United Methodist News and Communications Service
- Daily Digest - Open hearts. Open minds. Open doors. The people of The United
Methodist Church – Tuesday, 26 November 2013
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“The newcomers joining our churches, most
aren’t coming to a Methodist house of worship to find God. They’re coming to a
church that lights their soul, whatever strain it might be.”(Ken Garfield,
director of communications at Myers Park United Methodist Church, Charlotte,
N.C.)
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The Billy Graham I know — and why he
matters by Ken Garfield
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (UMNS) — Billy Graham turned
95 on Nov. 7, a tender reason to affirm the life of modern Christendom’s most
influential figure.
I come to the celebration from a special
vantage point after covering Graham for more than a dozen years as religion
editor for his hometown newspaper, The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer. I witnessed
his impact on millions the world over, felt his warmth one on one and came to
admire a somewhat underappreciated dimension of his legacy: In Billy Graham’s
world, hope comes from Jesus, not necessarily from Methodism or any other
denomination. Those of us facing increasingly empty pews on Sunday mornings
ought to pay special attention to that last point.
I poured much of what I know about Graham
into “Billy Graham: A Life In Pictures,” a book blending memories and
reflections in words and photographs. I signed a copy and sent it to Graham,
who wrote me a thank-you note in which he reminisced about coming to Charlotte
years ago to visit his mother.
In his tender words, I could see the
frail, old man at the end of his life, looking back. That’s the Graham I
experienced — warm, down to earth, more deeply personal than the pastor who
commanded pulpits for 50-plus years.
Much to learn from Graham
If you and I were talking about all this
over a cup of coffee, I’d tell you about the 305,000 people he drew to
Charlotte in 1996 for his last hometown crusade. But I’d also tell you about
the time he left a message on my answering machine, sharing a long and worried
update on his ailing wife, Ruth, a message so long that the machine cut him
off. Or, the times I wanted to focus an interview on the world leaders he knew,
and he’d turn the conversation back to his childhood and memories of riding the
bus to school. The prophetic and the personal, together making a connection.
There’s much that organized religion can
learn from Graham.
By setting rules and surrounding himself
with honest associates, he remained unsullied by scandal. The Modesto Manifesto
was the most famous illustration, established at a meeting in Modesto, Calif.,
Graham and his colleagues agreeing never to be alone with a woman other than
their wives.
Graham resisted the trappings of fame and
fortune, living humbly in the small town of Montreat in the North Carolina
mountains. That explains the Big Macs he served a colleague and me the day he
had us over for lunch. He figured out how to effectively harness all forms of
communications to spread the gospel — print, radio, television, movies and, of
course, the mass spectacle of his crusades. If he was still active, I think
he’d be tweeting.
Practices and principles worth heeding
What church these days couldn’t learn
from him, for we all struggle to find the right balance of print and social
media. He blended entertainment and religion, understanding that to win over
hearts and souls, you first had to get them into the stadium with music and
celebrities.
All of these practices and principles are
worth heeding, especially at a time when Methodism and other mainline
denominations struggle with declining numbers and impact.
As communications director at Myers Park
United Methodist Church, I appreciate the need to learn another part of the
Graham story: Throughout his ministry, he played down denominationalism by
stressing the broader theme of salvation through Jesus. He grew up in an
Associate Reformed Presbyterian church and became Southern Baptist. But that
didn’t matter to most of the people drawn to his side, nor to him. He was
trying to wrest people from the clutches of the culture, not from the competing
church down the street. Not once during the dozen years I covered Graham all
over the world do I remember him holding up one strain of Christianity over
another.
We know this in the Methodist trenches:
Most newcomers are coming to us in the hope that we can help them find their
way and find meaning along life’s twisting path. The fact that we are Methodist,
and that we stand on the foundation of John Wesley, matters not to the
searchers. Same goes for those drawn to the church down the street, whatever
the denomination.
Billy Graham understood that many of the
215 million people who came to the stadiums to hear him preach during his
lifetime were looking for something beyond the emotion and the spectacle. They
were looking for the meaning of life. Those of us preaching the same message,
we need to understand that, too.
Ken Garfield is director of communications
at Myers Park United Methodist Church in Charlotte, N.C. He is the author of
“Billy Graham: A Life In Pictures” (Triumph Books, $19.99), available at most
bookstores and online. He spent a dozen years covering religion and Billy
Graham for The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer. You can reach him at ken@mpumc.org.
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Making church more welcoming at Christmas
Focus Christmas outreach on
relationships, not gimmicks by Eric Seiberling
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) — When done
incorrectly, church marketing feels misplaced at least and manipulative at
worst. People see between 5,000 and 20,000 marketing messages per day. Their
email, Facebook feed and mailbox are stuffed with people and advertisers trying
to get attention.
Many church "marketing"
companies are nothing more than "tactics" machines. They offer
customized postcards, a kitschy logo or a pretty brochure. Don't get confused.
That isn't marketing. It’s just a tactic.
Is there a better way to connect with
people during the Christmas holidays?
Start by remembering that some (but not
all) new people who walk through your church doors want to be invisible.
