wfn.org | Search continues for common vision of United Methodism's future

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

April 29, 1998   Contact: Thomas S. McAnally*(615)742-5470*Nashville,
Tenn.  {264}  

NEW ORLEANS (UMNS) - United Methodist leaders are working toward a
"common vision" that they can propose for the denomination's mission and
ministry when the church's top lawmaking body, the General Conference,
meets in the year 2000.

With that goal, the church's General Council on Ministries (GCOM) hosted
its second consultation April 17-18 under the banner of "making all
things new."

Providing a "hospitable table for the church," particularly annual
conferences and churchwide agencies,  GCOM leaders are working for a
common vision related to mission, corporate identity, churchwide problem
solving, and mutual budget and program advocacy.

The consultation preceded the regular, semi-annual meeting here of
GCOM's 76-member governing body, chaired by Bishop J. Woodrow Hearn of
Houston. The first consultation was sponsored by the council in
Pittsburgh last October.

How the Book of Acts might serve as a model for modern church life was
explored by the Rev. Charles Yrigoyen, staff executive for the
denomination's Commission on Archives and History in Madison, N.J.
Attributes of the early church that have meaning for the future included
having Jesus Christ as the focus of its message and ministry, Yrigoyen
said. He stressed  the importance of being "people of the Book" and
having a sense of community.

As in the early years, Yrigoyen said the church of the future must be
open to God's surprise where the least likely individuals often emerged
as great leaders.

"There is no person and no set of circumstances in this world beyond the
influence of God's changing grace," he said.

United Methodism, like the early church, ministers amid its struggles
and difficulties, Yrigoyen noted. "Sometimes the Gospel succeeds because
of what we do. Often the Gospel succeeds in spite of what we do. Thanks
be to God!"

The Revs. Tom Butcher and Dan Morley of the Desert Southwest Annual
Conference were among those invited to give prophetic responses during
the meeting. Others included Lane Winn, president of the Louisiana
Conference United Methodist Youth; retired Bishop James Thomas; and
Alvin Deer, staff executive for the Native American International
Caucus.

Thomas, the only individual to serve as president of the church's three
councils  -- Bishops,  Ministries, and Finance and Administration --
said a church true to its mission must support the sanctity of life.

"Human life, a mystery and miracle, has been de-sacralized," Thomas
said. "It's no big deal to blow people away in a drive-by shooting.
Violence is the result of the fact that life is taken so lightly."

Deer said she hoped that racism and greed would not survive into the new
millenium. Kathy Thomas Sano, staff executive for the National
Federation of Asian American United Methodists, ticked off a list of
dreams, including effective ways to be in ministry with changing ethnic
populations in the United States and greater collegiality with United
Methodists in other countries.

The global issue emerged as a significant concern during the event. The
United Methodist Church has 8.5 million members in the United States and
more than a million in Africa, Europe and the Philippines. Participants
expressed concern about a perception that United Methodism is a U.S.
church with overseas appendages. The Rev. Bruce Robbins, staff executive
for the church's Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious
Concerns,  voiced hope that United Methodism could find ways to address
national issues but not be bound by national structures.

Insights from the Wesleyan heritage were shared by the Rev. David Lowes
Watson, recently named to occupy a new chair of Wesleyan Studies at
Vanderbilt University Divinity School in Nashville, Tenn.

"We must be careful we aren't building our house in the sand," Watson
warned. "We must be open to where we are being called and make sure our
foundations are solid." Since Methodism's founding more  than 200 years
ago, he said, the "culture has taken us over."

He bemoaned a "dumbed-down, democratized discipleship" in United
Methodism, where Christ has been displaced from center stage.

"We've put ourselves there," he asserted. "We don't struggle anymore to
discern the mind of Christ. Now we just vote on it."

He chided the electronic voting system at the church's General
Conferences, where tallies are projected on a large screen.

"Whizzo! There is the mind of God up on the screen," he quipped.
"Democracy is not the name of the church. 'Christocracy' is the mind of
the church."

Input during the consultation ranged from theological and philosophical
to the more practical.  Sandra Kelley Lackore, staff executive for the
General Council on Finance and Administration,  pointed to the
increasing financial generosity of United Methodists, but asked "what
are you willing to give to make yesterday's dreams today's realities?"

The most recent General Conference, in 1996, created a Connectional
Process Team to recommend to the next assembly  a "transformational
direction" for the church. Chairing that committee is Bishop Sharon
Brown Christopher of Springfield, Ill.,  who attended the GCOM
consultation. She noted that many of the issues raised at the meeting
parallel those in CPT conversations.

She focused particularly on the global nature of the church. "If we are
to be a truly global church, the agenda needs to be global, not U.S.
dominated," she said.  A big issue for the church in the United States,
she said, is "How do we relinquish some of our identity and
perceptions?"

Input from consultation speakers and table-group discussions were later
shared with GCOM members who will be making recommendations to the 2000
General Conference. Special attention was given to concerns that relate
to the particular responsibilities of the council. These include
establishing missional priorities and program themes, coordinating and
evaluating the work of all churchwide agencies, and recommending budgets
for denomination programs.

Following the consultation, GCOM members visited Gulfside Assembly,
Waveland, Miss., for a one-day session to learn of the property's
historic significance and current program and to explore the
denomination's ethnic ministries. Gulfside was established by the former
Central Jurisdiction, an entity for African-American church members,
which overlapped white regional jurisdictions in the South and Southwest
until its dissolution in 1968.

The council received reports from all groups within the church working
with Native Americans.  These included the Native American International
Caucus, the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference, the Native American
Comprehensive Plan, and the National United Methodist Native American
Center in Claremont, Calif. In an unusual method of presentation, an
individual from one ethnic group shared ministries of another ethnic
group.

Updates were given on ministries with all ethnic groups in the church.
Council members spent a half-day dealing with institutional racism, with
the discussion led by the Rev. C. David Billings Jr., of  the Peoples
Institute for Survival and Beyond in New Orleans.

GCOM members worked on plans for visiting United Methodists  in 24
locations outside the United States this fall before the agency's
regular meeting Oct. 26-30. The meeting will be held at a United
Methodist conference center in Hasliberg, Switzerland. The visits aim to
"equip council members with a perspective that will help shape a vision
for global ministry in all places and all structures of the church,"
according to C. David Lundquist, staff executive for the Dayton,
Ohio,-based council.

Council members were updated on two initiatives to which the agency is
closely related: Shared Mission Focus on Young People, and Strengthening
the Black Church for the 21st Century.  Meeting. Members of an Advance
committee approved both initiatives as recipients of volunteer giving.
Individuals or groups wishing to make contributions may use the
following Advance numbers for proper handling: Black Church
(SBC21:194815-4) and Young People (SMFYP:194790-2).

United Methodist News Service
(615)742-5470
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