UM Money Plentiful, But Kept Locally

In the United States United Methodists are becoming rarer in a growing population. They are generally above age 57 and attend larger churches, a task force of the General Council on Finance and Administration has found. Most UMs are white or African-American. And they are generally wealthier than UMs of previous generations. From 1973 to 2005, the number of United Methodist churches has declined 12.4%, yet UM churches have a relatively constant share of money given to U.S. religious groups. Even so, UM global ministries are struggling because they are receiving less funding from local churches. Local congregations tend to spend more on local ministries. In 1974, local church contributions to global ministries represented an average of 4.5% of local church expenditures, compared with 2.5% in 2005. [United Methodist News Service, October 2007.]

Church Shopping: Ecclesial Adultery

American consumer culture has so shaped the way we look at the world that we assume church shopping is natural. Like anything else in society, if we don't like the product, we opt for another one. Boring pastor? Offense at a comment? Skip a few Sundays and no one calls? Differing opinions from mine? Opt for another one, that's the consumer's right. But it's not the Christian's right. We pledge to be loyal to both the universal church and the local congregation with our prayers, presence, gifts, and service. And because it is Jesus' church, those are vows we made to Jesus. When we break our vows of membership to the church for reasons of personal preference, we commit a form of ecclesial adultery. We cheat on the church. Rather than something that merely exists for our use as individuals, the church is the place where we find our lives by losing them. [Rev. Andrew C. Thompson, United Methodist Reporter, October 19, 2007.]