Contact:

Ashley Miller
Publicity and Marketing Manager
Abingdon Press
Phone: 1.615.749.6290
Fax: 1.615.749.6061
email: acmiller@abingdonpress.com

Nashville, TN– The United Methodist Publishing House is teaming up with The United Methodist Reporter to launch a series of articles encouraging readers to respond about the faith development and spiritual care of the children and young people in the church. The series, titled Kids and Christ, seeks to answer lingering, important questions such as, "If you’re not teaching your kids about God, who is?" and "Is Sunday School dead?"  

“We consider this to be a very timely and important conversation within The United Methodist Church,” says Neil Alexander, president and publisher of The United Methodist Publishing House. “All denominational and independent Christian publishers that I’ve talked to have reported that sales of dated curriculum, especially for children, have been trending downward for some time, and more recently that trend has become emphatic, begging the question, ‘Why?’ Without answers to some core underlying questions, we could miss the mark in understanding and responding to the needs of the churches we seek to serve.”

The United Methodist Reporter will run six articles in both their print and online publication. The series will kick off March 17 with Let the Children Come, written by Bishop William H. Willimon.  Other writers include Rev.Patricia Farris,  Rev.James A. Harnish, Bishop Scott J. Jones, Bishop Mike Lowry, and Rev.John Ed Mathison. The conversation will continue in the August/September/October issue of Circuit Rider, which will focus on the “Rethink Church” campaign.

A Facebook Fan Page  has been created to host the discussions. Readers are encouraged to become a fan and offer their questions, thoughts, and comments on both the articles and the overall standing of the faith education of children and teens. The end goal is not only to spark ideas for new models of teaching and learning, but also to create awareness within the church about this growing issue.

The United Methodist Publishing House is a publisher and distributor to Christian clergy and laity, with primary responsibilities for the publishing and distribution for The United Methodist Church.  The Publishing House is a fully self-supporting agency and receives no general church funds.