wfn.org | Educational covenant emphasizes church-school relationship

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March 13, 2000 News media contact: Linda Green·(615)742-5470·Nashville,
Tenn. 10-71B{138}

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) - Delegates at the United Methodist Church's top
legislative gathering will be asked to embrace a partnership agreement aimed
at strengthening the denomination's emphasis on its schools.

The agreement, titled "An Education Covenant of Partnership," was drafted
and signed by Bishop William Oden, president-elect of the Council of
Bishops, the Rev. Roger Ireson, top staff executive of the United Methodist
Board of Higher Education and Ministry in Nashville, and Peter Mitchell,
president of the National Association of Schools, Colleges and Universities
of the United Methodist Church. 

The covenant will be presented to delegates to the church's General
Conference on May 5, during Higher Education Night. General Conference, the
top lawmaking body of the denomination, is meeting May 2-12 in Cleveland.
The three sponsors of the partnership will ask delegates to affirm the
document, though no official action will be requested from General
Conference.

The covenant was endorsed by the churchwide Division of Higher Education at
its March 10-11 meeting. It emerged as the result of jurisdictional
conversations held by bishops and college presidents over the past 16
months. The leaders have endorsed the document as a way of affirming the
denomination's 250-year tradition of church-related education and committing
to a partnership of mutual service and support.

During Higher Education Night, delegates will be asked to endorse the
partnership covenant and support the church and its educational institutions
as they seek to:
·	Create an inclusive atmosphere that supports the faith journeys of
students, faculty and staff.
·	Uphold academic freedom without restricting the integrity of each
church-related institution.
·	Stress through teaching and example the worth and dignity of each
person by providing voluntary community service and a concern for
international relations.
·	Prepare students, regardless of social status, ethnic identity or
gender, for lives of "intellectual vigor," moral integrity and spiritual
fulfillment for leadership in a new century.
·	Provide mutually agreed upon support and service.
·	Affirm the relations between the church and its educational
institutions openly and with pride for their mutual history and shared
potential for the future.

"The educational covenant strengthens the point that college-church
relationships are real," said the Rev. Thomas Wolfe, a member of the
Division of Higher Education and dean of Hendricks Chapel at Syracuse (N.Y.)
University. "This is a great document because people don't realize the
parameters of church-relatedness."

The agreement represents an exciting development for the church and
colleges, said the Rev. James Noseworthy, a staff executive for schools,
colleges and universities at the Board of Higher Education and Ministry.
"The partnership affirms the historic commitment to education which includes
both the intellect and the spirit, the social and the personal. It will help
guide our partnership for many years to come."

In other business, officials with the Division of Higher Education discussed
ways of promoting campus ministries across the denomination.

The division's campus ministry section is exploring how to bring about a
change of heart about campus ministry across the United Methodist Church;
how to help the church understand the impact of campus ministry; and how to
help seminaries understand their role in preparing students for careers as
campus ministers.

A need exists for helping the church understand the significance of
maintaining a presence on college campuses, said the Rev. Charles Johnson,
chairman of the board's campus ministry committee. "Campus ministry helps
young people as they make decisions about a commitment for their lives as it
relates to their chosen vocations, and how their commitment relates to
Christian faith."

Johnson, also director of the South Carolina Annual (regional) Council on
Ministries, said many people would be surprised to know of the impact that
campus ministry or the presence of a chaplain has made in the lives of
people who are today serving in church leadership roles.

Campus pastors are needed to guide students in their spiritual growth,
explore questions and assist them in creating Christian community during
their formative years, according to Janet Cromwell, director of the Wesley
Foundation at the University of Oregon in Eugene.

Because campus ministry is the place where young people make significant
vocational decisions and develop leadership skills, "the church's support of
this mission and ministry to students is critical for transforming the lives
of young adults and engaging them in the life of our denomination," she
said. 

In other action, division members:
 
·	Learned that 75 scholarships of $1,000 each are being held under the
"Double Your Dollars for Scholars" program until May 15 for Hispanic, Asian
or Native American freshmen or sophomores enrolled or planning to attend a
United Methodist-related college or university this fall.
·	Learned about conversations being held to diversify the Lina H.
McCord Summer Intern Program. Steps could include teaming African-American
students at historically black colleges with other minorities attending
those schools, as a way of showing the church the diversity in historically
black institutions.
·	Learned that the United Methodist Foundation for Christian Higher
Education would provide leadership in two endeavors that will be before
General Conference: an initiative to raise $300 million for the endowment of
the denomination's historically black colleges and a proposal to provide
debt relief to the church's seminaries.
·	Learned that the United Methodist Student Forum, May 25-28, will be
held at Clark Atlanta University, marking the first time the organization
has met at a historically black United Methodist college.
·	Agreed to assist the Russia Annual Conference in renovating a
building that will be part of the United Methodist Theological Seminary and
its campus ministries in Moscow.
·	Agreed to assist the West Africa Annual Conference in restoring a
university building in Monrovia, Liberia, that was damaged by war. The
building is being considered as a distance education center linking West
Africa with United Methodist-related Africa University in Zimbabwe.
·	Said goodbye to retiring board members and set some directions for
the new board, which will be organized in the fall.
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United Methodist News Service
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