News In Brief – October 16, 2009

Brief items for use in local church newsletters
Prepared by United Methodist News Service

As the debate over reforming the U.S. health care system rages in Washington, the 53 United Methodists who are members of Congress are listening to their constituents and deciding the best path to follow. But their feelings about the various reform proposals in both the House and Senate tend to echo the positions of their particular political party. All think some reform is needed, but how to make it happen is the issue.

Passing cars honked approval as more than 50 United Methodist Women rallied in support of health care for all that is “affordable, accessible and accountable” at a noontime vigil Oct. 10 outside the Marriott Hotel in Stamford, Conn. The vigil was one of several actions related to health care that directors took during the Oct. 9-12 annual meeting of the Women’s Division, United Methodist Board of Global Ministries.

Live from Stamford: The commissioning

Shannon and David Goran use the Internet to advertise their campus ministry to students in the Ukraine. So it seemed fitting that the young couple’s formal commissioning as missionaries of The United Methodist Church could be viewed live on a Webcast. “I think it’s a good illustration of the global church in the 21st century,” David Goran said. They were among the 40 people commissioned in an Oct. 13 service during the annual meeting of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries.

Bishop Eugene M. Frank, the first president of the Council of Bishops of The United Methodist Church, died Oct. 13 at Kingswood Manor in Kansas City. At 101, Frank was the oldest United Methodist bishop. When he was elected in 1956, he was the youngest bishop in the Methodist Episcopal Church. A passion for racial equality in the church and beyond marked his ministry. During his 16-year tenure as bishop of the Missouri Area, he oversaw the merger of the African-American Southwest Missouri Conference with the two predominantly white annual (regional) conferences in the state.

Should United Methodist pastors have a lifelong job guarantee? The denomination’s Study of Ministry Commission is examining the controversial practice that has survived in The United Methodist Church even as it is disappearing from other U.S. workplaces. Commission members said that while no formal recommendations have been proposed, changes in the principle of guaranteed appointment are being studied.

Campus ministers need to be more evangelistic and visible, and they should work to empower students to tell the story of campus ministry, church education officials said. The old model of campus ministries fully funded by annual conferences is no longer enough to address the needs, directors of the United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry’s Division of Higher Education concluded.

United Methodist Bishop Thomas Bickerton, chairperson of the Global Health Initiative for the United Methodist Council of Bishops, seeks nothing less than the elimination of malaria – a treatable and preventable disease that still claims a life every 30 seconds -- by 2015. The reality, he told directors of the United Methodist Committee on Relief during their Oct. 13 meeting, is that it will take a far greater effort than Nothing But Nets to achieve that goal. A new campaign, Imagine No Malaria, has been formed, with a public launch set for the next World Malaria Day – April 25, 2010.

Every October, United Methodists have the opportunity to improve the lives of children around the world through a longstanding collaboration between the United Methodist Board of Church and Society and the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, the United Nations’ Children’s Fund. This collaboration, Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF, has helped UNICEF save more children’s lives than any other organization, according to Caryl Stern, U.S. Fund president. Last year, United Methodists raised more than $154,000 for UNICEF.

Ben Aigamaua was on the phone with his sister in American Samoa when the second wave of the killer tsunami hit their home in Leone Village Sept. 29. “She answered the phone from upstairs at our house,” said the defensive lineman at United Methodist-related Lambuth University. “She was safe, but the house, while still standing, was completely ruined.” Asosaogalu “Sunday” Meaole, Ben’s childhood friend and a linebacker for the Lambuth Eagles, learned his family’s house in Amanave Village was swept away. Meaole said he thought he should go home to help. “But my dad told me not to worry.” His father told the pre-engineering student: “Stay focused, stay in school, and stay strong.”