Going to a new church, with its own
standards and rituals, is scary. One church leader said, "Every new person
that walks in through your door is in crisis." A person coming to a church
for the first time may be scared, perhaps in pain (missing something in their
life, scared about raising a child for the first time, new to the community or
remembering a problem at another church). This may be one reason large churches
can do well during the holidays. Because visitors can slip in and out without
anyone noticing them, such churches intentionally try to make first visits
comfortable for the "non-churched" person.
Start by understanding the community
around your church. How do people know you? What fears, uncertainties and
doubts do they feel? Do they already know someone connected to the church?
Start by understanding their needs during the Christmas season. Then focus on
ways to offer something valuable to them or through people they already know.
Offer something of value
Ask a simple question, “During this
Christmas season, what ways can we be of value to people not in our church
community?” Many people outside the church (and even in it) feel a mixture of
emotions during the Christmas season, and very few have to do with our Savior’s
birth. Christmas can be exciting, hopeful and full of wonder. It also can
inspire fear, dread and depression. Think about how your church can help those
in your community to manage the expectations and pressure of the “most
wonderful time of the year.”
Think about your outreach program as a
series of “dates” leading up to Christmas Eve.
If you are married or are in a serious,
committed relationship, you know that it did not happen overnight. You needed
to be aware of one another, be introduced and get to know a little bit about
one another before going out on a “serious date” or “meeting the family.”
The same is true for Christmas outreach.
Think about the progression of a relationship and then consider having your
Christmas outreach follow the same path.
Are you acquainted?
Every church has a reputation in a
community. It is formed by the way the church building looks and is maintained,
the messages on the church sign, the events and causes the congregation
sponsors and how the church members act in the community. Do you know your
church’s online reputation?
Take the time to understand your church’s
reputation, both in the physical and the virtual world. Do people recognize the
excellent preschool that shares your building? Are they familiar with the
chicken barbecue held every year? Do people know that your congregation helps
the poor? Is the church famous for its great music program? The key is to
understand your church’s strengths and then to create a series of elements
around it leading to Christmas.
Create a series of opportunities to
connect during the season
Brainstorm a list of events and
activities that are consistent with what your church is known for, offer value
to those you are trying to reach and reflect the message of love, hope, joy and
grace of Christmas.
For example, people know a church in
Cincinnati for the quality of its traditional music. The church focuses on it
with a Christmas cantata and caroling in the surrounding community, including
shopping malls and downtown. If your church is known for its food, offer FREE
dinners and cookie giveaways. Avoid the temptation of selling items, which runs
counter to the idea of the gift of Jesus. If your church has people interested
in drama, create a public Christmas pageant or walk-through Nativity. If it is
prayer, place prayer boxes in local places of business, hold community prayer
services for peace and other events to pray for others. Think about how to
create a series of events that can lead up to Christmas to create a series of
invitational moments.
Planning your outreach efforts around
your current strengths and reputation makes it feel authentic and not a
manipulation of people to get them to engage with your church. It also helps
the people in your church feel comfortable because they are already good at
what you plan to do.
Start with an invitation from people they
know
While some people may just walk up to a
stranger and ask them out, more often than not, someone introduced them. The
same is true for church. About 70 to 75 percent of all people who start coming
to church responded to a personal invitation. It may take three or four
invitations, but it works.
Here are some ways to invite people to
your Christmas outreach events:
Provide members with physical
invitations. Create invitations members can hand to their friends. While the
invitation can list all of the events, creating invitations for each event
enables people to invite their neighbors and friends to multiple events without
seeming pushy.
Use Facebook to spread the word. Enlist a
social media team to replicate the invitations on Facebook and encourage people
to “like” and “share” the event on their own Facebook pages.
Text message provides timely reminders.
Create a set of text messages that individuals can use to invite their friends
to the event. They can be especially effective during the week of the event.
Follow up with people who attend your
events
At the events, tell people about other
events at the church and invite them to the Christmas Eve service. Provide a
response card for them to request more information about the church or get
reminders about other church events. Create a way for them to respond at the
event.
If you have contact information, send a
handwritten thank-you note. Avoid overlooking people in need by letting them
know that you appreciate their attendance and would love to pray for them and
see them again. Remind them of the next event and provide a way for them to get
more information by phone, email, text or Web.
Be patient and persistent
Outreach at any time of the year takes
time, patience and persistence. It requires everyone at the church to be
engaged and willing to invite others so the community can become acquainted
with the church. It takes effort to execute events with excellence and to
create a relationship with others. It requires sacrifice out of love. In the
end, isn’t this what Christmas is all about?
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After fire, Arkansas church trying to get
ready for Christmas by Jocelyn Tovar
HICKORY PLAINS, Ark. (UMNS) — Parishioners
of Hickory Plains United Methodist Church are pulling together to make sure
they will have their first service on Christmas Eve.
Two parishioners in fact are taking on
some of the projects themselves
Parishioners like Ted Ashmore wanted to
do something after that fire.
"We don't have much money,"
Ashmore said. "But God gave me the wisdom to build stuff."
So he made a cross to christen their new
building that sits in the exact spot the old church stood for over 100 years.
"The flame is the main symbol for the
Methodist cross which stands for the holy spirit," said Ashmore who hand
drew the flames on the cross.
"It's gods building and I felt like
I should give it something." But he's not the only one pitching in.
Jewel Ashmore, his wife, paid for one of
the new stained glass windows and two of the church's new pews by selling
jewelry she made from the rubble.
