April

For complete text of each story, click on its headline.

Campbell inaugurated as president of Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary

(April 26) Dr. Ted A. Campbell was inaugurated as the third president of Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary (G-ETS) on Friday, April 5, in a traditional ceremony held at First UMC of Evanston.

Campbell, an ordained elder of the United Methodist Church and a member of the Texas Annual Conference, served as student lay pastor of Winona-Center United Methodist churches in Texas from 1974 to 1976, assistant pastor of Sunset UMC in Pasadena, Tex., from 1976 to 1977, lay preacher in the Oxford Circuit of the British Methodist Church 1977 to 1979, and staff of Highland Park UMC in Dallas 1982 to 1984.

He taught history of Christianity and Methodist studies at Methodist Theological School in Ohio from 1984 to 1985, at Duke University Divinity School 1985 to 1993 and at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C., from 1993 to 2001. He was elected president of G-ETS in May 2001 and assumed his duties July 1, 2001.

Campbell succeeds Dr. Neal Fisher who retired after serving as G-ETS president since 1980.

G-ETS is a graduate professional school of theology of the United Methodist Church offering degrees in Master of Divinity, Master of Arts in five areas, Master of Theological Studies, Doctor of Ministry and Doctor of Philosophy, as well as programs to prepare United Methodist candidates for certification and for ordination as deacon.

G-ETS was formed in 1974 by the merger of Garrett Theological Seminary, founded as Garrett Biblical Institute in 1853 in Evanston, and Evangelical Theological Seminary, founded in 1873 in Naperville. The merger of these two seminaries came as a result of the union of the Methodist Church with the Evangelical Brethren Church in 1968. G-ETS is the second-oldest United Methodist seminary in the country and the oldest in the Midwest.

2002 Article Index |  Top of Page | Return Home

Court may end clergy housing allowance

(April 26) The United Methodist General Board of Pension and Health Benefits (GBOPHB) is working with the General Council on Finance and Administration (GCFA) to coordinate a “call to action” of United Methodists to protest the proposed elimination of the clergy housing allowance in U.S. tax law.

Pastors who claim part of their income as housing allowance are encouraged to contact members of Congress to prevent the elimination of this long-standing tax benefit. Unless Congress acts soon, a federal court appears poised to declare the allowance unconstitutional.

“If this happens, it would cause an unprecedented tax burden on clergy because they could no longer exclude a portion of their housing expenses from their taxable income,” according to a letter from Barbara A. Boigegrain, GBOPHB General Secretary.

Background

Until recently, a long-standing Internal Revenue Service (IRS) ruling has limited the amount of income that clergy can exclude as housing allowance to the fair market rental value of their houses. In a recent Tax Court case, Warren v. Commissioner, 114 T.C. 23 (2000), a taxpayer challenged this limit and won. The IRS appealed this decision to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Rather than limiting its consideration to the narrow issue in the Tax Court decision, the court has turned the case into one that challenges the constitutionality of a clergy housing allowance.

Without intervention, 9th Circuit Court of Appeals could eliminate the clergy housing allowance as unconstitutional as early as this spring. If this occurs, clergy of all faiths could face an immediate tax increase of $500 million annually.

GBOPHB has followed clergy housing allowance issues and the recent court case from a denominational perspective and as a member of the Church Alliance, an ecumenical coalition of 32 pension boards from Protestant, Catholic and Jewish denominations that promotes legislation to strengthen church benefit programs. The Church Alliance is working with members of Congress, the courts and federal agencies to clarify the statute that clergy housing allowance is limited to the fair market rental value of a house. Securing this original IRS interpretation would allow the IRS to settle the pending court case without the court declaring the housing allowance unconstitutional.

What You Can Do

GBOPHB urges United Methodists to contact U.S. senators and representatives immediately. Tell them:

1. A pending court case is threatening to increase taxes on clergy by eliminating the tax exemption allowance for clergy housing.
2. Clergy housing allowance has been part of our tax laws since the early 1900s. This is important to me because … .
3. Congress can act to prevent the loss of clergy housing allowance. Without prompt action, clergy may be forced to pay an unprecedented $500 million more in taxes annually.
4. U.S. Rep. Jim Ramstad (Minnesota) is a sponsor of a bill being introduced in the House to attempt to preserve the clergy housing allowance. Please support this corrective legislation to prevent the courts from eliminating the clergy housing allowance.

