At United Methodist Communications, we communicate all the good we can.
- In 2018, our research found that welcoming is a top factor in choosing a church and our advertising messages to seekers were tailored to reflect that.
- We took hospitality across the U.S. in a gift-wrapped truck, partnering with over 20 churches to connect people with the true meaning of Christmas and invite them to worship in a local church.
- We reached out to Latino communities with intentional messaging and developed an advertising campaign to remind United Methodists how God’s call moves us.
- We launched United Methodist News as a new brand with a new website in multiple languages and with a more global focus.
- And we collaborated with other church agencies to commemorate the 50th anniversary of The United Methodist Church.
We communicate in all the ways we can.
- By broadening the scope of local church grants and tailored services.
- We continued to expand our social media following, including the use of Snapchat. And rolled out an animated series about United Methodist history.
- We dramatically increased subscriptions to our e-newsletters and saw staggering increases in UMC.org page views.
- Our podcasts debuted on Spotify and we worked to build capacities of the United Methodist Radio Network.
- We invested in new customer relationship management and web content management systems and launched an innovative prototype in partnership with Global Ministries to assure the availability of life-saving medication.
- We helped prepare audiences for the Special Session of the General Conference and agreed to provide production services at no cost, while funding a sizeable grant in order to eliminate registration fees.
We communicate to all the people we can.
- We expanded training and emphasized content in five focused languages.
- We engaged news correspondents to tell the stories of the church around the world and expanded UMConnect in the central conferences to send voice and text messages that included Ebola prevention in South Congo and messages of peace in Zimbabwe.
We communicate in all the places we can.
- As we opened a joint ministry office in Manila with Global Ministries and provided a workshop in Sierra Leone, with communicators from five episcopal areas.
- We conducted Connectional Giving training in three countries. We traveled more than 12,000 miles to attend 16 annual conferences and hosted Hulapalooza event to support Abundant Health for all.
- In West Africa, we collaborated with the Africa College of Bishops on global communications and the empowerment of local church leaders.
- In Switzerland, we web-streamed the judicial council meeting to allow access around the world and we nurtured our staff with professional development from Facebook and Instagram in California to Rome’s Pontifical University of the Holy Cross.
- Like John Wesley, we look upon the world as our parish. Our work touches virtually all of the denomination’s ministries as we help the church tell the story of God’s transforming love.
For information about United Methodist Communications' 2018 financials, read the audited report.