Feb. 3, 2004
Church assembly will be more multinational, bishop says
By Tim Tanton

PITTSBURGH (UMNS) - The face of the United Methodist Church is becoming increasingly multinational - a change that will affect the denomination's top assembly this spring, according to Bishop Ruediger Minor.

"The number of delegates from other countries will be larger than ever before, which leads to a reduction of U.S. delegates," said Minor, who oversees the church's Eurasia Area out of Moscow and is president of the Council of Bishops.

"The more central conference delegates, the less 'business as usual,'" he said. These delegates probably do not know Roberts' Rules of Order, and they will need translation assistance-all of which can make the General Conference's work "awkward," he said.
"But it can also remind us that Christian conferencing is different from running a legislative machine."

Minor spoke Jan. 30 to about 280 church communicators, first-elected delegates and denomination leaders at the Pre-General Conference News Briefing, sponsored by United Methodist Communications.

The General Conference, held every four years, will meet April 27-May 7 in Pittsburgh.
Of the 998 delegates who will be attending, about 178 will be from "central conferences"-regional units of the church in Africa, Asia and Europe. That's up from 138 at the 1996 General Conference, according to the church's InfoServ unit.

"The voice of the central conference delegates can give a new perspective to issues and concerns that have dominated this church and its surrounding society for such a long time," Minor said.

For example, dialogue could help the church "overcome its preoccupation with numerical growth (or loss)," as well as deal with cultural issues in which a national church can become entrapped, he said. "Fixation upon homosexuality, on both sides of the barricade, seems to be one of them."

Dialogue with the central conference delegates can address problems such as hunger, illnesses, inequality and oppression in a comprehensive way, he said. The worldwide church can also "equalize a growing obsession with national security-not only in the U.S.-in joining forces for a just peace that would work for a removal of the root causes of violence and terrorism."

A native of the former East Germany, Minor described the impact the church has had on people around the world, starting with his native country, where the denomination bridged the rhetoric on both sides of the Cold War. "It was the Methodist Church that helped me to meet Christ and taught me the gospel and its consequences for my life as a youth in communist East Germany," he said.

United Methodism is helping Christianity grow in Africa, he continued. When the Methodist Church in Ivory Coast became a mission church of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries last October, it did so because of the denomination's vision "to provide a ministry that goes beyond the borderlines and national and ethnic confines, claiming God's whole world as its parish," he said.

In the last 25 years, awareness in the United States of the denomination's worldwide nature has grown, resulting in stronger representation of central conferences on general boards and agencies, Minor said. "The growing weight and influence of the central conferences leads to mutual benefit for all parts of the church."

The number of delegates from the central conferences has risen as the number of United Methodists in those parts of the world has increased. The church's growth has been particularly strong in Africa, the Philippines and Eastern Europe. Members outside the United States account for 1.9 million of the church's 10.2 million total.

Though the U.S. side of the church provides much of the financial and material support, Minor said many Americans have told him their churches have benefited from doing mutual work with congregations in other parts of the world. "Methodists from Missouri went to Mozambique to support the growth of the church there, and Mozambican Methodists have been ministering with their American partners in churches in the U.S."

The Methodist movement has always been multifaceted, drawing on the heritage of people from many nationalities and races, Minor noted. "Germans have been among its first messengers, and Africans among its early converts." Nevertheless, he said, efforts are still needed "to make the ethnic and racial diversity of our church visible in the composition of its leadership - to mention only one area."


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Feb. 5, 2004
Young people share dreams for new ministries
By Kathy L. Gilbert*

PITTSBURGH (UMNS) - Four young people, sitting on a stage, painted a picture of the future of the United Methodist Church using the collected dreams of hundreds of youth, young adults and young adult workers.

The Shared Mission Focus on Young People, an initiative of the United Methodist Church since 1996, is bringing legislation to the denomination's 2004 General Conference to create a Division on Ministries with Young People. The division would be at the United Methodist Board of Discipleship in Nashville, Tenn.

Since 2001, the Shared Mission Focus leaders have been gathering dreams on their Web site, www.idreamachurch.com. They shared some of those dreams during the Pre-General Conference News Briefing, held Jan. 29-31 in Pittsburgh.

Two young people, John and Charles Wesley, dreamed a church into being, said Jay Williams, co-leader of the Shared Mission Focus on Young People. "It was at the ages of 22 and 26 that our church's founders stood to witness a change that God was making through them and the church.

"We too are dreamers."

Williams was one of the four panelists discussing the legislation to create the new division. The event, sponsored by United Methodist Communications, was in preparation for the denomination's top legislative body, which meets April 27-May 7.

Along with Williams, the panelists included Julie O'Neal, co-leader of the Shared Mission Focus on Young People, Analisa Trejo, president of the United Methodist Youth Organization, and Ciona Rouse, director of the Shared Mission Focus on Young People.

