United Methodist Communications begins the new year with a whole new structure and a renewed commitment to serve the denomination’s evolving communication needs.
The reorganization comes as much of The United Methodist Church is dealing with reduced finances after years of church disaffiliations and membership decline in the U.S.
United Methodist Communications, which includes United Methodist News, is one of 13 general agencies whose ministries extend denomination-wide. It is also among the six general agencies that saw its budget cut by more than half at last year’s General Conference.
That has required the communication agency to rethink how it can best help its fellow financially strapped ministries and amplify The United Methodist Church’s voice to reach more people.
“We see our role as being integral for connecting The United Methodist Church both internally and externally to the world,” said Dan Krause, United Methodist Communications’ top executive.
The agency is prioritizing technological innovation to offer communication services customized to the unique needs of United Methodist ministries.
United Methodist Communications also has created three new partnership teams, with 13 staff members total, to help various bodies within the church share their message of faith.
The agency partnerships team has six staff assigned to support the denomination’s general agencies.
The denominational partnerships has four staff assigned to work with U.S. conferences, the ethnic plans and denomination-wide bodies, including the Council of Bishops, Judicial Council, Connectional Table and Standing Committee on Central Conference Matters. Central conferences are church regions in Africa, Europe and the Philippines.
The central conference partnerships team reflects the denomination’s worldwide nature with two staff members who live in and work with conferences in Africa and a third member who lives in and works with conferences in the Philippines.
The agency’s public relations team also will continue to support the Connectional Table and the Commission on the General Conference.
Even before the launch of its partnership teams this year, United Methodist Communications already was handling the communications needs of two agencies — the United Methodist Commission on Archives and History and the Commission on the Status and Role of Women.
Ashley Boggan, Archives and History’s top executive, said her agency’s partnership with United Methodist Communications “is such a gift.”
“We’ve seen a large uptick in public engagement not only on our social media but also just out and about,” she said.
Krause emphasized that finances are not the only driver of United Methodist Communications’ new structure and strategic plan.
After decades of internal division, General Conference made momentous changes last year that in many ways represent a reset of how The United Methodist Church does ministry.
General Conference passed a historically low four-year budget of between $353.6 million and $373.4 million, depending on collection rates in 2025 and 2026. The 2025-2028 budget represents about a 40% reduction overall of the previous denominational budget that General Conference passed in 2016.
That budget included a cut of over 46% to the World Service Fund, which supports the work of most general agencies.
United Methodist Communications has been able to adjust to a much smaller budget and reduce staff without any involuntary layoffs.
With a much smaller staff, United Methodist Communications has had to drop some of its services and see where it was needed most.
“When it comes to our work and output, we didn’t want to do ‘more with less’ or ‘less with less’ as they say,” Krause said, “but redefine what is needed for the future.”
excerpt from a story by Heather Hahn. assistant news editor for UM News.
The World Service Fund provides basic financial support to program-related general agencies, which are especially important to the common vision, mission, and ministry of The United Methodist Church. Through World Service funding, agencies support annual conferences and local congregations in living out God’s mission for the worldwide Church. General agencies also provide essential services and ministries beyond the scope of individual local
