wfn.org | Publishing House takes lively tack with VBS materials

[NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG]

March 27, 2001  News media contact: Tim Tanton·(615)742-5470·Nashville,
Tenn. 10-71B{146}

WASHINGTON (UMNS) - Look for next year's vacation Bible school offerings
from the United Methodist Church to keep their biblical emphasis but also to
reflect a new approach that makes them more exciting for children.

That's the word from the United Methodist Publishing House, which is in the
middle of developing and testing its VBS offerings for summer 2002. Staff
members gave the Publishing House's governing directors an overview during
the board's March 23-24 meeting.

"We're having an exciting year," said Susan Salley, director of new business
development, as she began describing the development of the new VBS program.

The Publishing House is trying to increase the usage among United Methodist
congregations of VBS curriculum produced by its Cokesbury unit. Research
shows that about 21 percent of the denomination's churches that don't use
Cokesbury's materials have been using programs from Group Publishing. While
survey respondents gave Cokesbury's VBS materials high marks for solid Bible
teaching, Group Publishing scored highly for its exciting, interactive
materials.
 
Last September, the Publishing House embarked on an 11-month process that
involves staying in close contact with customers as it develops the 2002 VBS
materials. In roundtable discussions held at the outset of the process,
customers told the Publishing House that they wondered whether Cokesbury's
VBS materials could maintain strong biblical teaching and also be exciting,
Salley said.

Since then, however, the Publishing House has come up with a VBS program
that is interactive. The new curriculum calls for involving children in the
telling of Bible stories by giving them props and having them make sound
effects. The lessons are designed to work within the 20- to 25-minute
periods that VBS teachers typically have for presenting Bible stories.

"At each point in the story, the kids have something to do," Salley said.
That may sound simple, but it is vastly different from having children sit
around the teacher and listen to a story being told, she said. The new
approach will keep children involved in the story, she said.

The new program will be tested in June and July with three different types
of users: a group of churches committed to Group Publishing materials, a
group committed to Cokesbury materials and an evening/outreach VBS, Salley
said.

The new VBS product will be called "God's Great Gallery: Exploring God's
Wonderful Works," said the Rev. Judy Smith, executive director of
publishing.

"God's Great Gallery" represents a continuation of a process that has been
under way for some time, as the Publishing House has tried to hone its VBS
offerings. Its VBS program for this summer, "Way To Go: Good Neighbor
Tours," reflects a similar approach to providing materials that are more
engaging for children.

"The process for 2002 is sort of an expanded version of what we did with
'Way To Go,' " Smith said. "This is not the first year of this effort. ...
We've just expanded the processes and included more people in the
discussion." The Publishing House also has expanded its marketing efforts to
United Methodist congregations to provide more information earlier.

The Publishing House is projecting that "Way To Go" will propel VBS sales to
the $3.3 million mark for 2001. VBS sales were $1.9 million in 1998 and $2.3
million in 2000, said the Rev. Ben Alford, board member.

According to the board's most recent financial report, six-month VBS sales,
excluding returns for 2000, were up 34 percent over the comparable period of
last year. The Publishing House's business year begins Aug. 1. 

Although VBS materials don't represent the biggest part of the Publishing
House's sales pie, they do generate income that President Neil Alexander
said was "significant." However, describing the penetration of Cokesbury's
VBS products in churches, he said: "It's not hot." 

VBS is at the core of the Publishing House's mission, Alexander said in his
report to the board. It involves teaching and empowering people as disciples
of Jesus Christ, and teaching them about the community of faith, he said. 

It is also one of the key ways that churches reach out to children in their
communities. Publishing House research shows that more than 50 percent of
churches using VBS materials say their primary reason is to bring children
from the community into the church.

The VBS package was one of many new products discussed at the Publishing
House's board meeting. Others included the new "Steward: Living as Disciples
in Everyday Life," The Faith We Sing hymnal supplement, and "Disciple: Under
the Tree of Life," which completes the four-stage Disciple Bible study
program.

Sandra Kelley Lackore, top staff executive of the denomination's General
Council on Finance and Administration, spoke to the board about Steward, a
small-group study resource developed to help church members think about the
way they live out their faith at work and home. Lackore addressed the board
in her classroom at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington. Both she and
Wesley Academic Dean Bruce Birch were involved in developing the Steward
concept.

"What people say to me the most is that they don't understand ... their call
to stewardship," Lackore said. "I believe that this denomination can be more
in mission than we have ever dreamed." That can only happen by enabling
people about what they can do as stewards, she said. She encouraged the
board members to join her in changing the giving culture of the
denomination.

Other products are also in the works. For example, the Publishing House is
looking at resources addressing specifically the needs of African-American
churches, including a Bible study keyed to themes of African-American
spirituals, according to Alford, who leads the board's Publications and
Services Committee.

In May, the Publishing House will launch a distance-learning program,
offering online classes for clergy members, teachers, and local church
leaders and officers, Alford said.

The project will start with two pilot courses aimed at Sunday school
teachers, Smith said. Other audiences will be added later. 

In addition to developing new products, the Publishing House is planning on
opening three new stores by July 31. It is negotiating for sites in Atlanta,
Orlando and Oklahoma City.

The agency is also evaluating partnerships with congregations for possibly
locating stores on their campuses, said Ed Kowalski, senior vice president
of marketing and sales. One such store already has in operation at a
Presbyterian church in Atlanta.

The Publishing House currently has 45 full-line stores and 24 seminary
stores. That represents a decrease of one store since the board's fall
meeting. A contract to operate the store at Louisville (Ky.) Theological
Seminary expired in November, said Don Sherrod, vice president of sales.

Sales increased at the store level and for the Publishing House overall
during the first six months of the business year. Total sales were $60.3
million for the six months ended Jan. 31, representing an increase of 4.6
percent from the same period of the previous business year. Cokesbury store
sales were up 6.6 percent, at $24.7 million.

Net operating revenue, the Publishing House's bottom-line figure, was $5.2
million, down 14.5 percent from $6.09 million. Chief Financial Officer Larry
Wallace attributed the decrease in part to increased cost of goods and
expenses, and said the figure was $2.4 million better than what had been
projected in the Publishing House's budget.

In other business, the board adopted a resolution in memory of Bishop
Cornelius Henderson, a 1980-1992 member, who died last December of cancer. 
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United Methodist News Service
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