wfn.org | Students to reclaim Methodist roots and renew faith at 1999

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Nov. 30, 1998	Contact: Linda Green*(615)742-5470*Nashville, Tenn.
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By Kathy Gilbert*

Student leaders will focus on their roots in Methodism when they gather
at Oklahoma City University May 27-30 for the 1999 Student Forum of the
United Methodist Student Movement (UMSM).

"Release Your Fears, Reclaim Our Roots, Renew Your Faith, Rebuild Our
Church," will be the theme for the event expected to attract more than
300 students.  Special attention will be given to how the practice of
covenant discipleship, promoted by Methodism's founder John Wesley,
provided the foundation for the Methodist movement.

"I think there's a growing realization among the members of the United
Methodist Student Movement that the entire United Methodist Church began
as a student movement at Oxford, said Ben Heavner, UMSM committee
chairman and a student at the University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, Wash.  

"People such as John and Charles Wesley and Francis Asbury provide
impressive role models for students today [that] if they could discern
the working of the Spirit when they were our ages, there's no reason we
can't discern it now also!" he proclaimed. 

The covenant discipleship model was introduced to students attending the
last year's Student Forum in Washington.  Based on feedback from that
event, the campus ministry section of the United Methodist Board of
Higher Education and Ministry published the CD Journal to help students
establish covenant discipleship groups on their campuses.

"The covenant discipleship model methodically teaches us how to  become
more Christ-like through worship, devotion, justice, and compassion,
said Brittany Dodd, a student at Illinois State University.  "Through
the covenant discipleship model, we are empowered to become the
disciples God calls us to be."

According to the Rev. Hal Hartley,  a director in the campus ministry
section, there are some within the church who are cynical about this
generation of young people or who have written young people off as
unreachable. "The UMSM is showing us in a powerful way that college
students not only are responding to faith in Christ, but are also
desiring an identity in Methodism. It is phenomenal!" he said. 

The Student Forum was established in 1989 as a representative
organization for United Methodist college and university students. It is
the leadership development and national student conference of the UMSM.

"Last year, in our small covenant groups we were encouraged to share our
faith and grow. Part of growing is understanding where you came from,
what Methodism means to you," said Michelle C.M. Brooks, a student at
Drexel University. 

As a member of the steering committee of the UMSM, she believes it is
important for Student Forum participants to know that young people make
a difference and are an essential part of the United Methodist Church. 

"Many students are afraid to claim Christianity for their own these days
because of negative images," said committee member Anita Sarah Jackson,
a student at University of California-Berkeley. "We can make
Christianity not only what we want, but what Christ wanted it to be.
Release your fear and go ahead, claim Christianity and claim Wesleyan
roots," 

At the Student Forum, students involved in United Methodist-related
campus ministries learn leadership skills, participate in a wide range
of workshops, and have a forum to express their concerns and hopes for
the church, said the Rev. Don Shockley, a campus ministry staff
executive.

The UMSM Steering Committee gives direction for the UMSM between annual
meetings, plans the Student Forum, represents the UMSM in ecumenical
connections, and assumes other tasks related to the movement.

"This year the Steering Committee is focused on helping participants
really understand Methodism. It's all about embracing and making the
student movement a personal movement," Brooks said.

According to Jackson,  the forum will mean different things to each
participant. It could mean something as specific as learning about
Wesley and then doing a Bible study on the inspiration of his words at
home, or something as general as feeling motivated enough to start a
mentoring program for youth at that participant's local campus ministry,
she said.  "One of the most concrete goals is to increase our
participation in the larger church," Jackson said.

"God is calling us to be disciples in the act of rebuilding the church.
God seeks people who will release their fear, reclaim their roots, and
renew their faith," said Dodd.

For more information on the UMSM or the Student Forum, visit the website
www.umsm.org or
contact the Campus Ministry Section, United Methodist Board of Higher
Education and Ministry, P.O. Box 871, Nashville, TN 37202; phone
615-340-7415; fax 615-340-7379. 
# # #
*Gilbert is a staff member in the Office of Interpretation, United
Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry.

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