Contact information

If you need contact information to reach a member of Congress:

For more on the case, see “News” at GBOPHB’s web site at www.gbophb.org. Refer specific legal questions to Sarah Hirsen at shirsen@gbop.org. Direct questions related to the GPOHB’s communication strategy to Woody Bedell at wbedell@gbop.org or Mike Lee at mlee@gbop.org.

2002 Article Index |  Top of Page | Return Home

3 NIC congregations receive Children & Poverty funding

(April 19) Three Northern Illinois Conference congregations were among 31 nationwide that received grants totaling $150,472 from a United Methodist bishops’ task force. The grants are for ministry programs designed to aid children living in poverty.

In Northern Illinois, grant recipients are Adalberto UMC in Chicago for the development of a Latino Parent Teachers Association in the area; Centennial UMC of Rockford for a multicultural after-school program; and Resurrection UMC, Chicago, for teaching nonviolence and conflict resolution within a community-based program.

The task force made the one-time awards to assist local churches throughout the denomination’s five U.S. jurisdictions in addressing the needs of children who are poor. Later in the year, another $50,000 will be given in similar awards for ministries outside the country.

The grants, of $5,000 or less, were awarded after the task force members reviewed 60 applications received. The denomination’s Council of Bishops is raising funds for the program through its Bishops’ Initiative on Children and Poverty (Advance Special #982200-8).

Several of the latest grants will support beginning or expanding after-school or Saturday programs for children. The bishops also are funding outreach programs targeting homeless families, immigrant families and families in other difficult situations. Some programs focus on the children themselves, others on the adults in their lives, and some plan a combination of approaches.

The churches receiving grants include large urban congregations and small rural ones.

Seven active and six retired bishops, plus Bishop Donald A. Ott, the council’s initiative coordinator, serve on the task force, which meets four times a year. Three of the bishops on the task force are from the church’s Central Conferences, regional units outside the United States. The task force has had help from staff liaisons with several churchwide agencies as well as six unpaid consultants who brought specialized knowledge to the group.

2002 Article Index |  Top of Page | Return Home

Broadway is recipient of Peace with Justice funds

(April 19) Broadway UMC of Chicago was among the recipients of $64,197 in grants awarded worldwide as part of the work of the denomination’s Board of Church and Society Peace with Justice Work Area.

Those grants were supported with funds given by United Methodists to the Peace With Justice Special Sunday Offering, observed this year on May 26. In addition, the board approved 12 Shared Mission Focus on Young People grants totaling $95,000.

Broadway UMC, 3338 N. Broadway, received a grant of $5,000 for “Gather,” a weekly faith-based community program involving music, a meal and structured interaction for youths age 15-18.

The United Methodist Foundation granted Broadway $3,000 for start-up costs for the program that will kick off in September.

2002 Article Index |  Top of Page | Return Home

Fernwood, African Community get ethnic grants

(April 19) A project of Fernwood UMC, Chicago, received the largest share of $100,000 awarded to nine ethnic local church projects by the United Methodist Church’s social action agency, the General Board of Church and Society.

The largest of the grants, $40,000, is being given to the Rural to Urban Connection: Partners for Growth of Fernwood UMC. The multiphase program supports leadership development, public policy advocacy and organizing to provide opportunities for black farmers to market organic, affordable produce to African-American urban consumers. The program is a project of Fernwood UMC, 10057 S. Wallace.

African Community UMC, 4754 N. Leavitt, Chicago, received a $6,198 grant from the United Methodist Commission on Religion and Race for a program to empower Africans. It was among 21 projects that received funds from the Minority Group Self-determination Fund totaling $406,896.

Grants were given to 13 local churches, five communities and three caucuses.

The commission is responsible for monitoring the church in an effort to eradicate institutional racism.

