid to step out and do what it needs to do to communicate the
good news of Jesus Christ."

A recent example is the production of "God, Why?", a CD and DVD resource
focusing on how God is present amid natural disasters such as the Dec.
26 tsunami in Asia and Africa. Commission members watched the resource's
video, in which pastors, bishops and others discussed how God is at work
in the aftermath of the tsunami. "God, Why" is available for sale to
individuals and study groups. Details are available at www.umc.org.

# # #

*Underwood is director of United Methodist News Service, the official
news agency of the United Methodist Church. UMNS is a unit of United
Methodist Communications.

News media contact: Ginny Underwood, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or
newsdesk@umcom.org.

********************

United Methodist News Service
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