wfn.org | Increasing diversity will challenge church

[NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG]

Sept. 26, 2000 News media contact: Thomas S.
McAnally·(615)742-5470·Nashville, Tenn.     10-71B{432}

By Tom Burger*

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (UMNS) -- The changing face of ethnic diversity in the
United States will increasingly challenge the justice ministries of the
church for years to come.

The Rev. David Ostendorf, a United Church of Christ clergyman and director
of the Center for New Community, Oak Park, Ill., predicts the rising number
of nonwhite groups in the country will create a backlash of white
supremacist activity and injustice toward new immigrants.

Speaking at a United Methodist Appalachian Assembly in Charleston Sept.
20-23, he said immigrants will be exploited by economic interests. "We are
ignoring the gross disparities of wealth that are tearing this community
apart."

Segments of the white community that feel threatened by increases in
minority populations will react, Ostendorf said. Already the white power
movement is more active, he said. "The church must confront this movement
every step of the way. People need to say 'no' to hate where they live or it
will spread."

Bishop William Morris of Nashville, Tenn., said the church and its mission
agencies must find new ways to bring justice. 

"We're going to have to be tougher to point out injustice where we are," he
said. Morris is the newly elected president of the Appalachian Development
Committee, which sponsored the assembly.

The people of Appalachia are known for their sense of compassionate
community, Bishop Peter Weaver of Philadelphia observed in a keynote
address. "Let us not let the economic forces drive us into competitive
autonomy."

There is too much separation in the world, Weaver said, and too often, "We
unravel the world God has woven together." He encouraged his audience of
clergy and lay rural missioners to use the gifts of the Appalachian
community to improve people's lives. "Committed commotion" may be required
to bring about justice, he said.

Other issues discussed during the assembly were racism, children and
poverty, and the environment.

The Appalachian Development Committee of the United Methodist Board of
Global Ministries is charged with addressing the region's issues through
advocacy, interpretation, networking and resourcing.
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*Burger is director of communications for the West Virginia Annual
Conference of the United Methodist Church. 

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United Methodist News Service
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