wfn.org | Student Forum 2000 celebrates diversity

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

June 5, 2000 News media contact: Linda Green·(615)742-5470·Nashville, Tenn.
10-31-32-71BP{263}

NOTE: A photograph is available with this story.

By Kathy Gilbert*

ATLANTA (UMNS) - United Methodist student leaders from around the world held
their most diverse gathering ever on the campus of Clark Atlanta University,
where they tackled issues of peace and debt forgiveness.

Student Forum 2000, the United Methodist Church's annual leadership
development conference for college students, was the largest and most
diverse in the event's 11-year history. The theme for the May 25-28
gathering was "Peace: Obey Your Thirst."  

This year's Student Forum was remarkable on several counts, said the Rev.
Hal Hartley, director in the Campus Ministry Section of the United Methodist
Board of Higher Education and Ministry in Nashville, Tenn. His section
sponsors the Student Forum, an event of the United Methodist Student
Movement (UMSM).

"It was our largest gathering ever, with 600 participants -- nearly double
the attendance last year," Hartley said.
 
This year also marked the first time the forum has been held on one of the
11 United Methodist-related historically black campuses, and the post-event
gathering was the first to be sponsored jointly by the Board of Higher
Education and the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries.

"And, perhaps most significant, it was our most diverse gathering ever,"
Hartley said. "Thanks in part to a grant from the General Board of Global
Ministries, we were able to bring together 70 international students
representing 29 countries outside the U.S."

In her keynote address, the Rev. Grace Kinya-hay Imathiu, of the Methodist
Church in Kenya, described the pain that results from being labeled.

"I know many of you have known the pain of being identified by only one
aspect of your life, as if something physical defines everything about you.
The black man, the white woman," she said. "You deserve your God-given right
to be untitled, to be loved for all your complexities -- to be known as
children of God." 

The students chose Jubilee 2000, a global campaign to end debt in the
world's poorest countries, as a focus for the four-day event. Information
about how debt affects the poor was presented throughout the gathering, and
students prayed for peace in their native languages after facts were read
about their countries. The Africa University Choir gave a concert, and choir
members participated in all aspects of the Student Forum.   

The forum's diversity was celebrated throughout the event. Students from
Europe, Asia and the Pacific Islands, Latin America and the Caribbean, and
Africa presented a global celebration.

"When I see so many young Christians, it encourages me. Christ is everywhere
in every different person, in many different ways," said Yelena Kim, a
student at Russia Theological Seminary. Five Russian students attended
Student Forum 2000.

"When I return to Russia, I want to do my best to give our student forum
this same feeling of freedom, of love for Jesus Christ, this same feeling of
wanting to serve God," said Maxim Kostrioukov, president of the Russian
Student Forum.

"I would like to show the students in Mexico the important role they can
play as college students in the church. I would like to share with them ways
to analyze their differences instead of criticize them," said Gabriel
Guzman, a student from Mexico attending the University of Texas-Pan
American.

The themes of Jubilee 2000 and "Peace: Obey Your Thirst" recurred throughout
keynote speeches.

"It shocks me that 20 percent of the population lives on less than $1 a day;
that six percent of the world uses 50 percent of the world's resources; that
20 percent -- more than $6 billion every year -- are spent on weight loss
and beauty aids; and that 20 percent of the world's population is dying from
the lack of food," Imathiu said.

"It gives me hope that you have chosen to focus on Jubilee 2000. The hope
for healing in the world is young people. God's world depends on your
thirst, on your dreams," she said.

Getting peace requires giving something up, said the Rev. Kathryn Bannister,
senior pastor of Rush County United Methodist Parish, Lacrosse, Kans. and
one of eight regional presidents of the World Council of Churches. "How
tempting it is for us to accept peacekeeping as the answer instead of
peacemaking.

"I pray that your generation will have the grace to recognize the things
that make for peace and resist the temptation to keep things the way they
are," she told the students.

Student Forum participants were also urged to build friendships in college.
"Learn how to be a friend," said the Rev. Steven G. Moore, vice president
for student life at Baylor University in Waco, Texas.  

"Some of the most important lessons about relationships and friendship will
be learned from the person next to you; make the most of it! Build a thirst
for relationships, but be careful not to try and quench your thirst in wrong
ways," he said. "Don't get sidetracked. Don't leave college without an
honest examination of the person of Jesus Christ. Be people of peace -- not
as the world gives peace, but the peace of Christ."

Students also participated in more than 20 workshops, volunteered at
community service sites around Atlanta, and gathered in small groups to
share their faith with each other.

More than 100 students and campus ministers stayed an extra day to attend
"God's Call, Our Mission: Volunteer Service and Mission Opportunities for
Student and Campus Ministers," sponsored by the Board of Global Ministries. 

Assisting with the international students were: Amy Valdez Barker, chair of
the Youth Committee of the World Methodist Council; Nana Brew, co-secretary
general of the World Student Christian Federation; and Jorge Domingues,
executive secretary for Youth and Young Adults, Board of Global Ministries.

"The church needs the participation, involvement and presence of every age.
We need to hear the voice of every person," said Esperance Kayombo,
deaconess and native of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

New members of the United Methodist Student Movement Steering Committee
(UMSM) were elected. Two students serving alternate two-year terms represent
each jurisdiction. Five at-large members were also elected to ensure gender
and ethnic balance. 

The 2001-2002 Steering Committee members are:
·	 Jack Blair, chair, University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
·	 Motoe Yamada, Michigan State University, East Lansing.
·	 Ben Knepper, University of Maryland, College Park.
·	 Stephanie Arnett, Emporia (Kan.) State University.
·	 Herbert Brisbon, Clark Atlanta University, Atlanta.
·	Alissa Bertsch, Washington State University, Pullman.
·	Scott Carnes, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.
·	Karma Wood, West Virginia University, Morgantown.
·	Glenn Sears, Johnson County Community College, Olathe, Kan.
·	 Leon Franklin, Tennessee State University, Nashville.
·	Karen Alley, Montana State University-Billings.
·	Charlotte Talley, Alaska Pacific University, Anchorage.
·	Kenia da Silva Guimaraes, Rust College, Holly Springs, Miss.
·	Will Green, University of Chicago.
·	 Larry Ineno, California State University-Long Beach.

In other action, the Student Forum: collected more than $1,500 for the UMSM
Mission Fund to benefit the expanding student movement in Russia and
considered five resolutions through a process of discernment and discussion.
Because of the increased number of students attending the event, no
resolutions were considered for becoming an official position of the Student
Forum.

"The UMSM continues to expand its reach, bringing together students from
beyond traditional campus ministries to include students in community
colleges and local church-based ministries," Hartley said. "In addition, we
continue to explore our global connections, building upon the successful
establishment of the Student Forum in Russia."
# # #
*Gilbert is a staff member in the Office of Interpretation at the United
Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry in Nashville, Tenn.

*************************************
United Methodist News Service
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