Online Archives

By Melissa Lauber
UMConnection Staff

It may seem odd that the Vacation Bible School curriculum purchased by a church in Hagerstown has an impact on the health care of a retired pastor in Liberia, but in The United Methodist Church, the connectional system brings publishing and pensions together in unique and sustaining ways.

However, that connection is now being threatened.

Since its beginnings at the Christmas Conference in Baltimore in 1784, the Methodist Church has put aside money in a Preacher's Fund for "worn-out preachers and the widows and children of those that are dead." For the past 68 years, the Publishing House has contributed nearly $50 million toward annual conference pension funds. As the retirement needs of pastors in Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe grew, many of the annual conferences sent these contributions from the Publishing House to their fellow clergy in the Central Conferences outside of the United States.

The Baltimore-Washington Conference has practiced this tradition for more than a decade, annually pledging the $12,000 to $14,000 it receives as a percentage of the Publishing House's sales in area Cokesbury bookstores, to enable clergy around the world to retire with dignity.

In 2007, 61 of the 63 annual conferences in the United States donated their checks from Cokesbury to the denomination's Central Conference Pensions Initiative.

However, Publishing House officials say, turmoil in the national economy, a decline in denominational brand loyalty and other challenges unique to all publishers in an increasingly electronic age have caused The United Methodist Publishing House to experience its greatest sales decline in 20 years.

According to February reports from the United Methodist News Service, the Publishing House, which receives no apportioned funds from the denomination, has experienced a 12 percent shortfall this fiscal year, a 25 to 30 percent reduction in the value of investment reserves.

To address these difficulties, the Publishing House has closed two of its 68 stores, cut back on staff and other costs and suspended multi-million dollar spending on revision to The United Methodist Hymnal, which it was supposed to present to the 2012 General Conference.

In March, Neil Alexander, president and publisher, announced the Publishing House would suspend contributions to annual conference clergy pension funds for 2009.

Bishop John Schol has expressed confidence that the Publishing House will continue to be good stewards of the church's resources as they move forward with courage, imagination and faithfulness.

He and conference leaders have also expressed a desire to find ways for the Baltimore-Washington Conference to continue to support the pastors in the Central Conferences with funds for their retirements.

"As United Methodists, we believe that all gifts belong to and come from God and we are privileged to share the abundance God provides with one another," the bishop said. "While we realize that in these difficult economic times, we are trying to make ends meet, I think of the retired pastors in Zimbabwe and other places with nothing. I want to see us make that gift."

The Web site of the Central Conference Pension Initiative (www.ccpi-umc.org) tells the story of some of those who would benefit from such a gift.

The Rev. Kenneth Shamu of Zimbabwe, for example, was getting by after years as a pastor by selling "Cockroach Kill," because the church provided no pension. However, today, economic conditions in Zimbabwe have deteriorated to the point where soaring inflation has made it impossible for Shamu to even buy the ingredients of sugar, eggs and Borax he used for his small business. In 2008, the General Board of Pensions gave out an emergency grant of $68 to assist Shamu, along with grants to each of Zimbabwe's 35 other retired United Methodist pastors and 34 surviving spouses.

Shamu's story is multiplied throughout 71 provisional annual conferences in the seven central conferences in Africa, Asia and Central Europe, in which 8,300 active clergy serve 3.5 million United Methodists.

Currently, it is estimated there are 2,000 retirees in the Central Conferences. Most are clergy people who have served the church for years and face a retirement of hardship with little to no guaranteed income.

The Central Conference Pension Initiative estimates that for every $10,000 contributed, one Central Conference retiree will be supported.

In 2008, eight annual conferences, together with churches and individuals throughout the denomination, enabled the Initiative to collect
$13.4 million of its $20 million goal.

The Baltimore-Washington Conference Council on Finance and Administration will meet May 20. On the agenda, said the group's president, Charlie Moore, will be time to discuss how the conference might meet the contribution it once received from the Publishing House, to allow clergy retirees throughout the world to live out their retirement years with security.

Anyone wishing to make a contribution or learn more about the Initiative can visit www.ccpi.umc.org. Resources for fundraising in local churches are available.