Dear United Methodist Friend:

• Will The United Methodist Church stand firmly for Christian sexual morality—or will we cave in and let our ministers conduct homosexual "weddings"'?

• Will our Church give top priority to Jesus Christ and His Great Commission? Or will our mission board continue to have more New York headquarters employees than full-time missionaries overseas?

• Will our Church continue pouring your dollars into a $4 million lobby office in Washington, DC that promotes partisan, left-wing politics in the name of United Methodism?

• Will we require our United Methodist seminaries to teach Christian doctrine and affirm the Bible as God's Word—or let them continue undermining their students Christian faith?

• Will the Sunday School materials sent to your Local Church be faithful to traditional Christian beliefs or promote other philosophies (New Age, goddess worship, etc.)?

First, let us share with you where UMAction stands. We believe Church agencies and of finials must be accountable to The United Methodist Church's historic beliefs and accountable to our Church's members!

UMAction is asking the General Conference to require accountability of the Church bureaucracy, to eliminate unnecessary Church agencies, and once again to focus on the needs of the Local Church.

UMAction will give the facts to General Conference delegates. We will also bring the truth to hundreds of thousands of United Methodist laity before the General Conference!

UMAction believes this General Conference should resolve not only to regain those 2 1/2 million lost members, but to add at least another 2 1/2 million members in the coming years.

Over 100 million Americans have no Church affiliation. We call for The United Methodist Church to target winning at least 5 percent of them to Jesus Christ.

But our resolve to reverse the decline must go beyond words. A Church that is not faithful to the Bible, not faithful to its own creeds, and not faithful to the Lordship of Jesus Christ cannot be a growing, dynamic Church.

A growing United Methodist Church must be Christ-centered, Scripture-based, and Holy Spirit-directed!

Perhaps you agree with us so far but are wondering: Who is UMAction?

We are both lifelong United Methodists. David Stanley, Chairman of UMAction, is a retired attorney and businessman who has taught Sunday school for 40 years in Wesley United Methodist Church, Muscatine, Iowa. He has represented his Local Church in the Iowa Annual Conference for 25 years. He led the Iowa Delegation at the 1992 General Conference.

UMAction Executive Director Mark Tooley works full-time for UMAction, based in Washington, DC. He attends and reports on United Methodist agency meetings around the country, to inform members who would not otherwise know what is happening. He is an active member of Pender United Methodist Church, Fairfax, Virginia, and has been a lay member ofthe Virginia Annual Conference.

The UMAction Steering Committee includes laity and clergy who share a passion for reform of The United Methodist Church. All of us are active in our Local Churches and in national efforts to reclaim our denomination for Scriptural, Wesleyan beliefs.

• Social renewal and Christian revival in America require renewal and revival in these historic denominations that have influenced our country since its founding.

• Christians should be politically involved, but the Church should not be a partisan lobby.

Do you share these beliefs? If so, we invite you to join UMAction's crusade to restore and reform this great United Methodist Church that we all love.

• UMAction is sending at least 13 proposed reforms to General Conference—to require financial and theological accountability by our Church agencies, seminaries, and Bishops; reduce Church bureaucracy; and give Local Churches the right to decide where their money goes.

We are not naïve about the political process at General Conference. The bureaucrats of national Church agencies will be there in force, at your expense, lobbying to preserve the status quo. They do not want reform. They want even more of your money, but no accountability.

Radical special interests, especially the homosexual lobby, will be at General Conference pushing hard for their agenda. They claim to want only "tolerance" and "inclusion." But they actually want to hijack our Church for a narrow sexual and political agenda that rejects the Bible and would ensure the eventual collapse of United Methodism.

Too many delegates at General Conference get caught up in Church politics and forget the concerns of our Local Churches. UMAction is determined that the Local Church be heard. We believe the Church bureaucracy exists to support the Local Church, not vice versa.

At General Conference we expect both some defeats and some victories. But UMAction is focused not just on what happens six months from now. We are in this fight for as long as it takes to win real reform and return our Church to Christian faithfulness.

Yes, in the coming months UMAction plans to send UMAction Briefing to at least 200,000 United Methodist homes. It publishes the facts you will not get from ''official'' Church publications. It frankly tells you about Church agencies, Bishops, and seminaries using our Church's name and your Church dollars to promote radical, partisan politics and to deny Biblical authority and the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

But UMAction will not stop at next veal's General Conference. We are working to bring UMAction Briefing to at least one million United Methodist households as quickly as possible. Reform of our Church is impossible without informing and involving the people in the pews.

UMAction believes a better-informed Church will lead to an even better General Conference in 2004 and 2008. We believe working for our Church's renewal and reform is a long-term calling, focused not on next year but on coming decades and ultimately on eternity.

UMAction's ministry is based on hope. Hope in the faithfulness of most United Methodists. Hope in the future of a renewed United Methodism and its impact in coming years upon our nation. And hope that the Lord still guides our Church and will revive it for His grand and unknowable purposes.

Will you join with us in this hope?

Our United Methodist Church needs your help. May we count on you?