wfn.org | Church must focus on cities

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS" by SUSAN PEEK on Aug. 11, 1991 at 13:58 Eastern,
about FULL TEXT RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (3071 notes).

Note 3063 by UMNS on July 22, 1996 at 16:04 Eastern (3915 characters).

SEARCH: United Methodist Church, cities, Wilke

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CONTACT: Linda Green                              349(10-71){3063}
         Nashville, Tenn. (615) 742-5470             July 22, 1996

United Methodist Church must advance 
to urban areas to remain viable

by Jane Dennis*

     KANSAS CITY, Mo. (UMNS) -- The United Methodist Church must
head to the cities and the growing urban areas of the nation if it
expects to remain a viable messenger for Jesus Christ in the
world.
     That was the message that Arkansas United Methodist Bishop
Richard Wilke offered to the 332 delegates plus visitors attending
the 1996 South Central Jurisdictional Conference as he presented
the Episcopal Address, here, July 16. 
     The South Central Jurisdiction includes 17 annual (regional)
conferences, 11 active bishops, and 1.8 million members in Kansas,
Missouri, Nebraska, Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico,
Oklahoma.
     The primary purpose of jurisdictional conference was to elect
and assign bishops. In addition to the South Central Jurisdiction,
four other meetings were held during the week to elect a total of
17 bishops.  Delegates here elected only one bishop to fill the
vacancy left by Wilke's retirement.
     Wilke presented the address on behalf of the 23 active and
retired bishops that comprise the South Central Jurisdiction's
College of Bishops. 
     Methodism was founded on the strength of its ministry in
rural areas, Wilke said, "but we have become an urban culture, and
as United Methodists we have not learned very well how to go to
the city."
     In the face of such changes, he said, it is time, "our church
looks at the underbelly of our society that is in great pain.. .
and so spiritually hungry."
     American society is not only growing more urban as economic
realities push the rural population toward the cities, but it is
also becoming more secular, he said
     Wilke challenged church leaders to seek new approaches and
avenues to ministry, particularly to the unchurched, the
impoverished, youth and children. He praised efforts of
congregations which offer organized "school after school"
programs, "latchkey," tutoring and other weekday programs. "The
children of our world and of our country are in jeopardy," he
said, as they come face-to-face with issues such as drug abuse,
suicide and teen pregnancy. 
     The church must get serious about finding ways to reach the
increasingly secular world, Wilke stressed, because "children  are
going to hell on a bobsled, yet we don't have a Christian
education delivery system."
     He also called the church to strengthen cooperative work and
relations with its institutions (colleges, hospitals, retirement
homes, etc.) and to be more supportive of local pastors who
balance pastoral ministry with jobs in the secular world.
     "I look around and see a world filled with unbelievable pain,
unbelievable sin and loneliness," Wilke said.
     "If we focus the energy, the intelligence of the people to
the lost . . . if we interact with others in saving grace and
fellowship," he concluded, "God will use us."
     The United Methodist Church was created in 1968 with a merger
of the Evangelical United Brethren and Methodist churches.
Methodists elected their bishops at one national gathering until
1940 when the jurisdictional system was created. Bishops in the
EUB church were elected at one national gathering until the 1968
gathering.
                               # # #

     *Dennis is the editor of the Arkansas United Methodist, the
newspaper of the North Arkansas and Little Rock United Methodist
Conferences

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