"I collected all the stained glass
and I crushed it," she said.
Hundreds of dollars she's been able to give
back to the church to help rebuild.
"Our pastor said it's a God thing,
and I think it is a God thing!" she said.
They also saved the cross from the old
church to put inside the sanctuary where guests can see it as soon as they walk
inside.
Copyright 2013 Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc.
All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten,
or redistributed.
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Church fires: Damage, recovery,
prevention
During 2012 and early 2013, fire
destroyed or damaged more than a dozen United Methodist church properties
across the United States. Arson was the cause of at least five fires. The
insured property value ranged from $10,000 to $3.3 million, but several
churches lacked adequate insurance to cover full replacement costs. This
special news series reported on the damage from those fires, the response to
the affected congregations and what churches can do to protect themselves.
NEWS STORIES
Church fires challenge United Methodists
(Part 1)
Arsonists torch four neighboring churches
(Part 2)
Church fire offers ‘moments of deep
grace’ (Part 3)
How do you protect your church property?
(Part 4)
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Central Texas Conference breaks ground on
new center
FORT WORTH, Texas (UMNS) — Groundbreaking
Ceremonies Officially Begin Next Phase of New Cental Texas Conference Service
Center Project by Vance Morton*
After years of praying and planning and
fund-raising and planning and praying and planning and praying and...the
endeavor of moving the Central Texas Conference Service Center (CTCSC) into a
new building on the campus of Texas Wesleyan University in Fort Worth took a
huge step forward last Friday, Nov. 15 when ground was officially broken.
Several key members of the New CTCSC task
force joined Texas Wesleyan University President Fred Slabach during ceremonies
held on the campus of Texas Wesleyan University to break ground on the greater
Texas Wesleyan/ University Rosedale Renaissance Project. With a huge smile on
their faces and a golden shovel in hand the group formally kicked off the next
phase of the project that’s been in the works for the past few years.
The new 15,000 square foot service
center, which was officially approved during the 2012 Central Texas Annual
Conference meeting, will be centered on East Rosedale Street, just across from
the new clock tower and main entrance to the Texas Wesleyan campus. This is one
of four components of the Rosedale Renaissance project, which also includes the
clock tower and entrance, $32 million in street improvements and a Business
incubator.
“Any one of these four projects would be
a major victory worth celebrating,” said President Slabach, “but these four
projects stand together to signify the rebirth and emergence of the Polytechnic
area as a growing economic center in the city of Fort Worth. We are most
excited to welcome the Central Texas Conference to the neighborhood and look
forward to working closely together.”
Prior to “turning some dirt,” Dr. Wild
pinch-hit for Bishop Lowry, who was engaged in the fall Council of Bishops
meeting in North Carolina, and served as the conference’s representative at the
podium. During his remarks, Dr. Wild highlighted one of the great hopes and
joys of incorporating the new Service Center into the TWU Rosedale Renaissance
Project - the opportunity to renew and expand on a long-standing and fruitful
working partnership with Texas Wesleyan.
“This indeed is a great, great moment in our
lives,” he proclaimed. “Not to make the building happen, but to look at what
might happen and can happen and will happen beyond that as we do training and
education for spirituality, as we look into evangelism and spiritual
transformation and growth...as we look at our center becoming a ministry center
to this area. To join Polytechnic United Methodist Church and help both of us
in partnership with Texas Wesleyan.”
Plans for the new service center are in
the final design stages and construction is expected to begin early in 2014. No
official timetable for completion of the building or when the staff would begin
using the building as its base of operations has been announced, but it is
hoped that the new home of the CTCSC will be open for business before we
celebrate our sweet Lord’s birth in 2014.
The below is video from Dr. Wild’s brief
comments during the groundbreaking ceremonies as well as the ground breaking
itself. Please pardon the windy audio quality and the (at times) shaky video.
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History of Hymns: ‘We Gather Together’
DALLAS (UMNS) — History of Hymns: “We
Gather Together” by C. Michael Hawn
"We Gather Together"
17th-century Dutch, translated by
Theodore Baker
The United Methodist Hymnal, No. 131
We gather together to ask the Lord’s
blessing;
He chastens and hastens his will to make
known.
The wicked oppressing now cease from
distressing.
Sing praises to his name; he forgets not
his own.
In many American hymnals, "We gather
together" appears as a Thanksgiving hymn. Perhaps this is because of the
opening line and the general idea that God is with us regardless of our
circumstances. However, the hymn speaks more about God's providence throughout
the trials of life. The story behind this hymn clarifies its text.
This hymn is a late sixteenth-century
expression of celebration of freedom by The Netherlands from Spanish
oppression. Like many older hymns, it finds its way to us through a circuitous
route. Although listed as an anonymous hymn, some sources indicate that
Adrianus Valerious (c. 1575-1625), known for his poems on the Dutch War of
Independence from the perspective of a peasant, authored the original text in
Dutch. Since making a living as a poet was not possible, Valerious had a
prosperous career as the Toll and Customs Controller for Veere, eventually
being promoted to Tax Collections and finally appointed to the City Council.
