Key Points
- United Methodist Communications has restructured amid deep budget cuts and the denomination’s changing communication needs.
- The agency is prioritizing technological innovation and its partnerships with agencies and conferences to create a stronger voice for The United Methodist Church.
- United Methodist Communications, which includes United Methodist News, has reduced its staff without any involuntary layoffs.
United Methodist Communications begins the new year with a whole new structure and a renewed commitment to serve the denomination’s evolving communication needs.
The reorganization comes as much of The United Methodist Church is dealing with reduced finances after years of church disaffiliations and membership decline in the U.S.
United Methodist Communications, which includes United Methodist News, is one of 13 general agencies whose ministries extend denomination-wide. It is also among the six general agencies that saw its budget cut by more than half at last year’s General Conference.
That has required the communication agency to rethink how it can best help its fellow financially strapped ministries and amplify The United Methodist Church’s voice to reach more people.
“We see our role as being integral for connecting The United Methodist Church both internally and externally to the world,” said Dan Krause, United Methodist Communications’ top executive.
“In light of a budget reduction of over 50%, UMCom is realigning to assist denominational communications where today’s worldwide Church needs it most.”
The agency is prioritizing technological innovation to offer communication services customized to the unique needs of United Methodist ministries.
United Methodist Communications also has created three new partnership teams, with 13 staff members total, to help various bodies within the church share their message of faith.
The agency partnerships team has six staff assigned to support the denomination’s general agencies.
The denominational partnerships has four staff assigned to work with U.S. conferences, the ethnic plans and denomination-wide bodies, including the Council of Bishops, Judicial Council, Connectional Table and Standing Committee on Central Conference Matters. Central conferences are church regions in Africa, Europe and the Philippines.
The central conference partnerships team reflects the denomination’s worldwide nature with two staff members who live in and work with conferences in Africa and a third member who lives in and works with conferences in the Philippines.
The agency’s public relations team also will continue to support the Connectional Table and the Commission on the General Conference.
New strategic plan
- Engage people with the story of God’s work in the world through The United Methodist Church.
- Foster partnerships throughout the denomination to create a stronger voice for The United Methodist Church.
- Drive technology innovation to reach people where they are.
- Nurture our people and demonstrate good stewardship of our resources.
Even before the launch of its partnership teams this year, United Methodist Communications already was handling the communications needs of two agencies — the United Methodist Commission on Archives and History and the Commission on the Status and Role of Women.
Ashley Boggan, Archives and History’s top executive, said her agency’s partnership with United Methodist Communications “is such a gift.”
“We’ve seen a large uptick in public engagement not only on our social media but also just out and about,” she said. “People now seem to know what Archives and History is and does! This would not have been possible without the collaboration we have with UMCom. Also as a smaller agency, having the available pro-bono hours of production has vastly increased the programming and resource development that we are able to do.”
Jennifer Rodia, who leads the newly established partnerships division, said United Methodist Communications has always been committed to amplifying the voice of the denomination.
“Taking this intentional approach to providing strategic communications support to our partners across the connection is the next evolution in that mission,” she said.
Krause emphasized that finances are not the only driver of United Methodist Communications’ new structure and strategic plan.
“It was time for us to reimagine and refine how we are serving the communication needs of The United Methodist Church in a changing world and a changing denomination,” he said.
After decades of internal division, General Conference made momentous changes last year that in many ways represent a reset of how The United Methodist Church does ministry.
The denomination’s top lawmaking assembly ended denomination-wide bans on gay clergy and officiating at same-sex weddings. The gathering also slashed the general-church budget with the aim of relieving the financial burden on conferences and local churches, whose giving supports denomination-wide ministries.
General Conference passed a historically low four-year budget of between $353.6 million and $373.4 million, depending on collection rates in 2025 and 2026. The 2025-2028 budget represents about a 40% reduction overall of the previous denominational budget that General Conference passed in 2016.
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That budget included a cut of over 46% to the World Service Fund, which supports the work of most general agencies. In addition to United Methodist Communications, Church and Society, Discipleship Ministries, Global Ministries, Higher Education and Ministry and the General Council on Finance and Administration each agreed to a more than 50% cut, so smaller agencies as well as the bishops would see less dramatic decreases.
Judi Kenaston, top executive of the Connectional Table that coordinates the work of agencies, said every agency that receives World Service funds has needed to make significant reductions.
“These range from staff layoffs and adjustments, to severely limiting meeting expenses, to reducing funding for grants, promotional materials and trainings,” she said. “The agencies have made every attempt to absorb these costs in administration and staff losses so that they are still able to provide the ministries that the General Conference has asked of them.”
United Methodist Communications has been able to adjust to a much smaller budget and reduce staff without any involuntary layoffs.
“In 2024, as part of our restructuring for the new quadrennium and out of respect for our staff who have served the church over the years,” Krause said, “UMCom offered an early retirement option to eligible parties and voluntary buyout packages to all employees to give individuals security during uncertain times.”
Altogether, 24 staff decided to leave the agency either through the buyout or retirement. The result is that United Methodist Communications has gone from 110 staff in 2016 to 54 today.
With a much smaller staff, United Methodist Communications has had to drop some of its services and see where it was needed most. The agency sought input from stakeholders across the denomination, from bishops to people in the pews, to determine potential changes.
Ultimately, United Methodist Communications decided its new organization would no longer include teams devoted solely to training and local church services.
The agency will continue to provide training-oriented content that helps local churches stay current and relevant in their communications. At the same time, local churches also have other providers available for the services United Methodist Communications previously offered.
Krause noted that the General Council on Finance and Administration has added communication services targeted to local churches as well as communication training. To avoid duplication and be faithful stewards of denominational giving, United Methodist Communications is adjusting its current local church support methods.
The agency also is rethinking how it handles advertising, which previously has accounted for a sizable portion of United Methodist Communications’ budget.
“Evangelism work showed much more immediate impact in Africa, and that relationship is much harder to show in the U.S.,” said Poonam Patodia, the agency’s head of communications, marketing and public relations.
She noted that awareness and positive perception of the denomination has been maintained at a very high level because of United Methodist Communications’ seeker-outreach campaigns.
“Our new strategy is to be strong facilitators between denominational resources and local churches,” she said. “A lot of help, support and resources already exist within the denomination. By making information available about them, we will help local churches access them more easily.”
ResourceUMC.org will continue to provide a one-stop platform for local church resources.
The agency is also discussing creation of a platform that will facilitate sharing of resources between local churches and conferences.
“When it comes to our work and output, we didn’t want to do ‘more with less’ or ‘less with less’ as they say,” Krause said, “but redefine what is needed for the future.”
Hahn is assistant news editor for UM News. Contact her at (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umnews.org. To read more United Methodist news, subscribe to the free UM News Digest.
