wfn.org | Transformation of church explored

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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 (3416 notes).

Note 3414 by UMNS on Feb. 5, 1997 at 15:54 Eastern (5998 characters).

SEARCH: Connectional Process Team, Christopher, transformation,
vision, Nacpil, Nugent
Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency of
the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville, Tenn., New
York, and Washington.

CONTACT: Thomas S. McAnally                    60(10-21-71B){3414}
         Nashville, Tenn. (615) 742-5470              Feb. 5, 1997

'Everything is on the table,' says team
as it considers future of United Methodist Church

     ATLANTA (UMNS) -- An international group charged with
managing, guiding and promoting a "transformational direction" for
the United Methodist Church emphasized here Feb. 1 that in its
deliberations "everything is on the table." 
     The 38-member Connectional Process Team (CPT), chaired by
Bishop Sharon Brown Christopher, Springfield, Ill., agreed to
"look at the whole picture" as it listens to the church, gathers
data and makes recommendations to the church's top-legislative
body meeting in the year 2000.
     "We want to invite everyone in the church to be participants
in creating a new future, a new church that is more faithful,"
Christopher said. "We're not talking about change for change sake
but change for God's sake, the birthing of a whole new way of life
in the church."
     The team spent much of its second meeting here Jan. 30-Feb. 1
focusing on visions for the church, current realities, and
blockages that prevent a transformed church from becoming a
reality.  
     Twelve of the 38 regular members are from Central Conferences
outside the United States.  Bishop Aldo Etchegoyen of the
Methodist Church of Argentina participated in the meeting here as
the first of four such representatives to be named from affiliated
autonomous churches outside the United States.  Deliberations were
interpreted in French, Spanish, Portuguese and German languages.  
     Created by the 1996 General Conference in Denver, the CPT is
working primarily on "connectional" issues, including the global
nature of the church.
     In a message to the church, developed at the close of its
meeting here, the team said it would judge its work by the first
two of 13 purposes given it by the 1996 General Conference: "to
enable the United Methodist Church more faithfully to carry out
its mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ" and to "strengthen
congregations as the primary focus of mission and ministry" within
the church.
     The team also expressed its intention to "listen to the dream
of the United Methodists in order to discern God's vision" and to
"continue a listening process with the connectional church, other
bodies of faith and secular communities we serve."
     Team members celebrated that "we are experiencing the global
church" and rejoiced in the participation of individuals from
affiliated autonomous Methodist bodies as well as central
conferences.
     The group also expressed its intention to include the Council
of Bishops and general agencies as "partners with us in this
transformational process as we define and create a new church."
     Team member Jack Loflin, Jackson, Miss., stressed the
importance of "building bridges rather than trying to create
something and then trying to sell it."
     To lead the church in a "transformational process,"
Christopher repeatedly stressed that the team will need to "be
clear about our vision and the current reality in the church and
the mission that moves us from current reality to vision."
     "To transform the pain of our world into shouts of joy, our
mission is to make disciples and to strengthen the Body of
Christ," she said.
     In keeping with its mandate to look at the global nature of
the church, the team heard from Board of Global Ministries staff
members Randolph Nugent and Robert Harmon who traced the history
and presence of 68 affiliated autonomous Methodist bodies in 60
countries.
     Nugent explained that the relationships of these churches to
the United Methodist Church vary greatly.  "Each case is
different," he said.  "There is no pattern of what autonomy
means."
     The challenging question, Nugent explained, is how the large
and relatively wealthy United Methodist Church -- from which most
of these autonomous churches emerged -- can provide resources and
assistance without domination.
     Etchegoyen expressed his displeasure with the term
"autonomous."  "It is not a New Testament word and expresses only
a relationship to the United States," he said.  Suggesting a
phrase such as "partnership in mission," he declared, "We need
each other."
     United Methodist Bishop Emerito P. Nacpil of the Philippines
traced for the committee the work and recommendations of a Council
of Bishops Committee on the Global Nature of the Church that he
chaired during the past quadrennium.
     The United Methodist church is perceived as a U.S. church
with 17 Central Conference appendages supported by a structure
that has "become too top-heavy, bureaucratic, expensive and that
is not enjoying the support it once had," Nacpil observed.
     In their report to the 1996 General Conference the bishops
suggested major regional units in the church such as Africa, Asia,
Europe and the United States, united by an occasional General
Conference with representatives from the regions.  No region would
dominate another.  Some critics have expressed their concern that
such an organization would add to the bureaucracy and expense of
the church.
     Members listed obstacles or constraints preventing
transformation in the church including fear of trusting God's
Spirit to work; self-centeredness rather than God-centered; vested
interests; dependance on structure rather than the Holy Spirit;
territorial or turf protection; and lack of a shared vision.
     The team is to have a draft of a report to the General
Conference for reaction from across the church in January 1999. 
Its next meeting is schedule for Sept. 4-6.
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