wfn.org | Connectional Process Team begins applying its vision for future c hu

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TITLE:Connectional Process Team begins applying its vision for future
church

July 13, 1998	Contact: Joretta Purdue*(202)546-8722*Washington
{415}

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (UMNS) - For the first time, the United Methodist
Church's Connectional Process Team (CPT) has started grappling "with
concrete implications" of ideas that it is considering for the
denomination in the coming century.

Bishop Sharon A. Brown Christopher, CPT chairwoman, made this
observation at the end of the first meeting in which team members had a
draft document to discuss. 

Since the 38-member team's January meeting, a writing group had been
working on a document that would give form to thoughts voiced at
previous meetings. 

"We haven't made any decisions about anything," Christopher said,
stressing that the document did not, in any way, represent conclusions.

Discussions here July 9-12 bore that out. Parts of the document will be
omitted from the next copy, while other ideas will be added and
developed. Some ideas expressed in the document were essentially
reversed, and the group reserved the right to continue making major
changes while thanking the writing team for the initial draft.

The CPT also authorized recruitment of experts from throughout the
church. Team member Bishop Emerito P. Nacpil, of the Manila Area in the
Philippines, agreed to write about the theological basis. The team will
seek others who have expertise in areas like the church's constitution
and Wesleyan doctrine to read the next draft of the working paper.

CPT listening teams continue to meet with such groups as the Association
of Annual Conference Lay Leaders and the Inter-Ethnic Strategy Group
within the United Methodist Church, along with the Council of
Evangelical Methodist Churches of Latin America and the Caribbean. Other
organizations, such as Good News, the Confessing Movement and the
Methodist Federation for Social Action, are also being heard.

The 1996 General Conference, the denomination's highest legislative
body, had ordered creation of the team to "manage, guide and  promote a
transformational direction for the United Methodist Church." The General
Conference had also directed the CPT to consider the nature of the
global church, which had been a task of the Council of Bishops in the
previous quadrennium.

The team, which includes 12 people from outside the United States and
uses interpreters for three languages, spent its early meetings defining
the mandate and exploring ideas. 

Taking inspiration from the church's mission to make disciples of
Christ, the CPT began to "focus on God's transforming power in the
world" and on the church as a means of "making disciples that will help
the world be aware of and live in God's transcending power," Christopher
said.

^From trying to clarify their understanding of  the United Methodist
Church's identity, team members have moved to a recognition that making
disciples is its identity, she explained.

Although nothing has been decided, Christopher said she believes three
trends have developed in the group's thinking. 

The first of these is toward a call for spiritual leadership, urging
that church leaders focus on God in a way that helps members live their
lives. Or, as it was expressed by some on the CPT, more attention should
be given to worship, Bible study and faith, and less to management
decisions when members gather. Decisions regarding property, personnel
and legislative matters still must be made, Christopher added, " but the
primary focus is on the path to life."

Second, as the group looks at the nature of the United Methodist
Church's connectional system for the 21st century, the emerging idea is
to focus on relationships between people for common mission rather than
on the denomination's institutional structure.

A third trend in the group's thinking is a movement away from
compartmentalizing the church. Instead, the CPT is looking at mission
more holistically, reflecting a desire to bring people together around a
common table for clarity of identity, focus and direction.

Early in the session, Nacpil told other team members, "The new is not
the old renewing itself."  He reminded them that Jesus and Paul each had
a vision for his mission. The impact of both was change, transformation.
"Our mission . . . is for God, not for the future of the church."

Several people reiterated the importance of continuing "the connection,"
as the denomination is often spoken of internally. Bishop J. Woodrow
Hearn of the Houston Area noted that the connection has enabled United
Methodists to do significant things in the world because of their
relationship with each other. "We need the whole church connected" to be
able to respond to the suffering in the world, he emphasized.

Jeremy Vetter, a Nebraskan attending graduate school in England,
reminded his teammates not to overlook the many ministries outside the
local church, such as campus ministries and chaplaincies.

Richard Jones, of Whitefish Bay, Wis., raised questions about how church
extension - the development of new congregations, a logical next step in
making disciples - will be handled.

Frequently, the group paused to consider language. It recommitted itself
to finding terms that could be used by all of the church and to casting
its report in ways that will not confuse or mislead its readers.

The writing team and others will continue their work in preparation for
the CPT's next meeting Oct. 16-20 in Atlanta. Meeting in the same place
Oct. 16-19 to allow for some joint conversations will be the United
Methodist Connectional Ministry Funding Patterns Task Force.

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