United Methodists Receive $5 Million To Help End Child Malaria Deaths

As it commemorated World Malaria Day on April 25, The United Methodist Church announced it will receive a $5 million grant from the United Nations Foundation, with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, to help eliminate malaria and other diseases of poverty. Bishop Thomas Bickerton revealed the grant at the United Methodist General Conference, the denomination’s top legislative body meeting in Fort Worth through May 2. “We hope to use this $5 million to support a fundraising and educational campaign to help end deaths of children from malaria. The goal is to raise $100 million over the next several years for programs in Africa to fight malaria, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and to support the Global Fund,” said Bickerton. The United Methodist Church is embarking on a global health initiative aimed at combating diseases of poverty. The denomination has recently entered into an expanded partnership with the United Nations Foundation to help end malaria deaths. "The United Nations Foundation's Malaria Partnership is proud to be working with The United Methodist Church to help eliminate malaria deaths," said Elizabeth McKee Gore, executive director of partnership alliances at the UN Foundation."The church's 11.5 million members have already been sending anti-malaria nets and saving lives through the Nothing But Nets campaign. We are looking forward to continuing to fight malaria through the Malaria Partnership." The people of The United Methodist Church are founding partners in Nothing But Nets, a campaign to prevent malaria by sending life-saving insecticide-treated mosquito nets to children and families in Africa. More than $18 million has been raised to date and more than 700,000 nets have already been delivered to families in Africa. 04/29/08

Gallup Poll Gives Methodists Highest Positive Ratings

Methodists have the highest positive ratings of religious and spiritual groups in the United States, new research by the Gallup Panel shows.

Ninety-six percent of the 1,005 persons interviewed during the March poll had either a positive or neutral view of Methodists. Four percent had an overall negative view of Methodists. The survey used the broader category of Methodists rather than United Methodists specifically.

Methodists are one of the four U.S. religious groups with strongly positive ratings. The others are Jews, Roman Catholics and Baptists. Broader groups of “evangelical Christians” and “fundamentalist Christians” did not fare as well, but still rated more positively than negatively, according to an analysis of the survey.

Methodists received the highest marks in the total positive and net positive categories of the survey of “Americans’ Views of U.S. Religious and Spiritual Groups.” The 45 percent net positive rating is the result of subtracting the 4 percent negative rating from the 49 percent total positive rating. Forty seven percent of the respondents gave Methodists a “neutral” rating.

As a matter of comparison, Jews had a 42 percent positive rating, Baptists 35 percent, and Catholics 35 percent.

The random, demographically weighted poll was conducted March 24-27, 2008. Gallup says it has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. 04/28/08

		Dr. Maggie Jackson Elected to Chair Methodist Theological School in Ohio Board of Trustees; Rev. Dr. David Wilcox is Vice-Chair Methodist Theological School in Ohio is pleased to announce the election of Dr. Magnolia “Maggie” Jackson to chair the School’s Board of Trustees, effective July 1, 2008. The role of Vice-Chair will be filled by The Rev. Dr. David Wilcox. Dr. Jackson replaces Columbus attorney John W. Zeiger; Mr. Zeiger has served as MTSO’s Board Chair since 2004 and will continue as a trustee on the board he has served for 14 years.
Dr. Maggie Jackson	Rev. Dr. David Wilcox

Dr. Jackson, of Warrensville Heights, is Professor and Chair/Director of the School of Social Work at Cleveland State University, where she joined the faculty in 1977. She earned her Ph.D. in Social Work from Case Western Reserve University, and holds a Master of Social Work degree from the University of Denver. Her undergraduate degree is from Northwestern College, where she is also a trustee. She has served on the MTSO Board of Trustees since 1999, and also serves as a trustee for Africa University in Zimbabwe. Dr. Jackson is a member of Werner United Methodist Church in Cleveland, a current board member of the General Board of Global Ministries and the North Central Jurisdiction Episcopacy Committee, and former member of the Board of Higher Education and Ministry. She has also been elected as a delegate to the General Conference for 2000, 2004, and 2008.

The Rev. Dr. David Wilcox, currently the Pastor of Wooster United Methodist Church, is a 1973 Master of Divinity graduate of MTSO. He earned his Doctor of Ministry degree from Princeton Theological Seminary, and holds M.A. and M. Phil. degrees from Yale University. His undergraduate degree was earned at Harvard College. Dr. Wilcox has served churches in the East Ohio Conference since 1976, and is the current Chair of Conference Council on Finance and Administration in East Ohio He served previously as Chair of the Board of Ordained Ministry in East Ohio.

Located in the greater Columbus area, Methodist Theological School in Ohio is an ecumenical graduate theological school related to The United Methodist Church preparing transformational leaders for service to the church and the world. The seminary’s president is The Rev. Jay Rundell. For more information on the school visit the school’s website: www.mtso.edu. 04/02/08