2002 Article Index |  Top of Page | Return Home

Curless seeks names of deceased Lay Members

(April 19) Conference Lay Leader Roger Curless is seeking the names of any person from a local church who has served as Lay Member to Annual Conference and who died within the past year. These persons will be honored during the Memorial Service conducted during the Northern Illinois Annual Conference Session, June 6-9, at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb.

“The Annual Conference Committee has done an outstanding job at securing the pictures of deceased clergy,” Curless said. “I would like to see if we can do that for deceased laity also. Pictures will be scanned into the presentation for the Memorial Service.”

Curless needs the Lay Member’s full name, local church, date of death and when the person served as Lay Member. Information may be sent to Curless at 441 Featherock Dr., Aurora, IL 60506-5208, via fax (312) 368-2752, or to the attention of Natarsha Gardner at the Conference offices, 8765 W. Higgins Rd., Suite 650, Chicago, IL 60631, via fax: (773) 380-5067.

If you have questions, contact Curless at (630) 892-9373, (312) 368-2714 (office) or roger.curless@cendantmobility.com.

2002 Article Index |  Top of Page | Return Home

NIC delivers first fruits of campaign to 'reconnect' with India Methodists

Informational luncheon to be April 20 in Elgin

(April 12) The Northern Illinois Conference (NIC) recently delivered the first fruits of its Millennial Challenge India Reconnect campaign to Bishop Nimrod Christian of the Delhi Episcopal Area of the Methodist Church in India. A check for $10,000 and several smaller checks from Indian constituencies were presented to Christian when he met with the India Reconnect committee and Bishop C. Joseph Sprague in Naperville on March 28.

Christian said the Millennial Challenge contribution will help pay off the debt resulting from construction of a new church in Noida, a suburb of Delhi. The church's cornerstone includes the name of the Rev. Deborah Fisher, pastor of First UMC, Downers Grove who traveled to India while serving as Aurora District superintendent as part of an NIC group on a fact-finding mission. She participated in ground breaking for the Noida Methodist Church.

Christian was in the United States visiting with United Methodist general agencies in Nashville and New York City and solidifying support for his conference's activities in other parts of the country, including Northern Illinois, Denver and Memphis during his visit.

The Episcopal area Christian serves, the Agra and Delhi Regional Conferences, has about 38,000 Methodists spread across 180 churches. He said the conference is sending six missionaries to Nepal and the state of Rajasthan, which is on the India-Pakistan border. He said, however, that baptism of any converts to Christianity will take place in Delhi because of death threats in Rajasthan.

Bishop Sprague praised the commitment of the Methodists in India and urged Bishop Christian “not to let us off the hook” in supporting the Methodist Church of India's efforts. “You teach us by example,” Sprague said. “We need to understand what it is like to be a person of faith in a society where it may often be hostile to your faith.”

The Noida church, which has been completed, is one of 20 projects adopted by the India Reconnect portion of the Millennial Challenge, a global mission initiative of the NIC targeted primarily at ministries for children and youths. The Millennial Challenge was adopted at the 2000 special session of annual conference.

The India Reconnect committee will host a free luncheon and information meeting about its activities on Saturday, April 20, at Epworth UMC, 37W040 Highland Ave., Elgin. The meeting will run from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. According to the Rev. Edgar Hiestand, a member of the India Reconnect committee, the program is intended to help local churches, District mission chairs and others interested in India understand why the Millennial Challenge includes India in its four-part program and explain areas of need.

To reserve space at the meeting, contact Hiestand at (708) 660-9168, or send an e-mail to ehiest@mc.net.

The Millennial Challenge — Yellow Band in the Rainbow Covenant — is a four-year conferencewide campaign to raise a total of $1 million for four emphases:

• India Reconnect is intended to reestablish the relationship between the NIC and the India Methodist Church by modernizing facilities.

• Angola Partners involves work with the West Angola (Africa) Con- ference and four other conferences in the U.S. to build a residential school at Catete.

• NIC After School Action Plan (ASAP) is intended to expand and strengthen after-school programs in local churches in the NIC.

• The fourth component of the Millennial Challenge is to establish an endowment fund that will provide interest income to help fund future ministries for children in Northern Illinois.

