Search continues for common vision of United Methodism's future
4/29/1998
NEW ORLEANS (UMNS) - United Methodist leaders are working toward a "common vision" that they can propose for the denomination's mission and ministry when the church's top lawmaking body, the General Conference, meets in the year 2000.
With that goal, the church's General Council on Ministries (GCOM) hosted its second consultation April 17-18 under the banner of "making all things new."
Providing a "hospitable table for the church," particularly annual conferences and churchwide agencies, GCOM leaders are working for a common vision related to mission, corporate identity, churchwide problem solving, and mutual budget and program advocacy.
The consultation preceded the regular, semi-annual meeting here of GCOM's 76-member governing body, chaired by Bishop J. Woodrow Hearn of Houston. The first consultation was sponsored by the council in Pittsburgh last October.
How the Book of Acts might serve as a model for modern church life was explored by the Rev. Charles Yrigoyen, staff executive for the denomination's Commission on Archives and History in Madison, N.J. Attributes of the early church that have meaning for the future included having Jesus Christ as the focus of its message and ministry, Yrigoyen said. He stressed the importance of being "people of the Book" and having a sense of community.
As in the early years, Yrigoyen said the church of the future must be open to God's surprise where the least likely individuals often emerged as great leaders.
"There is no person and no set of circumstances in this world beyond the influence of God's changing grace," he said.
United Methodism, like the early church, ministers amid its struggles and difficulties, Yrigoyen noted. "Sometimes the Gospel succeeds because of what we do. Often the Gospel succeeds in spite of what we do. Thanks be to God!"
The Revs. Tom Butcher and Dan Morley of the Desert Southwest Annual Conference were among those invited to give prophetic responses during the meeting. Others included Lane Winn, president of the Louisiana Conference United Methodist Youth; retired Bishop James Thomas; and Alvin Deer, staff executive for the Native American International Caucus.
Thomas, the only individual to serve as president of the church's three councils -- Bishops, Ministries, and Finance and Administration -- said a church true to its mission must support the sanctity of life.
"Human life, a mystery and miracle, has been de-sacralized," Thomas said. "It's no big deal to blow people away in a drive-by shooting. Violence is the result of the fact that life is taken so lightly."
Deer said she hoped that racism and greed would not survive into the new millenium. Kathy Thomas Sano, staff executive for the National Federation of Asian American United Methodists, ticked off a list of dreams, including effective ways to be in ministry with changing ethnic populations in the United States and greater collegiality with United Methodists in other countries.
The global issue emerged as a significant concern during the event. The United Methodist Church has 8.5 million members in the United States and more than a million in Africa, Europe and the Philippines. Participants expressed concern about a perception that United Methodism is a U.S. church with overseas appendages. The Rev. Bruce Robbins, staff executive for the church's Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns, voiced hope that United Methodism could find ways to address national issues but not be bound by national structures.
Insights from the Wesleyan heritage were shared by the Rev. David Lowes Watson, recently named to occupy a new chair of Wesleyan Studies at Vanderbilt University Divinity School in Nashville, Tenn.
"We must be careful we aren't building our house in the sand," Watson warned. "We must be open to where we are being called and make sure our foundations are solid." Since Methodism's founding more than 200 years ago, he said, the "culture has taken us over."
He bemoaned a "dumbed-down, democratized discipleship" in United Methodism, where Christ has been displaced from center stage.
"We've put ourselves there," he asserted. "We don't struggle anymore to discern the mind of Christ. Now we just vote on it."
He chided the electronic voting system at the church's General Conferences, where tallies are projected on a large screen.
"Whizzo! There is the mind of God up on the screen," he quipped. "Democracy is not the name of the church. 'Christocracy' is the mind of the church."
Input during the consultation ranged from theological and philosophical to the more practical. Sandra Kelley Lackore, staff executive for the General Council on Finance and Administration, pointed to the increasing financial generosity of United Methodists, but asked "what are you willing to give to make yesterday's dreams today's realities?"
The most recent General Conference, in 1996, created a Connectional Process Team to recommend to the next assembly a "transformational direction" for the church. Chairing that committee is Bishop Sharon Brown Christopher of Springfield, Ill., who attended the GCOM consultation. She noted that many of the issues raised at the meeting parallel those in CPT conversations.
She focused particularly on the global nature of the church. "If we are to be a truly global church, the agenda needs to be global, not U.S. dominated," she said. A big issue for the church in the United States, she said, is "How do we relinquish some of our identity and perceptions?"
Input from consultation speakers and table-group discussions were later shared with GCOM members who will be making recommendations to the 2000 General Conference. Special attention was given to concerns that relate to the particular responsibilities of the council. These include establishing missional priorities and program themes, coordinating and evaluating the work of all churchwide agencies, and recommending budgets for denomination programs.
Following the consultation, GCOM members visited Gulfside Assembly, Waveland, Miss., for a one-day session to learn of the property's historic significance and current program and to explore the denomination's ethnic ministries. Gulfside was established by the former Central Jurisdiction, an entity for African-American church members, which overlapped white regional jurisdictions in the South and Southwest until its dissolution in 1968.
The council received reports from all groups within the church working with Native Americans. These included the Native American International Caucus, the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference, the Native American Comprehensive Plan, and the National United Methodist Native American Center in Claremont, Calif. In an unusual method of presentation, an individual from one ethnic group shared ministries of another ethnic group.
Updates were given on ministries with all ethnic groups in the church. Council members spent a half-day dealing with institutional racism, with the discussion led by the Rev. C. David Billings Jr., of the Peoples Institute for Survival and Beyond in New Orleans.
GCOM members worked on plans for visiting United Methodists in 24 locations outside the United States this fall before the agency's regular meeting Oct. 26-30. The meeting will be held at a United Methodist conference center in Hasliberg, Switzerland. The visits aim to "equip council members with a perspective that will help shape a vision for global ministry in all places and all structures of the church," according to C. David Lundquist, staff executive for the Dayton, Ohio,-based council.
Council members were updated on two initiatives to which the agency is closely related: Shared Mission Focus on Young People, and Strengthening the Black Church for the 21st Century. Meeting. Members of an Advance committee approved both initiatives as recipients of volunteer giving. Individuals or groups wishing to make contributions may use the following Advance numbers for proper handling: Black Church (SBC21:194815-4) and Young People (SMFYP:194790-2).
# # #
|
Back : News Archives 1998 Main
|
|
“We believe in God and in each other.”The people of The United Methodist Church
Still Have Questions?
If you have any questions Ask
InfoServ
Purchase a $20 buzzkill t-shirt and help save a life
Buy a t-shirt
|
Korean News