wfn.org | Some remain skeptical about United Methodist repentance plans

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

Nov. 24, 1998	Contact: Linda Green*(615)742-5470*Nashville, Tenn.
{690}

ORLANDO, Fla. (UMNS) --  A proposed study guide to prepare United
Methodists for an upcoming act of repentance and reconciliation in 2000
drew both skepticism and affirmation from representatives of three black
Methodist denominations during meetings here Nov. 18-20.

The Rev. Bruce Robbins, staff executive of the United Methodist
Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns, shared with
members of  a Pan-Methodist Commission on Union about his agency's
development of a study guide for United Methodist congregations.  The
guide is intended to help United Methodists learn  the history of each
church in preparation for a repentance and reconciliation service to be
held at the 2000 United Methodist General Conference in Cleveland. A
prototype of the guide is already being used in six churches in six
states.

The Commission on Union, was authorized by the most recent round of
quadrennial general conferences of the African Methodist Episcopal(AME),
the African Methodist Episcopal Zion (AMEZ), the Christian Methodist
Episcopal (CME) and the United Methodist churches. The commission was
asked to submit a plan of union to the AME, AMEZ and United Methodist
general conferences in 2000 and the CME general conference in 2002.  The
possibilities range from organic union of the four churches to a
covenant relationship where the denominations would cooperate at a
deeper level. 

A related group is the Commission on Pan-Methodist Cooperation. This
body, which operates like a council of churches, held its meeting here
Nov. 19-20. It was created in 1985 to promote cooperation among the
churches in areas such as publishing, missions, social concerns and
higher education. It also was established to bring together the four
denominations, which have common heritage, concerns and ministries. 

Robbins told the commissioners that the idea for a study guide arose as
the Christian Unity Commission searched for ways where the United
Methodist Church could build a foundation for  discussions about uniting
the four Methodist denominations that separated due to racism. 

An act of repentance is important because "United Methodists do not know
the stories of separation and how racism has been a part of the fabric
of the United Methodist Church," said Robbins. Repentance for the steps
that led to the creation of the black Methodist denominations "is an
important action for the United Methodist Church to take," he said.

The educational efforts planned by the Commission on Christian Unity
will be part of the act of repentance and reconciliation to ensure that
United Methodists learn their history and of the racial incidents that
prompted many blacks to leave the primary American Methodist body
officially created in 1784. 

While members of the Pan-Methodist Commission on Union affirmed the
intent of the guide, they were also wary about its contents, the
churches designated to be receive the prototype  and whether the
proposed guide would become a model for union. The black commissioners
were also concerned that they were not asked to help develop the guide. 

Robbins told the Pan-Methodist body that his commission has struggled to
develop the guide in a way that would be appropriate for the
denomination as it prepares for acts of repentance and reconciliation
that will lay a foundation for what unfolds in the future.
.
Calling the guide a great step in initiating dialogue towards a plan of
action, the Rev. McAllister Hollins said "it is also indicative of
systemic racism" because "the United Methodist unity commission did not
have the participation of all the involved parties."   Hollins is pastor
of Ben Hill United Methodist Church, Atlanta.

Yet,  he said, discussions about the upcoming study guide provide an
opportunity for the members of the Pan-Methodist Commission on Union to
"speak to the issue of racism in action" and work towards identifying
and addressing the "hard core issues in our own context around the
table." 

Hollins and other members of  the commission questioned the process of
selecting congregations in Colorado, Kansas, New York, Ohio, Tennessee
and Kentucky. They bemoaned the fact that churches from the deep South,
"states steeped in racist posture," were not chosen to participate in
the pilot study. Another commissioner said churches in Louisiana,
Arkansas and East Texas also need to be included in the pilot because
"racism in these areas has been institutionalized."

CME Bishop Thomas Hoyt, Shreveport, La., said the study guide and act of
repentance are excellent efforts but expressed concern about the
presupposition that education will change racism. " We would like that
to happen but history has shown that it won't happen by itself," he
said. 
 
Hoyt said the critical  issue before the  churches is how to overcome
the sin of racism.  "To work on that agenda is the issue of
sanctification," he said.

After much discussion around the table and in subgroups the members of
the Commission on Union affirmed, with some exceptions, the United
Methodist efforts. The commission wants the guide and service to include
input from each of the three committees of the Pan-Methodist Commission,
Black Methodists for Church Renewal, and United Methodism's Commission
on Religion and Race and  Board of Church and Society. The three
committees of the Pan Methodist group are Theological Basis, Repentance
and Forgiveness, and Models of Union.

It was recommended that the service include a covenant with the black
Methodist denominations to address the issues of racism in the present
and in the future. The covenant would include specific steps to
implement and demonstrate a commitment to eradicate racism in the United
Methodist Church, said CME Bishop Paul Stewart, as he reported from the
Repentance and Forgiveness committee. The committee also proposed
developing new ways for the four Methodist churches to relate to one
another and different ways for the churches to be together.

 For repentance and reconciliation to be complete, the commissioners
said there must be a change of behavior in the United Methodist Church
as well as forgiveness on the part of those who have been wronged. 

"Anywhere that racism exists, those that are less powerful than the
dominant group have reason to be suspicious," AMEZ layman F. George
Shipman of Durham, N.C.

Pointing to difference in the meaning of covenants and contracts, Hoyt
asked, "Where will we be in the same house?" 

The Commission on Christian Unity "feels that racism is a major dividing
issue in the Methodist family and ... addressing issues of racism is
part of how the Holy Spirit calls us to promote Christian unity,"
Robbins said. 

Although the United Methodist Church is inclusive today, it must meet
the challenge of dealing with the many African-American United
Methodists who have been harmed and have suffered because of the
denomination's past and present racism, he said.  The denomination has
8.5 million members in the United States, approximately 367,000 of them
African American.

According to AME Bishop McKinley Young, the Commission on Union has to
decide how "we are going to be in the world together differently,"
because "we know how we are together now." 

United Methodist News Service
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