wfn.org | United Methodist Women's Assembly Set for May

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CONTACT: Linda Bloom				(10-21-71B){117}
		New York (212) 870-3803		   Feb. 27, 1998

United Methodist Women
Gather at Orlando assembly

		by United Methodist News Service

	Issues ranging from immigration to health care to concern for
children and youth will be examined at the United Methodist Women's
Assembly May 14-17 in Orlando, Fla.
	With representatives from across the globe, the event will focus
on the 1.1-million-member organization's commitment to women, children
and youth.
	"We are called to 'make plain the vision' - a vision of hope,
grounded in Scripture, inherited from our foremothers, molded by our
experiences, enriched by our diversity, inspired by our dreams," the
1998 Assembly focus statement reads.
	The event will open with a communion service at 7:30 p.m. May
14. The 8:30 a.m. session on May 15 will include stories - presented
through voices, images and drama - of mission work of the past and
testimonies of women in mission today.
	Sarah Wilke, executive director of Wesley-Rankin Community
Center in Dallas, will speak on children's concerns. Wesley-Rankin
serves a Hispanic community and receives financial support from United
Methodist Women.
	Sonya Wu, coordinator of the refugee program at All Saints'
Episcopal Church in Atlanta, will speak on immigration issues. A 1995
recipient of the Theressa Hoover Community Service and Global Citizen
Award, Wu helps provide emergency assistance and English-language
tutoring to Bosnian and Vietnamese immigrant families.
	Karen Anderson, who will speak on health care, is a Lutheran
missionary and founder of a health-education ministry in Chile. She has
created several health education games used by community-based
organizations in more than 30 countries.
	The 8:30 a.m. session on May 16 will focus on indigenous
concerns. Worship will begin with a traditional Lakota tribe prayer.
Janine Pease Pretty on Top, president of Little Big Horn College in
Montana and the first woman of Crow descent to earn a doctorate, will
speak. She is the recipient of a MacArthur Foundation "genius" grant and
has served on the National Advisory Council on Indian Education.
	Sistren Theatre Collective, an independent women's cultural
organization based in Kingston, Jamaica, also will perform.
	Bible study leaders for the Friday morning session will be Tex
Sample, the Rogers Professor of Church and Society at the Saint Paul
School of Theology in Kansas City, and Emilie Townes, associate
professor of Christian Social Ethics and Black Church Ministries at St.
Paul's.
	Elizabeth Tapia, an ordained elder from the United Methodist
Church in the Philippines, will lead the Saturday morning Bible study.
She is a professor at Union Theological Seminary in Cavite, Philippines.
	Singer Cissy Houston and her gospel choir from Newark, N.J.,
will headline an evening of music at 8 p.m. May 16. Also performing is
Ulali, a trio of a capella singers whose sound evolves from a blend of
traditional and contemporary indigenous music of the Americas. 
	The 8 p.m. program on May 17 will feature songs written by women
to express their visions of peace, caring, justice, community, mission
and the new creation.
	On the afternoons of May 16 and 17, participants have a choice
of nearly 70 different focus groups to attend on subjects of social or
spiritual interest.
	The assembly concludes with the 8:30 a.m. worship service on May
17. Joyce Sohl, general secretary of the Women's Division, United
Methodist Board of Global Ministries, will offer the sermon.