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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 (285
notes).

Note 285 by UMNS on Aug. 27, 1997 at 16:20 Eastern (3966 characters).

agency of the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville,
Tenn., New York, and Washington.

VISION 2000
CONTACT: Linda Green                              473(10-71B){285}
         Nashville, Tenn. (615) 742-5470             Aug. 27, 1997

Seminary dean stresses need for
a culturally relevant church       

by Cheryl Capshaw*

     NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) -- Theologian and evangelist George
G. Hunter made the case for the church  to be culturally relevant
in a society where some 120 million people are "functionally
secular" and have no substantial Christian memory.     
     Addressing more than 80 church leaders here August 25-27, for
a Vision 2000 learning and leadership event, Hunter acknowledged
that his advocacy of a culturally relevant church is
controversial.  However, he said that "cultural relevance is one
way we extend incarnational Christianity.  We want to plant and
grow indigenous Christianity."  
     Hunter, who is dean and professor of evangelism and church
growth at Asbury Theological Seminary, Wilmore, Ky., said "if the
church imposes an allegedly superior culture, then the church will
be stagnant."  Most traditional mainline churches, he said, are
shaped by European culture -- or rather by the way European
culture once was.  
     He added that every denomination that has its roots in
European Christianity -- except one (The Southern Baptist Church)
-- is declining.  He said that in addition to its adherence to
European culture, the U.S. United Methodist Church in many places
seems stuck in the 1950s.     
     "All our worship services are contemporary," he said, but
most are contemporary to some other generation."  
     Hunter pointed out that although eight of every 10 churches
in the United States are stagnant or declining, people seem more
receptive than ever before to spirituality.    
     "People are seeking," but "most traditional churches cannot
engage pre-Christian people meaningfully. They wouldn't know what
to do with them," he said.  
     Further, "their main business is to perpetuate the forms of
the past and to enculturate their children.  But all across this
land, virtually all traditional churches cannot retain even a bare
majority of their own children into adult discipleship."    
          Hope for change comes from churches that are interested
in meeting the needs of their own youth, Hunter said.  "If we make
changes to keep our own youth, we'll be changing to meet the needs
of the pre-Christians because our youth are immersed in the
culture.  Our youth can tell us what works and what doesn't."    
More important than cultural relevance, however, is credibility,
said Hunter. "It is the inalienable right of all people on this
earth to know that God speaks their language.  Churches have
nothing better to do than to make this obvious to people," he
said.     
     The Vision 2000 Learning and Leadership Event was designed to
help leaders of Vision 2000 learn new ways of doing ministry and
helping them learn from one another.  
     Vision 2000 is an emphasis that was developed by the United
Methodist Board of Discipleship eight years ago to help
congregations plan and improve their ministries in a new century. 
Since that time, at least 34 annual conferences have become
"Vision 2000 Conferences." 
     According to the Rev. Roger Swanson, director of Vision 2000
for the United Methodist Board of Discipleship, the emphasis has
helped many congregations "become transformed into vital, caring
centers of ministry for Jesus Christ."  
     Other speakers for the event were the Rev. Steve Harper, dean
of The Upper Room Chapel and director of The Upper Room's Pathways
Center; and the Rev. Jessica Moffatt, pastor, First United
Methodist Church, Tulsa, Okla. 
                               # # #

     * Capshaw is the director of communications for the United
Methodist Board of Discipleship.

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