wfn.org | Philippine United Methodist women seek inclusion, autonomy

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Sept. 11, 2000  News media contact: Linda Bloom·(212)870-3803·New York
10-33-71B{401}

By Rebecca C. Asedillo*

MANILA (UMNS) -- If United Methodist women in the Philippines have their
way, a woman would be elected bishop in December and their church would vote
to become self-reliant and autonomous.

It is time for church leadership to be inclusive, said Pricilla R. Atuel,
national president of the United Methodist Women Society for Christian
Service, during an August interview in Manila.

"We want to break the notion that the highest leadership in the church is
only for males," she explained. "We want to increase the awareness among our
male leaders about partnership and about the fact that women have the
capacity to lead."

The Philippines Central Conference of the United Methodist Church is
scheduled to elect three new bishops when it meets Dec. 14-17.  Two of its
presiding bishops, Bishop Emerito P. Nacpil of the Manila Episcopal Area and
Bishop Daniel C. Arichea Jr. of the Baguio Episcopal Area, are retiring.
The Mindanao Area has been under the episcopal supervision of a retired
bishop, Paul Locke A. Granadosin.

Of the 484 delegates to the 2000 Philippines Central Conference, 170 are
women.  In an unprecedented move, the national United Methodist Women's
Society for Christian Service officially endorsed the Rev. Elizabeth S.
Tapia to the episcopal leadership in 1999.

Tapia, a professor of theology and the academic dean of Union Theological
Seminary in Cavite, is a widely acclaimed preacher, ecumenical leader and
educator. She was a Bible study leader at the United Methodist Women's
Assembly in Orlando in May 1998. She was also a speaker at a global
consultation on evangelism sponsored by the United Methodist Board of Global
Ministries in Atlanta in June 1999. 

The women picked Tapia on the basis of her academic preparation; experiences
in practical church ministries as a deaconess and as a rural pastor; the
inclusive nature of her theology and leadership style; and her support for
autonomy and a self-reliant church, Atuel said.
      
While acknowledging the Philippine church's link with the global church,
Atuel asserted, "It is time for the United Methodist Church in the
Philippines to move towards an autonomous church where we can build on our
resources and mobilize both our local and international linkages to let the
world know that we can stand on our own."

She said she is convinced that the Philippine church has adequate leadership
resources and a church constituency that could be tapped to support the
efforts toward self-sufficiency. More than 100 years of Methodist presence
in the Philippines ought to have made the Philippine United Methodist Church
ready for self-reliance and for establishing its own identity, she added. 

On July 29, a group of United Methodists organized in Manila to form
Philippines Caucus 2000, calling for the active participation of all
Filipino United Methodists in the election of three bishops and the
promotion of a democratic style of leadership. 

The group also expressed support for an autonomous structure for the
Philippine church based on its assessment that the church's current
relationship with the United Methodist Church in the United States is
hampering growth.

The caucus cited as an example the church's inability to enter directly into
dialogues for Christian unity with churches in the Philippines because of
disciplinary constraints. It also expressed dissatisfaction that the
church's membership in various ecumenical bodies like the World Council of
Churches, the Christian Conference of Asia and the World Methodist Council
is channeled through the United Methodist Church in the United States. 

In the statement issued at its launching, the Philippines Caucus 2000 group
challenged the Central Conference to focus its agenda not merely on the
election of bishops, but also on developing a program of mission that is
relevant to its context.

"We are not only Filipino United Methodists," the group said. "We are
Filipino United Methodists whose witness and service issue from and are
challenged by the social, economic, political, cultural and religious
contexts in which we demonstrate, manifest and make known the love and the
redemptive work of Jesus Christ."
# # #
*Asedillo is a free-lance writer. This article originally appeared on the
Web site of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries. 

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United Methodist News Service
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