wfn.org | Upper Room launches campaign to extend international reach

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

April 3, 2002 News media contact: Linda Green7(615)742-54707Nashville, Tenn.
10-31-32-71BP{140}

NOTE: Photographs and a sidebar, UMNS story #141, are available.

By Heather Peck Stahl*

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) -- Upper Room Ministries has launched a five-year,
$16 million campaign to expand resources and programs internationally,
particularly in Africa, Europe and Asia.

Implemented Jan. 1, the campaign is designed to develop new language
editions of the Upper Room daily devotional guide, expand the Walk to Emmaus
movement overseas and increase the capacity to respond to prayer requests
through the Living Prayer Center. The initiative also will provide
scholarships for people participating in the Academy for Spiritual
Formation, maintain ministries for parents and their children, and provide
additional complimentary editions of the Upper Room to hospital and prison
chaplains and the visually impaired.

"The vision behind the campaign is to sustain our current ministries and
provide new opportunities for outreach so that we may provide spiritual
sustenance and support to hundreds of thousands of people around the world
throughout the 21st century," said the Rev. Stephen Bryant, publisher and
world editor of Upper Room Ministries, a unit of the United Methodist Board
of Discipleship in Nashville.

Upper Room Ministries relies on income from product sales and fund raising
to cover the costs of many of its ministries, including most international
editions of the Upper Room, the Living Prayer Center and Walk to Emmaus
International, Bryant explained. Therefore, the campaign goal consists of
$7.5 million for endowment, $7.5 million for program support and expansion,
and $1 million for administrative and fund-raising costs. 

Upper Room Ministries publishes more than 70 editions of the Upper Room
magazine in more than 100 countries. Through the campaign, the organization
aims to raise $3 million for programs and expansion and $3 million for
endowment to help maintain the current editions, plus develop new editions
in southern Africa, Eastern Europe, Asia and other areas. 

More than 1 million people worldwide have participated in the Walk to
Emmaus, a three-day program designed to strengthen the faith lives of
participants and continue spiritual support through weekly and monthly
gatherings. Upper Room Ministries plans to raise $1 million for programs and
expansion and $1 million for endowment to expand the Walk to Emmaus movement
around the world, specifically in Eastern Europe and southern Africa.

Each month, the Living Prayer Center responds to an average of 20,000 prayer
requests through its toll-free telephone line. The ministry is a network of
nearly 4,000 volunteers nationwide who respond to each call through
intercessory prayer. Upper Room Ministries seeks to raise $1 million for
programs and expansion and $1 million for endowment to enable the center to
respond to additional calls, with particular emphasis on serving young
people and speakers of Spanish.

The Academy for Spiritual Formation is a two-year program that brings groups
of lay and clergy leaders together once per quarter for study, worship, and
in-depth discussion on spirituality. Upper Room Ministries seeks $500,000
for programs and expansion, plus $500,000 for endowment to support
scholarships and fund operations so that the academy will be affordable and
accessible to interested people.

Upper Room Ministries offers resources and programs designed to strengthen
the faith of parents, young adults, youth and children. Such ministries
include Chrysalis, an event for youth modeled after the Walk to Emmaus;
Method X (www.methodx.net), a Web site dedicated to young adults searching
for spiritual guidance; and two devotional magazines for youth and children.
The organization plans to raise $1 million for programs and expansion and $1
million for endowment for those ministries.

More than 700 visually impaired people receive free Braille and
audiocassette editions of the Upper Room magazine, and more than 800
prisons, hospitals, hospice facilities, and other institutional settings
receive free printed editions of the bimonthly magazine. Upper Room
Ministries seeks to raise $1 million for programs and expansion and $1
million for endowment to expand the complimentary distribution to the
visually impaired and to chaplains serving in such institutions. 

Additional information about the campaign is available from the Rev. John
Brown, Upper Room Ministries, P.O. Box 340004, Nashville, TN  37203-0004;
phone: (877) 899-2781, Ext. 7520; e-mail: development@upperroom.org.

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*Stahl, a freelance journalist from Nashville, Tenn., is editor of Upper
Room Ministries' newsletter Faith Partners.

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United Methodist News Service
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