wfn.org | Future-looking team organizes

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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 (3212 notes).

Note 3211 by UMNS on Oct. 4, 1996 at 15:35 Eastern (7761 characters).

SEARCH: Connectional Process Team, Christopher
Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency of
the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville, Tenn., New
York, and Washington.

CONTACT: Thomas S. McAnally                    497(10-21-71){3211}
         Nashville, Tenn. (615) 742-5470              Oct. 4, 1996

Connectional Process Team begins
work with an eye to the year 2000

by Tom McAnally*

     SCHILLER PARK, Ill. (UMNS) -- What will the United Methodist
Church look like and how will it go about its ministry and mission
in the next century?
     The answer to that question depends largely on a group which
was organized here Sept. 30-Oct. 1.
     The 38-member Connectional Process Team (CPT) was authorized
in April by the denomination's top legislative body meeting in
Denver. Twelve of the voting members are from outside the United
States.
     Elected chairperson was Bishop Sharon Brown Christopher of
Springfield, Ill.
     The committee is continuing the work started by two
denominational groups during the past four years: a Connectional
Issues Study by the Dayton, Ohio-based General Council on
Ministries (GCOM) and a Global Nature of the Church study by the
Council of Bishops.
     Central purpose of the CPT is to enable the church "more
faithfully to carry out its mission to make disciples of Jesus
Christ" and to support local congregations as "primary locus of
mission and ministry" in the denomination.
     As it aims at having an initial draft of its report ready in
early 1999, the committee will have to make difficult decisions
about "basic oranizational forms to enable the mission and
ministry" and the "advisability of regional and global
conferences."
     While the United Methodist Church has about a million members
in "Central Conferences" in Europe, Africa and the Philippines,
8.6 million members are in the United States.  Despite efforts of
church leaders to define the church as "global" it is often
perceived as a U.S. church with overseas appendages.  It is that
perception which prompted the bishops to start looking at
different ways for the church to operate globally.
     To illustrate the problem, German Bishop Walter Klaiber told
CPT members that reference is often made to the 13 United
Methodist-related seminaries, ignoring those outside the United
States.
     Four members from affiliate and autonomous Methodist
denominations are yet to be named to the committee, one from each
major geographic region of the world.  
     Klaiber encouraged members to "think first of how we organize
and restructure this household (the United Methodist Church)
before we invite others to come under a larger roof."  There are
many Wesleyan or Methodist denominations in the world.  Largest is
the United Methodist Church.
     Following up on the study made by the GCOM, the CPT is asked
to help the church understand and adopt an "interactive
organizational process" for implementation by local churches and
annual conferences. Already, the General Conference has given
these entities permission to organize with maximum flexibility
during the present quadrennium.
     Some CPT members acknowledged they knew little about the
church organization and bureacracy beyond their local
congregations and most said they were unclear about the meaning of
"interactive organizational process."  Several members who have
worked with the new process in their own local churches or annual
conferences shared experiences with the group.
     The Rev. Jack Loflin, director of the Mississippi Conference
Council on Ministries which has implemented an interactive
organization, explained: "We can change structure but if we don't
change the way we operate we're not getting any different
results."
     Instead of a myriad of boards and committees, each doing its
own thing independently, Loflin said the interactive process
"allows you to bring to the table, where everyone is included,
mission and to create a shared vision."
     It is that vision, he said, which gives meaning and purpose
to everything that is done. Common threads through each of the
informal presentations were shared vision, minimal bureacracy,
focus on the local church and encouragement of the laity.
     "We must change from developing our organizations to
developing people and their relationship to God and one another,"
Christopher said.
     David Lundquist, staff executive for the GCOM, stressed that
the CPT is not basically a group to restructure the church.  "It
may turn out that it will do something in that area but that is
not its central focus," he said.
     Loss of membership in the denomination as a whole and a lack
of enthusiasm in certain segments of the church were frequently
mentioned.  Representatives from the Philippines said United
Methodism is growing rapidly in their country because it has no
conference-wide boards and agencies and few structures at the
district level.  Beyond a core of requirements, each Central
Conference outside the United States is allowed to organize as it
wishes.
     Some members expressed concern about erosion of the church's
connectional system.  Bishop Melvin G. Talbert of San Francisco,
president of the National Council of Churches, expressed
frustration that many local churches "see themselves as the locus
of everything that happens and have little desire to keep the
connection."
     Several committee members stressed their desire to build
bridges early with general agencies of the church and the Council
of Bishops.  
     Roland Siegrist of Austria was elected vice chairperson of
the committee and the Rev. Minerva Carcano of Dallas, secretary. 
The $660,000 budgeted for the committee' work during the
quadrennium is one of four items in a "Focus 2000 Missions
Initiative Fund" approved by General Conference.  
     Committee members approved dates for two meetings during each
of the next three years with one of those, possibly the January
1998 meeting, to be outside the United States.  Next meeting will
be Jan. 30-Feb. 1 at an undetermined location.
     The GCOM was asked to provide staff services for the
committee.
                              #  #  #
     *McAnally is director of United Methodist News Service, based
in Nashville, Tenn., with offices in New York and Washington.
     
NOTE TO EDITORS:  Members of the CPT from outside the United
States are: Aurora S.Alkuino, the Rev. Benjamin Justo, Bishop
Emerito Nacpil, Carlito S. Puno, of the Philippines;  Amos Beio,
Liberia; Natalia Chamusso, Mozambique; Bishop Joseph Humper,
Sierra Leone; Djundu Lunge, Zaire; Bishop Walter Klaiber and
Ingeborg Putzke of Germany; Roland Siegrist, Austria; the Rev.
Fredrik Wegelius, Finland.  U.S. members are: Trina Bose, Oklahoma
City; Vivian Bull, McMinville, Ore.; the Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell
and Bishop J. Woodrow Hearn of Houston; the Rev. Minerva Carcano,
Dallas; Bishop Sharon Brown Christopher, Springfield, Ill.; Paul
Extrum-Fernandez, West Sacramento, Calif.; the Rev. Amelia S.
Finau, Euless, Texas; William S. Hatcher, Statesboro, Ga.; Zedna
Haverstock, New Cumberland, Pa.; the Rev. Marilynn M. Huntington,
Pasadena, Calif.; the Rev. Richard Jones, Whitefish Bay, Wis.; the
Rev. James King, Nashville, Tenn.; Yong S. Lee, Ames, Iowa; the
Rev. Jack M. Loflin, Jackson, Miss.; Robby Lowry, Rowland, N.C.;
the Rev. Marcus Matthews, Baltimore, Md.; Dale Segrest, Tallassee,
Fla.; the Rev. Lee B. Sheaffer, Richmond, Va.; Ernest L. Swiggett,
White Plains, N.Y.; Deanell Reece Tacha, Lawrence, Kans.; Bishop
Melvin G.. Talbert, San Francisco; Bette Trumbull, Springfield,
Nebr.; Jeremy Vetter, Lincoln, Nebr.; Aileen L. Williams,
Rochester, Minn.; and Anna Gail Workman, Mebane, N.C. 

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