wfn.org | Re: United Methodist Daily News note 552

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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 (558
notes).

Note 558 by UMNS on Jan. 20, 1998 at 17:22 Eastern (5938 characters).

CONTACT: Linda Green				  31(10-31-71B){558}
	    Nashville, Tenn. (615) 742-5470	 Jan. 20, 1998

After four-year try, African-American 
United Methodist church closes in Arkansas 

by Jane Dennis*

	LITTLE ROCK, Ark. —- Resurrection United Methodist Church, a congregation
established four years ago in an effort to reach African-Americans in
southwest Little Rock, is no more. The church closed Dec. 31.
	The church, which had been meeting in rented office space, faced "obstacles
and problems and various difficulties all along," said Little Rock District
Superintendent Jeanie Burton. "We wanted to help it thrive and grow and be a
good, viable new church start," but that level of success never materialized,
she said.
	The Resurrection Church was constituted Jan. 1994 with 15 members. "We now
know that isn't enough members to sustain a new congregation," Burton said.
	Founding pastor Byron Thomas was appointed Resurrection's full-time pastor
from Jan. 1993 to June 1995 and then served as the part-time pastor until June
1996. Reginald Russell, a part-time local pastor has served the congregation
since June 1996.
	The hopes and dreams of the small congregation "just didn't come to pass,"
Russell said.
	One major problem was location and lack of "a stable home," according to
Russell. The congregation met in several different rented locations and for a
time at the Wesley foundation at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
"The church moved a good five times that I know of," the pastor said. "It just
didn't have the opportunity to be stable."
	Despite the hurdles, "the Word was being preached at Resurrection," Russell
said proudly. 
	At Resurrection's Charge Conference in October, the church had 28 members and
an annual operating budget of $33,000.
	The congregation paid in full its 1996 conference apportionments of $2,950
and in 1997 paid $1,592, or 50 percent of the conference askings.
	Resurrection received financial assistance from the Little Rock District to
help fund the pastor's salary and program needs of the church. 
	"In four years the church should have grown more and been more financially
stable," Burton said, explaining reasons for its closure.
	In late 1997, the Resurrection church along with 39 other United Methodist
churches in the district took part in a three-month study and assessment
conducted by the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries. The Rev. Eugene
Blair, an African-American church development specialist and United Methodist
pastor from Chicago, met with the Resurrection congregation three times. He
studied demographics of the area, the church's location and its brief history.
	"He told the congregation in late November that it didn't look good," Burton
said.
	"His assessment was that Resurrection had not retained any of the benchmarks
that would indicate it would be a viable church," she added.  "His advice was
to close the church, step back and come up with a model that would work for
reaching African-Americans in southwest Little Rock."
	Burton said she felt Blair's recommendations were "wise advice."
	Concurring with the decision to close the church were Bishop Janice Riggle
Huie, members of the Little Rock Conference Cabinet, the Little Rock District
Board of Church Locations and Buildings, and Russell.
	Despite the consultant's earlier warning, closure of the church came as a
surprise to some members.
	"It was a shock. I was totally appalled," said an active member who asked to
remain nameless. "We thought we were on the right track. We had worked . . .
gone out door-to-door in the cold and rain."
	By the fall of 1997 Resurrection was nearing 30 members, had established an
adult tutoring ministry, weekly Bible study and Sunday school, organized a
small choir, a United Methodist Women's unit, and was working to bring more
children into the ministry. One Saturday a month was reserved for a community
evangelism project.
	"We even had a Bible School. We just thought we were moving along. It was a
loving group and we worked together harmoniously," the church member said.
	When the bishop and district superintendent met with the congregation and
announced the closure of the church, "I almost had a heart attack," the member
said. "It was devastating. I thought it was cruel for us not to have known and
to close us that quick without giving us a chance. We had been told that we
had five years," to get established and move toward self-sufficiency.
	Many of those who joined Resurrection came from other denominations and faith
backgrounds, "and they feel they have been betrayed and grossly mistreated,"
according to the church member. "Some have indicated they don't want anything
to do with anything that has the Methodist name on it."
	"The church was started with wonderful intentions and the commitment of the
people," Burton said. "They've been a caring, loving and faithful congregation
led by a pastor who has given his best."
	While Russell described the church's closure as "very devastating," he said
he has "no reason to complain about anything. I know the work that we did at
Resurrection wasn't in vain."
	Russell began a new part-time appointment Jan. 1 as associate pastor at
Hoover United Methodist Church in Little Rock.
	For now, the Little Rock district is re-evaluating its strategic plan for
future church development. Burton didn't rule out another effort in southwest
Little Rock.
	Closing a church is "a very painful thing," Burton said. "It's one of those
hard decisions you have to make sometimes."
	The closing of Resurrection is the second new church start that has been
abandoned in the Little Rock district in recent years. In August 1995, a
yearlong effort to establish a congregation – then known as the Cornerstone
church — in western Little Rock was called off primarily due to funding
shortages and location difficulties.
# # #
	*Dennis is the editor of the Arkansas United Methodist newspaper.
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