News from the UM Reporter

Robin Russell, my editor at the United Methodist Reporter, was in Durham this week for a conference of Christian publishers hosted by Leadership Education at Duke Divinity (LEADD). It gave Robin and me the chance to sit down for lunch and have a conversation - a rare treat, considering she lives in Dallas, Texas, and I live here in Bull City.

There are changes afoot at the Reporter these days. After four years of impressive leadership as Chief Executive Officer, Sarah Wilke left UMR Communications earlier this year to become the world publisher and editor for the Upper Room Ministries in Nashville. That left a gap in leadership that has just been filled with the selection of a new CEO. His name is Robert Mathews, and he comes to UMR after having held executive positions at a number of corporations in publishing and print media. Sarah left big shoes to fill, but it looks as if UMR is getting a great person to do just that in the addition of Bob Mathews.

Robin herself generated news this past week when she was named the "Communicator of the Year" by the United Methodist Association of Communicators (UMAC). The award was, as Robin told me, a complete surprise to her. It was a well-deserved one, though, as I can attest from having worked with Robin for the past several years.

Readers of the Reporter see Robin's excellence in journalism through the stories she pens and by the overall products that both the United Methodist Reporter and the UMPortal website represent. I see a side that many others do not, in the patient and careful editing she does of the Reporter's content that appears under my own name. That kind of editing is not just the result of a sharp journalistic mind; it also requires a relationship between editor and writer, where advice, understanding, and a keen insight into the heart of an article's message are all a part of the editor's approach to her writer's work. I have been fortunate - nay, blessed - that Robin possesses those qualities in abundance. And so her recent award is recognition of both the obvious and more hidden talents she has that go into being a great communicator in journalism.

[BTW: Some people do not realize that the United Methodist Reporter, and its parent company UMR Communications, are not organizations within the United Methodist Church. The company explains its relationship to the UMC on its website:

"UMR Communications, home of the United Methodist Reporter, is related by covenant to seven United Methodist Annual Conferences: Central Texas, New Mexico, North Texas, Texas, Northwest Texas, Rio Grande (a Spanish-language conference) and Southwest Texas. This covenantal relationship, similar to that of church-founded hospitals and homes, acknowledges the previous ownership of the organization by these annual conferences and its United Methodist heritage. UMR Communications is not funded directly by the United Methodist Church or by any other denomination it serves. It is financially independent, and derives its income from fees paid by clients for its services, along with grants and bequests from donors."

The same page also relates UMR's mission: The mission of UMR Communications is to enable the Christian community to make disciples for Christ by providing communication services and resources."

Though I write a bi-weekly column for the UM Reporter, I am not an employee of UMR Communications. That said, I write for the Reporter because I believe strongly in its mission as an independent source of news and commentary for issues related to the life and ministry of the United Methodist Church. If you would like to subscribe to the newspaper, see this link.]

Number crunching

The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life released a study last month that charts the religious demographics of our country. It makes for fascinating reading. The study looks at shifts in and out of religious traditions, and its findings suggest that church attendance is just as fluid as it looks on the ground.

For instance, 28% of adults indicate that they have left the religious tradition of their childhood. But because the Pew Forum is dealing with broad categories ("Catholic," "Protestant," "Muslim"), that number is a little misleading. When shifts between Protestant denominations are taken into account, the number jumps way up to 44%. The number of those who do not identify with a religious tradition at all is 12%, and the number of those calling themselves either atheist or agnostic is 4%.

The Pew Forum study also looks at net winners and net losers in all this shifting around. The United Methodist Church, it turns out, is a net loser. 8.3% of adults said they were raised Methodist, whereas only 6.2% identify as Methodists now (which includes both the UMC and other Methodist denominations). That comes out to a net loss of 2.1%.

So what do these numbers mean? Essentially, it means that more people leave Methodist churches than stay or transfer in. In my mind, that's an issue of formation. Our people are not formed in such a way that they see their membership in the church as fundamental to their identity. So they leave.

Robin Russell has a good analysis of the Pew Forum study in the current edition of the United Methodist Reporter. My column in the upcoming issue will offer my own take on the study, and I'll link to it when it appears.

Like so many of the statistics you see about church membership these days, there is a level of frustration at what is happening to the church. But I can see some real positives as well. For instance, the 16% of the American population that is either unaffiliated, agnostic, or atheist, represents about 48 million potential Christians! For those who are called to evangelism ministries, you have your target population!

Also, if we know some vital information about how we are losing members, it gives us a starting point from which to engage in conversations about how Christian formation can better occur in the life of the church. And then maybe those folks who are drifting away will see reasons to stay and grow in their faith.