Wesley Seminary’s Ministerial Education Fund (MEF) distribution was mentioned in the January/February Good News article: “Money Well Spent? The Future of Theological Education.” I want to share the perspective from my institution. The revised MEF formula is weighted toward both the number of ordinands (based on a three-year average) and the number of United Methodist students who have become Certified Candidates. To begin to understand any school’s distribution would require looking at both the number of ordinands and the number of students. But this mathematical analysis is insufficient. Here’s the bigger picture.

By Jim M. Ramsay
A church in Alabama was discussing the issue of unreached people groups as part of their mission focus week. Church members were surprised to discover that at the local university, there were more than 70 unreached people groups represented among the student body! Unreached people in Alabama? Indeed. In fact, in my own county of Gwinnett in the metro Atlanta area the 2010 census states that 25 percent were born outside the United States. A local parent told me there are 30 nations represented at his children’s local elementary school. Many people within the American church community are simply unaware of the huge migrations of people from all over the world that have been taking place over the past couple decades.

By Duffy Robbins
But let’s be honest: first of all, most teenagers on the outside of our ministries aren’t somehow mysteriously born with a felt need for good doctrinal teaching; and secondly, a majority of the students on the inside of our groups aren’t either. If we only target our programming for the spiritual heavyweights, we’re going to touch the lives of very few kids. In fact, what Paul seems to strongly suggest in Romans 1 is that we are – all of us – natural-born experts at avoiding, denying, and counterfeiting any knowledge of God.