Violence leaves most Liberian churches damaged, official says
By United Methodist News Service
As a semblance of peace returns to the capital of Liberia, a United Methodist official in Monrovia reports that most of the churches there have been heavily damaged by the recent violence and that many people – including his family – have little or no food.
Edwin Clarke Jr., an assistant to United Methodist Bishop John Innis, said Aug. 14 that he plans to begin assessing the damages done to the congregations in Monrovia within a few days.
"By next week, we will want to do a complete survey, if God’s willing and if the peacekeepers can deploy throughout Monrovia," he said in a telephone interview.
Hours earlier, rebel forces began withdrawing from Monrovia as Nigerian-led peacekeepers and a limited force of U.S. Marines moved into the capital. The country’s president, former warlord Charles Taylor, went into exile in Nigeria earlier in the week and was succeeded by his former vice president, Moses Blah. The new president flew to the West African country of Ghana Aug. 14 for peace talks with rebel leaders.
Monrovia had been under siege by the rebels for two months. Clarke said that some 2,000 people had been killed in the past 20 days.
First United Methodist Church in Monrovia – a church almost as old as Liberia itself – was among those damaged, Clarke said. "The roof has been riddled with bullets, and one of the rockets fell behind the church and damaged the office of the two pastors."
A rocket also damaged the roof of A.P. Camphor United Methodist Church in nearby Claratown, he said.
Because of the recent violence, both churches, along with Georgia Patten United Methodist Church in Monrovia, haven’t had services in several weeks or longer, according to Clarke.
Because of the violence, Bishop Innis had been unable to return to Monrovia from Ghana, where he had fled when the fighting intensified. Instead, Innis went to the United States Aug. 4 to seek help from congregations there.
In the northeastern town of Ganta, the church’s hospital was looted and the school was damaged, Clarke said. Both will have to be rebuilt or rehabilitated, he said.
United Methodist facilities are housing many internally displaced people in Monrovia. More than 1,000 people are staying at a United Methodist high school, another 500 to 600 are at the Liberia Annual Conference’s central office, and an unknown number are at the United Methodist university, Clarke said.
Clarke’s home was looted by rebels in June. He, his wife, Lorraine, and two small daughters are staying at a friend’s house in Paynesville, several miles from Monrovia. They ran out of rice about 10 days ago and have been living on limited food, primarily plantains and potatoes – "if we can find them," he said.
His family is "holding up," he said, but the hunger has been particularly hard on his girls. "They are crying, especially the 4-years-old one. She’s the one who’s always hungry."
Clarke asked that United Methodists outside Liberia keep the country in prayer. "Just ask the church to pray for us, and if they can do anything for us, we will surely appreciate it."
The United Methodist Committee on Relief is responding to Liberia’s crisis. Contributions may be designated for UMCOR’s Liberia Emergency, Advance #150300, and dropped in church collection plates or sent to UMCOR, 475 Riverside Dr., Room 330, New York, NY 10115. Credit-card donors can go online to http://gbgm-umc.org/umcor/emergency/Liberia.stm or call (800) 554-8583.
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Aug. 15, 2003
Churches reach out during power outage
A UMNS Report
By Kathy Gilbert and Tim Tanton*
When the widespread power outage hit the U.S. Northeast, the Rev. Tom Hazelwood immediately worried about the elderly and the disabled people who might have been stuck in sweltering heat without any way to call for help.
"This is where churches should have a disaster plan that allows for a quick way to check on the most vulnerable parishioners," said Hazelwood, executive with the United Methodist Committee on Relief’s Washington office.
Many churches in the affected areas did that immediately on Aug. 14 or the following morning, making certain that their elderly members and others were all right. Pastors also responded to the outage with the time-honored plan of throwing open their doors and ministering to passersby by providing water, food and a place to rest.
Congregations should reach out to those who depend on life-support machines, who may only have cordless phones, or be stuck in places without ventilation, Hazelwood said. "Churches should think about how they would reach out to someone in a 120-degree house or in a place without lifts or elevators for the disabled."
The power failure hit about 4:30 p.m. Eastern time, knocking out power from southern Canada through New York and northern New Jersey and westward to Ohio and Michigan.
