I say bless you if you’re really working to change the UMC.
The mission of that church organization, imho, has become polluted with liberals in leadership positions.
I left it years ago, sad about the situation in the UMC as a whole and at my congregation in particular. We were heavily active in the worship service planning—trying to make it friendlier to younger people while remaining biblical.
Older adherants to the faith didn’t like the loud music. And so it goes.
Long story short, we left.
Sadly, nothing has changed since you left. The old people still want the same worship their grandparents had. The young adults don’t know what they want except that they “need” something. The challenge is getting them recognize that what they need is to give their life over to something greater than themselves and they are a very selfish generation. I’m in my mid-40’s, so I can communicate with both generations and understand what both want.
The whole ReThink Church initiative is sponsored by the UMC, but all the effort is done at the congregation level. The liberals in church leadership are a problem, but ultimately they follow Christ (but in a lefty kind of way where slavery to the communist state is more Christian than capitalism—but that’s a topic in itself!) so I steer things to the right where I can, but recognize the true direction we must go or our church will die, or become ineffective as disciples, in the next decade.