From the Worldwide Faith News archives www.wfn.org
Sprague Heads Shalom Committee
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owner-umethnews@ecunet.org
Date
27 Nov 1996 12:53:50
"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS" by SUSAN PEEK on Aug. 11, 1991 at 13:58 Eastern,
about FULL TEXT RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (3313 notes).
Note 3313 by UMNS on Nov. 27, 1996 at 13:42 Eastern (2889 characters).
SEARCH: Shalom, community service, summit, Sprague
Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency of
the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville, Tenn., New
York, and Washington.
CONTACT: Ralph E. Baker 600(10-71B{3313}
Nashville, Tenn. (615) 742-5470 Nov. 27, 1996
EDITORS NOTE: This story may be used as a sidebar to UMNS #599
{3312}.
Bishop Sprague chosen new head
of National Shalom Committee
by Dean Snyder*
Members of the United Methodist National Shalom Committee
hoped to find another bishop to serve as their chair when Bishop
Felton E. May announced he would be resigning the position.
The North Central Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church
made the committee's search easier by electing a Shalom committee
member to the episcopacy this past summer.
"It was either luck or providence," said newly elected Bishop
C. Joseph Sprague of Chicago, who was unanimously chosen to chair
the committee at its meeting in Philadelphia on Nov. 21.
As a delegate to General Conference in 1992, when he was the
pastor of a church in Columbus, Ohio, it was Sprague who first
proposed the concept of Shalom Zones.
"I was afraid, as we heard the stories of what happened in
Los Angeles after the Rodney King incident, that our response as a
church through the General Conference might be more rhetorical
than actual," Sprague said. "I found myself being pulled to the
Enterprise Zone concept of the government, where a specific area
is targeted for redevelopment."
Because the Enterprise Zone was solely an economic program,
however, he searched for an image that would be more holistic and
biblical, "and the concept of Shalom the well-being of all of
God's people, the well-being of place and space came into
consciousness," he said.
During the four years between the 1992 General Conference and
his election as a bishop, Sprague helped initiate two Shalom Zones
in two different neighborhoods in Columbus.
Sprague was surprised by the growth of the Shalom Zone
movement. "I thought we could make a significant impact in Los
Angeles and that maybe that would be indicative of what could be
done in a half-dozen, 10 or 12 other places, but the way that it
has just taken off is wonderful to see," he said.
In addition to electing Sprague chair, the committee elected
four new board members: The Rev. Randolph Nugent, General
Secretary of the General Board of Global Ministries, Gale Whitson
Schmidt, treasurer of the churchwide Board of Pension and Health
Benefits, Myrtle Clingenpeel of the Oklahoma Conference and the
Rev. Melinda McKonly of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference.
# # #
* Snyder is editor of The Link, newspaper of the Central
Pennsylvania Annual Conference.
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