The 2000 General Conference charged the Shared Mission Focus on Young People to create a comprehensive, coordinated approach to enhancing the ministries with young people, O'Neal said.

"What we bring to you today is a response to that charge," she said. "What we envision is a denominational strategy, a body of the general agencies, whose purpose is to empower young people as world-changing disciples of Jesus Christ."

Williams said support for the new division is so strong that two current organizations -the United Methodist Youth Organization and the Forum for Adult Workers in Youth Ministry - have decided to disband if the new division is approved in order to be better stewards of the church's funds.

The team's research shows that while the general church offers many opportunities for youth and young adults, those ministries remain disconnected, and often the message does not reach the local church, Rouse said.

"The division will serve as a central place for youth, young adults and workers with young adult ministries to find direction for their ministries," she said.

O'Neal asked, "Do you know a young person who was active in youth but disappeared after they graduated from high school? If this is familiar to you, know that your church is not alone."

The division will work to reach those young adults, ages 18 to 30, who often feel disconnected from the church in that phase of their lives. The church does a good job of reaching out to college students through Wesley foundations and campus ministers and chaplains, but what is there for those who choose a different path? O'Neal asked.

"The division will make a clear statement that the denomination is committed to ministries with young people," said Trejo. "Through the division, the church will recognize young people's desire to be in leadership."

*Gilbert is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in Nashville, Tenn.


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Feb. 5, 2004
Trial date set for lesbian clergywoman in Pacific Northwest
By United Methodist News Service

A March 17 clergy trial date has been set for a United Methodist pastor in the Pacific Northwest who disclosed to her bishop that she is living in a "partnered, covenanted homosexual relationship."

The Rev. Karen Dammann will stand trial at Bothell United Methodist Church, outside Seattle, according to a Feb. 4 announcement by Bishop Elias Galvan, who leads the Pacific Northwest Annual (regional) Conference.

While affirming gays as people of sacred worth, the United Methodist Book of Discipline bars "self-avowed practicing homosexuals" from being ordained or serving as clergy. The charge against Dammann is for practices declared by the United Methodist Church to be incompatible with Christian teachings, according to the bishop's office.

"I have asked Bishop William B. Grove to preside over the trial," Galvan said. "He is well respected throughout the church and has experience presiding at church trials."

Grove, of Charleston, W.Va., was elected bishop in 1980 and served the church's West Virginia and Albany, N.Y., episcopal areas before retiring in 1996.

Dammann continues to serve at First United Methodist Church of Ellensburg, Wash., about two hours east of Seattle.

She told Galvan in a letter in 2001 that she was living in a homosexual relationship. That disclosure led to a series of hearings before official church bodies, including the church's highest court, the Judicial Council, which sent the case back to two lower committees last fall. The Pacific Northwest's Committee on Investigation decided Jan. 12 in a 5-2 vote that Dammann would stand trial.

Dammann is represented by the Rev. Robert C. Ward of Tacoma, Wash., and Seattle attorney Lindsay Thompson is assisting as associate counsel, according to Thompson's office.

In a Jan. 13 release from Thompson, Dammann said she was prepared for a trial. "The case has become much bigger than me now, and I hope it will give the church an opportunity to grow," she said. "The ultimate act of trying someone for being gay is bound to shake the tree - I hope in the direction of inclusiveness."

In a clergy trial, a panel of 13 United Methodist pastors, chosen from a jury pool named by the annual conference cabinet, serves as the jury. At least nine votes are needed to convict. In cases of conviction, the Book of Discipline provides for a range of penalties, including loss of ministerial orders for the clergy member. If convicted, Dammann would have the right to appeal.


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Jan. 28, 2004
At the Roots of Methodism: Covenant services mark new year
A UMNS Feature
By John Singleton*

As a new year begins, many congregations around the world perform the Methodist Covenant Service, a practice that dates back to the movement's founder, John Wesley.

On many occasions, Wesley urged that an opportunity be provided for Methodists to make, or renew, their "covenant" with God. His first formal covenant service was held in 1755 at the French Church (borrowed for the occasion to accommodate large numbers), situated in the Spitalfields area of east London.

This is what Wesley wrote in his journal about the event:

"I mentioned to the congregation another means of increasing serious religion which had been frequently practiced by our forefathers, namely, the joining in a covenant to serve God with all our heart and with all our soul. I explained this for several mornings, and on Friday, many of us kept a fast to the Lord, beseeching him to give us wisdom and strength, to make a promise unto the Lord our God and keep it.

"On Monday ... I explained once more the nature of such an engagement and the manner of doing it acceptably to God.

"At six in the evening we met for that purpose. After I had recited the tenor of the covenant proposed, all those who desired to give testimony of their entrance into this covenant stood up, to the number of about 1,800 persons. Such a night I scarce ever saw before. Surely the fruit of it shall remain forever."

