wfn.org | U.S. Ecumenical Groups Rebuild Community

[CAROL_FOUKE.parti@ecunet.org]

along with Church Buildings

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the
U.S.A.
Contact: Wendy McDowell, NCC, 212-870-2227
Internet: c/o carolf@ncccusa.org

NCC12/16/96        FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

STATE/LOCAL ECUMENICAL GROUPS
REBUILD COMMUNITY ALONG WITH CHURCH BUILDINGS

NEW YORK, Dec. 16 ---- When news of increasing
hate-motivated arsons among houses of worship,
especially African American churches, hit the media,
900 Jews, Christians and Muslims from the
Bridgeport, Conn., area responded.

Drawing on their already established anti-
racism networks, religious leaders of the three
faith groups designed an "ingathering of
commitments" service.  Nine hundred people from 50
Christian, Jewish and Muslim houses of worship came
together to hear local accounts of desecration,
donate money for church rebuilding, pledge to stand
with any local house of worship in the event of
human-made or natural disaster, and commit to
participating in local discussion groups on
diversity and inter-racial relations.

"We took what was was clearly a national
concern and directly linked it with local concerns,
giving people something to do in the here and now,"
said the Rev. John Kidd, Executive Director of the
Council of Churches of Greater Bridgeport (Conn.)
(CCGB).

CCGB already had held a community conference on
race relations in Fairfield County and used the
conference as a launching pad for the organization
of 26 study circle groups "talking about race."
Through this effort, "We have helped people go to
locations where they haven't been before and they
have had good experiences there," Rev. Kidd said.

"With the study circles beginning to catch on,"
Rev. Kidd said, "there is a sense that a critical
mass of people are beginning to pay attention and to
respond."  One of the specific results has been an
increased sensitivity about police treatment of
African American people in suburban towns, Rev. Kidd
reported.  "Where racially divisive situations are
addressed, we are finding and creating ways to
achieve a kind of reconciliation," he said.

The Bridgeport, Conn., response is one way
local, regional and state ecumenical networks have
decried hate-motivated attacks on houses of worship
in deed as well as word.  In their prayers, with
their pocketbooks, and by initiating or bolstering
work against racism in their own regions, ecumenical
groups across the country are rebuilding communities
as well as new churches out of the ashes of burned
churches.

Following are just a few of the stories that
have come to the attention of Dr. Kathleen Hurty,
Ecumenical Networks Director for the National
Council of Churches.  She stressed, "there are
countless other examples of anti-racism initiatives
and creative responses to the church burnings - just
look in your local area."

  In Huntsville, Ala., a group of Black and
white pastors initiated a "Building, Not
Burning" project, including green lapel
ribbons, and held a Unity Day in the city park.
(See details below)

  When the small African American Pleasant Hill
Baptist Church was burned in Puyallup, Wash.,
people of faith from many corners came together
to help the church rebuild.  They were led by
Associated Ministries of Tacoma/Pierce County
(Wash.)  Also included were the Tacoma
Ministerial Alliance (the association of
African American ministers in the area), the
Southern Baptists and the Promise Keepers. (See
details below)

  An interfaith Thanksgiving Worship Service
held in the rebuilt historic Narragansett
Indian Church in Charlestown, Rhode Island,
destroyed by arson two years ago, capped off a
season of rebuilding both church and community.
The Rhode Island Council of Churches was a
leading group in the effort. (See details
below)

  A June 28-30 "Sabbath of Support" for
attacked houses of worship, initiated by the
South Carolina Christian Action Council, was
picked up by ecumenical and interfaith councils
across the United States.

  The Richmond (Va.) Clergy Association
initiated a post-4th of July "Let Freedom Ring"
campaign contrasting the tragedy of church
burning with the ideal of freedom of religion.
The celebration included the ringing of church
bells, fundraising and recruiting volunteers to
rebuild burned churches.  This idea was picked
up by the Virginia Council of Churches.

  The Hawai'i Council of Churches released a
letter of support, "Make Me a Sanctuary, That I
May Dwell In It," along with a call to observe
a Sabbath of Support.

  The Christian Council in Detroit, Mich.,
continues its work on Convenant Churches as a
Response to Racism.

  The Greater Minneapolis Council of Churches
responded to church arsons with funds and
statements, and continues to work with the
Minnesota and St. Paul church councils in the
Minnesota Churches Anti-Racism Initiative.

For the Rev. Jerry Crutcher of Little Indian
Creek Primitive Baptist Church, Huntsville, Ala., it
all proves that "the church burnings were meant for
evil, but God knows how to turn it around and cause
some good to come out of it."

CHURCH REBUILDINGS FORGE NEW PARTNERSHIPS

The Rhode Island Council of Churches came
bearing a symbolic gift to a packed interfaith
Thanksgiving worship service held in the historic
Narragansett Indian Church they had helped to
rebuild.  That gift: A hand-sewn stole with a scene
of the world's children holding hands.  The
Charlestown, R.I., church had been destroyed by
arson two years earlier.  The scene of racial
harmony, sewn by volunteer workers from a local
company that makes liturgical vestments, represents
the vision of the 15 civic and religious bodies in
Rhode Island who "are rebuilding a sense of
community as well as rebuilding a structure,"
according to the Rev. Jim Miller, Executive Minister
of the Rhode Island State Council of Churches.

 "It is the first time I know of that a number
of white townspeople have actually made the effort
to go on the sacred grounds of the Naragansett
Church," reported Rev. Miller.  "They volunteered on
work crews and participated in a service, and were
amazed at the vitality of the church's spirit and
its ecumenical welcome to us."  Through formal and
informal discussions that have ensued, Rev. Miller
said, "we are helping to create a new community
climate."

 In Huntsville, Ala., African American and white
people of faith have come together as "a community
trying to find ways to be positive and stand up
together" in the wake of the church burnings,
according to the Rev. Harold Dowler, a Disciples
minister.  The group created green lapel ribbons to
symbolize their effort.  "Green is the color of
life," Rev. Dowler pointed out. The group also has a
logo with two arms clasped with all shades of brown
represented in the skin.   300 people from several
area churches came together in the city park for a
Unity Circle, ending with a time of silent prayer
during which the participants were connected by
green yarn.  In the Spring, the group hopes to have
a second Unity Day.  "We will encircle the whole
lake in the park, and this town will really know
that something has happened!" Rev. Dowler said.

 In addition, the Huntsville activists are
stepping up their already established program of
"covenant relationships" between congregations where
there is a significant difference, be it racial,
ethnic or religious.  "People of faith need to take
a stand against this evil of church burnings, and
this community did that," said the Rev. Jerry
Crutcher of Little Indian Creek Primitive Baptist
Church, Huntsville.  "You can rebuild a building,
but you won't get at the source of it unless you
rebuild relationships," Rev. Crutcher said.

 In Pierce County, Wash., bridges have been
built between groups that "theologically and
politically have a lot of disagreements," according
to the Rev. David Alger, Executive Director of
Associated Ministries of Tacoma/Pierce County..
Pleasant Hill Baptist Church was burned in Puyallup,
Wash., and although not a member congregation of
Associated Ministries, the church asked Rev. Alger's
group to handle all the rebuilding funds.  Rev.
Alger set up an advisory committee including his
organization, the Tacoma Ministerial Alliance (the
association of African American ministers in the
area), the Southern Baptists and the Promise
Keepers.  "We have been able to do some things
together we could not have done alone," Rev. Alger
said.  In addition, "Work against racism is a
continuing, ongoing priority of Associated
Ministries."

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