wfn.org | Discipleship approves funding for eleven ethnic local church

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projects

Oct. 21 1998	Contact: Linda Green(615)742-5470,Nashville, Tenn.
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) - A leadership program that will support the
training of Samoan clergy and laity will receive a $20,000 grant from
the churchwide Board of Discipleship's Committee on Ethnic Local Church
Concerns.

The Samoan American Caucus Leadership Training Program of Long Beach,
Calif., is an effort of the Samoan United Methodist Church. The grant
will support the church in its training of clergy and laity in
leadership building skills, counseling, cultural training and lay
speaking.

The $20,000 is part of $112, 929 awarded to 11 United
Methodist-sponsored projects and organizations serving various
racial-ethnic groups. The committee approved funding for the projects
during a telephone conference in early October.

The Discipleship board's ethnic local church concerns office funds up to
$25,000 for ministries and projects that focus on one or more of the
essential services provided by the agency's program areas. These
services include Christian education; ministries with adults, children
and youth; the Quest leadership program; ministry of the laity;
spiritual formation; worship; evangelism; family ministries; lay
ministries; and the covenant discipleship program for small church
groups.

Priority is given to new programs or pilot projects, and all grants are
awarded on a one-year basis.

In Claremont, Calif., a $20,000 grant was awarded to the Lay Speaking
Ministry of the Center for Pacific and Asian American Ministries. The
money will help fund the translation of lay speaking materials into
Korean and Japanese. Portions of the grant will also be used to train
lay speakers.

The Fiesta de Oracion in Alexandria, Va., was provided $15,104 for its
Mision La Esperanza, to support its efforts to provide a worship service
in the Hispanic people's native language that will reflect their culture
and customs. Fiesta de Oracion combines evangelism and Christian
education.

The Northwest Arkansas Hispanic Ministries received $2,500 to help
Hispanics in the Northwest Arkansas Annual (regional) Conference find a
church home and adjust to the new culture. The plan includes starting a
faith community in Wesley United Methodist Church in Springfield, Ark.;
developing an education and worshipping group around Wiggins Memorial
United Methodist Church; and creating programs for each age group in
Nueva Esperanza United Methodist Church.

Also receiving funding were:

* Hispanic Youth Organizing Convocation -- $10,000, for a project to
support the National Hispanic Youth/Young Adults Organizing Convocation,
Aug. 6-9;
* Community 2000, Abundant Life Christian Center, Willow Grove, Pa. --
$6,000, to support the evangelistic and educational efforts of the
Abundant Life Christian Center;
* African Methodist Fellowship, Arapaho United Methodist Church,
Richardson, Texas -- $4,660, to support Arapaho United Methodist
Church's work in establishing an African Methodist Fellowship Worship
experience for refugees from Liberia;
* TLC -- Teens Listening and Caring, Duncanville, Texas -- $6,640, to
support  Jubilee United Methodist Church's TLC peer counseling program
for girls, ages 12-17, and boys, ages 12-18;
* Epiphany Youth Prison Ministry, Baton Rouge, La. -- $11,000,  to
support the work of Epiphany, an ecumenical Christian faith-based
outreach ministry for incarcerated young people;
* Woodlawn Youth Center, Chicago -- $10,000, to support the work of the
Woodlawn Youth Center, a division of Woodlawn United Methodist Church,
to address problems faced by African American youth;
* Leadership Training for Team Ministries, Rio Grande Conference, San
Antonio, Texas -- $7,025, for a project that will help fund lay
leadership training events in 1999.

Project proposals for the Board of Discipleship's Committee on Ethnic
Local Church Concerns are due July 1 and Nov. 1.

To be considered for funding, a project must focus on "developing and
strengthening the ethnic minority local church for witness and mission."
It also must focus on one or more of the essential services provided by
the board's program areas. The proposal should show how the local church
will be involved and how it will benefit. Ethnic minority local church
members must be involved in the planning, leadership and decision
making, and the project must relate to the annual conference's
comprehensive plan for ethnic local church concerns.

For more information, send an e-mail to the Rev. Sang E. Chun at
schun@gbod.org, or write to the United Methodist Board of Discipleship,
P.O. Box 840, Nashville, TN 37202; telephone: (615) 340-7050.

United Methodist News Service
(615)742-5470
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