wfn.org | Reconstituted MSM Hosts Assembly

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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 (120
notes).

Note 119 by UMNS on May 27, 1997 at 16:54 Eastern (11100 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: Thomas S. McAnally                 307(10-21-28-71B){119}
         Nashville, Tenn. (615) 742-5470              May 27, 1997

Reconstituted United Methodist
Student Movement hosts first assembly

by Bob Lear*

     WINTER PARK, Colo. (UMNS) -- Dormant for three decades, a
traditional United Methodist link to college and university
campuses was brought to new life May 22-25 here.
     Almost 350 energized collegians, singing, clapping, cheering,
took part in the first assembly of the reconstituted United
Methodist Student Movement (UMSM).  The renewed organization
succeeds the former Methodist Student Movement terminated in l968
in favor of an ecumenical endeavor that was short lived.
     Campus ministry that began in Methodism early in this century
continued in Wesley Foundations and other local units during the
intervening years, but it was to be 19 years before a major
national assembly of United Methodist students took place.  Out of
that meeting a new series of annual "Student Forums" began in
1989, and in 1996 the new UMSM was agreed upon.
     The meeting here was designed to advance the objectives of
the Student Forum in areas such as leadership training, Bible
study, worship, spiritual growth, voluntary service and social
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                 307(10-21-28-71B){119}
         Nashville, Tenn. (615) 742-5470              May 27, 1997

Reconstituted United Methodist
Student Movement hosts first assembly

by Bob Lear*

     WINTER PARK, Colo. (UMNS) -- Dormant for three decades, a
traditional United Methodist link to college and university
campuses was brought to new life May 22-25 here.
     Almost 350 energized collegians, singing, clapping, cheering,
took part in the first assembly of the reconstituted United
Methodist Student Movement (UMSM).  The renewed organization
succeeds the former Methodist Student Movement terminated in l968
in favor of an ecumenical endeavor that was short lived.
     Campus ministry that began in Methodism early in this century
continued in Wesley Foundations and other local units during the
intervening years, but it was to be 19 years before a major
national assembly of United Methodist students took place.  Out of
that meeting a new series of annual "Student Forums" began in
1989, and in 1996 the new UMSM was agreed upon.
     The meeting here was designed to advance the objectives of
the Student Forum in areas such as leadership training, Bible
study, worship, spiritual growth, voluntary service and social
issues.  
     Students and advisors participating represented 59 of the 66
annual conferences in the United States.  There also were several
international students presently studying in the U.S.
     The UMSM is related to the denomination through the campus
ministry section of the Board of Higher Education and Ministry's
Division of Higher Education.
     It is linked ecumenically with other national and
international student organizations through the Council for
Ecumenical Student Christian Ministry.
     The Student Forum will continue as the chief policy arm of
the UMSM.  Each annual conference in the U.S. is eligible to send
three voting delegates and three alternates, plus others who wish
to participate.
     A steering committee plans the annual meetings and guides
other activities.
     Joe A. Gosa, a student at the University of Alabama,
Tuscaloosa, was named steering committee chair succeeding Christy
Kniceley, a student at Marshall University, Huntington, W.Va.  The
l998 Forum will be held May 21-24 in the Northeastern
Jurisdiction.
     Methodism began on a college campus, Nashville Area Bishop
Kenneth L. Carder reminded the students in the opening worship,
referring to the "holy club" of John Wesley at Oxford University. 
Maybe, Carter said, a rebirth of the church can come from the
UMSM.
     "We would like to be made new and be assured we have a
future," Carder said.  "Our  task is not to build the future but
to live now as though God's dream has come true, because it has."
     In a second address, Carder said Christians cannot follow God
without service to and identification with the poor, the homeless
and the despised, in particularly children.  Carder was a leader
in developing the Council of Bishops' initiative on children and
poverty.
     An estimated ten million children die of poverty-related
causes each year, and 12 million are growing up homeless, he said. 
God, the bishop asserted, is a suffering, vulnerable God in the
midst of the suffering, not one who is above it all.
     The Rev. Elizabeth Lopez Spencer, Rochester, Minn., preached
at the closing worship and Holy Communion on the theme "Habitat
for the Soul."
     A constitution for the new UMSM was approved, along with a
resolution of appreciation for the denomination's support of
ministry with students and young people.
     Rejected by a margin of 34 votes was a resolution declaring
the Student Forum a "'Reconciling Movement,' affirming the full
participation of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people
in the life of this Student Movement."
     The proposal, submitted by 12 students from nine annual
conferences, received a 53.5 percent affirmative vote, 137 "yes"
to 106 "no" with 13 abstentions, but fell short of the two-thirds
majority required by Student Forum rules for approval as an
official position.
     The Reconciling Congregation Program, an organization not
officially related to the church, supports full participation in
churches and related organizations by persons regardless of sexual
orientation.  The program has been endorsed by 129 churches, 19
campus ministry units, 6 annual conferences, and one churchwide
agency (the Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious
Concerns).
# # #
   
     *Lear is the retired director of the Washington office of
United Methodist News Service.

