wfn.org | Pan-Methodist commission journeys toward a new place

[NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG]

Dec. 4, 2000 News media contact: Linda Green·(615)742-5470·Nashville, Tenn.
10-31-71B{542}

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (UMNS) - The four Methodist denominations that have been
engaged in cooperative efforts and discussions about possible union have
concluded that now they are each leaving home and moving toward a new place
together.

Fifteen years have passed since the United Methodist, the African Methodist
Episcopal (AME), the African Methodist Episcopal Zion (AMEZ) and the
Christian Methodist Episcopal (CME) churches began discussions. They formed
the Commission on Pan-Methodist Cooperation, and in 1996, their respective
General Conferences created the Pan-Methodist Commission on Union. 

Meeting this year, the General Conferences of the United Methodist, AME and
AME Zion churches voted to merge the two commissions, which have been
representing the denominations in discussions regarding overall cooperation
and possible union. The 2002 General Conference of the CME church is
expected to take similar action.

The new entity, the 36-member Commission on Pan-Methodist Cooperation and
Union, held its 2000-2004 organizational meeting Nov. 29-Dec. 2 and talked
about "leaving home and moving toward a new place together."  

"This commission will give focus and direction for our communions'
engagement and cooperation," said AMEZ Bishop Clarence Carr of St. Louis.
The "ultimate goal is a union that will hopefully be realized," he said. No
one knows what that union will look like, he said. "We believe that God is
leading us to that place, but we know not where."

AMEZ Bishop Nathaniel Jarrett of Tinley Park, Ill., crystallized the leaving
home analogy during a community worship service. Using a frame of reference
called "When You Know Not Where," he told the story of God's declaration to
Abraham in Hebrews 11. 

It was the Fifth Consultation of Methodist Bishops that "launched" the four
Methodist communions on a journey toward union, Jarrett said. "This was a
maiden voyage, for we had never sailed together like this before. We were
destined for a place called 'union,' (but) no one knew exactly where union
could be found."

There were many thoughts and opinions about union, he said. "We could not
even agree on the appearance of union. What would it look like? How would we
know when we had arrived at this elusive place?" 

As he sought direction, he realized that the journey the commission and its
communions were on was reflected in the Abraham story. But unlike Abraham,
who departed as directed and did not know where he was going, "we at least
have a name for where we are going, but only a name," Jarrett said.

Abraham's witness speaks to the issue of "When you know not where," Jarrett
said. Implied in Abraham's experience, "is the thought that you go with what
you do know, when you know not," he said.

Abraham knew three things: the voice of God; the difference between an order
and a suggestion; and that he could trust God, Jarrett said.

"I don't know where union is," Jarrett said. "I don't know its appearance,
neither do I know its nature or character. Even its shape and form are
unrevealed to me. But this I do know, 'When you know not where, you go with
what you do know.'"

As Jarrett spoke to commission and to the audience at Parkwood C.M.E church,
he said the voice of God is telling the Methodist churches to get out of
their countries, to leave old customs, values, structures, definitions,
identities, controls, borders and boundaries. 

God is telling the AME, AMEZ, CME and United Methodist churches to "get out
from your family," he said. It is time to leave the comfort zones, leave the
familiar for the unfamiliar, leave the seen for the unseen, leave the old
for the new, and leave the past for the future. "It is the voice of the Lord
saying, 'Get out of your father's house,'" Jarrett said.

As he talked about leaving home and moving toward a new place together,
Jarrett said it is time for new foundations, new sanctuaries, new dwelling
places, new places of rest, new strongholds, new shelters from the storms,
and new places to defend and live out faith.

God offers no options regarding union, Jarrett said. "Oneness is not defined
as nor limited to union, but surely union is a part of what it means to be
one." As God gave the church the ministry of reconciliation, "I strongly
contend that our ability to reconcile others to God is directly related to
our being reconciled to one another. Union is one evidence of our
reconciliation. ... Union is out there somewhere. The way to it awaits our
continued quest."

Building on Jarrett's challenge to "sail on," the commission adopted a
mission statement that calls it to move toward union by redefining and
strengthening its relationship in Jesus Christ.

The United Methodist Church's 2000 General Conference also mandated that all
of the church's boards, agencies and commission allow for up to three
members of the Pan-Methodist denominations to be members of their governing
entities with voice and vote.

During the organizational meeting of the Commission on Pan-Methodist
Cooperation and Union, the bishops of each communion called the invitation
"an extraordinary" expression of the intent of Pan-Methodism. 

Although the African Methodist Episcopal, African Methodist Episcopal Zion
and the Christian Methodist Episcopal churches could not specifically name
representatives to the 14 United Methodist boards and agencies because of
nomination processes, the bishops on the commission did determine which
agencies will receive their members.

The AME church will send representatives to the Council on Ministries, the
United Methodist Publishing House, the Commission on Religion and Race, the
Commission on the Status and Role of Women, and the Commission on Archives
and History.

Receiving members from the AMEZ church will be the Board of Pension and
Health Benefits, the Board of Global Ministries, the Board of Higher
Education and Ministry, the Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious
Concerns, and the Commission on Communication.

CME members will go to the Board of Discipleship, the General Council on
Finance and Administration, the Board of Church and Society, and the
Commission on United Methodist Men.

The Pan-Methodist commission praised the United Methodist Church's Act of
Repentance for racism, made on May 4 during General Conference, and called
it a step forward in a journey toward racial healing. The four denominations
will use Steps Toward Wholeness: Learning and Repentance, a study guide
developed jointly by the communions to address racism and to foster
Pan-Methodist conversations.

The commission also elected a chairman and three vice chair people as
officers, along with a secretary and treasurer. The vice chair people will
rotate to the chairperson position until 2004. AMEZ Bishop Carr is chairman
of the commission from 2000-2001; CME Bishop Charles Helton of Charlotte,
elected first vice chairman, will be the 2001-2002 chairman; United
Methodist Bishop Charlene Kammerer of Charlotte, elected second vice
chairwoman, will be the 2002-2003 chairwoman; and AME Bishop T. Larry
Kirkland of Marino Del Ray, Calif., elected third vice chairman, will be the
2003-2004 chairman. 

Elected secretary was Byrd Bonner, a United Methodist layman from San
Antonio and executive director of the United Methodist Church Foundation.
Juanita Byrant of Cleveland Heights, Ohio, an attorney and executive
secretary of the CME church, was elected treasurer. Mary Love of Charlotte,
a member of the AMEZ church, is the commission's administrative secretary,
and Jeri Scott, a staff person at the United Methodist Board of Global
Ministries in New York, is the assistant administrative secretary

The Commission on Pan-Methodist Cooperation and Union	established two
primary structures -- the Committee on Models of Union and the Committee on
Programs and Ministries - to provide a roadmap for how it will work. The
group also created an administrative committee and a steering committee,
consisting of the 12 bishops on the commission and the administrative
secretary, to plan the 2003 Consultation of Methodist Bishops.  

In other action, the group:
·	Learned that a commissioned hymn about the Pan-Methodist initiative
on children and poverty will be unveiled next spring in Atlanta and could be
sung during the March 28-31 commission meeting in Nashville, Tenn.
·	Identified targeted cities for pilot projects for Pan-Methodist
celebrations, study and worship: Nashville, Chicago, Kansas City, Mo.,
Charlotte, Los Angeles and Philadelphia.
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United Methodist News Service
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