The hymn was first published in
Nederlandtsch Gedenckclanck (1626), a collection by Valerius in Haarlem,
focusing on folk poems and melodies on the Dutch Wars (1555-1625). Valerius
collected and arranged the songs for this publication for 30 years until his
death in 1625. This collection is not as important for its poetry as it was for
understanding the Protestant attitudes of the day. The work’s significance was
exemplified by its adoption in Zeeland as part of the religious education curriculum
in homes and the church.
Austrian Edward Kremser (1838-1914)
included the hymn in Sechs Altniederländische Volkslieder (Six Old Netherlands
Folksongs) in 1877 for his men's chorus, all six anonymous songs taken from the
Valerius collection 250 years earlier. According to UM Hymnal editor te Rev.
Carlton Young, the performance of these tunes led to their popularity and inclusion
in many hymnals.
The story extends to the United States
through Theodore Baker (1851-1934), a New York-born musicologist who studied in
Leipzig and authored the famous Biographical Dictionary of Music and Musicians.
Baker translated the hymn from German for an anthem entitled "Prayer for
Thanksgiving" published in 1894. Baker is the source of the hymn’s
traditional Thanksgiving connection in the United States.
The Dutch, long a stronghold for the
Reformed theology of John Calvin, were in a struggle against Spain for their
political independence and against the Catholic Church for religious freedom. A
twelve-year truce was established in 1609, giving young Prince Frederick Henry
a chance to mature into an able politician and soldier.
During this time, the Dutch East India
Company extended its trade beyond that of the English. The high period of Dutch
art flourished with Hals, Vermeer, and Rembrandt. Under the guidance of the
Prince Frederick Henry’s leadership, Spain’s efforts to regain supremacy on
land and sea were finally overcome in 1648. There was indeed much for which to
be thankful.
Some of the political overtones in this
hymn faithfully translated by Baker are apparent. Hymnologist Albert Bailey
suggests that the phrase, "The wicked oppressing now cease from
distressing," is an allusion to the persecution of the Catholic Church
under the policies of Spain. Thousands had been massacred and hundreds of homes
burned by the Spanish in 1576 during the Siege of Antwerp.
In stanza two, the writer states,
"so from the beginning the fight we were winning," stressing that
Protestants had always been assured of winning the cause. The truce of 1609
proved that the Lord "wast at our side."
The final stanza is a series of petitions
. . .
" ...pray that thou still our
defender will be.
Let thy congregation escape tribulation;
thy name be ever praised! O Lord, make us
free!"
This is an eschatological stanza. The
ultimate battle has not been won and will not be won until all battles cease.
The hymn gained recognition in the United
States when it found its way into the hymnal of the Methodist-Episcopal Church
in 1935. The popularity increased during World War II when singers connected
"the wicked oppressing" to Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. More
recently, the "We Gather Together" was featured at the Funeral Mass
for Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in 1994.
An interesting sidebar was that Baker’s
anthem inspired another hymn. A young Julia Cady Cory (1882-1963) heard this
text in 1902 at her church, Brick Presbyterian in New York City. Cory’s
"We praise thee, O God, our Redeemer, Creator" is a more general hymn
of praise and thanksgiving that also uses the Dutch tune KREMSER. Cory’s hymn
did not include any reference to nationalism, making it a more general
ecumenical hymn of thanksgiving.
The United Methodist Hymnal has placed
this hymn in the "Providence" section rather with other traditional
American Thanksgiving hymns, broadening its use from this national holiday to
use during any difficult circumstances.
Dr. Hawn is distinguished professor of
church music at Perkins School of Theology. He is also director of the
seminary's sacred music program.
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Remembering C.S. Lewis
HOUSTON (UMNS) — The Other Guy That Died
That Day by chappelltemple
I could easily have flunked out of
seminary because of him. For–reflecting
perhaps the evangelical poverty of my childhood– it was not until one Finals
week in the first year of my graduate studies in Boston that I finally ran across
him. And never having read his
children’s stories before, after I finished the first one I found myself having
to devour all seven of them immediately, even if it did keep me up and keep me
from studying for my exams.
Fortunately, the tests turned out
okay. In fact, maybe just because Aslan
was “on the move” in my life, I found it even easier to parse St.Paul, befog
Barth, and conquer church history.
Because, just as the Oxford don had discovered for himself, I also began
to realize that Christian doctrines are not what really counts about
Christianity– rather, they are simply “translations” of the actual story of
Jesus, a “true myth” that has become fact.
What’s more, the tales of Narnia soon
proved to be only a “gateway” drug to the other equally intoxicating writings
of this man. I discovered in him a new approach to apologetics, for instance,
almost conversational in tone, one that discarded debate in favor of winsome
discourse. To be sure, if I looked carefully,
I could see some flaws in his logic here and there. But the trip that he took me on was so
overall delightful that I found myself more than willing to simply sail right
over whatever abysses there might have been just to stay on board a little longer.
Likewise, his capacity for imagination
seemed unlimited to me. From a satirical
dialogue between the devil and one of his apprentices, to a science fiction
trilogy that actually worked, to the re-telling of an ancient Greek myth, his
ability to write across all kinds of genres, spelled out in almost sixty books,
fascinated me. And when I actually heard
a recording of his voice from one of his radio addresses during the War I knew
then that I had found a muse for my own ministry, for he spoke so calmly and
cogently that I could not help but be captivated by him.
