Compiled from News and Staff Reports
Relocating The United Methodist Church's global missions agency to Atlanta marks the end of a significant era of church history. New York City has served as a center for Methodist missions since the early 19th century, according to a 2014 article by United Methodist News Service reporter Linda Bloom.
UMNS Photo
NYC GBGM
The Interchurch Center, south of Riverside Church, has been the home of the United Methodist mission work since 1961.
In the 20th century, Methodists located their worldwide missions in New York City in 1940, after the 1939 merger of three Methodist branches. Beginning in 1961, what was then the Methodist Mission Board became one of the original tenants of the Interchurch Center at 475 Riverside Drive, near historic Riverside Church and the campus of Columbia University. Missions staff from the Evangelical United Brethren Church moved to New York from Dayton, Ohio after the 1968 merger that created The United Methodist Church.
Known colloquially as "the God Box," the Interchurch Center sits on some of the priciest real estate in one of the world's most expensive cities. Built in 1958, the center still houses many religious, charitable and academic organizations, including Alcoholics Anonymous, the American Guild of Organists, Bread for the World, Church Women United, Church World Service, the Episcopal Church Foundation, National Council of Jewish Women, and the pension boards of the American Baptist Church and the United Church of Church.
Global Ministries was one of the center’s largest tenants, taking up four floors at its largest. Its physical proximity to other United Methodist, ecumenical and interfaith agencies was considered an essential link to worldwide mission efforts.
In the mid-1990s, proximity to other agencies along with New York City's cosmopolitan nature formed a major argument in a political battle to move the missions agency to another part of the country. Conservative forces at the time argued that its very setting made Global Ministries susceptible to liberal theological and political influences more committed to social action than to saving souls. The conflict dissipated after a special study group determined that moving would cost more than staying in New York.
This time, according to Bloom's 2014 article, the push for relocation came from board leaders that wanted to reduce operating costs as a result of declining church revenues, while also flattening missions administration by creating an international network of offices outside the United States. At the same time, the rise of the Internet and social media have made it possible to set up and maintain relationship links that previously required physical proximity. These factors combined to make moving Global Ministries out of New York City a more politically and financially viable proposal than in the past.
Ironically, Atlanta was one of the relocation sites that had strong conservative support in the mid-1990s.
United Methodist Insight Editor Cynthia B. Astle contributed to this report. Information from a 2014 article by Linda Bloom of United Methodist News Service was used as the basis for this report.