General Conference included emphasis on health issues
By Deborah White
UMNS – A new focus on health at the 2008 General Conference included daily fitness walks and a Health and Wholeness booth offering blood pressure checks, relaxation exercises, massage chairs and interactive health information.
General Conference, the top legislative assembly of The United Methodist Church, met April 23-May 2 at the Forth Worth (Texas) Convention Center. Almost 1,000 delegates acted on more than 1,500 pieces of proposed legislation during 10 consecutive days of meetings.
Six United Methodist agencies sponsored the Health and Wholeness booth. The 30-by-80-foot space provided an oasis from the stresses of the conference – a place to relax while learning more about personal health, congregational health ministries, healthcare advocacy and global health.
Free water bottles, pedometers and apples were available to encourage healthy behavior during the assembly, which can be mentally and physically demanding because of the heavy workload, long hours, tight schedules and a lack of sleep.
“We believe United Methodists are called to work toward a global society of persons who are spiritually, physically, mentally and emotionally healthy,” said the Rev. Larry Hollon, chief executive of United Methodist Communications. He and other members of the Interagency Health and Wholeness Task Force planned the booth and related activities in cooperation with the Central Texas Annual (regional) Conference host committee.
As a break from long hours of sitting, group fitness walks started near the convention center each day at 12:45 p.m. and 5:15 p.m. led by host committee members. Participants received T-shirts with “I Walked with the World” printed in nine languages.
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Nurse Therese Pineda and the Rev. Daniel R. Morley of First United Methodist Church in Gilbert, Ariz., practice Sign Chi Do, a stress management exercise she planned to teach during the 2008 General Conference in Fort Worth, Texas. |
Healthier lives
Visitors to the booth heard personal health stories from around the world, advocated for health issues via computers, learned about health ministries and took assessments of their physical, spiritual and financial health.
To help delegates and visitors relax, the booth featured a serene design that incorporated photos of health ministries, scripture verses and quotes from Methodism’s founder John Wesley, as well as eight massage chairs and an area for stress-management exercises.
Next to the booth, a prayer room sponsored by the host committee included quiet spaces for personal reflection and a labyrinth for meditative walks.
Health fairs offered free screenings and health tips sponsored by Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital and Methodist Health System based in Dallas.
About 20 local parish nurses volunteered on a rotating basis to provide blood pressure checks every day from 7:45-9:15 a.m., noon-1:15 p.m. and 4:30-5:30 p.m. They also provided information about parish nursing and health ministries.
During scheduled times for blood pressure checks visitors to the booth can learned Sign Chi Do, a prayerful exercise that incorporates sign language gestures, deep breathing, slow movements and music.
“I’m a much healthier person because of Sign Chi Do,” said Therese Pineda, R.N., a parish nurse at First United Methodist Church in Gilbert, Ariz., who taught the stress-management exercise. Dr. Anne Borik of Phoenix, developer of Sign Chi Do, taught it to participants of the United Methodist Pre-General Conference News Briefing in January.
“It’s a way to instantly center ourselves, be prayerful, feel free of all the things that happen at General Conference and be refreshed,” said Patricia Magyar, executive secretary of Health and Welfare at the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, who coordinated the booth during the conference. “It’s easy and it’s fun,” she added.
Health as wholeness
The health focus was the result of two years of planning by the interagency task force, which includes United Methodist Communications and the boards of Global Ministries, Discipleship, Pension and Health Benefits, Church and Society and Higher Education and Ministry.
The task force formed in 2005 when Hollon invited other agency leaders to discuss how their intense interests in health and wholeness could impact and strengthen each other. “It evolved into a conversation about General Conference and this booth,” said Barbara Boigegrain, chief executive of the Board of Pension and Health Benefits.
“We want to start to make people aware of the importance of health and defining health as wholeness—mind, body, spiritual, financial—the whole picture,” Boigegrain said. The task force also wanted to spark interest in health, educate participants about a wide range of health issues and equip them with tools to take action after the conference.
“We hope this gathering can be a stepping-off point to encourage attendees to actively identify and improve their own healthful habits and extend health awareness to their families, congregations and, consequently, the world we serve,” she said.
Deborah White is associate editor of Interpreter magazine and a member of the leadership team for an annual United Methodist health ministries conference.
United Methodists reflect on the costs of Iraq war
By Kathy L. Gilbert
As the Iraq war enters its sixth year, the costs extend far beyond the more than 4,000 U.S. soldiers and 600,000 Iraqis who have died in the violence.
Thousands have been left wounded in their bodies, minds and souls—and face a lifetime of struggles related to the experience, says a United Methodist chaplain who has seen those wounds up close.
“I am deeply concerned about the returning troops and the mental and physical wounds they have sustained,” said the Rev. Laura Bender, a Navy chaplain who served in a field hospital in Iraq. “This all-volunteer force has borne the full weight of this war through multiple, back-to-back deployments and has done so at great cost.”
