wfn.org | Black churches' gifts can strengthen denomination

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

March 9, 1999	Contact: Linda Green*(615)742-5470*Nashville, Tenn.
10-31-71B{128}

COVINGTON, Ky. (UMNS) -- Hope, healing and wholeness are the greatest gifts
that the Strengthening the Black Church initiative can offer to United
Methodism, according to a new board member of the program.

"I believe the gift of hope, healing and wholeness is critical to the church
at this time because across the denomination United Methodists are facing
decreasing membership, dwindling attendance and the general falling apart of
things at the center of the community," said the Rev. James McCray,  pastor
of Jones Memorial United Methodist Church in San Francisco.

McCray became the newest addition to the coordinating committee for
Strengthening the Black Church for the 21st Century during the group's March
4-6 semi-annual meeting. He joined Monique Long of Chicago and the Rev.
Juanita Rasmus of Houston in replacing committee members who have died or
resigned. 

God offers hope for the church in general and local congregations in
particular, McCray said. "The church's hope flows from Emmanuel, God with us
in Jesus Christ, for everlasting life and for the source of courage to yield
decisions and actions for God's reign. The church's faith responds with a
word about God, and that word is healing," he said. 

"In this particular time, Christ's people must believe that God will use
people's fears and frustrations, as well as the evil circumstances of our
day, for good. They must believe that God is yet working for humankind's
good."

"Christ Our Center for Hope, Healing and Wholeness" has been the theme of
the four-year, Strengthening the Black Church for the 21st Century
initiative. The emphasis was mandated by the 1996 General Conference, the
top lawmaking body of the United Methodist Church, to address the critical
needs facing the black church and offer solutions for growth. The $1.3
million initiative seeks to restore, reconstruct, redeem, reconcile and
revitalize the 2,500 African-American churches within the denomination. 

The initiative's coordinating committee has chosen 25 black churches that
are strong, cohesive and community-oriented as teaching churches to provide
other African-American congregations with skills, resources and examples for
development. The churches were designated as congregational resource centers
to enable black congregations to covenant with and support one another
across geographic lines.

During its meeting, the 19-member committee began drafting legislation and
compiling a report of actions for the next General Conference, which meets
May 2-12, 2000, in Cleveland. The committee will request that its mandate be
continued for another four years, noting that the initiative's work has only
just begun.

"While we are looking toward another quadrennium, we must first recognize
that we have only just begun and that the firsthand product is yet to be,"
said the Rev. Walter Kimbrough, a committee member and pastor at Atlanta's
Cascade United Methodist Church.

The committee's challenges are to continue the work it has already done;
reinforce what it has learned; expand the number of congregations served;
use the connectional resources available; and document accomplishments, he
said.

Throughout the meeting, committee members broke into small groups to outline
the ways in which the black church has been strengthened and the work that
remains. Committee members said the initiative has given churches
opportunities to: form new connections and linkages;  build community
networks; participate in shared learning; catch fresh visions inspired by
the hope, healing and wholeness theme; develop models and case stories for
the entire church; and lift the visibility of successful ministries that
already exist.

Reports of round table discussions made clear that the board's task is to
communicate the initiative's vision more effectively. While numerous people
and churches have embraced the effort, there is still a need to make more
contact with as many of the 361,505 African-American United Methodists in
the United States as possible.

Board members agreed that more must be done to reach people than just
relying on current modes of communications. While printed material is
effective in keeping people informed,  African-Americans tend to be more
oral and relational in how they gather and share information, they noted.
Committee members said they would individually and collectively do more to
increase the awareness of the Strengthening the Black Church initiative.

"We're an oral people," said the Rev. Lillian Smith, an agency resource
person on the team representing the United Methodist Board of Higher
Education and Ministry. "In order for something to have legitimacy and
integrity, we must personally engage in relationships with people, and we
have to make more contact with key leadership who will in turn share the
information."

Making connections is the next focus, said Bishop Jonathon Keaton, committee
chairman and head of the church's Ohio East Area. Churchwide events, such as
the recent African-American Pastors Convocation, as well as a feature in the
current Circuit Rider magazine, have enabled the initiative to reach a
diverse range of people, he said. 

"We have to be more intentional about communications," he said. "If the
black church is to be effective in the 21st century, we have work to do."
That work, he said, "will be a relearning or learning anew what a vital
congregation is all about and equipping ourselves to become effective links
in the implementing of the initiative."

The committee also hopes to reinforce links with churchwide agencies,
particularly with the United Methodist Board of Discipleship. The board
created a new office to resource the African-American church. The committee
hopes to closely work with that office to collect data on black churches and
develop quality resources for strengthening leaders in African-American
congregations.

The gifts of hope, healing and wholeness remind the black church and the
entire denomination that the "kingdom is yet to be," said the Rev. Robert
Smith, a committee member. 

The gifts call committee members and the church at large to a new level of
discipleship, said Smith, pastor at Calvary and Crenshaw United Methodist
churches in Los Angeles, and a governing member of the churchwide General
Council of Finance and Administration.

He challenged committee members to constantly look forward and proclaim the
initiative's work and purpose. Basing his remarks on Luke 9:57-62, he said
the new discipleship is a reminder that "we can't be at home in this present
age."

"As a committee we've put our hands to the plow, and as others come and put
their hands to the plow, we must remind one another that hope, healing and
wholeness requires that we press on to a higher calling in Jesus, the
Christ."

The committee will hold a national Strengthening the Black Church for the
21st Century celebration Sept. 17-19 in Dallas. All 25 congregational
resource centers will be represented.

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