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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 (552
notes).

Note 549 by UMNS on Jan. 16, 1998 at 17:00 Eastern (4746 characters).

CONTACT: Tim Tanton					22(10-21-31-71B){549}
    Nashville, Tenn. (615) 742-5473	 Jan. 16, 1998

NOTE: This article is related to UMNS story #23.

Amistad story ties into roots 
of United Methodist church in Africa

by United Methodist News Service

The story of the Amistad, unfolding on movie screens nationwide, holds the
seeds of a little-known piece of African history: the establishment of the
United Methodist Church in what is now Sierra Leone.
	Steven Spielberg's film, Amistad, recounts the revolt of African captives on
a Spanish slave ship in 1839 and their ensuing battle in U.S. courts to win
their freedom.
Their eventual return to Africa became intertwined with the origins of the
United Methodist Church there.
"This is an enormous public relations opportunity for the church," said
Darrell Reeck, executive secretary with the United Methodist Development Fund
and a scholar who has researched Sierra Leone history. "The initial Amistad
story has triggered a history of church enterprise and faithfulness and
success, and that story should be celebrated."
However, Spielberg's film doesn't depict the church's role in the Amistad
story.
"Unfortunately, the film closes before the direct role of the United Methodist
church begins," Reeck said, "so to capitalize on this, we have to make that
connection."
Though largely overlooked in history books, the Amistad story gripped the
nation in 1839. It began when African captives on the slave ship Amistad -- or
"Friendship" -- overpowered their captors near Cuba. The Africans ordered the
crew to sail for Africa, but the Spaniards navigated northward to New England
instead. There, the ship was seized by the U.S. Navy.
	A two-year legal battle followed in which the Africans, aided by American
abolitionists, fought for their freedom from the slave holders. In the end,
former President John Quincy Adams argued the captives' case before the U.S.
Supreme Court, and they were freed.
	At that point, Spielberg's movie ends –- and the United Methodist chapter of
the Amistad story begins.
When 35 of the 53 former captives returned to West Africa in 1841, they were
accompanied by representatives of the American Missionary Association. The
missionaries set up an outpost where they preached the gospel and ministered
to the needs of the local people. Disease and other adversities took their
toll on the settlement, but the association's work paved the way for another
organization that arrived in Sierra Leone in the 1850s.
The new group was with the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, and their
work took root in the African soil.
Nearly a century later, in 1946, the United Brethren in Christ merged with the
Evangelical Church. That was followed in 1968 by the union of the Evangelical
United Brethren Church and the Methodist Church, creating the United Methodist
Church.
With that merger, the Sierra Leone mission became the Sierra Leone Annual
Conference of the United Methodist Church. Today, the congregation in the
African nation has about 85,000 members, according to the General Board of
Global Ministries.
The abolitionists were responsible not only for helping free the Amistad
captives but also for sending the American Missionary Association to Sierra
Leone. However, Reeck says the abolitionists aren't properly portrayed in
Spielberg's movie.
"There is an unfortunate aspect to the film in my opinion, and that is that it
portrays the Christian abolitionists in a rather negative light," he said.
The abolitionists are heroes in the real story, he noted. "But in the film,
they come across looking awfully somber, awfully negative, and they appear to
play a negative role.
"This was a critical moment in the abolitionist movement," Reeck said. Besides
helping the Amistad captives, the abolitionists were a significant force in
the liberation of American slaves in general, he said.
Pastors and other church leaders who want to educate their congregations about
Amistad have plenty of resources available.
The General Board of Global Ministries has a World Wide Web site with several
pages devoted to the Amistad story. It includes a New World Outlook Online
article by Reeck (http://gbgm-umc.org/umhistory/sierra-leone/amistad.html) and
a separate page of links to related Web sites
(http://gbgm-umc.org/umhistory/sierra-leone/amilinks.html).
Photos are also available for downloading and use on church bulletin boards
and in newsletters, provided the churches get permission from New World
Outlook.
"The critical thing," Reeck said, "is that people are aware that this
information is available, and that pastors and church school teachers and
educators refer their congregations and their students to the material."
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