wfn.org | Shalom Summit IV held in Houston

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

Nov. 23, 1998 Contact: Thomas S. McAnally ((615)742-5470(Nashville,
Tenn.  {686}

NOTE:  A photograph is available with this story.
 
By Randy Cypret*
 
Shalom Summit IV participants from United  Methodist Churches throughout
the United States
walked through an inner-city food line with some of Houston's homeless
people while other participants explored community gardens 100 miles
away in Bryan and College  Station.

Some 250 people attended the conference Nov. 13-15 to see firsthand
Shalom Zone
sites and to visit with the people who make them successes on a daily
basis.

The concept of a Shalom Zone grew from the desire to address issues that
surfaced during urban riots in Los Angeles and was approved by the
General Conference in 1992. Shalom is the Hebrew word for peace.

Zones were conceived as areas where churches and communities could be
empowered to work together to rebuild and renew community life.

Through mission evangelism, collaboration, systemic change and asset
building strategies, Shalom initiatives focus on four areas:
-- spiritual renewal, including congregational development;
-- community economic development;
-- strengthening of race and class relationships; and
-- health and healing within the community.

The movement takes its inspiration in part from Jeremiah 29: 5-7, "Build
houses and live in them; Seek the Shalom of the community where I have
sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its
shalom, you will find your shalom."
 
Today, the United Methodist Church has 230 Shalom Zone sites and plans
to increase
that total to 300 by the year 2000, including sites in Africa.
 
Bishop Woodrow Hearn of the Texas Annual Conference and Bishop C. Joseph
Sprague of Chicago, National Shalom Committee chairperson, welcomed
summit participants with discussions of the importance of Shalom Zone
Ministries.

Sprague pointed out that as a minister he originally visited shut-ins
because of what he was going to give to them, communion, for example.
Yet, he found their words of encouragement and faith provided him with a
spiritual renewal. The Shalom Zone community's reaching out to people in
need offers the same sense of spiritual renewal and joy of service to
others, he said.

Hearn reminded participants of the Gospel story of the three wise men
searching for the baby Jesus. The wise men were told their path would be
filled with obstacles if they continued as they were. To find Jesus they
had to choose a different path. Shalom Zone Ministries is a different
way of reaching hurting, broken, crisis communities. Shalom Zone is a
creative way, a way outside the box, to impact lives and recreate
communities, he said.

Summit participants heard expert speakers discuss the nuts and bolts of
Shalom Zone Ministries from funding sources to daily operations.
Participants chose one of two tracks for site visits:  urban or town and
country.

"Shalom Zones originally had an urban impetus, but early on it became
apparent that the issues were not unique to urban areas," said Lynda
Byrd, national director of Shalom Ministries. "The issues of renewal,
healing and economic development are the same. The way you do it is
different because the culture is different."

The different tracks gave participants the opportunity to see Shalom
Zone initiatives in different settings, she said. Homelessness is not
unique to urban areas, nor are troubled teenagers. They are treated
differently based on the resources at hand.
 
Highlights of the urban track included visits to St. John's United
Methodist Church, the Shalom Institute, and the Power Center.
 
St. John's is in the shadows of Houston's downtown skyscrapers.
Participants ate their meals in the sanctuary of the 80- year-old church
and listened to the story of how the pastors Rudy and Juanita Rasmus
transformed a street ministry of seven people into a congregation
nearing 3,000
that serves as the front line of hope for inner city individuals seeking
to recover from their broken lives. The church serves 7,500 meals a
month to the homeless, offers showers and laundry service, substance
abuse meetings, medical services, worship services, clothing, job
placement and other services. The church has raised $500,000 toward a
$1.6 million capital project that includes a school and health clinic.

The Shalom Institute coordinates a variety of programs including a
mobile health clinic and economic literacy training. The Power Center is
involved in several activities including economic development, job
training and building subdivisions of middle income housing.
 
At Bryan and College Station, participants visited St. Paul's and Lee
Chapel United Methodist Churches and community gardens maintained by
at-risk youngsters.

Town and Country settings also have youth related issues, Byrd said. The
goal was to partner with school districts and involve youngsters in the
gardens. The youngsters typically were having trouble in school, being
suspended and participating in gang- type activities. Participating in
worship settings and being the architects and participants in the
gardens has helped the youngsters stay in school and work toward
completion of high school.

Historically, society has determined the  assistance it will provide a
community based on what it needs rather than on the assets it has, Byrd
said. Cities have invested billions of dollars in economic development
projects and housing projects that are now boarded up because someone
other than the residents decided what a community needed, she said.

"Unless resources and the local people are involved and are part of the
process, Shalom will not succeed," Byrd said. 
 
A goal of the Summit, as expressed by speaker  John P. Kretzmann, author
of "Building Communities from the Inside Out," is breaking with
tradition and doing things a different way.  His premise of Asset-Based
Community Development (ABCD) involves looking at the assets that are
already there, doing good work and serving as a vehicle for change,
Booker said.
 
"We begin to build and mobilize the assets that are already there," he
said. "Just taking that simple, different approach, changes the way we
deal with the community. People with gifts and strengths are already
there." A part of that effort is working with churches, schools and
community-based organizations.
 
Byrd said she hopes participants remembered three things about their
Summit experience:
-- What they do in the Shalom sites is the only way some people come to
know a relationship with Jesus Christ;
-- The sustenance of Shalom is not dollars but the people who are
committed to making a difference; and
-- When differences are being made, the resources are available to allow
that to continue.
 
Information about the Shalom Zone Ministries can be accessed via the
Internet at the General Board of Global Ministries Web site at
http://www.gbgm-umc.org/ or call  (212) 870-3826.
# # #
*Cypret is a free-lance writer from Houston.