wfn.org | Celebration of Hispanic Ministries

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS" by SUSAN PEEK on Aug. 11, 1991 at 13:58 Eastern,
about FULL TEXT RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (2887 notes).

Note 2887 by SUSAN PEEK on April 22, 1996 at 17:19 Eastern (2752 characters).

SEARCH:  Hispanic ministries, hymnal, Gideons

023 {2887}                                          April 20, 1996

General Conference '96

Saturday session of General Conference
features hispanic ministries, hymnal

     DENVER (UMNS) -- A celebration of the denominationwide
Hispanic ministries plan and the new Spanish-language hymnal
constituted a major portion of the General Conference Saturday
morning session here.

     Bishop Joel Martinez, chairman of the Committee on Hispanic
Ministries, stressed the evangelistic focus of the plan passed by
the 1992 General Conference.

     The Rev. Rebecca Youngblood, a committee member from
Mississippi, introduced a video that summarized and updated the
achievements attained in the first three years of the plan. Among
them were establishment of 66 new congregations, revitalization of
59 congregations and creation of 799 outreach ministries. 

     Three witnesses spoke of the difference the plan's programs
have made in their lives and Martinez urged the members of General
Conference to renew the plan for the coming quadrennium.

      He said that many annual (regional) conferences had taken
positive first steps in Hispanic ministry and others were just
beginning. He advocated continuing the work of the 550 trained
missioners and proceeding with major efforts in curriculum,
resource building and development in seminaries and other
institutions.

     The president of the hymnal committee, Bishop Elias Galvan of
the Phoenix Area, presented the new Spanish-language hymnal, Mil
Voces Para Celebrar, and reported that its first printing was
already fully subscribed.

     To celebrate and dedicate the new hymnal, its editor, Raquel
Mora Martinez, led the delegates through a worship service that
used materials from the new volume. The hymnal was adopted as part
of the conference's first consent calendar.

     Coral Methodista Unida Hispania de Nueva York (the United
Methodist Hispanic choir of New York) and a mariachi and salsa
band from Denver introduced segments of Hispanic program.

     In other business, the conference plenary session received
nominations for the denomination's University Senate and Judicial
Council. 

     Delegates voted against a petition to abolish the annual
conference Commission on the Status and Role of Women.

     Because many United Methodist congregations and individuals
support Gideons International, the delegates voted by a margin of
2 to 1 to encourage Gideons to open its membership to "all
Christians, regardless of gender, socio-economic class or
denominational background."

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                                                 -- Joretta Purdue
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