The Associated Press reported that 29,320 soldiers had been wounded and 31,325 others treated for non-combat injuries and illness as of March 1, 2008.
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U.S. Army soldiers patrol the Iraq province of Al Anbar in September 2006. A UMNS file photo by Cpl. Trenton Elijah Harris, U.S. Marine Corps. |
According to research by the U.S. Veterans Administration, 144 veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan committed suicide from 2001 to the end of 2005, and thousands face potential mental health problems and post-traumatic stress disorder.
“I saw what those wounds looked like,” Bender said, noting that many are life-altering and will require extensive aftercare.
Many others wounds, however, are not as visible as missing limbs.
“We do not have the resources in place to provide what is needed, and I am afraid that many will fall through the cracks. If The United Methodist Church wants to take a stand on the war, I’d like to see us champion the cause of these returning veterans,” she said.
‘Wrong answer’
Bender was among United Methodists who reflected on the effects of the war on the five-year anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
A United Methodist pastor and chaplain who asked not to be identified said he isn’t sure what the answer is but “to continue as we have been is the wrong answer.”
“My initial reaction to the war when it started in Afghanistan was that it was a necessary evil,” he said. “When it started in Iraq, I was somewhat more skeptical of the justification being offered. I am still skeptical about the initial justification. I have mixed feelings about our continuing presence there. I deal with the human cost every day.
“On the one hand I would like to see the bloodshed stop; on the other hand I don’t want to think that the lives of so many young men and women have been spent to no good end.”
The death toll of U.S. soldiers now surpasses the total killed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States.
U.S. President George W. Bush, a member of The United Methodist Church, has consistently defended his war policy.
In a March 11 address to National Religious Broadcasters, the president spoke of fighting against the “enemy,” including Taliban extremists in Afghanistan and “terrorists” in Iraq, according to a report by Religion News Service.
“I wish I didn’t have to talk about war,” Bush told the broadcasters gathered in Nashville, Tenn. “No president wants to be a war president. But when confronted with the realities of the world, I have made the decision that now is the time to confront, now is the time to deal with this enemy, and now is the time to spread freedom as the great alternative to the ideology they adhere to.”
‘Unholy mess’
Jim Winkler, top executive of the United Methodist Board of Church and Society, is among denominational leaders who have spoken out against the war since its beginning in 2003. The church’s social advocacy agency has released numerous statements calling for peace and withdrawal from Iraq.
Now, he said, the “unholy mess” will pass to Bush’s successor.
“The leading Republican candidate for the nomination, Sen. McCain, has no intention of ending the war if he is elected president,” Winkler said in a recent column on the board’s Web site. “And, it remains uncertain what Sens. Clinton or Obama would do if either is elected, although they have both stated they plan to end the war.”
Winkler cites estimates from The Lancet, a leading British medical journal, that more than 600,000 Iraqis have died from war-related violence from March 2003 to July 2006. The journal cites gunshot wounds, air strikes, mortar fire, car bombings, preventable disease and lack of access to health care. Another 12,000 died from unknown violent causes and 12,000 from accidents attributable to violence, the journal reports.
“As best I can tell, few of our clergy or lay leaders say anything against the war,” said Winkler. “Maybe this is because of fear or misguided patriotism or a desire to avoid ruffling feathers. And it may well be they will not be held accountable for their silence as long as they walk on the earth. I’m not so sure, however, they will avoid judgment in the life to come.”
Because Bush is a United Methodist, the church should have found a way to talk to him, said the Rev. Beauty Maenzknise, dean of the Faculty of Theology at United Methodist-related Africa University in Zimbabwe.
“If they can manage to talk to other members of the church when they are doing immoral things that are affecting other people, why not him?” she asked.
The church needs to encourage politicians to dialogue so the powerless won’t be harmed, she said. “Politicians are not the ones who are going to be harmed. Women and children and the powerless have suffered and are still suffering and dying.”
Taking a stand
The Women’s Division of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries has publicly prayed for peace since 2002. United Methodist women wrote thousands of prayer cards and spent a week reading the prayers aloud outside the White House, said Harriett Olson, top executive of the division.
“In each of these settings, we have remembered our service personnel who are in harm’s way as a result of this war,” she said. “We grieve for loss of life of civilians and all service personnel who are caught up in this conflict, and for the lives forever changed as persons are injured and more lives are lost every day.”
Last November, the United Methodist Council of Bishops called on leaders of all nations to begin an immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq, declaring that war is “incompatible with the teachings and example of Christ.”
The United Methodist Committee on Relief established a fund, Advance Special (#623225), for humanitarian work in Iraq when the country stabilizes enough for relief work to begin.
