WELCOME!

Associates in Advocacy now has two sites on the internet. Our primary help site is at http://www.aiateam.org/. There AIA seeks to offer aid to troubled pastors, mainly those who face complaints and whose careers are on the line.

Help is also available to their advocates, their caregivers, Cabinets, and others trying to work in that context.

This site will be a blog. On it we will address issues and events that come up.

We have a point of view about ministry, personnel work, and authority. We intend to take the following very seriously:

THE GOLDEN RULE
THE GENERAL RULES
GOING ONTO PERFECTION

Some of our denomination's personnel practices have real merit. Some are deeply flawed. To tell the difference, we go to these criteria to help us know the difference.

We also have a vision of what constitutes healthy leadership and authority. We believe it is in line with Scripture, up-to-date managerial practice, and law.

To our great sadness, some pastors who become part of the hierarchy of the church, particularly the Cabinet, have a vision based on their being in control as "kings of the hill," not accountable to anyone and not responsible to follow the Discipline or our faith and practice. They do not see that THE GOLDEN RULE applies to what they do.

If you are reading this, the chances are you are not that way. We hope what we say and do exemplify our own best vision and will help you fulfill yours. But we cannot just leave arrogance, incompetence, and ignorance to flourish. All of us have the responsibility to minimize those in our system.

We join you in fulfilling our individual vow of expecting to be perfect in love in this life and applying that vow to our corporate life in the United Methodist Church.

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If you have any questions or suggestions, direct them to Rev. Jerry Eckert. His e-mail address is aj_eckert@hotmail.com. His phone number is 941 743 0518. His address is 20487 Albury Drive, Port Charlotte, FL 33952.

Thank you.

(9/26/07)


Thursday, June 6, 2013

JCD 1238



CONTROL OVER MISSION GIVING AND HANDLING COMPLAINTS

More than a decade ago, Western Pennsylvania Annual Conference entered into a working relationship with the East Africa Annual Conference over projects in Uganda.  The one working with them from the beginning was Rev. Daniel Wandabula.  When members of the American conference toured the sites of the projects, they found incomplete work at one, no financial payment at the second, and a well bored in the wrong place.  During the years of attempting to sort out what happened, Rev. Wandabula became bishop and there was no resolution of the problem over the projects, despite Bishop Wandabula’s promises.

The Judicial Council responded to three issues raised by the Western Pennsylvania group.  With respect to the funding of a church building, the Council felt it had no way to resolve the problem under church law, citing that the funds were handled by the annual conference and not through the General Board of Global Ministries.  Without saying it, the Council was telling Western Pennsylvania, “Buyer beware.” 

There was sharp disagreement as to why so little was done on the church building.  The bishop said there was no response from the Americans when problems arose at the site.  The Americans said there were no communications about the problems prior to their trip to see what was happening.  The Council did not try to resolve that dispute but basically went along with the bishop.

The Council did demand a payment be made to a particular pastor because some records were found that showed the cash had made its way to Uganda and had just not been used for that purpose. 

The third issue had to do with whether or not the complaints brought by the Americans had been processed.  The bishop said they had been dropped and the Americans said they had heard nothing whatever about what happened to the complaints.  The Council ruled that the process was still open until they heard otherwise but did not order anything be done to conclude the process or to have a report forwarded to them about the case.  They will wait for an appeal at the conclusion of the process in order to take a look at the matter.  In practice, that means that the complaints are dead in the water.  If the African Central Conference refuses to act one way or another, the complainants have no recourse.  They cannot appeal something that did not happen nor can they appeal since they are being represented by the Church who cannot appeal a judicial decision except in extraordinary circumstances (usually meaning the matter related to homosexuality).

In effect, the Council found no way to hold the Africans accountable in this case other than to be sure a pastor was paid.  The two African members of the Council were not involved in the East African Conference in any way so they did not need to recuse themselves in this case.

The upshot is that the enthusiasm of the American church to work hand-in-hand with churches and conferences outside the United States may dwindle.  The Board of Global Ministries and the General Council on Finance and Administration are trying to deal with the accountability issues in the financial realm just to minimize discouragement of our desire to help in mission projects.  To see more on that, read the side bar to the article written about this case in the UM Communications article at

As a point of disclosure, Associates in Advocacy was asked to provide an advocate for Bishop Wandabula before the Judicial Council’s hearing.  We were able to offer an experienced pastor advocate and he was present, working with the bishop’s group.  

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