General Conference 2012
April 24-may 4
renew will advocate for women's ministry at gc2012
New membership numbers have been released from the Council on Finance and Administration for the year ending 2010. These year end figures are compiled from statistical information gleaned from annual local church reports and participation is over 98%.
United Methodist Women, the only officially recognized church-wide women's ministry program, continued its dramatic decline in 2010 by losing almost 25,000 members and over 500 local church units. While the United Methodist Church in the U.S. also showed major declines during 2010, the rate of membership loss of UMW has historically been at a rate two and a half times greater.
Read the full article HERE that appears in the March/April 2012 issue of Good News Magazine.
Women across the denomination are crying out for other avenues of women's ministry. While many larger churches do have vibrant women's ministry programs, most medium to small churches do not. Frequently, women tell us that their attempts to start alternative ministries are met with hostility and discouragement from pastors, district superintendents, bishops, and UMW district, conference, and national leadership.
The United Methodist Church would benefit greatly from offering and encouraging many avenues of women's ministry in addition to UMW. While UMW is mission-focused, there need to be other ministry-focused groups as well. We have pews filled with lost and hurting women who desire to know Christ intimately and reach their full potential as servants of Jesus Christ. As women grow in Christ, marriages, families, churches, and communities are positively impacted. Individual transformation leads to societal transformation which ultimately leads to a world transformed for Jesus Christ.
General Conference 2012 offers a wonderful opportunity for embracing more women's ministry options for women. With church restructure and building vital congregations being the emphasis for the next quadrennium, shouldn't we also embrace ministries that can truly help build these vital congregations? Currently, the Book of Disicpline does not.
Please encourage your delegates to support the inclusion of other women's ministry options (in addition to UMW) in the Book of Disicipline and the Book of Resolutions. There are two pieces of legislation that will accomplish This. The time is critical....the time is now! Help women grow in Christ and churches become more vital by adopting this legislation.
Two Important Books Released
Mark Tooley, IRD President, and Rev. Karen Booth, Transforming Congregations Executive Director, have each published timely books that will enlighten United Methodists on important issues facing our denomination. Mr. Tooley's "Methodism and Politics in the Twentieth Century" examines the history and role of politics in United Methodism......how it began and how it has influenced the UMC over time. Rev. Booth's book "Forgetting How To Blush" examines United Methodism's compromise with the sexual revolution and how it has affected the church over time. You will definitely want to read these books as we approach General Conference 2012 and the United Methodist Church considers many of these relavent issues. Rev. Booth's book will be available April 2012.
