May 25, 2004
Faith-based groups respond to Midwest floods
By United Methodist News Service
Faith-based groups in many states affected by recent storms are responding with relief efforts, even as a new round of tornadoes struck Missouri and Kansas May 24.
More than 100 tornadoes as well as flooding hit the Central Plains states during the May 22-23 weekend. Kansas is bracing for more flooding following heavy rains across much of the state during the week of May 17.
Church World Service (CWS) Disaster Response and Recovery Liaisons has been gathering information in Nebraska, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Illinois and Indiana.
The opening worship of the Detroit Annual Conference on April 21, was punctuated by severe thunderstorms with hail, high winds and heavy rain, said Ann Whiting, conference communicator for the Detroit and West Michigan Annual Conferences.
"A tornado warning was issued for Lenawee County, where United Methodist-related Adrian College is located, after at least one funnel cloud was sighted," she said.
Whiting said waves of severe weather has affected the southeastern part of the state since April 21, with 4-6 inches of rain falling in some locations. There is extensive flooding in Macomb County, northeast of Detroit.
"A barn belonging to a member of (Chelsea) First United Methodist Church, west of Ann Arbor, Mich. was struck by lightening and burned to the ground," she said.
Indiana United Methodists reported no major damage, but power outages affected several thousand families, said the Rev. Daniel Gangler, director of communications.
Congregations in the West Ohio Annual Conference are going to be asked to help with relief and repairs because the extent of the flood damage is unlikely to meet the amount at which federal agencies become involved, according to the Rev. Douglas Dowson, a conference disaster relief coordinator.
In Nebraska and Iowa, members of the statewide Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster coalition are working with CWS; faith-based disaster coordinators; and state, local and federal emergency managers. Iowa Interfaith Disaster Recovery Organization will take the lead in long-term faith-based recovery work in that state.
The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) is sending emergency grants to both Nebraska and Iowa. UMCOR is in contact with United Methodist conference representatives who are assessing needs in many states.
"Damages are still being assessed in many areas, and UMCOR is considering where to focus its resources for long-term recovery," said Tom Hazelwood, executive secretary for disaster response in the U.S. for UMCOR.
Bishop Gregory V. Palmer of the Iowa Annual Conference received a $10,000 grant from UMCOR to help with relief efforts throughout the state.
The Wapsipinicon River in Independence, Iowa, crested May 24 at 20.6 feet, far above flood stage of 12 feet, according to the National Weather Service. That state saw 19 tornadoes, hail, high winds and heavy rains. As much as 9 inches of rain fell over the weekend near Ames.
Marcia Young, disaster coordinator for the Iowa conference, is working with state and federal agencies to evaluate how the United Methodist Church and UMCOR can best facilitate the most effective use of time and resources, said Kristin Knudson Harris, conference editor.
Thurman United Methodist Church, near the Nebraska border, sustained roof damage from tree limbs. "While their damage was light comparatively, there was quite a bit of damage in the community," she said.
"We have been in touch with our congregation in Rolfe, the closest community to Bradgate - the town that sustained the heaviest damage in Iowa. They and the Faith United Methodist Church in Humboldt are working with parishioners who may need assistance.
"More pressing than wind and tornado damage is flooding. Rivers are expected to crest later today (May 25) and we'll know more after that event with regard to damage and needs," she said.
Lutheran Disaster Response is working with local contacts to assess damages. "The immediate needs and damages are being assessed and interfaith efforts are beginning," reported Gil Furst from that organization. "Many devastated areas are still inaccessible or closed to relief efforts because of dangerous debris that must be removed. It is certain that major cleanup will be needed, as well as counseling services for those whose lives have been affected by this destructive weather."
The Christian Reformed World Relief Committee was also working to help assess damages in several states. The agency expected to be involved in a response that includes cleaning up debris, surveying the needs of various communities, and repairing and rebuilding homes for those most in need.
One tornado demolished the small town of Hallam, Nebraska - home to 276 people --where one person died. In that state, 37 people were injured, 158 homes were destroyed and 57 homes were damaged in Lancaster, Saline, Gage and Cass counties combined.
In the northern Illinois community of Gurnee, residents battled the rising waters of the Des Plaines River on May 24 in what people were calling the town's worst flood in two decades. The river in Gurnee is expected to crest May 26 at 12.7 feet - 5.7 feet over flood level.
United Methodists in Minnesota will respond to weather-related damage in Illinois, according to Victoria Rebeck, director of communications, Minnesota Annual Conference.
An appeal has been made for people to bring flood bucket supplies to the Minnesota Annual Conference session in June. Officials with UMCOR report that by the end of this week all remaining flood buckets in stock at the Midwest Mission Distribution Center will be disbursed to Illinois storm survivors.
So far this spring, the Midwest center has responded to flooded and storm damaged areas in Minnesota, North Dakota, and Northern Illinois by delivering hundreds of flood buckets and cleanup supplies.