The building in which the historic covenant service took place still stands in Spitalfields, although it has never been a feature on London's Methodist heritage trail. Spital Yard, the birthplace of Susanna Annesley (John's mother), is about as far east of historic Wesley's Chapel as most Methodist pilgrims tend to venture. This is a pity, because the former French chapel is only a short distance away.

Situated on the corner of Fournier Street and Brick Lane, the building symbolizes the successive waves of immigrants who have arrived in the east end of London over several hundred years - many escaping persecution in their homelands. Having arrived, they became a settled community with their own trades and cultural identity. Most existed in dire poverty, which was only diluted by charity, self-help and entrepreneurship

Originally a Huguenot church, built by French Protestants in 1743, the building served not only as a site for the first covenant service but also for other large events that Wesley held later.

In the 1790s, the London Society for Promoting Christianity among the Jews took over the building. But by 1809, 18 years after Wesley's death, it was serving as a Methodist church - a use that continued for nearly 90 years.

A century later, in 1897, the building was re-consecrated as the Great Synagogue for the Machzike Hadath community of eastern European Jews, who had fled the pogroms and found work in the garment trades so prevalent in the Spitalfields area.

In 1976, the building became host to yet another group of worshippers, this time the incoming Bengali community, who transformed it into what is now the London Jamme Masjid mosque. And so the area was changed yet again.

Wesley himself was well aware of the awful living conditions east of Wesley's Chapel and the Foundry. Writing after one of his many visits to the area, he spoke of "such poverty as few can conceive without seeing it." Fortunately, Methodism's later departure from the historic Spitalfields church did not signal the end of its presence in that part of east London.

Times have changed, but Methodist work and witness in the great tradition of Wesley's concern for the poor, the homeless and the stranger in east London, continues today. In the words of the Methodist Covenant Service, which has become a gift from Wesley's tradition to many other denominations:

"Christ has many services to be done; some are easy, others are difficult; some bring honor, others bring reproach; some are suitable to our natural inclinations and material interests, others are contrary to both. In some we may please Christ and please ourselves, in others we cannot please Christ except by denying ourselves. Yet the power to do all these things is given us in Christ, who strengthens us ..."


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Feb. 5, 2004
Native Americans assist with wildfire recovery
A UMNS Report
By David Wilson*

After assisting with wildfire recovery on two reservations in Southern California last December, United Methodist disaster response workers from the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference have returned to continue case management with tribal members on a reservation near San Diego.

Several Native American reservations were affected by the widespread wildfires that hit California in October, and case management is still needed, according to Federal Emergency Management Agency officials. The Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference's Disaster Response Team worked with the San Pasqual Reservation and the neighboring Rincon San Luiseno Reservation in San Diego County.

Helbent Frazier, Native American liaison for FEMA, asked the team members to return to assist at San Pasqual. Disaster Response Coordinator Phillis McCarty, from the Kiowa tribe, and team member Faye Baker, who is Creek, left Jan. 26 for the San Pasqual Reservation and planned to be there for at least two weeks.

More than 70 percent of the San Pasqual Reservation was burned in the October fires, and more than 60 homes were destroyed or damaged, according to McCarty.

The fires affected many of the 510 tribal members. "We did get several things completely accomplished while we were there the first time, but we didn't get to do the case management one-on-one because everyone was so busy working to get temporary housing and other things for the affected people," McCarty said.

In a telephone interview on their fourth day on the San Pasqual Reservation, McCarty said she and Baker were assessing the needs of affected tribal members and meeting with other members, including some from the neighboring La Jolla Reservation.

McCarty said they have been visiting six to seven tribal members each day. In addition to assessing needs, the pair provides basic counseling.

"The stories that we are hearing are really amazing," she said.

McCarty expressed thanks for the San Pasqual tribe providing time for a tribal committee member, Catalina Campos, to contact those who need assistance and act as a liaison between the tribe and the Oklahoma team. The tribe also is providing housing and some meals for the two Oklahoma workers.

The Oklahoma team that visited in December received the same hospitality. The Rev. Anita Phillips, who was part of that group, said some of the neighboring tribes that have hotels have been housing other tribal members who lost their homes in the fires.

"Some of the tribes have been very generous to those that lost everything," she said. "It is another remarkable way to show how native people are helping other natives."

The Federal Emergency Management Agency originally contacted the Rev. Tom Hazelwood, domestic disaster coordinator for the United Methodist Committee on Relief, to see if the Oklahoma conference could send a disaster response team to California. FEMA worked with the conference after tornadoes hit Oklahoma in 1999 and again when fires affected the White Mountain Apache tribe last summer.

The United Methodist Committee on Relief is providing additional financial assistance for the Oklahoma Indian Mission Conference team members.

*Wilson is superintendent of the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference.