Changing

"Everything's got to be new and complicated!" my father's fond of saying, then grumbling about new-fangled techno-stuff for which he has neither interest nor patience. I can understand this attitude. In a more deliberate and tactile time, he helped his father farm with horses. Today's world is spinning much too quickly for him. and for all of us some days.

Still, the world and our ways of living are changing, like it or not.

Even the paper you're holding has changed. You may have noticed HUM News is a little brighter this month. We're printing it on a new, whiter kind of recycled paper stock. It's a small thing, but -- unlike most changes today -- one that will not cost us more.

Communications is one of the most rapidly changing aspects of our culture. Churches are scrambling to keep up, or simply catch up. While there are many, like my father, who prefer dealing with nothing more technical than the TV remote, fast-growing numbers of folks -- all ages -- are using the "new media" with growing appreciation.. and facility.

That in mind, this month Indiana UM Communications will launch "e-HUM" as a means of bridging the information gap between HUM News print editions. It will provide timely news to the Indiana connection, without increasing overhead.

Now that the National Census has been analyzed, we have a new picture of the dramatic ways our state is changing demographically. Read Kevin Armstrong's article on what this means to our churches and ministries.

Ethel McCane's Black History Month story looks through various perspectives at how race relations have changed here since Dr. Martin Luther King spoke at Gobin Chapel 42 years ago.

While we must keep adjusting to constant change, it's comforting to remember the simple message which came to us two millennia before e-mail.

One thing that never changes.

Keep reading â€¦

Last updated on 01/14/2004

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