24 Nov UB Attendance: Ups and Downs

(Click on the chart for a larger view.)

Ron Ramsey, Bishop
This chart shows the average attendance in United Brethren churches since 1960. In the United States (the blue lines), we climbed to a high point in the mid-1970s, fell to a low point in the mid-1980s, then gradually grew back to a new high in 2004. What does it all mean?

The sharp decline after 2004 no doubt relates to our efforts to join the Missionary Church, and the aftermath (when a number of churches withdrew). But it looks like we have stopped the hemorrhage, and are growing again (albeit with a smaller number of churches).

Notice the green line, too–the worldwide attendance. Although the United States attendance hasn’t grown very much, the overseas work has done well. And most of our overseas churches are an outgrowth of the US churches.

The ups and downs in charts like this are open to lots of interpretation. Factors such as leadership, emphases, generational changes, and demographics can all play a role. We welcome your own interpretations. Leave a comment.

12 Jun Summer Hours for Healthy Ministry Resources

The Healthy Ministry Resources office will be closed on Fridays for the rest of the summer.

New hours: 7 a.m. — 5:30 p.m.
Dates: June 16 — August 29.

For many years during the summer, everyone worked an extra half hour Monday-Thursday and then left at 1 p.m. on Friday. But with the high cost of gas, and some of the staffers driving 20-40 miles to reach the office, it didn’t make sense to have people come for a half-day.

So Bishop Ramsey approved trying something different: a four-day work week, with ten-hour days. If you need anything from Healthy Ministry Resources, be sure to call between Monday and Thursday.

02 May New Sign in Front of the UB Office

The former sign. The building hasn’t technically been the international headquarters since 2001.

The new sign for Healthy Ministry Resources, which was unveiled on May 2. It stands outside the building along Lake Street in Huntington, Ind.

A sign for Healthy Ministry Resources now stands in front of the UB national office building in Huntington, Ind. So it’s official and very public. The office has a new name.

Eleven fulltime staff work out of the national office. They include Bishop Ramsey, three persons working in Global Ministries, two persons in Finance, two persons in the bookstore, a director of Healthy Church Ministries, a Communications director, and an administrative assistant.

The United Brethren offices were originally located in downtown Huntington on the corner of Warren and Franklin streets. The denomination constructed that building beginning in 1915, with occupancy in 1916 and a formal dedication on May 2, 1917. It housed the United Brethren Publishing House in addition to offices for the various denominational officials.

In May 1976, the printshop and offices moved to a brand new building at the corner of Lake and Guilford Streets. The publishing house, which occupied about a third of the building, was closed in 1981. Over the years, as the number of staff members decreased, portions of the building were rented out to other parties.

In 2001, the Huntington University Graduate School of Christian Ministries moved into one large section at the front of the building (facing Lake Street), with Family Centered Services occupying the offices at the back of the building. When Family Centered Services moved to a new location in the fall of 2007, their offices were taken by the Huntington University EXCEL program. Now, the entire Huntington University Graduate School is housed in the building.

The bookstore operation uses a good share of the former printshop to warehouse Sunday school curriculum, which is sent to about 350 churches every quarter.

02 May Introducing Healthy Ministry Resources

The United Brethren national office has a new name: Healthy Ministry Resources. The name reflects the mission of the national office, which is: “To effectively resource pastors and congregations of the US National Conference to fulfill the Great Commission.”

When Bishop Ron Ramsey took office in 2005, one of his strategic initiatives was to create a “brand” for the national office in Huntington which would:

• Provide an official name and logo for the office. The generic “UB Headquarters” has been used until now.
• Focus the office’s purpose squarely on serving and resourcing local churches.
• Emphasize that the national office’s only reason to exist is to help UB churches. The churches don’t exist for the sake of the national office.
• Change the perception of the national office as an hierarchical entity.

“The real work of our denomination occurs at the local level,” says Bishop Ramsey. “As a national office, our only reason to exist is to help those churches thrive. Many people in our churches around the country view us as a bureaucratic, top-down entity. I want to change that perception. Our purpose is to serve our churches. The new name, the website, and everything we do will emphasize that purpose.”

The branding initiative was unveiled on April 21 to the Executive Leadership Team, and went public on May 2. It includes:

• A name and logo for the national office, which you’ll begin seeing on stationery, forms, and all kinds of other materials.
• A new website for the national office: healthyministryresources.com

UB.org remains the official website of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, USA, and UBMissions.com is the official website for Global Ministries. Those aren’t going away. The new website deals specifically with the work of the national office.

The BishopBlog, which was launched in 2006, has been revamped and folded into the new website. It has a new purpose, and will be given far more attention than in the past. Communications director Steve Dennie describes the new BishopBlog as the “Grand Central Station” of UB communications–the one place to go to find out what’s happening throughout the UB internet world.

The Healthy Ministry Resources name and logo apply only to the national office. It is just one ministry of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, USA.

• We’re not changing the name of the denomination.
• This is not a new denominational logo.

02 May New Healthy Ministry Resources Sign

Today is the public launch day for Healthy Ministry Resources. With that, Steve Dennie and Cathy Reich took down the old sign in front of the building and unveiled the new sign. We like it.