wfn.org | Strengthening The Black Church

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CONTACT: Linda Green				    (10-31-71B){126}
	    Nashville, Tenn. (615)742-5470		  March 3, 1998

Lay empowerment is key
to rural church survival

by United Methodist News Service

	CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Nurturing and empowering the laity is a must
for rural churches to survive, according to the pastor of four
African-American congregations in DeKalb, Miss.
"Empowering of the laity is critical for rural churches," said the Rev.
Ludrick Cameron, United Methodist pastor of the 500-member DeKalb
Circuit. "Churches that are preacher-centered will die."
Cameron spoke to the 19-member committee assisting the United Methodist
Church in strengthening black congregations. The group met here Feb.
26-28.
Every church has individual personalities, and rural pastors must be
mindful to include all of them in ministry, Cameron told the
coordinating committee of Strengthening the Black Church for the 21st
Century.
The committee invited representatives from rural ministries across the
Southeast to share success stories and ideas.
Strengthening the Black Church for the 21st Century, mandated by the
1996 General Conference, is a $1.3 million initiative that seeks to
restore, reconstruct, redeem, reconcile and revitalize African-Americans
within the United Methodist Church and the community at large. 
Cameron said his four rural churches, located within 15 miles of one
another, cooperate in virtually all ministries. 
	 "We operate in the concept of clusters," and every local church
in an area is linked together in ministry, Cameron said. "Linkage is
important because without it, things such as mission, ministry and
maintenance would otherwise be impossible." 
The black church is one of the oldest African-American institutions in
the United States. In recent years, it has dealt with issues of
integrity of leadership, arson and shifting patterns in attendance --
issues that have ravaged many church structures.
	In the last 20 years, African-American membership in the United
Methodist Church has decreased, while the overall population of
African-Americans has increased, according to initiative coordinator
Andris Salter of Dayton, Ohio. From 1979 to 1993, there were no or few
black church starts, she said, and some of the existing congregations
have declined both physically and spiritually. 
Today, there are about 2,500 African-American United Methodist churches
in the United States and about 367,000 Africa-American United Methodists
in the country.
South Carolina is home to the largest constituency of African-Americans
in the denomination -- 44,000. It also has the greatest concentration of
rural black churches. 
In Charleston, the team had the opportunity to hear examples of
successful rural ministries in lower South Carolina, Mississippi and
Tennessee. The team also heard from a Gainesville, Fla., congregation
that has been performing the concepts of the initiative for eight years.
	Through the Strengthening the Black Church initiative, churches
are being assisted in experiencing spiritual rebirth and transformation,
Salter said. The initiative seeks to provide African-American churches
with a holistic approach to ministry by helping them become spiritually
fed, empowered and socially active. The initiative aims to link growing,
active congregations with those desiring to become more vital. 
Two divergent examples of rural ministry -- Rural Missions Inc. on Johns
Island, S.C., and the Bennettsville-Cheraw Area Cooperative Parish,
Bennettsville, S.C. -- were presented to the committee. 
Rural Missions Inc. is an ecumenical nonprofit organization founded in
1969 to foster, promote and minister to the spiritual, economic, social,
educational, medical and housing needs of five Charleston County Sea
Islands: Johns, James, Wadmalaw, Yonges and Edisto. 
	Supported by the Women's Division of the United Methodist Board
of Global Ministries, the mission provides human services to low-income
Sea Island families annually and migrant farmworker families.
	Since its beginning, the mission has established programs and
services to improve the quality of life for island residents, according
to Linda Gadson, executive director. Its services include a
comprehensive health clinic, a migrant Head Start program, a rural
housing project, a farmers' project, a remedial reading program,
advocacy and counseling, and a quilting project.
	The team visited the mission to identify key strengths and ideas
that can be used by other rural ministries. 
The mission is surrounded by five African-American United Methodist
churches that contribute to its ministries. 
"Because we are surrounded by churches, we are an outreach arm to them
for missions," Gadson said.
	One of the mission's strengths is its ability to meet the needs
of the migrant children and families by collaborating and networking
with a local migrant task force, schools, social service and
governmental agencies, farmers, churches and the Medical University of
South Carolina, Gadson said.
	The mission is a "place of rescue," she said. "It is a place
where one can come and find peace for the soul and be accepted for who
you are."
The Bennettsville-Cheraw Area Cooperative Parish comprises 13
congregations that have 30 to 250 members. The participating churches
share ideas and resources to do ministry in a rural impoverished area,
said the Rev. Samuel Cooper, parish director.
The parish emphasizes spirituality, leadership empowerment, youth
ministry, education, health care and senior citizen issues to the 1,300
people in its congregations, he said.
	Cooperatives can enable small, rural churches to perform diverse
types of ministry, Cooper said.
	"These small churches cannot do a lot on their own because of a
lack of resources and skills," he said. "But together, they can
accomplish ministry that is going to be vital and speaks to the kingdom
of God and brings about quality in (the lives of people) who would
otherwise be neglected." 
	For the last eight years, Mt. Pleasant United Methodist Church
of Gainesville, Fla., has been actively performing the concepts of the
initiative. 
This congregation of 567 members is about "kingdom building and lay
empowerment," said the Rev. Geraldine McClellan, pastor. The church is
committed to the scriptural mandate that "when you have done it to one
of the least of these, you have done it unto me," she said.
The church is in a transitional community that was once affluent but is
now surrounded by social problems related to drugs and alcohol, she
said. In its ministry, the church "seeks to reach out to touch the
untouched," she said.
	The church has modeled the initiative's focus because of "its
vitality and belief that getting involved with others allows God to get
involved with us as we reach out and do ministry for the 21st century,"
she said.
	In other action, the team continued to work on the process of
naming African-American churches that will serve as Congregation
Resource Centers. Twelve were selected in December. The 25 centers will
help black congregational leaders and members provide more effective
Christian ministry in their communities.
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