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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS 97" by SUSAN PEEK on April 15, 1997 at 14:24
Eastern, about DAILY NEWS RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (115
notes).

Note 110 by UMNS on May 22, 1997 at 17:07 Eastern (6986 characters).

Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency of
the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville, Tenn., New
York, and Washington.

CONTACT: Linda Bloom                                    298(10-71B){110}
           New York (212) 870-3803                          May 22, 1997
 
United Methodists explore
multicultural challenges

                             A UMNS Feature
                         by John W. Coleman Jr.*

      ALEXANDRIA, Va. (UMNS) -- The Rev. Lawton Higgs describes
himself as a "recovering racist, nurtured and shaped by the
privileges of white Southern culture."
       He is also the pastor of a downtown Birmingham, Ala., United
Methodist congregation that crosses cultural, racial and economic
boundaries. It is part of a journey, he said, to discover the
"beloved community" preached about by the Rev. Martin Luther King
Jr., a key influence in his life and ministry.
      Higgs told his story to a small group at Culmore United
Methodist Church here during an early May symposium on developing
multicultural congregations, titled The World Is In Our Parish.
      Sponsored by the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries,
the event gathered about 70 pastors, laypeople, district
superintendents and program staff from 18 annual conferences. 
      "This is not a very popular focus for ministry in Alabama or
anywhere else," said Higgs. "I came here mostly to find community
with people who are struggling just like I am."
      Higgs started Church of the Reconciler three years ago with
the help of his annual conference and a small, interracial
"prayer-vision group." That group had done a year of planning,
visited churches of different races, conducted a telemarketing
campaign in racially mixed neighborhoods and recruited an African
American worship leader. 
      The current membership, roughly 130, is about half white and
half black, including several Africans and a mixture of income-
level groups.
      "Our initial response was from middle-class whites," recalled
Higgs, "but then more people of color started to come, and so did
the poor and homeless. Some local business people wanted to run me
out of there because we were drawing so many homeless people. 
      "We try to practice radical hospitality," he explained. "It
works, but it's hard. When you invite everybody into your
congregation, you start dealing with drug addiction, racism and
other problems. It becomes fertile ground for chaos."
      Chaos, conflict and risk-taking were words heard often at the
symposium, as some participants searched for moral support and
answers to burning questions, he said. They included: 
      * What obstacles should one expect?
      * What strategies and resources are helpful in starting a
multicultural church? 
      * What are effective ways to remedy racism and classism and
to reconcile thorny issues of power and authority? 
      * How can we help people move beyond mere tolerance to
respect and celebration of other cultures?
      Participants and leaders shared a host of ideas about how to
develop new and transformed multicultural churches, and how to
cultivate creative worship, cooperative leadership, Christian
education and evangelism in such settings. A 70-page booklet, also
titled The World Is In Our Parish and produced by Global
Ministries, served as a resource guide for the event, while its
co-authors shared their various insights and experiences. 
      "One of the questions I am asked most frequently is 'Does it
really work?'" said the Rev. Stephen Rhodes, pastor at Culmore and
one of the authors, in a keynote address. "People seem 
genuinely perplexed at the viability of a multicultural church."
      He pointed to the burgeoning numbers and unprecedented
diversity of immigrants arriving in the United States since 1980
and the bitter backlash of anti-immigrant sentiment reportedly
sweeping the country. "It is hostility, rather than hospitality,
which most aptly describes the current climate of our culture," he
said. "Our uncertainty over the practicality of cross-cultural and
cross-racial ministry is caused, in part, by the church's dismal
record to date, but it is affected even more by our country's
divisive debate over race, ethnicity and culture."
      Rhodes, whose book, Babel or Blessing: The Church in a
Multicultural World, will be published later this year, described
the striking diversity of Culmore's membership. Approximately 40
percent are of European descent; 30 percent are Filipino; 15
percent are from Africa, 10 percent are from Latin America; and
five percent are from other Asian and Caribbean nations. Indeed,
with 140 nationalities, Fairfax County, Virginia, has become the
nation~s most diverse community.
      Rhodes also described a typical work week for his multiracial
staff: intervening in immigration problems, counseling refugee
families and biracial couples, working with English as a Second
Language classes, and conducting worship in several languages. He
denounced the pursuit of cultural diversity in churches merely for
the sake of political correctness, fashion or ideology. 
      "We must welcome the world because it is the gospel; it is
God's mandate for evangelism," he said. "Before the church can ask
our culture to believe the gospel, we must show that we believe it
by how we live and worship God together."
      Like Rhodes, the other authors of The World Is in Our Parish
have also established or served multicultural United Methodist
churches. The Rev. Mark and Patricia Lykins, ordained and diaconal
ministers, respectively, started Good Shepherd Church, Durham,
N.C., in 1988. The church's members are of 19 nationalities, many
of them moving to that area, known as the "Research Triangle,"
because of its thriving science and education industries. The
Lykins now serve predominantly white churches south of Durham.
      "Good Shepherd was the most rewarding and challenging
experience of my life," said Patricia Lykins. "At the heart of a
multicultural church is the act of sharing truths with people who
are both alike and very different from one another."
      "It's so important for people involved in multicultural
ministry to know they are not alone," said the Rev. Douglas
Ruffle, an executive for evangelization and church growth at the
Board of Global Ministries and lead organizer of the symposium.
"There are others working in local churches, conferences and
general agencies who have a great deal of interest in this area
and can be a reservoir of support."
                                 #  #  #
      * Coleman is a freelance writer and communications consultant
for the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries.

Editors Note: The World Is In Our Parish booklet is available for
$6 from the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries,
Evangelization and Church Growth Unit, 475 Riverside Drive, Room
1522, New York, NY 10115; telephone (212) 870-3860.

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