The United Methodist Church has struggled with the issue of war since the church’s founding. The Book of Discipline, the denomination’s law book, states: “We believe war is incompatible with the teachings and example of Christ. We therefore reject war as an instrument of national foreign policy, to be employed only as a last resort in the prevention of such evils as genocide, brutal suppression of human rights, and unprovoked international aggression….”
At the 2004 General Conference, the denomination passed resolutions calling for prayers for peace and military personnel. The church’s lawmaking body condemned terrorism and called for a full investigation of the alleged abuse of prisoners of war and for better relationships between Christians and Muslims.
Kathy Gilbert is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in Nashville, Tenn.
United Methodist project develops clergywomen
By Vicki Brown
A new United Methodist project aims to support clergywomen who lead churches with more than 1,000 members, research their leadership styles, and establish a mentoring program for women who have the potential to serve such churches.
“After having a great celebration of 50 years of full clergy rights of women in Methodism in 2006, I believe that now is the time to reflect on something new and creative,” said the Rev. HiRho Park, director of continuing formation for ministry at the United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry.
“Many clergywomen have been thriving in a context where the congregation and the surrounding community are accustomed to male lead pastors, while others have experienced difficulties as the first female lead pastor in their church,” she said.
Of the 44,091 clergy in The United Methodist Church, 9,749 are women, and 64 have been identified as serving churches with membership of more than 1,000. A retreat for lead women pastors of large churches will be held Sept. 14-16 in Nashville, Tenn.
Effective leadership
The Lead Women Pastors’ Project has tremendous potential to increase understanding of the growing edge leadership for the church, thereby benefiting the whole denomination, said the Rev. Susan Willhauck, associate professor of Christian Formation at United Methodist-related Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington, D.C.
“I think we are approaching a time when rather than focusing solely on how female clergy are different, we can move the discussion to how clergywomen are effective and what they are contributing to the denomination in terms of leadership,” Willhauck said.
The project will ask: How is the increasing presence of female pastors changing the church? How are clergywomen redefining leadership expectations?
The Rev. Patricia Farris, 56, who has been senior pastor of the 1,500-member First United Methodist Church of Santa Monica, Calif., for 10 years, says like many women leaders, she is accessible, collegial in style, and relational in approach. She highly values partnership with laity.
“This can sometimes be misinterpreted as lack of clear leadership for those more used to a more hierarchical approach,” Farris said. “I find greatest support from the oldest members of our congregation and our new, younger singles and families.
“Many of our children and youth now assume the senior minister will be a woman!” Farris said. “I think people my own age are often still wrestling with their own life choices, traditions of marriage and family roles, and a desire for a male in leadership—though time together has helped mitigate that a great deal.”
Developing new research
There has not been much research on clergywomen’s leadership styles, Park said.
“Is there a certain vocational path for United Methodist clergywomen within The United Methodist Church structure? What is the uniqueness of women’s leadership in large churches and how can this information benefit the church at large?” Park asked.
Willhauck is convinced that lead women pastors are an untapped resource for the formation of leadership for denomination. “We are trying to get at what they do, ways they lead. Rather than measuring pastoral effectiveness against already established criterion, usually male-defined, we are looking at ways lead women pastors are re-defining pastoral effectiveness on their own terms,” she said.
Ten years ago, a study done by the Hartford Institute reported in The Christian Century revealed perceived differences in leadership styles between male and female clergy in various denominations. The United Methodist project will study the leadership styles of the church’s 64 clergywomen of large congregations to see if the differences identified in the Hartford study and other studies are still valid.
“We want to learn if and how gender matters in pastoring a large-membership church in The United Methodist Church today,” Willhauck said.
A recent report from Michelle Fugate, director of research and data management for the Board of Higher Education and Ministry, points out that although the number of female clergy in the denomination has increased significantly in recent years, they are less likely than their male counterparts to be appointed as senior pastor of a large-membership congregation.
“We hope to promote the appointments of more clergywomen to lead pastor positions in larger membership churches and to establish ways that less experienced clergywomen can be mentored in order to accept the challenges of pastoring a large-membership church,” Willhauck said.
Forum for ideas
Farris is excited that the Lead Women Pastors’ Project will provide a place to exchange insights and information, as well as “a platform from which to share our gifts more widely with the larger church.”
She found great support in her ministry from laywomen and clergywomen across The United Methodist Church, other faith communities, and other professional women, as well as from her family. “My bishops and superintendents have always been unfailingly supportive as well,” Farris said.
Like many women leaders, Farris said she is intentional about building communities of support and friendship. But she does see barriers for women clergy who aspire to lead large churches.
“I think it’s hard for women to find the kinds of leadership positions that demonstrate our gifts and skills. Some of us have not had specific experience in administering large budgets and leading large staffs,” Farris said. “And I think there is a peculiar balance in combining a collegial/team style with the kinds of leadership required in a large church.
“A large membership church is not just a bigger small or medium-sized church. It’s its own peculiar animal, and few women have the opportunity to learn or experience those dynamics.”
