Missionary group wants review of United Methodist agency
7/18/2001 News media contact: Linda Bloom · (646) 369-3759 · New York
By United Methodist News Service
Concerned about mission program directions and a lack of response from staff, the United Methodist Missionary Association is calling for a "major review" of the denomination's mission agency.
The association, an unofficial, voluntary organization of more than 350 current and retired missionaries, wants the directors of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries to initiate that review. The association also works closely with two other mission personnel groups, the National Association of Deaconesses and Missionaries, and Church and Community Workers.
The call emerged out of the United Methodist Missionary Association's annual meeting on July 2, according to Howard Heiner, president. "Basically, we're going public because we would like the issue raised of a major review of the board during this transition period," he told United Methodist News Service.
Heiner was referring to the search for a successor to the Rev. Randolph Nugent, who has served as the Board of Global Ministries' general secretary since 1981 and has indicated his intent to leave that position during the 2001-2004 quadrennium.
The Rev. Sally Dyck, chairwoman of the board's personnel committee, and the Rev. Duane Sarazin, a committee member, are leading the transition process and seeking input from the wider church regarding the board's future leadership. Heiner said he has talked with Dyck and "she has guaranteed we will meet with her," but the date has not been set.
In a July 9 news release, members of the missionary association "expressed continued frustration" that board management has not allowed mission personnel to provide input and expertise for the agency's planning process. They also are concerned about the "practice of founding new programs of denominational expansion without first consulting local church leaders in areas of the world where there is already a vibrant Christian presence."
Nugent told United Methodist News Service he doesn't consider the term "denominational expansion" to be an accurate description of the board's activities. "This concept of expansion is a political concept, not a theological concept," he explained. "The Gospel calls us to proclaim the Good News to all places and all people."
Citing the dialogues the Board of Global Ministries has conducted in different regions of the world and with annual conferences, he said that it is what the churches and people in those areas say that helps shape mission programs.
"The missionary community cannot see itself as the sole factor in determining where the mission of the church takes place," Nugent said. "Not even the board can determine that anymore. That era of mission is over."
In Kenya, for example, the missionary association is concerned about the establishment of United Methodist churches in a country where an autonomous Methodist church already exists. Nugent's response is that the United Methodist work there was not started by the board but by Bishop J. Alfred Ndoricimpa and his church members when they were exiled from Burundi.
Another concern cited in the missionary association's press release was a reported deficit of $39 million for the Board of Global Ministries. The unaudited 2000 financial statements show total operating expenses of $182.2 million and total operating revenues of $143.1 million.
Stephen Brimigion, the recently retired board treasurer, explained that many of the programs listed under operating expenses are multiyear programs, and all of the funds available for those programs were not reflected in the statement. "We spent more than we took in, but there was money set aside by the directors to cover it (the gap)," he said.
In 2000, he added, "assets still exceeded liabilities."
But because the Board of Global Ministries launched new programs - including the expansion of the missionary community -- when the stock market was at a peak, the decline in the market will have a definite effect. "We probably will see some cutbacks this year," Brimigion said.
Nugent believes that most church members don't understand the kind of finances required to support the missionary community. The board's biggest problem, he said, is that funding for missionaries - especially support from local churches -- has not increased along with their numbers.
His comments about those financial obligations during the board's spring meeting in April angered missionary association members, who felt the remarks "would seem to portray long-term career missionaries as motivated solely by financial gain and which denigrated mission personnel by comparing them unfavorably with short-term Peace Corps volunteers."
Nugent said he is, in fact, recommending a missionary force that depends more on volunteers than those receiving a regular salary and benefits. "The speech was signaling to the board that we need a missionary program in which compensation would be less," he explained.
Heiner's response was that mission categories currently exist within the board "where people can serve in a Peace Corps type of activity." But he firmly believes there remains a place for the more traditional long-term missionaries who become absorbed in the language, culture and concerns of the communities where they serve.
The missionary association has completed a five-year review of the new organizational structure of the Board of Global Ministries, which it hopes eventually to distribute to board directors. The goals it has listed in that review include:
· Developing an open, transparent working relationship with the staff that will honor missionary concerns.
· Publishing a current missionary/mission personnel manual to provide administrative guidelines for both staff and missionaries.
· Establishing a fair and equitable compensation and benefit policy for all categories of board employees.
· Administering the Collins Pension and Health Trust benefits in an equitable, legal and financially responsible manner.
· Developing a dynamic program that will utilize the skills and talents of retired missionaries to promote global goals of mission outreach.
"Our vision," Heiner said, "is a board where the directors and staff and missionaries are joined together as partners, with our overseas partners and churches and others, to try to serve Christ's mandate." # # #
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