Oh to be certain, perhaps that was
because he told me what I intuitively already knew but had never been able to
articulate, namely, that we live at present on the wrong side of the door and
cannot mingle with the splendors that await us in our real home. But, he went on to assure me, “all the leaves
of the New Testament are rustling with the rumor that it will not always be
so–some day, God willing, we shall get in.”
In the meantime, so he wrote,“the load,
or weight, or burden of my neighbor’s glory should be laid daily on my back, a
load so heavy that only humility can carry it, and the backs of the proud will
be broken.” Indeed, all day long, he
argued, we are in some degree or another inescapably helping each other either
to a destination of eternal glory or one of everlasting horror.
As so as he did for millions around the
world, Clive Staples Lewis helped me to find the real destination in my life,
as well, not only pointing me towards that “weight of glory” that transformed
how I hope to treat others, but becoming a touchstone for my thinking through
all the decades that have followed, too.
Few noticed when he died fifty years ago
on November 22, 1963, for the other news of that same sad day– the dispatches
that came out of Dallas detailing the death of a president–quickly captured the
attention of the world. But I have a
feeling that on that late autumn day C.S. Lewis found a welcome reception in
heaven indeed as the door on which he had been knocking all of his life opened
at last.
Through his words, Aslan really was “on
the move.” Thanks, Mr. Lewis, for
sharing him with me.
---
Read how a United Methodist church
celebrated Lewis’ legacy
The Lion, the Witch and the Methodists by
Aaron Cross*
In our hearts and minds exists a place
filled with magic, wonder and talking lions. But it’s not Narnia; it’s Texas.
Who knew?
The folks at New World United Methodist
Church in Arlington, Texas, that’s who. Throughout May and June, C.S. Lewis
fever, also known as "Narniosis,” captivated the entire church.
Led by the Rev. Michael Dawson, New World
is dedicating much of its summer to sermons, Bible studies and Sunday school
activities focusing on C.S. Lewis, and a two-week run of the play
"Shadowlands," by William Nicholson, which deals with some of the
interesting aspects of Lewis’ life.
So, why C.S. Lewis? After all, when one
thinks of The United Methodist Church, the image that comes to mind is one of
grape juice and John Wesley rather than fantasy and talking animals. The pastor
must be a big fan.
“I'm not a big fan of C.S. Lewis; I
prefer Bonhoeffer,” Dawson declares. OK, there’s goes that theory.
“However, Lewis is popular with the
masses, thanks to the movie 'Shadowlands' and the Narnia books and films,” he
adds. “This was something I wanted to do when the first Narnia film came out. I
thought the "Shadowlands" play would draw people from outside the
church. In addition, I wanted to preach a series of sermons on ideas raised by
Lewis in his books.”
A sermon based on the existence of
wardrobes that lead to a world where lions talk to you rather than attack your
car? Well, not exactly.
“The
overall message would be that God is always with us — in our questions and in
our sufferings — and that we can ‘give an accounting for the hope that is
within us.’ Lewis’ life and teachings provide a modern example of that,” Dawson
explains.
The play, cast almost entirely with
professional community actors, complements the sermons, according to New World
children’s ministry director Kim George.
"Shadowlands," George says,
“deals with the struggle of suffering. When people suffer, oftentimes we ask
‘why?’ This play seeks to explore that question and to see how we can stay
strong in the face of suffering.”
George incorporated the first Narnia
book, "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," into the Sunday school
program.
The six-week series followed the journey
of the children going into Narnia and ended with the closing battle.
“This was a combination of stories about
the children, along with activities and games to re-emphasize the lessons. We
also did some talk backs with the kids with prayer time to see what they had
learned,” George says. “The children really seemed to enjoy the series and got
a lot out of it, even those who had not actually seen the movie beforehand.”
The children’s program was supposed to
incorporate the giant wardrobe used in the Shadowlands production, but someone
forgot to notify the set builder.
“It ended up being too tall for our
Sunday school room,” George recalls. “Instead, we used a tall light as a
(Narnian) lamppost. It worked rather well to set our scene, and the children
got to go see the wardrobe.”
*Cross is a freelance writer in
Nashville, Tenn.
News media contact: Joey Butler,
Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
---
CNN blog on health care features United
Methodist pastor
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (UMNS) — The Obamacare
'scandal' you haven't heard about by John Blake, CNN
(CNN) – The Rev. Timothy McDonald gripped
the pulpit with both hands, locked eyes with the shouting worshippers, and
decided to speak the unspeakable.
The bespectacled Baptist minister was not
confessing to a scandalous love affair or the theft of church funds. He brought
up another taboo: the millions of poor Americans who won’t get health insurance
beginning in January because their states refused to accept Obamacare.
McDonald cited a New Testament passage in
which Jesus gathered the 5,000 and fed them with five loaves and two fishes.
Members of his congregation bolted to their feet and yelled, “C’mon preacher”
and “Yessir” as his voice rose in righteous anger.
“What I like about our God is that he
doesn’t throw people away,” McDonald told First Iconium Baptist Church in
Atlanta during a recent Sunday service. “There will be health care for every
American. Don’t you worry when they try to cast you aside. Just say I’m a leftover for God and leftovers
just taste better the next day!”
