On Your Behalf - June Report

Reaching Out to Seminaries… Introducing Future Clergy to Retirement and Investing Issues

Call to Ministry

The call to ordained ministry in The United Methodist Church requires significant seminary education beyond the undergraduate degree. Seminary students take a range of courses, including Biblical interpretation, church history, theology, ethics and theory and practice of ministry. What they probably don't expect is a class in health, financial stewardship and retirement planning, but the General Board of Pension and Health Benefits (General Board) is working to change that.

The General Board has been reaching out to United Methodist seminaries to help future clergypersons understand the importance of thinking about their financial futures at the beginning of their ministerial careers, not at the end. General Secretary Barbara Boigegrain's goal is to have them see the General Board as a personal financial partner throughout their ministries, providing support and protection by investing retirement assets on their behalf that uphold the Church's Social Principles.

Reaching Out

Reaching out is the challenge. The General Board is taking its message to United Methodist seminaries with increasing success. The teaming of Benefits Educator Mary Figueredo with the General Secretary, gives seminaries immediate support in integrating this important message into their general curriculum. "At first, it was a challenge to get some seminary faculty to understand the value of this class," noted General Secretary Barbara Boigegrain, "but others immediately supported the idea." The General Board has visited Wesley Theological Seminary (Washington, D.C.), Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary (Evanston, IL), Candler School of Theology (Atlanta, GA) and Duke Divinity School (Durham, NC), and intends to conduct an annual financial and retirement presentation at every seminary.

This is a new approach for the General Board whose benefits educators have traditionally made retirement planning presentations to clergy and lay employees in mid-career or nearing retirement. Speaking to seminary students who are just beginning their ministerial careers requires a presentation with a different focus. "I think reaching out to seminaries is essential," emphasized Barbara, "because future clergy need to plan to care for themselves. If they do not act as stewards of their own health and finances, their ministries will suffer. As they age and end their ministries, they may run into health issues or find they haven't saved enough for a secure retirement. Planning now ensures that they and their ministries will remain vital throughout their careers."

Dr. Lewis Parks, a former district superintendent who teaches the United Methodist polity class at Wesley Seminary in Washington, D.C., strongly supports the General Board's efforts to reach out to students. According to Dr. Parks, "Barbara connects with students of all ages around issues of clergy health and lifestyle, the advantages of answering a call in a connectional system, and the public moral voice of the Church, as expressed in its investment actions. The call to responsible investing in the public market place is a matter of social holiness from which participants in the pension plan cannot run."

An Agency with a Message

The General Board has had particular success when speaking to classes studying United Methodist polity, where students learn about the 13 Church agencies. Barbara provides a financial overview emphasizing stewardship, resources, retirement and benefit plans, and services offered by the General Board. She also covers clergy-related health issues, which students relate to immediately. Mary provides specific details on denominational benefits, takes questions and conducts one-on-one sessions.

But, bringing the Church's retirement and benefits message to seminary students is only one aspect of Barbara and Mary's role. The General Board also wants seminary students to know that financial support for clergy is built on a foundation of socially responsible investing. With more than $14 billion in assets, the General Board is a strong proponent of the Church's Social Principles and Book of Resolutions. Through conversations with company officials, letter writing, filing shareholder resolutions and other advocacy activities, the General Board encourages public companies to be good stewards of creation, to respect the dignity and needs of workers everywhere, to promote health and healing where possible and, in general, to be good corporate citizens.

Not all United Methodists are aware of this message. By helping seminary students understand the importance of socially responsible investing, the Church's commitment to it and the promise it holds for a better world for all, the General Board puts John Wesley's belief into practice:

The gospel of Christ knows of no religion, but social; no holiness but social holiness. "Faith working by love" is the length and breadth and depth and height of Christian perfection.

The General Board has developed a special relationship with Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, also located in Evanston, Illinois. Every academic year, a Garrett-Evangelical student joins the General Board's Corporate Relations department as an intern in socially responsible investing. Participating in all aspects of the department's work, the intern returns to the seminary with first-hand experience in the world of shareholder advocacy and ethical investing. It is one more way the General Board fulfills its mandate from the Church to be a socially responsible investor.

It is the General Board's intention that the next generation of United Methodist clergy will continue to appreciate and support the important ministry of socially responsible investing.