.display

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                 307(10-21-28-71B){119}
         Nashville, Tenn. (615) 742-5470              May 27, 1997

Reconstituted United Methodist
Student Movement hosts first assembly

by Bob Lear*

     WINTER PARK, Colo. (UMNS) -- Dormant for three decades, a
traditional United Methodist link to college and university
campuses was brought to new life May 22-25 here.
     Almost 350 energized collegians, singing, clapping, cheering,
took part in the first assembly of the reconstituted United
Methodist Student Movement (UMSM).  The renewed organization
succeeds the former Methodist Student Movement terminated in l968
in favor of an ecumenical endeavor that was short lived.
     Campus ministry that began in Methodism early in this century
continued in Wesley Foundations and other local units during the
intervening years, but it was to be 19 years before a major
national assembly of United Methodist students took place.  Out of
that meeting a new series of annual "Student Forums" began in
1989, and in 1996 the new UMSM was agreed upon.
     The meeting here was designed to advance the objectives of
the Student Forum in areas such as leadership training, Bible
study, worship, spiritual growth, voluntary service and social
issues.  
     Students and advisors participating represented 59 of the 66
annual conferences in the United States.  There also were several
international students presently studying in the U.S.
     The UMSM is related to the denomination through the campus
ministry section of the Board of Higher Education and Ministry's
Division of Higher Education.
     It is linked ecumenically with other national and
international student organizations through the Council for
Ecumenical Student Christian Ministry.
     The Student Forum will continue as the chief policy arm of
the UMSM.  Each annual conference in the U.S. is eligible to send
three voting delegates and three alternates, plus others who wish
to participate.
     A steering committee plans the annual meetings and guides
other activities.
     Joe A. Gosa, a student at the University of Alabama,
Tuscaloosa, was named steering committee chair succeeding Christy
Kniceley, a student at Marshall University, Huntington, W.Va.  The
l998 Forum will be held May 21-24 in the Northeastern
Jurisdiction.
     Methodism began on a college campus, Nashville Area Bishop
Kenneth L. Carder reminded the students in the opening worship,
referring to the "holy club" of John Wesley at Oxford University. 
Maybe, Carter said, a rebirth of the church can come from the
UMSM.
     "We would like to be made new and be assured we have a
future," Carder said.  "Our  task is not to build the future but
to live now as though God's dream has come true, because it has."
     In a second address, Carder said Christians cannot follow God
without service to and identification with the poor, the homeless
and the despised, in particularly children.  Carder was a leader
in developing the Council of Bishops' initiative on children and
poverty.
     An estimated ten million children die of poverty-related
causes each year, and 12 million are growing up homeless, he said. 
God, the bishop asserted, is a suffering, vulnerable God in the
midst of the suffering, not one who is above it all.
     The Rev. Elizabeth Lopez Spencer, Rochester, Minn., preached
at the closing worship and Holy Communion on the theme "Habitat
for the Soul."
     A constitution for the new UMSM was approved, along with a
resolution of appreciation for the denomination's support of
ministry with students and young people.
     Rejected by a margin of 34 votes was a resolution declaring
the Student Forum a "'Reconciling Movement,' affirming the full
participation of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people
in the life of this Student Movement."
     The proposal, submitted by 12 students from nine annual
conferences, received a 53.5 percent affirmative vote, 137 "yes"
to 106 "no" with 13 abstentions, but fell short of the two-thirds
majority required by Student Forum rules for approval as an
official position.
     The Reconciling Congregation Program, an organization not
officially related to the church, supports full participation in
churches and related organizations by persons regardless of sexual
orientation.  The program has been endorsed by 129 churches, 19
campus ministry units, 6 annual conferences, and one churchwide
agency (the Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious
Concerns).
# # #
   
     *Lear is the retired director of the Washington office of
United Methodist News Service.

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