McDonald’s congregation cheered, but his
is a voice crying in the wilderness. He’s willing to condemn state leaders
whose refusal to accept Obamacare has left nearly 5 million poor Americans
without health coverage. But few of the most famous pastors in the Bible Belt
will join him.
Joel Osteen? Bishop T.D. Jakes, and other
prominent pastors throughout the South?
Like McDonald, they preach in states
where crosses and church steeples dot the skyline yet the poor can’t get the
health insurance they would receive if they lived elsewhere. All declined to
comment.
When people talk about the Affordable
Care Act, most focus on the troubled launch of its website. But another
complication of the law has received less attention: a “coverage gap” that will
leave nearly 5 million poor Americans without health care, according to a Kaiser
Health Foundation study.
Learn more from Kaiser about the coverage
gap in states that refused Obamacare
The coverage gap was created when 25
states refused to accept the expansion of Medicaid under Obamacare. The people
who fall into this gap make too much money to qualify for Medicaid and not
enough to qualify for Obamacare subsidies in their state insurance exchanges.
If they lived elsewhere, they would probably get insurance. But because they
live in a state that refused the new health care law, they likely will remain
among the nation’s uninsured poor after Obamacare coverage kicks in come
January.
The coverage gap has been treated as a
political issue, but there is a religious irony to the gap that has been
ignored.
Most of the people who fall into the
coverage gap live in the Bible Belt, a 14-state region in the South stretching
from North Carolina to Texas and Florida. The Bible Belt is the most overtly
Christian region in the country, filled with megachurches and pastors who are
treated like celebrities. All but two
Bible Belt states have refused to accept the Medicaid expansion under
Obamacare.
Should Bible Belt pastors say anything
publicly about the millions of poor people in their communities stranded by the
coverage gap? Is it anti-Christian for state leaders to turn down help for the
people Jesus called “the least of these"? Or should pastors say nothing
publicly about such issues because they are strictly political?
CNN's Sanjay Gupta explains who falls into
the coverage gap
Who speaks for the poor in the coverage
gap?
When these questions were sent to many of
the most popular pastors in the Bible Belt, they hit a wall of silence.
Virtually no prominent pastor wanted to talk about the uninsured poor in their
midst.
Joel Osteen, pastor of the largest church
in the nation, declined to be interviewed about the subject. So did Bishop T.D.
Jakes. Their megachurches are both in Texas, the state with the nation’s
highest number of people without health insurance.
Max Lucado, the best-selling Christian
author who is a minister at a church in Texas, declined to speak; Charles
Stanley, the Southern Baptist pastor in Georgia whose In Touch Ministries
reaches millions around the globe, declined to speak; Ed Young Sr. and Ed Young
Jr., a father and son in Texas who pastor two of the fastest-growing churches
in the nation, also declined to speak.
Bishop T.D. Jakes declined to talk about
the millions of poor people stranded in the “coverage gap."
The list goes on.
The silence is not hard to understand.
Obamacare is a polarizing political issue in the Bible Belt. A pastor who
publicly weighs in on the subject could divide his or her congregation or risk
their job. And some prominent pastors like Osteen are popular in part because
they do not alienate fans by taking
political stands.
The Rev. Phil Wages, senior pastor
Winterville First Baptist Church in Georgia and a blogger, was one of the few
Bible Belt ministers willing to speak on the subject.
He says he won’t preach about the
coverage gap created by the state’s rejection of the Medicaid expansion because
he has what he calls theological differences with the thrust of the new health
care law.
Wages says the Bible teaches that the
care of orphans, widows and the sick are given to the church, not to the
government. Early Christians were the first to create hospitals, orphanages and
hospices.
“I have an issue with the government
coming in to get money through me - through taxes - to take care of people,
when my argument is that I should be free to give to charities or to my church
in order to take care of the sick and destitute,” he says.
Wages says he has no doubt that lack of
health insurance is a monumental problem, and that many people are poor because
of circumstances beyond their control. Yet there is no New Testament example of
Jesus trying to shape public policy on behalf of the poor.
“I do not see any biblical precedent
where Jesus ever went to Herod or Pilate and said you should be taking care of
the poor,” Wages says. “Jesus told his disciples to take care of the poor and
the apostles said the same thing to the early church.”
Wages’ position is impractical and
unbiblical, says Ronald Sider, a longtime advocate for the poor and author of
“The Scandal of Evangelical Politics."
Churches and charities don’t have enough
resources to take care of an estimated 48 million Americans who don’t have
health care. The Bible is filled with examples of God's fury over economic
oppression of the poor, which Christians should regard as scandalous, he says.
“If you are not sharing God’s concern for
the poor, it raises huge questions about whether you are a Christian at all,”
he says about pastors who say nothing about the uninsured poor.
“As God’s spokespersons, you ought to be
talking about God’s concern for the poor as much as God. In the richest nation
in world history, it’s contradictory to have millions without health
insurance.”
“It absolutely stinks”
The coverage gap may inspire a religious
debate, but for its victims the issue is raw and personal.
A recent New York Times article about the
coverage gap revealed that many of its victims are the working poor: cooks,
cashiers, sales clerks and waitresses.
“These are people who are working people
but they haven’t been able to afford health insurance or their employers don’t
offer it and they’re stuck,” says Andy Miller, editor of Georgia Health News, a
nonprofit news organization that covers health news in the state. “A lot of
these folks have chronic health conditions.”