2002 Article Index |  Top of Page | Return Home

Child-care agencies ask for help to protest Illinois budget cuts

Bus caravan to Springfield will be April 25

(March 29) The heads of United Methodist-affiliated agencies that care for children are expressing dismay at Gov. George Ryan's proposed budget for the state of Illinois for the 2002-2003 fiscal year that begins June 1, and they are calling on United Methodists in the Northern Illinois Conference to write the Governor and members of the State Legislature to ask them not to cut funding for services for children.

Benjamin Kendrick, executive director of Marcy-Newberry Association, pointed out that Illinois spent $521 million on services for children in 2001-2002. Only $479 million is allocated for children's services in the Governor's proposed budget for fiscal year 2002-2003 — a $42 million cut.

“We understand that financially these are tough times,” Kendrick said, “but we don't think the budget should be balanced on the backs of poor people and children.”

A major issue

“This is a major issue,” said James Jones, president and CEO of ChildServ, “and it is going to affect kids all over the state — particularly kids coming from under-resourced communities — just at a time when we are emphasizing self sufficiency. These cuts are going to change the landscape for some of these families in terms of feeling supported.”

A primary concern is funding to subsidize child care for working poor parents.

“The Governor's budget will adversely affect the ability of poor people to receive child care,” Kendrick said.

Under current Illinois law, a family of three can now earn up to $24,243 and receive subsidies for child care. Under the proposed budget, if parents earn $22,956, they would lose eligibility to receive subsidized child care. The amount of the subsidy is also reduced by 20% under the proposed budget.

Parents with annual income of $17,664 who currently pay $134.32 per child per month for child care would have to pay $161.18 per child, per month under the proposed budget.

“While these numbers may not appear to be large to the average person,” Kendrick said, “poor parents are confronted with the choice of either buying food or clothes or paying for child care. There is no question in our minds that they will be forced to abdicate the child care programs.”

State can ill afford cuts

“Illinois can ill afford Gov. Ryan's proposed cuts to the state subsidy program that makes it possible for low-income families to obtain affordable, quality child care,” said Mason Scholl, president of the board of United Voices for Children. “This funding is an investment in our children's future, our state's most valuable resource. It contributes to the welfare of both low-income working families who are employed in low-paying jobs as well as those families making the transition from public aid to employment and financial independence.”

A protest is being planned for Thursday, April 25, when a caravan of buses will travel from Chicago to Springfield. Protesters will carry picket signs, march around the state capitol and request meetings with legislators to protest the budget cuts.

“We anticipate in excess of 100 buses going to Springfield to protest this cut,” Kendrick said.

Marcy-Newberry currently provides child care for 600 pre-school and 224 school-age children. Kendrick estimated that 95% of those families would be affected by the subsidy cuts and might not be able to continue to afford Marcy-Newberry's child-care services.

Jones indicated that the budget cuts would also affect the 1,200 children in Cook County and an additional 360 children in Lake County who are served by ChildServ in programs sponsored by the state.

Unfortunate choices

“The families will have to pay more to keep the kids in the program,” Jones said. “They're going to have to make choices, and some of these will be unfortunate choices they will have to make.”

Jones predicted the proposed cuts are going to force some working parents out of child-care programs. “It is unfair to do that to people who still have marginal incomes,” he said.

“We are talking about parents who had been on welfare who have moved to minimum wage jobs,” Kendrick said. “These families have been doing what [the State of Illinois] wanted them to do. Now we are cutting the child care that makes it possible for them to go to work.”

Kendrick said the proposed budget cut is particularly frustrating because many workers in children's services agencies had been trying to get child care provided for all children in the state.

Struggling to maintain services

“This puts that further on the back burner,” Kendrick said, “Now, we are just struggling to maintain the services the state currently offers.”

Child advocates in local congregations can make their influence known by joining the caravan traveling to Springfield on April 25. For more information about the protest, contact Jannie Jamison, Marcy-Newberry child-care coordinator, (312) 829-7555.

Church members who are unable to participate in the protest are urged to phone Gov. Ryan's office at (800) 642-3112 and ask him not to cut child-care spending from the budget. It is also important to contact state Senators and Representatives.

“Our children and their families deserve our fullest support in this matter,” Scholl said.

2002 Article Index |  Top of Page | Return Home