Student Forum brings walls tumblin' down
6/5/2001 News media contact: Linda Green · (615) 742-5470 · Nashville, Tenn By Duane Ewers* DELAWARE, Ohio (UMNS) - College students attending an annual leadership training and spiritual formation conference over the Memorial Day weekend allowed their walls to come down as they embraced diversity in themselves and in faith traditions.
More than 400 students and advisers from 58 annual conferences, including 30 international students, spent the three-day weekend addressing cultural divisions and other concerns during the 2001 Student Forum at Ohio Wesleyan University.
The forum, held by the United Methodist Student Movement, is an annual gathering that provides college students with spiritual formation, leadership training, and opportunities to "find voice" in the church and to experience the connection in a variety of ways. The Campus Ministry Section of the United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry sponsors the event.
Tying in with the theme of the forum, "Let the Walls Come Tumblin' Down," the weekend included a pre-conference conversation of the "pan-Methodist family," as well as continued emphasis on relations among the Methodist denominations during the general meetings and workshops.
The students adopted a resolution supporting pan-Methodist dialogue.
"Our words are only as good as our actions, and there is much work to be done to heal the wounds of segregation that are still reflected in our church and society," the students said. "Only through Jesus Christ may we begin to tear down those gigantic walls of hate and open our arms in love and fellowship."
The Student Movement steering committee and representatives of the historically black Methodist churches -- three from the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME), two from the African Methodist Episcopal Church Zion (AMEZ) and two from the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church (CME) - spent time learning about one another's traditions, issues and concerns.
Christina Dickerson, an AME student at Spelman College in Atlanta, said the importance of the discussion is that "others are trying to understand who we are and what our experience is. It makes me hopeful."
"This conversation serves as a symbol of our ability to come together," said Chris Crutchfield, a CME student at Morehouse College in Atlanta
Randolph Martin, an AME student at Morehouse, said the conversations helped the students understand one another and enabled them "to be comfortable with one another."
The Rev. Lillian Smith, campus ministry staff person, facilitated the pan-Methodist family dialogue. The students discussed the need for forgiveness, and the need to continue the conversation to understand distinct and shared heritages, she said.
The United Methodist Student Movement adopted the pan-Methodist dialogue as the official study topic for the 2001-2002 school year. All other Student Movement gatherings -- annual conference, statewide and jurisdictional -- are encouraged to include the pan-Methodist dialogue and reconciliation efforts as a study topic, and all United Methodist-related campus ministries are encouraged to explore and study pan-Methodist relations.
The students' suggestions included:
· Developing ongoing partnerships with congregations from one or more of the historically African-American Methodist churches (not to the exclusion of African American congregations within the United Methodist Church).
· Inviting speakers from one or more of the historically African-American Methodist churches to lead campus ministry programs to participate in the "Steps Toward Wholeness" or other similar programs that study the churches' common heritage.
· Developing a ministry that is intentional about affirming the cultures and traditions that have risen from the African-American community and that welcomes all students from various ethnic groups.
Guest speakers at the event included the Rev. Helen Davis Bell, pastor of Seay Hubbard United Methodist Church, Nashville, Tenn.; M. Thomas Thangaraj, associate professor of World Christianity, Candler School of Theology, Atlanta; and Richard B. Wilke, bishop in residence, Southwestern College, Winfield, Kan.
"We are not separate because of doctrines. We are separate because of how people treat and act towards one another," Bell told the students. In an altar call, she invited people to accept Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and to "live as apostles who break down walls and who include."
Thangaraj told participants that "the United States has difficulties operating in the world because we think we are the world." He encouraged listeners to "think of the global community." He reminded listeners that the global village has become local. Products of the modern world have been extended worldwide, he said.
"What does it mean to talk of unity in this kind of global community? It comes only through a recognition, affirmation and celebration of our differences, and an intense engagement to remove the disparities among us," he said.
A delegation of students from Africa provided an example of Thangaraj's theme. They said the theme was important to them because of Africa's many divisions. "We live in a world torn by differences," they said. "Meetings such as this give us the opportunity to know one another, to find out what is going on elsewhere in the world, and to tell others about Africa."
Speaking to the students at the closing worship service, Wilke said, "The future of the church is right here, right in this room."
Another opportunity to break down walls and put faith into action came when students participated in one of more than 10 community outreach options. Students spent hours cleaning, painting, sorting, visiting and building, and reading to children.
"Everybody needs love, and this is an opportunity to share some," said Robyn Selder, a student at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, La.
Kelly Luurtsema, a student at DePauw University in Greencastle, Ind., observed, "It is part of the Christian faith to spend time serving others.
"This weekend, these student leaders tackled some of the toughest issues facing our church and our world," said the Rev. Hal Hartley of the campus ministry section. "In the midst of trying to find solutions to daunting challenges, they are modeling a new way of respecting differences and including all voices. The church would do well to follow the example of these students, and let the walls come tumblin' down!"
The students considered resolutions on justice for farm workers; basic recycling of aluminum cans, one-time-use drinking containers, and plastic and glass bottles; and the Global Democracy Promotion Act of 2001.
Herbert Brisbon, a student at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, was elected chairman of the UMSM steering committee.
Also elected to the 2001-2002 steering committee were Scott Carnes, Southern Illinois University; Christina Wright, Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill.; Karma Wood, West Virginia University; Victor Massaquoi, Centenary College, Hackettstown, N.J.; Glen Sears, University of Kansas; Robyn Selders, Northwestern State University, Natchitoches, La.; Karen Alley, Montana State University; Rufaro Gwarada, University of California-Davis; Lily Fawn White, Oklahoma State University; Erika Muñoz, University of Texas, Pan Am; Larry Ineno, California State University at Long Beach; Kenia da Silva Guimaraes., Clark Atlanta University; and Paul Perez, Michigan State University.
More information on the United Methodist Student Movement and the Student Forum is available from the Campus Ministry Section, P.O. Box 340007, Nashville, TN 37203-0007. Information is also available at the Student Movement's Web site, http://www.umsm.org/, and at the Board of Higher Education and Ministry's site, www.gbhem.org.
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*Ewers is the staff executive of the Office of Interpretation of the United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry in Nashville, Tenn.
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