Editor's note. Please drop me your thoughts at daveandrusko@hotmail.com.

Although raised a Lutheran in Minnesota, I now attend a United Methodist Church in Virginia. The UMC is, like a lot of "mainline" denominations, both declining in numbers and particularly slippery on the abortion issue. I would argue that while one did not necessarily cause the other, at a minimum its wishy-washy in rhetoric but pro-abortion in policy approach is a contributing factor to the UMC's plight.

By that I mean the church's official social principle on abortion is filled with a lot of life-affirming-sounding language. But as the Rev. Paul Stallsworth notes in a wonderful essay in the March issue of LifeWatch, a "single sentence tends to undo all the moral theological teaching that the other sentences of the paragraph assert."

Pastor Stallsworth then offers a clear, comprehensive critique of that sentence and offers some ideas how to "correct this moral ambiguity" so that the relevant paragraph would be "more in line with the universal Church's ecumenical, historic teaching on life that aims to defend mothers and their unborn children from abortion."

I bring this to your attention for several reasons. To begin with, Rev. Stallsworth is a tower of pro-life strength within the United Methodist Church. The editor of LifeWatch and the pastor of St. Peter's United Methodist Church in Morehead City, North Carolina, Rev. Stallsworth is a man I have learned from and looked up to for twenty+ years.

Also, I wanted to alert the United Methodists in our TN&V audience--or who have friends and family who are--that there is no better resource than LifeWatch, the official publication of the Taskforce of United Methodists on Abortion and Sexuality.

If you want to know what is being done to turn the United Methodist Church around, the place to go is LifeWatch. The newsletter can be obtained by writing LifeWatch, PO Box 396, Cottleville, MO 63338.

Take my word for it, there is much to read in each and every issue. The lead article in the March edition is a reprint of the January 22 sermon preached by Bishop H. William Willimon at the 2008 Lifewatch Service of Worship held in the Simpson Memorial Chapel of The United Methodist Building in Washington, DC. Bishop Willimon is the Episcopal leader of the Birmingham Area of The United Methodist Church. I was fortunate enough to attend.

Many Methodists, for sure, and likely others who are of other faiths will recognize the name. A writer of renown, Bishop Willimon is one of the country's best known preachers, a thoughtful and respected theologian, and a former Dean of the Chapel at Duke University.

Let me close with the mission statement of the Taskforce of United Methodists on Abortion and Sexuality. It is very instructive:

"Out of obedience to Jesus Christ, the Task Force of United Methodists on Abortion and Sexuality (TUMAS) 'will work to create in church and society esteem for human life at its most vulnerable, specifically for the unborn child and for the woman who contemplates abortion.' Therefore, TUMAS's first goal is 'to win the hearts and minds of United Methodists, to engage in abortion-prevention through theological, pastoral and social emphases that support human life.'"