wfn.org | NCC Stewards Program aims to build young leaders

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

Oct. 13, 2003  News media contact: Tim Tanton7(615)742-54707Nashville, Tenn. 
ALL-YE{487}

By Carol Fouke*

NEW YORK (UMNS) - Katherine Parker, 25, of Ames, Iowa, looks forward to
networking with others who are organizing for change. Grant Kinney, 21, of
Alma, Mich., seeks a ministry that reflects ecumenical compassion.  

Parker and Kinney, both United Methodists, are two of 10 young adults from
across the United States selected as stewards for the National Council of
Churches' November 2003 General Assembly in Jackson, Miss. Their stated
mission will be to "serve in the background and observe up close the
deliberative work of ecumenism." 

The annual meeting brings together some 250 delegates from the NCC's 36
Protestant, Orthodox and Anglican member denominations for business and
fellowship, small-group discussion of current issues, daily worship and Bible
study.

"I hope that by being a steward ... I will be able to network with others,
especially young adults, who are organizing for change around faith issues,"
Parker writes in her application. She says she learned the importance of
ecumenical work while serving as a mission intern at the Asian Rural
Institute in Japan on behalf of the United Methodist Board of Global
Ministries.

Kinney sees the ecumenical movement as critical to a rebirth of Christianity.
He explains his personal interest in ecumenical work and in serving as an
intern at the assembly. "I seek ministry that is 'outside the box,' that
seeps out the doors of the church, that incorporates and transcends
traditional church models and that reflects ecumenical compassion," he says.

This year, delegates will elect NCC officers for 2004-07 and install them
along with the council's president for 2004-05, Bishop Thomas L. Hoyt, leader
of the Fourth District of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church in
Shreveport, La.  

Two of the stewards - Cyreeta Collins, 31, from Jamaica, N.Y., and Adrian
Evans, 30, of Mobile, Ala. - are CME members.  In her application, Evans
expressed her delight at Hoyt's NCC presidency and said, "I intend to be in
attendance regardless to celebrate this achievement with him, for our church
is extremely proud."

The Stewards Program, new this year, is the latest addition to a wider NCC
program of support for young adult leadership in the ecumenical movement. The
activities of the NCC's longstanding Ecumenical Young Adult Ministries Team
include a biennial "Come to the Feast" conference, which draws 300-plus
participants.

The NCC Constitution specifies that at least one in eight of each member
denomination's delegates to the assembly should be age 18 to 30. A Young
Adult Caucus was formed at last year's assembly. On Nov. 3, a pre-assembly
event will give young adults opportunity to participate in common prayer,
ecumenical learning and visioning, and dialogue with leadership of the NCC
and of Church World Service, the global humanitarian agency of the NCC's 36
member denominations.

The stewards' work - assisting with hospitality, registration, audio-visual
needs and technology, communications and other tasks - will be complemented
by their interactions with national church leaders and their experience of an
assembly's rich interdenominational and multicultural environment. 

Evan Jones, 25, a United Methodist from San Antonio, is so eager to be part
of an NCC General Assembly that he wrote in his application, "I would clean
toilets if it meant that I got to listen and learn from this body.  It would
be an honor to be there."

Motoe Yamada, 27, a United Methodist from Berkeley, Calif., knew nothing
about Christianity during her childhood in Tokyo. Through an ecumenical
campus ministry at the University of Toledo, she learned that Jesus loves
her, and she became baptized. "Because of my unique background, I was not
aware of denominational differences," she writes. "I believe that God made us
to work together, not to fight against each other."

While working on hunger issues, Melissa Porter, 27, a United Methodist from
Virginia Beach, Va., recalls feeling frustrated by the division among
churches. "I am eager to learn further ways to tear down walls as we work
together not for the sake of religion but for humanity," she writes in her
application.

The 10 stewards' expenses will be paid by special donations from three
individuals, who designated their contributions in support of expanded
opportunities for young adults to take leadership in ecumenical endeavors,
says the Rev. Patrice L. Rosner, NCC associate general secretary for
education.

Their selection, from a pool of 20 applicants, was based on a detailed
application. During the assembly, each will interview assembly participants
with particular expertise - for example, interfaith relations or education
ministries - and will write a 500-word essay on their experiences as a
steward.

The stewards will spend Nov. 2-7 in Jackson for a schedule that includes
orientation and debriefing, the Young Adult Pre-Assembly Event and the Nov.
4-6 assembly itself.

In addition to the United Methodists, the stewards hail from four other
denominations - the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ); Christian
Methodist Episcopal Church; Roman Catholic Church; and United Church of
Christ.

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*Fouke is media liaison for the National Council of Churches.

 
 

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United Methodist News Service
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