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United Methodist disaster donations suggest new ways of giving

Oct. 14, 2005

NOTE: Photographs and additional coverage of the United Methodist Board
of Global Ministries meeting are available at http://umns.umc.org.

By Linda Bloom*

STAMFORD, Conn. (UMNS) - The tremendous financial outpouring by United
Methodists in response to the Dec. 26 tsunami suggests that church
members are looking at giving in a new way.

During the first eight months of 2005, donations to Advance special
projects, along with other income received by the United Methodist
Committee on Relief, exceeded donations to the denomination's general
funds for the same period. UMCOR's total income during the period was
nearly $63 million, compared to $58.5 million for the apportioned funds.

That fact came to light during the Oct. 10-13 annual meeting of the
United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, UMCOR's parent
organization.

The bulk of the $63 million came from the more than $43 million raised
for UMCOR Advance special projects during the first eight months of
2005, compared to almost $3 million in 2004. Nearly $40 million of the
$43 million was for tsunami relief. In total, United Methodists raised
$41 million to assist those affected by the tsunami.

To Sandra Lackore, chief executive of the denomination's General Council
on Finance and Administration, this indicates the current systems of
giving may need to be adjusted to better reflect the situations that
encourage donations.

"When we tell the story and when we have a message that says we can
deliver what we promise ... people will give," she told United Methodist
News Service.

The council's funding patterns task force is looking at "the giving
habits and the giving trends" of church members, along with different
systems of giving, she said. The task force includes annual conference
treasurers, council directors and chief executives of denominational
agencies.

Not counted in the eight-month total is the $16 million that United
Methodists have contributed since then for hurricane relief.

The Rev. R. Randy Day, chief executive, Board of Global Ministries,
spoke about the denominational response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita
in his address to directors. "Our connectional mobilization has been
incredible," he said. "The interface between the conference disaster
response organizations and UMCOR has multiplied our efforts beyond our
numbers.

"The work of the Texas Conference and UMCOR in dealing with the evacuees
from the Superdome in New Orleans was nothing short of miraculous. The
response of the conferences, congregations, community centers and
colleges across the United States has been heroic.

"The needed supplies, such as health kits and flood buckets arrived ...
from every part of the country," he said. "Our conferences and partners
in other lands sent prayers and money - very large amounts of money and
small amounts, all valuable in their benefits and in the act of giving."

The Rev. Paul Dirdak, UMCOR's chief executive, noted that more than 200
truckloads of goods have been sent to places across the Gulf Coast in
the past five weeks. "At one point, we distributed 75,000 mops. That's a
lot of mops."

UMCOR's partners in the relief work include the Federal Emergency
Management Agency, Church World Service and the denomination's annual
conferences and national mission institutions.

"Case management is one of the strongest contributions UMCOR makes in
disasters," Dirdak said.

In Mississippi, for example, some 1,500 people are living on a cruise
ship near Pascagoula. FEMA is providing UMCOR-trained personnel for case
management, he added.

Recently, at FEMA's request, UMCOR submitted a proposal to design case
management across the country. If the proposal is accepted, it would be
the agency's "largest single undertaking" in its history, according to
Dirdak.

During the meeting, UMCOR directors approved $5.4 million in grants for
hurricane recovery. That total includes $2 million to the denomination's
Louisiana Annual (regional) Conference and $1.4 million to the
Mississippi Conference for a six-month period, with the expectation that
additional funds will be approved later for a projected five-year
recovery plan.

The directors also approved $227,400 for Hurricane Dennis relief and
$686,600 for Hurricane Katrina-related work in the Alabama-West Florida
Conference; $500,000 for the Texas Conference; and $550,000 for the
Florida Conference.

In addition, the Board of Global Ministries is offering other types of
assistance to churches affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita,
according to the Rev. Sam Dixon, who leads the agency's evangelization
and church growth unit.

"We have services to offer churches that have catastrophic loss," he
said. "One of the things we can help churches do is define the new
mission field."

That "new mission field" is dependent on such issues as how many church
members are returning to the area and how a new church facility should
be designed to meet the needs of the 21st century. A big challenge for
the affected annual conferences, Dixon noted, will be deciding which
congregations should be encouraged to start again.

Church groups interested in such services should contact Dixon directly
at sdixon@gbgm-umc.org.

While the Gulf Coast has been in the headlines, UMCOR continues its
long-term recovery work in tsunami-affected countries. In Indonesia, for
example, UMCOR is building housing in five villages for 500 families,
according to Dirdak. "The result of that project will be a model for
other villages in that area," he told board directors.

Two United Methodist annual (regional) conferences are helping rebuild
churches damaged by the tsunami. The Iowa Conference has committed funds
to assist 19 churches in Sri Lanka, and the North and South Indiana
conferences are supporting a new church complex in Banda Aceh in
Indonesia.

UMCOR directors approved a grant of $505,983 to support tsunami recovery
efforts by the Methodist Church of India in Chennai and the Andaman
Island. Those efforts include scholarship help for nursing students
whose families lost their income, the repair and building of houses; and
church renovation for social service programs.

Churches Auxiliary for Social Action in India - of which the Methodist
Church of India is a member and UMCOR is a donor - also was approved for
funding. A grant of $677,747 will be used to restock supplies expended
since the tsunami. Directors  earmarked $1 million for future
application by CASA to allow the agency to respond to other disasters in
India during a time when it is heavily involved in tsunami recovery and
reconstruction.

*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New York.

News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or
newsdesk@umcom.org.

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

United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org

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