wfn.org | Theological Dialogues

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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 (382
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Note 380 by UMNS on Oct. 13, 1997 at 15:37 Eastern (2557 characters).

CONTACT: Linda Bloom					 568(10-21-71B){380}
		New York (212) 870-3803				 Oct. 13, 1997

Dialogue will address
theological tensions

	DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (UMNS) -- In an attempt to address theological tensions
within the United Methodist Church, the denomination's Commission on Christian
Unity and Interreligious Concerns is initiating a two-part dialogue between
those of differing perspectives.
	Twenty invited participants, who are yet to be named publicly, will meet Nov.
20-21 in Nashville, Tenn., and then continue their conversations Feb. 19-20 in
Dallas.
	John Stephens -- the dialogue facilitator and a professor of conflict
analysis and resolution for the Institute of Government, University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill -- outlined the dialogue goals during the commission's
Oct. 9-12 meeting here.
	Those goals are:
	* to identify factors that have created and preserved the unity of the United
Methodist Church;
	* to articulate and explain points of tension and difference that threaten to
undermine that unity;
	* to identify necessary conditions that must be satisfied to sustain church
unity;
	* to identify relevant actions that should be taken to maintain unity;
	* to work toward an advisory action report for members, clergy and leaders,
especially district superintendents and bishops.
	The Rev. Donald Messer -- president of Iliff School of Theology in Denver, a
commission member and part of a four-person design team for the dialogue --
said there has been "a very conscious effort to involve, at the very beginning
of the planning, people from so-called evangelical and liberal perspectives of
the church."
	Other design team members are the Rev. Maxie Dunham, president of Asbury
Theological Seminary in Kentucky; the Rev. Billy Abraham of Perkins School of
Theology in Dallas and the Rev. Linda Thomas of Garrett-Evangelical
Theological Seminary in Evanston, Ill.
	Messer said he had found "a high degree of interest and involvement and
commitment" toward the dialogue from people of varying theological
perspectives.
	Although the discussions probably will begin by focusing on what brings
United Methodists together, "I can't imagine any topic that divides us,
[which] will not be addressed," he added.
	He hopes the two dialogue sessions will be "intensely serious, but also
warmly fun."
	According to Messer, the action report compiled after the dialogue may help
others replicate the process on the local or conference level.
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