The above story was adapted from an article that first appeared on the Disaster News Network on May 25.
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May 20, 2004
Legalized gay marriages underscore United Methodist differences
A UMNS Report By Amy Green*
The Rev. Susan Johnson Morrison marked Massachusetts’ first day of legalized gay marriage by going to the town hall of Lexington, a Boston suburb, where balloons, banners, roses and song added to an atmosphere already giddy with newlyweds. But Morrison wasn’t giddy.
A Massachusetts resident and United Methodist pastor, she was torn by how to minister to gay church members who now have a civil right to marriage that her denomination doesn’t recognize.
“It definitely has a sobering effect on United Methodists ... who are going to have to make decisions about how they’re going to make their witness,” said Morrison, pastor of the 225-member Lexington United Methodist Church. “Massachusetts just heightens that division.”
Weeks after the 11 million-member United Methodist Church voted to retain its stance that homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching, the debate around Massachusetts’ newly legalized gay marriages reveals divisions that continue to exist on the issue in the nation’s second-largest Protestant denomination.
The votes came at General Conference, the church’s largest legislative assembly, held every four years. Nearly 1,000 delegates from across the globe gathered April 27-May 7 in Pittsburgh to make laws for the denomination. In the process, they endured an ongoing debate on homosexuality that included an unofficial proposal to consider splitting the church.
While legalized gay marriage in San Francisco, Massachusetts and elsewhere has plunged the nation into debate and encouraged President Bush, himself United Methodist, to endorse a constitutional ban, a General Conference vote recognizing marriage as only between a man and woman was approved with little discussion.
The petition, approved May 1 in a 624-184 vote, added language to the church’s Social Principles supporting “laws in civil society that define marriage as the union of one man and one woman.” The statement was in keeping with the church’s long-held stance discouraging gay marriage. However, the assembly didn’t approve a petition supporting a federal marriage amendment.
Les Fowler, who served on a legislative committee that dealt with homosexuality issues, said delegates could have offered better guidance on gay marriage.
“We are certainly not united as a church, in my opinion,” said Fowler, a dentist in Asheboro, N.C. A self-described evangelical Methodist, he believes God intends marriage to be between a man and woman. “All we have done is just add to the confusion.”
That confusion is perhaps most evident in Kansas City, Mo., where members of Trinity United Methodist Church grew so bothered by the denomination’s policy that they agreed to quit holding marriage services. The 275-member church adopted its stance last fall, with 92 percent voting approval. After months of discussion, the church considered the moratorium the best compromise to be fair to homosexuals and in keeping with the United Methodist Church’s Book of Discipline , said the Rev. Sally Haynes, Trinity’s pastor.
“I think it’s a huge loss that one house of worship is not a place where people can get married,” she said. “It’s a poor solution, and I think we all acknowledge that, but given our current status in the church, it’s the best solution that we could come up with.’’
In San Francisco, the Rev. Karen Oliveto of Bethany United Methodist Church awaits resolution of a complaint against her for marrying nine gay couples this spring. She does not believe the Bible prohibits homosexuality, and so when members of her congregation approached her about marrying them, she says she couldn’t turn them down.
Oliveto, a delegate to General Conference, believes there wasn’t more debate on gay marriage because the issue came up early and quickly before she and other new delegates understood the process. She now frets that the United Methodist Church is at odds with a new trend that eventually will gain footing across the nation.
“We have a ( Book of Discipline ) that’s already out of date, and we’re going to have to live with it for four more years, as more and more states recognize gay marriage,” she said. “We’re not going to be able to offer ministry without the threat of trial, and I think that’s horrible.”
But Mark Tooley, director of UMAction, an unofficial United Methodist committee of the Institute of Religion and Democracy, argues that heterosexual marriage in the United States needs protection. That is why he sponsored the legislation at General Conference recognizing marriage only between a man and woman, he said.
He believes the vote on his petition was significant, coming from a mainline Protestant denomination with a membership that reflects the political beliefs of the nation’s electorate.
“I wish the church, especially my denomination, had more to say about the issue of marriage in Western society and especially the declining importance of marriage,” he said.
Fowler said he is saddened by the gay marriages now legal in Massachusetts.
“I earnestly feel like marriage is an entity that was ordained by God himself,” he said. “God instituted marriage, and therefore to go against the wishes of God, surely that cannot come out to be a good thing.”
Bishop Susan Hassinger of Massachusetts said she worries about division in the church.
“Our ( Book of) Discipline supports civil rights for all persons, and I think part of what we do at this point is recognize the state of Massachusetts has indicated ... for the civil rights of gays and lesbians to be recognized they need to have marriage available to them,” she said. “Based on our discipline, I support that civil right.”
Morrison visited Lexington’s town hall May 17 to show her support but said her church and other United Methodists in the state remain divided. Her congregation will sponsor a local dinner celebrating the new marriages of gay residents, but unlike other Christian and Jewish places of worship in town, it will not marry them.