They are people like Shelley “Myra”
Mitchell, a single mom with four children who makes $9 an hour working at a
Chick-fil-A in Georgia. She makes $18,000 a year – too much for Georgia’s
existing Medicaid program, but not enough to qualify for subsidies to sign up
for Obamacare’s insurance marketplace in Georgia.
Mitchell’s voice grew edgy with
frustration when asked to describe her health needs. She rang up about $20,000
in emergency room bills because she has no health insurance. She can’t afford
to get pap smears, go to the dentist or get surgery for a two-year-old hernia.
She can’t take medication for her depression and anxiety because she can’t
afford it.
She thought she could get help under
Obamacare but recently learned she can’t because Georgia did not accept the
law’s Medicaid expansion.
“It stinks,” she says. “I’ve been dealing
with this hernia for two years now, and I can’t get anyone to help me because I
don’t have health insurance. It absolutely stinks.”
Why pastors should stay silent about the
coverage gap
Mitchell’s plight may stink. But at what
point should a pastor go public on such a complex issue, and what could he or
she actually say?
Two prominent evangelical pastors openly
wrestled with those questions.
Andy Stanley is one of the most popular
evangelical pastors in the nation. He is the senior pastor of North Point
Community Church in Alpharetta, Georgia, a megachurch with at least 33,000
members. He is also the author of the forthcoming book “How to be Rich,” which
urges Christians to be "rich in good deeds" instead of wealth. His
church recently announced that it donated $5.2 million to Atlanta charities and
provided another 34,000 volunteer hours.
Joel Osteen has the largest church in
America. He also declined to speak about the coverage gap.
Stanley says the coverage gap disturbs
him. The church cannot handle the needs of millions of uninsured people alone
and should quit taking shots at government involvement, he says. But he adds
that it’s not anti-Christian for political leaders in states like Georgia to
turn down the Medicaid expansion for the poor.
“If you really want to know how concerned
someone is for the poor ask them what percentage of their personal money they
give to organizations that help the poor,” he says. “Ask them how much time
they give to organizations that help the poor.”
Stanley says it would be difficult for
any pastor to talk about the Medicaid expansion without addressing the entire
law.
“I tried to imagine a scenario where I
urged people to write our governor encouraging him to reconsider his decision
regarding the expansion of Medicaid for the poor,” he says. “As I imagined
that, I got the feeling that by the time I finished explaining the issue,
people’s eyes would be glazed over.”
Pastors who don't preach one way or the
other on Medicaid expansion aren't callous or apathetic, says Russell Moore,
president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty
Commission. They may be suspicious of a bigger government and skeptical of
whether this move will solve the problem.
“The Bible calls on Christians to answer
the cries of the poor,” he says. “All Christians must do that. The question of
the Medicaid expansion is a question of how we do that. I don’t hear many
people arguing that we shouldn’t care about the plight of the poor when it
comes to medical care. The question is a genuine debate about the role of the
state.”
Moore says some people have a “utopian
view” of what state power can accomplish.
“Government programs sometimes encourage
dependency, unintentionally break down family structures, and become
unsustainable financially,” Moore says.
Bob Coy, pastor of Calvary Chapel
megachurch in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, wondered aloud about what he could, and
should, say.
Florida, which has the second highest
number of people without health insurance behind Texas, has not accepted the
Obamacare Medicaid expansion.
Coy says he hasn’t spoken publicly about
poor people missing health coverage in Florida. But he has called the governor
to get more information.
“I’m not an activist guy. I don’t tell
the government what to do. I am a church guy. I teach the Bible.”
That doesn’t mean he doesn’t care for the
poor, though, Coy says. He grew up in a poor family that couldn’t afford to go
to the dentist. His church also spends a large percentage of its budget on
serving the poor.
Coy says he is suspicious of large-scale
programs that are publicly funded because they are often abused.
“One side of our society is saying, 'We
need this,' while on the other side is saying, 'This isn’t fair and isn’t going
to work.’ So how should a pastor, who has a heart to help people, respond?”
Why pastors should speak out
The Rev. Shane Stanford’s answer to Coy
is simple: Talk about justice for the poor like Jesus did.
Stanford is the senior pastor of Christ
United Methodist Church in Memphis and author of “Five Stones: Conquering Your
Giants.”
He is also HIV-positive. He was born a
hemophiliac and contracted the virus when he was 16 during treatment for his
illness.
Stanford says he publicly speaks out
about the millions of Americans stranded without health coverage because he
knows how it feels. Once, after heart surgery, he was getting a transfusion
when a nurse came into the room and pulled the needle out of his arm because
she said he had maxed out his health insurance coverage.
He says standing up for people in the
coverage gap is a matter of justice.
“Sometimes pastors have to tell people
what they need to hear, not what they want to hear.”
Stanford ignores fellow pastors who
counsel him to be silent about his state and others that refused to accept the
Medicaid expansion.
“They say you have to be careful talking
about political issues,” he says. “When I look at their lives, part of me thinks
they never had that needle yanked out of their arm.”
Conservative pastors who urge their
colleagues to avoid politics are hypocrites, says James Cone, a prominent
theologian who has spent much of his career writing books condemning white
churches for what he says is their indifference to social justice.
