Agencies’ Executives Collaborate on Many Issues amid Pandemic Uncertainties

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United Methodism’s top agency executives have worked hard to find ways to continue moving the denomination forward in mission and ministry amid the coronavirus pandemic uncertainties, the group said in a Nov. 2 report to the Council of Bishops.

Their most effective response has been to meet regularly and collaborate collegially on three overall issues: stewardship, justice, and faithfulness to meeting the needs of United Methodist annual conferences and local congregations, said Dawn Wiggins Hare, top executive of the General Commission on Status and Role of Women. As current convenor of the General Secretaries Table, she gave the report Nov. 2 to the Council of Bishops meeting via Zoom and livestreamed on Facebook.

Despite meeting online every two weeks, Ms. Hare said, “we hunger for the day we can share a cup of tea with one another.”

The executives, known formally as “general secretaries” in church jargon, have developed a new calendar – “before COVID and after COVID,” said Ms. Hare.

“It’s between what was known and what is absolutely a mystery,” she said. “What we Type A folks can control and what is off the track.” Then she referenced a popular Beatles’ song: “We get by with a little help from our friends.”

Ms. Hare cited these areas on which agency executives are collaborating:

Stewardship: Ms. Hare said in the 20 months since the coronavirus pandemic began, general agencies have jettisoned excess structures in order to be nimbler in responding to the ministry needs of annual conferences and local congregations. Agencies have examined their budgets, assets, programming, funding, staff, and missional priorities, she said. Staffing has been reduced, offices have a smaller footprint, agencies have moved locations, buildings have been sold, unused space has been rented to generate more income. All agencies have developed programs by adjusting to technology and media “as their evolution occurred before our eyes,” said Ms. Hare. She added that United Methodist Communications has been especially helpful to smaller agencies with resources that augmented their limited staffs.

Justice: In efforts parallel to those of the Council of Bishops, United Methodist agencies have committed to anti-racism work, Ms. Hare said. The General Commission on Religion and Race set up an interagency anti-racism task force that has looked at future equitable representation among directors and facilitated anti-racism conversations with staff and directors. Many agencies have reviewed their programming through lenses of racism and intersectionality, she said. All agencies joined the General Board of Global Ministries in a letter denouncing the church’s past involvement in Native American board schools. “We gathered POC stories with GBHEM, opposed voter suppression with United Methodist Women, joined Wespath in applying to the Lilly Foundation for a grant to improve clergy financial literacy especially among marginalized clergy; and committed to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 for climate justice,” said Ms. Hare.

Faithfulness to the community: Ms. Hare said United Methodist general agencies have focused on caring for the most vulnerable people, the “least of these” as Jesus said in Matthew 25. These activities have included strengthening the Safe Sanctuaries program for child safety; updating resources on clergy sexual misconduct to include healing of victims; and worked for prevention of sexual misconduct everywhere. Ms. Hare said her agency has facilitated an interagency sexual ethics task force. United Methodist representatives also have collaborated with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on resources to prevent child sexual abuse, with a report due by Spring 2022. Ms. Hare said the agencies are preparing to incorporate the CDC findings across the United Methodist connection.

In closing, Ms. Hare said that this fall the General Secretaries Table has marked significant changes with the retirements of Gil Hanke of the General Commission on United Methodist Men and Barbara Boigegrain of Wespath, the church’s pension and benefits agency. In addition, M. Garlinda Burton relinquished her position as interim general secretary of Religion and Race with the election of Giovanni Arroyo as GCORR’s top executive. As of Nov. 2, the current or acting executives of United Methodist boards and agencies are:

  • General Board of Global Ministries – Roland Fernandes
  • General Board of Church and Society – Susan Henry-Crowe
  • General Council on Finance and Administration – Moses Kumar
  • General Board of Higher Education and Ministry – Greg Bergquist
  • Discipleship Ministries – Jeffrey Campbell
  • United Methodist Publishing House – Brian Milford
  • United Methodist Communications – Dan Krause
  • General Commission on United Methodist Men – Greg Arnold
  • United Methodist Women – Harriett Olson
  • General Commission on Archives and History – Ashley Boggan Dreff
  • General Commission on Religion and Race – Giovanni Arroyo
  • General Commission on Status and Role of Women – Dawn Wiggins Hare
  • Wespath – Andrew Hendren

Watch a recording of the Council of Bishops’ Nov. 2 meeting on Facebook.

Cynthia B. Astle serves as Editor of United Methodist Insight, which she founded in 2011.