Bishop Ken Carder of Mississippi believes homosexuality will be a divisive issue in the church until the denomination addresses the United States’ deteriorating emphasis on marriage and its escalating divorce rate.
“I’m not sure the church has very much credibility in dealing with gay marriage because we haven’t done a very convincing job on heterosexual marriage,” he said. “My own sense is much of the conflict and the confusion resulting from gay marriage ... is symptomatic of our failure as a society and a church to deal with the meaning and purpose of marriage in general.”
*Green is a freelance journalist based in Nashville, Tenn.
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May 28, 2004
African churches welcome agreement to end Sudan’s civil war
By Fredrick Nzwili
Ecumenical News International
NAIROBI, Kenya —Songs, ululation and drums marked the signing of key agreements May 26 between the government of Sudan and the main rebel group, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army, that pave the way for a comprehensive peace accord to end a 21-year-long civil war.
“This is superb. We have been waiting for the agreement for a long time. We are really tired of war,” Sudanese Roman Catholic Bishop Joseph Abangite Gasi told Ecumenical News International after the signing ceremony in Naivasha, a town about 80 kilometers west of Nairobi. “But the church expects this comes as real peace. The people also expect true, just and long lasting peace.”
Sudan’s Islamic government and the SPLA have been fighting for control of the mainly animist and Christian south since 1983. The war has killed an estimated 2 million people and displaced millions of others.
At the signing ceremony near the Kenyan capital, the Rev. Mvume Dandala, a Methodist pastor and chief executive of the All Africa Conference of Churches, described the agreement as a call for churches to mobilize quickly to help make peace a reality on the ground for the people of Sudan.
“It is going to be a big challenge,” Dandala noted.
The foes signed three protocols on power sharing and the administration of three disputed areas in central Sudan. They still have to agree on a final cease-fire and the procedural details to implement the final peace agreement, which is expected to happen within a month.
“This victory is not only for the people of Sudan but also the African continent,” Kenya’s President Mwai Kibaki said in a statement. “I hope it will accelerate peace in Somalia.”
The accord is not related, however, to conflict in the Darfur region of western Sudan, where fighting between the government and rebels has raised fears of ethnic cleansing.
Still, the Kenyan foreign minister, Kalonzo Musyoka, said he hoped the agreement between the Sudanese government and the SPLA would have a ripple effect on that conflict.
“Even before they sign the final peace agreement, I expect the Sudanese people at the ground will get the message, embrace each other and live together in peace,” he said.
Jubilant SPLA rebel leader John Garang said after the ceremony: “We have reached the crest of the last hill on our tortuous ascent to the height of peace. We believe the remaining is a flat ground.”
The government and rebels have agreed to form a government of national unity but with significant elements of devolution. They have already agreed that the south should be autonomous for six years, after which the people will undertake a referendum on whether to secede or not. They have also agreed that Sharia (Islamic law) will apply only to the north.
The protocols also set forth how oil revenues will be shared, and they allow the establishment of separate monetary systems in the south and north, and the formation of two separate armies.
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May 28, 2004
UMCOR to help Albania development by selling sunflower oil
By Linda Beher*
NEW YORK (UMNS) — Farmers in Albania will soon harvest and market a crop long absent from their region: sunflowers.
The United Methodist Committee on Relief w ill sell about 4.2 metric tons of crude sunflower oil and use the proceeds to implement sunflower production in Albania. The international nonprofit humanitarian aid organization is part of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries.
Using proceeds from commodity sales for agricultural development is known as “monetization.” In addition to supporting development activities, such sales introduce foodstuffs into a market where food deficits may exist.
Albania imports most of its sunflower products, so introduction of the new commodity is expected to stimulate the local marketplace. Monetization also is expected to energize the local economy through generation of new jobs. The United States Department of Agriculture donated the oil to the United Methodist Committee on Relief.
In cooperation with the Albanian agricultural agency and local rural organizations, the relief agency will select about 50 farmers to receive business and technical support in growing oil-grade seed. The first step is identification of the most suitable sunflower seed for the region.
“The sunflower oil and seed project in Albania is a great example of self-development for economic empowerment,” said the Rev. R. Randy Day, chief executive of the Board of Global Ministries. “The project reminds me of the parable of the sower in the New Testament, where seeds fall into fertile earth and bring forth a bumper crop. We can only pray that we will have the same results with sunflower seeds in Albania.”
Paul Dirdak, UMCOR’s chief executive, expects the program to “facilitate positive change in productivity and profitability for farmers and processors alike.” Agriculture is a chief source of income for Albania, though the population is shifting to urban centers.
Contributions for the ongoing work in Albania should be designated to “Albania Emergency Advance No. 328235” and dropped in church collection plates or mailed to UMCOR at 475 Riverside Dr., Room 330, New York, NY 10115. Credit-card donations can be made by calling (800) 554-8583.
*Beher is communications director of UMCOR.
