wfn.org | Black Congregation Resource Centers Chosen

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS 97" by SUSAN PEEK on April 15, 1997 at 14:24
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Note 517 by UMNS on Dec. 18, 1997 at 16:04 Eastern (2758 characters).

CONTACT: Thomas S. McAnally		705(10-21-31-71B){517}
		Nashville, Tenn. (615) 742-5470  Dec. 18, 1997

First 12 Congregation Resource Centers named
for ‘Strengthening Black Church’ program

by United Methodist News Service

	The first 12 of 25 African American congregations have been chosen to serve
as Congregation Resource Centers for a United Methodist effort known as
"Strengthening the Black Church for the 21st Century."
	The centers will serve as places where black congregational leaders and
members can go to receive help in becoming more effective centers of Christian
ministry in their own communities.
     The churches are geographically spread throughout the nation in urban,
suburban and rural communities with memberships ranging from 150 to 5,000,
said Andris Y. Salter, Dayton, Ohio, staff executive for the churchwide
program. 
  	"These churches are growing spiritually in every way with room for
continued growth and energy, excitement and desire to nurture, support, train
and covenant with partner congregations," Salter said.
	The "vital" congregations were selected because they:
· value clergy and lay leadership;
· foster partnership between clergy and laity;
· demonstrate a clear mission;
· enable and nurture all persons to grow spiritually;
· provide for education, Bible study and other faith-formation development;
· engage in vibrant and varied worship;
· engage in a cycle of planning, doing, evaluating and refocusing their
ministry;
· value Christian hospitality and their Wesleyan and cultural heritages;
· creatively and faithfully engage their residential communities;
· act on needs, problems and issues arising from  social, political, cultural
and economic aspects of life in the church, community, nation and world.
United Methodist congregations selected in each of the church’s five
jurisdictions, with the names of their pastors, are: 
	Northeast:  Ezion-Mt. Carmel, Wilmington, Del., the Rev. Lawrence M.
Livingston; Asbury, Pennsauken, N.J., the Rev. Dennis L. Blackwell.
	North Central: Gorham, Chicago, the Rev. Larry D. Pickens; Hope, Southfield,
Mich., the Rev. Carlyle F. Stewart III.
	South Central:  Saint Mark, Wichita, Kan., the Rev. Tyrone D. Gordon; Windsor
Village, Houston, the Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell; Theressa Hoover, Little Rock,
Ark., the Rev. William H. Robinson; St. John, Houston, the Revs. Rudy and
Juanita Ramus.
	Southeast:  Cascade, Atlanta, the Rev. Walter Kimbrough; Bennettsville-Cheraw
Area Cooperative Ministry (13 congregations), Bennettsville, S.C., the Rev.
Samuel Cooper.
	Western: Crossroads/Njia Panda, Compton, Calif., the Rev. Lydia Jackson
Waters; Downs Memorial, Oakland, Calif., the Rev. Douglass E. Fitch.
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