wfn.org | Church communications agency refocuses ministry

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Oct. 1, 2001 News media contact: Linda Green7(615)742-54707Nashville, Tenn.
10-71B{437}

By Linda Green*

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) - The United Methodist Church's communications
agency is redesigning itself to be more effective in telling the
denomination's story, particularly through the use of electronic media.

The governing board of United Methodist Communication (UMCom) approved a
reorganization plan during a Sept. 27 teleconference call. The call took the
place of the board's annual fall meeting, which was canceled due to travel
concerns resulting from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

UMCom's new direction includes implementing three initiatives to assist the
agency in providing services and outreach, telling the church's story
proactively, leading the denomination in understanding and using the
Internet, and reclaiming communications training within the church.

"UMCom has served the church well in the past. It was originally created as
a print and video media and has been moving for several years into the
electronic age," said Bishop William Oden, Dallas, president of the
governing board. "The reorganization gives UMCom more tools to serve the
church in this electronic age." 

The first initiative will refocus the agency's public media outreach to
present more effectively the Christian faith and work of the church to
United Methodists and the general public. This will be done through
broadcast, print and audiovisual media, said Larry Hollon, UMCom's top
executive. The new direction will include creating a public relations
strategy on behalf of the entire denomination. The initiative also will
enable the agency to more effectively perform its mandates as outlined in
the Book of Discipline.   

A second initiative will focus on improving UMCom's use of the Internet,
expand the denomination's www.umc.org Web site and centralize linkages to
churchwide Web sites. 

"If you want to seek information from a Web site of the church right now,
there is no central search engine to allow people to flow through church and
agency sites to find information," Hollon said.

The agency is convening a "Webmasters guild" of the people responsible for
the church's Web sites to build better linkages and improve interactivity
for users.    

"Until we have this, we are not a truly connectional church in terms of our
Web presence," Hollon said.

A third initiative will revive what was a significant focus of UMCom,
communications education. The agency will create a communications training
center that will offer opportunities for increasing the effectiveness of lay
and professional communicators and others; enhance the churches' ability to
use communications in ministry; and help people become more knowledgeable
about the United Methodist Church through study and interaction.

UMCom's redesign is the culmination of 12 months of work by various staff
teams envisioning which ministries the agency should perform in the future
and which programs no longer meet needs.  

The refocus is aimed at changing UMCom from an organization where work is
centered on departments and divisions to one where work is done by teams of
people from different segments of the agency. The new team-based
organization will work in ministry locally, nationally and globally.   

"We are beyond the day where we can say that this is a hierarchal
organization," Hollon said.

The new direction calls for the agency to reorganize into two management
teams, each overseeing groups of special teams.

The first team, program management, will bring together the separate
information and program-oriented functions that exist across the agency. The
team will include distributing United Methodist and public information,
marketing, creating mass media ministries and training.

An administration management team will unite all of UMCom's infrastructure
and support systems. This second team will oversee the agency's work in
serving all levels of the denomination, other traditions, the unchurched and
the public. Its areas of responsibility will include human, financial,
facility and technological resources.

As part of the redesign, UMCom will reconfigure its staff, phase out 11 jobs
and create 17 new positions.

"We are not just a service agency. Our work is an expression of ministry and
an extension of the mission and ministry of the United Methodist Church,"
Hollon said. The refocus and realignment will allow the staff to "work
together in ways where we are more flexible and adaptable to the realities
of what we are facing," he said

The redesign, which will be implemented over the next year, will emphasize
more collaborative and responsive partnerships with churchwide boards and
agencies and the Council of Bishops, he said.

The team approach was used in the wake of the recent tragedies in New York,
Washington and Pennsylvania. Staff representatives met daily to explore
appropriate responses to the national disaster. Out of those meetings
emerged radio and television spots, a pastoral letter, website features,
Internet responses, e-mailed messages, news stories, features and
photographs.
 
The unfolding events gave UMCom a clearer understanding of the role it
fulfills as the communications agency of the church, Hollon said.

"The tragedy of Sept. 11 highlighted more clearly than ever the foundational
values that form and shape United Methodist Communications," he said. "As
the national tragedy unfolded, UMCom became the vehicle through which the
church could send pastoral messages of comfort, concern and justice to
people throughout the world."

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*Green is news director for United Methodist News Service in Nashville,
Tenn.

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United Methodist News Service
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