wfn.org | United Methodist agencies, seminaries share research efforts

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

May 20, 1999 News media contact: Thomas S. McAnally*(615)742-5470*Nashville,
Tenn.  10-71B{280}
 
By Craig This*

CHICAGO (UMNS) -- Communication and collaboration, not centralization, are
essential if the various research offices within the United Methodist Church
are to serve the mission and ministry needs of the annual conferences and
local churches.  

That conclusion was affirmed by 17 participants in an Inter-Agency Research
Task Force meeting in Chicago, May 13-14.  

"Unlike many other denominations, the United Methodist Church does not have
a central research office," noted  Maxine Clarke Beach, a staff member of
the Dayton, Ohio,-based General Council on Ministries (GCOM). "Instead, each
general agency is assigned a different mission and ministry, and each
general agency collects a particular set of data and conducts a particular
set of research." The challenge, she added, is for researchers to
communicate the value of their data and research for the entire church. 

Task force participants expressed appreciation to  the GCOM Office of
Research for being proactive in communicating the research needs and
projects of the general agencies and seminaries and for continuing to call
the  group together.

The Rev. Arvin Luchs, a staff executive with United Methodist Communications
(UMCom), affirmed the value of having a common table where all agencies and
seminaries can sit down and discuss research needs and proposals. To this
end, significant time at the meeting was spent sharing research now being
done across the church:
 
*	The Cooperative Congregational Studies Project -- The GCOM Office of
Research, solicited questions regarding congregational life from the task
force to be used in the United Methodist version of a nationwide survey. The
overall survey will be conducted next year and will include more than 20,000
congregations in 40 denominations and faith groups.
*	Demographic/statistical profiles of local United Methodist churches
-- The Office of Research of the Board of Global Ministries announced the
availability of two-page profiles of local church statistics and
demographics at its World Wide Web site:  http://research.gbgm-umc.org.
*	Racial-Ethnic Minority Clergywomen Research --  The Board of Higher
Education and Ministry announced the beginning of a three-year study of
racial-ethnic minority women in the United Methodist Church.
*	Organizational Image, Identity and Issues Audit of the United
Methodist Church -- UMCom presented the findings of the study showing that
people in the United States have eight different images of the denomination.

*	Spiritual development of clergy - The Board of Discipleship
announced research plans to study spiritual development, both formal and
informal, among United Methodist clergy.
*	How do people pray? -- Garth Baker Fletcher, a faculty member at
Claremont (Calif.) School of Theology, shared an ongoing study  of how and
why people and churches pray.

The task force's next meeting will be Oct. 28-29 in Dallas.

# # #

*This is research associate at the General Council on Ministries.  

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