“When their own interests are involved,
they are very much involved in politics,” Cone says. “Same-sex marriage and
abortion – they have no trouble politically opposing them.”
Cone, a professor at Union Theological
Seminary in New York, says a nation is defined by how it treats its most
vulnerable members. But there is an entrenched hostility to poor people in
America that goes unchallenged by some white, conservative Christians, he says.
“When poor people get food stamps, they
get mad,” Cone says. “When the rich and corporations get tax breaks and pay no
taxes, they don’t say anything.”
McDonald, the pastor who spoke out on
behalf of poor people from his Atlanta church, says Jesus provided universal
health care. The Gospels are filled with accounts of Jesus healing marginalized
people.
“He did it for free,” McDonald says of
Jesus’ healing. “The reason the crowds gathered around Jesus primarily was for
healing. People want wholeness.”
Perhaps the gap between Bible Belt
pastors who say nothing about the uninsured poor and those who do is also
rooted in history.
Conservative Christians have
traditionally emphasized providing charity to the poor - soup kitchens,
donations to impoverished people in undeveloped countries - while progressive
Christians have blended charity with calls for public policy changes that help
the poor.
The distinction between both approaches
was distilled by a memorable quote from the late Brazilian Roman Catholic
Bishop Dom Helder Camara, who said: "When I feed the poor they call me a
saint. When I ask why so many people are poor they call me a communist."
That may be changing as a new generation
of evangelicals rise in the Bible Belt and elsewhere. One minister who speaks
to them is the Rev. Timothy Keller, a conservative Christian author who pastors
a megachurch in New York.
Keller is the author of “Generous
Justice: How God’s Grace Makes Us Just,” a popular book that argues that
evangelicals should do more than preach personal salvation; they must “speak up
for those who cannot speak up for themselves.” He is a role model for many
younger evangelicals.
“God loves and defends those with the
least economic and social power, and so should we. That is what it means to ‘do
justice.’ ’’
CNN.com recently contacted Keller to see
if he would talk about "Generous Justice" and how it might apply to
health care and the poor. Did he think pastors in Bible Belt states should say
anything publicly on behalf of poor people being denied basic medical
insurance? His publicist said she would contact Keller with the request.
Several days later, she returned with
Keller’s answer.
He had no comment.
John Blake - CNN Writer
---
Former United Methodist missionary
honored in Rome
ROME (UMNS) —The Rev. Gerald “Jerry”
Anderson, emeritus director of the Overseas Ministries Study Center in New
Haven, Conn., met Pope Francis, gave a lecture and received an honorary Doctor
of Missiology degree on Nov. 14 from the Pontifical Urbaniana University in
Rome. The degree was presented to him by Cardinal Fernando Filoni, the grand
chancellor of the university. It was the first time an honorary degree has been
given to a Protestant by this university that was founded in 1627 and is owned
by the Sacred Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. Anderson, a
former United Methodist missionary in the Philippines and president of Scarritt
College in Nashville, is a retired member of the Western Pennsylvania Annual
(regional) Conference and resides in Hamden, Conn.
---
Publishing House lays off two executives
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) — Two executive
staff members of the United Methodist Publishing House will leave at year-end
after their positions were cut as part a makeover of the leadership team.
Employees were told this week about
elimination of the jobs of Ed Kowalski, senior vice president of marketing and
sales, and Alyce Meadors, vice president of human resources. The news comes
less than a month after the publishing house said Neil Alexander, its longtime
president and publisher, would step down in spring 2016.
“Changes that involve endings and
beginnings that affect people we know and long-standing positions are hard,”
Alexander wrote in a memo to staff of the United Methodist denomination’s
self-supporting publishing agency. “We stretch out to touch and pull ourselves
forward into the future, but deeply regret letting go of what has been.”
Kowalski and Meadors have spent 14 years
each at the publishing house. Meadors is the only person of color on the
executive staff. They might offer limited consulting assistance on a part-time
basis through the first half of next year.
1 position open
While eliminating those two positions,
the publishing house has established a new role of chief ministry officer, with
an open search underway to fill it. It said the chief ministry officer will
lead in clarifying and training for skills, attitudes and processes that help
the publishing house’s team to accomplish its mission and help to foster a
culture of excellence that is mission-driven, customer-centric and financially
strong.
Amy Smith, the publishing house’s
spokeswoman, said no additional cutbacks are planned. Over the past year, 185
full-time and more than 100 part-time employees were let go as the publishing
house closed its Cokesbury retail bookstores as part of a shift in strategy to
a focus on selling online and through its call center.
Getahn Ward covers growth and development
for The Tennessean. Contact him at 615-726-5968 or gward@tennessean.com. Follow
him on Twitter @Getahn.
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Developer backs out of purchase of
Publishing House property
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) — Neil Alexander,
the president and publisher of the United Methodist Publishing House, announced
Nov. 25 that the developer TVG Holdings LLC is not able to proceed with the
purchase of the Publishing House's property at 201 8th Ave. in Nashville.
"We will now pursue other options," Alexander said.
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United Methodist News Service is a
ministry of
United Methodist Communications
810 12th Ave South
Nashville TN 37203 United States
Phone: (615)742-5400
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