| United Methodist Church Goes Global in the USA | ||||||||||||
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by Elliott Wright |
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New York, NY, August 10, 2009--The United Methodist Church in the United States has an increasingly global look and sound--a reality clearly evident at the 2009 School of Congregational Development. Diversity could be seen in faces, experienced in worship and song, and explored in classes and workshops on starting and strengthening churches for ethnic, cultural, and language groups, as well as for multicultural communities. Several factors account for the global tone of an annual event focused on denominational revitalization in the US. One is demographics. Ethnic population, particularly Hispanic/Latino and Asian American, are growing rapidly across the country. Another is 20 years of special programs targeted to ethnic and linguistic groups, programs that as they have matured brought not only an awareness of diversity but a sense of global unity to the church in the US. Although no statistics were available on the ethnic and linguistic breakdown of the 600 school participants, there was an obvious increase from past years of persons from Hispanic/Latino and Asian American communities. African Americans have significant involvement in the school, which is strongly promoted by several black bishops. Bishop Hee-Soo Jung of Northern Illinois, the host bishop, is of Korean background and is a prominent advocate of new church development by all United Methodists. The United Methodist Church has about eight million members in the United States and some four million in Africa, the Philippines, and continental Europe. While membership in the US has declined in recent years, growth is reported in other parts of the world. These figures do not include Methodists of autonomous denominations in Latin America, Korea, the United Kingdom, and parts of Africa. Some immigrants coming to the US, or settling in Europe, are already Methodist. Global Worship and Song Perhaps the most visible indication of the global awareness was in the worship, accompanied by powerful singing, incorporated into each plenary session of the five-day school, held in Evanston, Illinois, just north of Chicago, from July 29 to August 2. A full service of worship on the opening night was described as an "Every Tribe, Language, People and Nation Multicultural Worship Celebration." Plenary worship and song were planned and led by the Rev. Cynthia Wilson, an ordained deacon who is currently a candidate for a PhD in liturgical studies at Garrett-Evangelical School of Theology, Evanston. She is also a widely-known singer and composer and a Grammy Award nominee. Ms. Wilson selected hymns and songs ranging from standard Methodist favorites to more recently introduced tunes and words from Hispanic, Asian, African, and Native American contexts. The singing was enhanced by a chorus of four young women, two from the US and one each from Haiti and Korea. Many of the songs were brought to the attention of the church in recent years through the Global Praise program of the General Board of Global Ministries. The Young People's Choir of the Chicago Chapter of Black Methodists for Church Renewal provided special music at the school's closing worship, along with a drum chorus from the African Community United Methodist Church. Classes and Workshop Major time segments at the School of Congregational Development are organized around "ministry tracks," three in number this year: one for bishops, district superintendents, and annual conference leaders. Another focused on new church development, and a third on strengthening existing churches. Each track incorporated components on strategies for racial-ethnic ministries: Hispanic, Asian American, African American, and Native American. Cross-cultural outreach was featured as one of several "intensive" options on two successive days, and a group of shorter worship covered such topics as ministry with immigrants and multicultural church starts. "Many existing congregations face significant challenges in ministry with new arrivals in the US and their communities," said the Rev. Kelvin Sauls, an executive with the General Board of Global Ministries, discussing the workshop dealing with immigrants. "Immigrants also represent a significant population for developing new congregations." On hand as leaders and resource specialists were the staff specialists from five ethnic and language plans funded by direct allocations from the policy-making United Methodist General Conference. These include the National Plan for Hispanic/Latino Ministry, the Korean American National Ministry Plan, Asian American Language Ministries, the Native American Comprehensive Plan, and Strengthening the Black Church for the 21st Century. These plans and the potential for new congregations in ethnic and multicultural settings figure prominently in Path One, the denominational commitment to start 650 new congregations in the US in a four-year period beginning in 2009. (A separate story on Path One strategies and projections presented at the School of Congregational Development is in preparation.) Diverse Teaching Churches The diversity of United Methodism in Metropolitan Chicago was illustrated by 11 congregations designated as "teaching churches" for visits by school participants on Sunday, August 2. Of the 11, six are predominantly ethnic: African American, Korean American, Hispanic/Latino, South Asian, and Vietnamese. The others have ethnic mixes ranging from heavy to light. In a plenary presentation, Bishop Jung pointed out the potential for new church starts among ethnic and language populations in his episcopal areas. He particularly pointed to the massive growth of Hispanic/Latino populations in older suburbs and towns north of Chicago, notably the Waukegan area. The Northern Illinois Conference currently has almost two dozen examples of new or redeveloping congregations, of which more than half are ethnic-racial or multicultural. These days, many congregations, especially those with a contemporary worship style, began as, and remain, multicultural. The School of Congregational Development is co-sponsored annually by the United Methodist General Boards of Discipleship and Global Ministries. It has become a model for many annual (regional) conference events in the US and similar events in other parts of the world, including Europe and the Philippines. Elliott Wright is the information officer of the General Board of Global Ministries.
Date posted: Aug 10, 2009 |
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