wfn.org | Portland City Council throws out attendance limit for church

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

March 3, 2000 News media contact: Tim Tanton·(615)742-5470·Nashville, Tenn.
10-21-71B{115}
 
By  Linda Sullivan*

PORTLAND, Ore. (UMNS) -- The Portland City Council has unanimously thrown
out a controversial ruling limiting attendance at Sunnyside Centenary United
Methodist Church events, including worship, and it has made a tentative
decision regarding a Wednesday and Friday evening meals program for the poor
and homeless.

At its March 1 meeting, the council heard more than six hours of testimony
from neighbors, Sunnyside Centenary supporters, the Sunnyside Neighborhood
Association and others. The meeting drew an overflow crowd of more than 300
people. Late in the evening, council members 
voted to allow the church programs to continue, contingent on an agreement
being reached among neighbors, neighborhood businesses and Sunnyside about a
new church proposal for managing the programs. The council gave the involved
parties 60 days to review and agree on a plan. 

"If, after 60 days, we have an agreement, we go back to the city council for
an OK," said the Rev. Tim Lewis, interim co-pastor at Sunnyside Centenary.
"If no agreement has been reached, then we go back and the council will
write an agreement governing the operation of the outreach programs."

The church's plan includes a recommendation for creating an advisory board
of religious and community members to help Sunnyside and other churches
coordinate services to the poor and homeless. Another part of the proposal
would set up a neighborhood relations committee, made up of church managers,
immediate neighbors and the police, which would meet monthly to address
concerns.

"The last two years have been the most difficult in the church's history,"
Lewis said. "We have made mistakes. We've learned the hard way the price of
not paying attention as we should have. But I have high hopes that we will
be able to work things out with the neighborhood." 

City Commissioner Jim Francesconi said the church's proposal "shows it is
exhibiting good faith." He commended Sunnyside Centenary for being willing
to reassess its operating procedures and make fundamental changes.

Tom Badrick, Sunnyside Neighborhood Association president and land-use
chair, said he felt the proposal holds some promise. 

Not all neighborhood residents agreed. "The church has had 12 years to fix
this problem, and these suppers are really destroying the livability of our
neighborhood," said Jon Myers, an eight-year resident of the neighborhood,
who was quoted in a March 2 story in the Oregonian newspaper.

The church and several neighbors have had a long-running dispute over the
twice-weekly meals program. The church, and many neighborhood residents, say
the programs are an essential outreach to the poor and homeless in the
community. However, some residents claim it brings an "undesirable element"
into the neighborhood, creating a "livability" issue. They complain of
unruly conduct by people attending the suppers and incidents of trespassing
on residents' property.

The situation came to a head when the Sunnyside Neighborhood Association
filed a complaint with the city, resulting in the Jan. 17 ruling by a
land-use hearings officer closing the meals program and limiting attendance
at other church functions. The decision was appealed to the city council.

The Rev. Steve Sprecher, Metropolitan District superintendent for the United
Methodist Church, said he was "pleased and relieved" at the outcome of the
appeal to city council. "We believe these programs are important ministries
and are glad they will continue. I am particularly thankful for the broad
level of support shown, not only within the United Methodist community, but
from every corner of the interfaith community.

"We are hopeful that this will become an opportunity for new levels of
cooperation not only between the church and the neighbors, but between the
city and the faith community," he said.

The council seemed genuinely concerned about the matter and listened
attentively to the comments, said the Rev. Don Colburn, a retired pastor in
the Oregon-Idaho Annual (regional) Conference. "It was very orderly, and I
was impressed that the commissioners seemed eager to hear all sides."

"Still, the city really does need to pay attention to this," Colburn said.
"I think the commissioners were sort of on the spot. They know the city
isn't doing all it can for the hungry, the homeless, those with very low
incomes. Where would they be without the services provided by the
faith-based community?"

Oregon has the highest percentage of hunger per household in the United
States, according to the 1999 U.S. Department of Agriculture report on
hunger. The Oregon Food Bank's annual report for 1999 showed an increase of
14 percent in the number of people receiving assistance over the previous
year. According to some sources, more than 900 units of low-income housing
are needed in Portland. Meals programs and shelters are left primarily to
the faith-based community to provide.

"Even though this has been a difficult time, it is a 'sunshine situation'
that gives me hope," Lewis said. The light of public attention is being
focused on the problems of the homeless and hungry, a situation that is
largely ignored, he said. 

United Methodist Bishop Ed Paup, who leads the denomination's Portland Area,
said the community should work together on those issues. 

"While I am pleased with the decision and the efforts of the church to
seriously consider the concerns of the neighbors as this vital ministry of
outreach continues," he said, "my remarks to the Portland City Council
indicated that I believe the entire matter is an invitation to city
government, churches, neighborhood associations, and other organizations to
find ways together to address such complex issues facing our city."

# # #

*Sullivan is editor of the Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference's United Methodist
newsletter.

*************************************
United Methodist News Service
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