“Our conclusion is that the Church is confronting a ‘creeping crisis’ of both internal and external origin and that the crisis is primarily a crisis of ‘relevancy’ – both internal and external.”

As United Methodists in the U.S. continue to count losses in worship attendance and membership, the denomination is re-evaluating its structures and making efforts to identify and address the challenges it faces.

A newly released report by the denomination gave “below average” grades to the body’s governance and agencies as it cited a lack of mission clarity and accountability, among other things, within The United Methodist Church.

“The agencies are a cacophony of voices,” the report, titled “Operational Assessment Project,” cited one surveyed Methodist as saying. “[T]heir ‘brands and communications compete with one another’ and result in confusion and dilution of impact at the Annual Conference and Local Church levels.”

Annual conferences are the denomination’s regional bodies.

The United Methodist Church employed the help of an independent consulting firm to review and evaluate the decision-making, governance and leadership effectiveness of its structures and processes. Findings from the report are intended to provide input to the Call to Action Steering Team, which was charged with presenting a plan that will reorder the life of the church body for greater effectiveness and vitality, particularly in the “mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.”

For the assessment, Apex Healthcare Group surveyed 423 church leaders, agency executives, seminary heads and staff from regional bodies, and also conducted approximately 15 hours of informal interviews and over 50 hours of formal ones.

Read More: http://www.christianpost.com/article/20100728/report-reveals-ineffectiveness-of-methodist-structures/