wfn.org | Leaders Looking for a 'Common Vision'

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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 (308
notes).

Note 307 by UMNS on Sept. 10, 1997 at 15:57 Eastern (4983 characters).

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CONTACT: Thomas S. McAnally                       495(10-71B){307}
         Nashville, Tenn. (615) 742-5470            Sept. 10, 1997

Agency leaders to explore 'common vision'
for mission, ministry beyond year 2000

     DAYTON, Ohio (UMNS) -- Representatives of all United
Methodist churchwide agencies are being invited to a consultation
Oct. 24-25 in Pittsburgh to "explore together visions and emerging
common vision for mission and ministry of the church beyond the
General Conference of 2,000."
     The meeting is being sponsored by the General Council on
Ministries (GCOM) that has offices here and is responsible for
churchwide coordination, planning and evaluation.  President of
the agency is Bishop J. Woodrow Hearn of Houston; staff executive
is C. David Lundquist.
     "We believe that people who share concern for and commitment
to the United Methodist Church also share a hope that this church
we all cherish will move into the 21st century with renewed
vitality through God's leading," the two men said in an Aug. 28
letter of invitation to presidents and staff executives of the 14
churchwide or "general" agencies.
     At a recent meeting in Birmingham, the 75 GCOM governing
members made a decision to "begin a journey aimed at helping shape
a common vision for the United Methodist Church."   The
consultation projected for October is "one of the first steps on
this journey," said Hearn and Lundquist.
     Each agency is being asked to send three representatives: two
elected governing members, including the president, plus the top
staff executive (general secretary).  Others invited are two
representatives from each of the five racial/ethnic caucuses, GCOM
members, and two each from the Connectional Process Team and the
Connectional Ministry Funding Patterns Task Force.  These latter
two groups were created by the 1996 General Conference to look at
needs and challenges of the church beyond 2000.
     Among other things, agency representatives are being asked to
consider what they would put in USA Today if they were offered a
full page.  "What would it say?," the agency leaders are asked. 
"What pictures would you use?  What people and or relationships
would it show to communicate your current identity and mission?"
     In an interview with United Methodist News Service, Hearn
expressed hope that a "new future" for the church might be
explored with as many parties as possible at a "common table."
     He expressed excitement at having representatives of all
agencies working together to seek a "common vision of where God is
calling United Methodist people to be in mission and ministry."
     "This is an exciting possibility because we recognize we
stand at the end of one century and the beginning of another," he
said.
     Using this collaborative approach, he said, will provide a
foundation for GCOM to do the work assigned to it by the church's
Book of Discipline.  "For example, our responsibility for
coordination, evaluation and selection of missional emphases can
be done in light of the mission of where God is calling us to be
in the 21st Century."
     As another example, the bishop pointed to funding for
churchwide programs.  "We have the responsibility to recommend to
the next General Conference program funding that enables our
mission to be accomplished and we would hope that our vision will
challenge us when we make budgetary decisions,"  he said. In the
past, budgetary decisions have been made largely based on what an
agency received the previous quadrennium, he noted.
     "We see so many changes taking place in our society and the
needs are so critical that God must be calling the United
Methodist Church to position itself to be able to respond to those
needs," he continued.  
     Asked how this consultation will differ from the work of the
Connectional Process Team, Hearn and Lundquist said the October
consultation will focus on general agencies for which GCOM has a
responsibility while CPT is charged with helping the church at all
levels "manage, guide and promote a transformational direction"
for the church.  
     The CPT, chaired by Bishop Sharon Brown Christopher of
Springfield, Ill., also has been asked to continue work done by a
Connectional Issues Study Task Force of the GCOM last quadrennium
and a "Global Nature of the Church" study begun by the
denomination's Council of Bishops.
     While the October consultation is being called by GCOM,
Lundquist stressed it is not exclusively a GCOM event, but rather
a mutual gathering of people in leadership across the church.  "We
see it as the beginning step toward further consultation in an
interactive style with other constituencies such as annual
conference leaders," he said.
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