For many people, the outage stirred memories of another crisis – the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks – and people initially feared that the power failure was the result of another attack. Once that fear was dispelled, a general sense of relief took over, United Methodist pastors reported.
In New York City’s Upper East Side, the Rev. William Shillady spent four hours on the sidewalk in front of Park Avenue United Methodist Church, handing out water to people walking by. People congregated around his radio, and Shillady noted that many of them were skeptical about reports that the outage was not caused by terrorists.
"It was very, very funny to just have this sort of reaction," he said the next day. When the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks occurred, people were scared, he said. "Yesterday, people were skeptical. They were coping pretty well with the emergency, but they were skeptical."
Shillady’s church also set up chairs on the sidewalk for people to rest and provided flashlights for those needing to use the restroom in the basement. "It was a party atmosphere," the pastor said.
Like Shillady, the Rev. James "K" Karpen was at church when the outage occurred.
"I was at church and everything went dark – computers and everything," said Karpen, pastor of the Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew, United Methodist, on the Upper West Side. "My administrator came down out of her office … (and) seemed to think I had done something. I wasn’t willing to take responsibility for it."
When they realized the scope of the problem, Karpen decided to keep the church open. Without subways or buses operating, people filled the streets. The church provided a place for people to rest and use the bathroom. Karpen and his family also welcomed people into the parsonage and prepared a large meal with food – including several cartons of ice cream – from the church refrigerator.
Church members developed a network to call elderly people and others, to ensure that everyone was safe. "It was a hot, muggy time too – dangerous for the elderly folks in our congregation," Karpen said.
In the Village’s Washington Square Park, people had a "big party," playing music and hanging out, said the Rev. Bryan Hooper, pastor of nearby Washington Square United Methodist Church. "People were taking it really well."
At his church, a play was under way when the power went out. People hung around afterward and others came in from the street, and Hooper kept the church open as long as he could before darkness fell. "People came to the church as a natural thing," he said.
The following morning, he reported by phone that patches of electricity were coming back on around the city. He saw the potential for serious problems if the outages continued.
Without electricity, accessing ATMs and buying groceries are difficult, he said. A prolonged power outage could leave many – particularly elderly people – vulnerable to the heat.
Loss of electricity meant that Washington Square Church didn’t get its weekly food delivery for its Sunday feeding program, so church workers on Aug. 15 were making 200 bag lunches to give the needy people.
The outage prevented many people from reaching the Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew, which runs the city’s biggest food pantry. Karpen reported that only about 20 families had made it to the food pantry as of early afternoon Aug. 15, compared with a normal count of about 100 families. About 40 percent of those people are homeless, and the rest have jobs but don’t make a living wage, the pastor said.
New Yorkers were treating the outage largely as an inconvenience. Pastors reported that people were helping each other and that a good spirit prevailed. That’s "typical for New Yorkers," Hooper said.
"The nature of the difficulty was quite different" from the aftermath of the terrorist attacks, said the Rev. Don Collier, interim pastor of Asbury United Methodist Church in Peekskill, N.Y. "But the thing that was very apparent (was) the response of people in helping each other and being present for each other." Swarms of people were on the streets of New York City after the subways stopped, but they weren’t upset, he said. "They learned on 9-11 how they could walk home – how to walk miles and miles to get home – and they were doing it again."
One outage-related death, caused by heart attack, was reported in New York City as of midday Aug. 15. People in Cleveland and Detroit were still struggling with severe power and water problems. Calls to church officials in those areas had not been returned by press time.
In contrast to the city problems, Collier’s community regained power three hours after the outage and had electricity throughout the first night. In the morning, the power was off again as utilities implemented rolling blackouts to preserve electricity.
Collier, who is also director of communications for the New York Annual Conference, was driving home from his office in White Plains when the outage occurred. Traffic lights went out and the car radio went off the air, he said. The conference office is typically closed on Fridays during the summer, so he spent the next day at home.
Collier’s church is holding its August services at Bethel Chapel, a 225-year-old structure near the Asbury sanctuary. The building is much the same as it was when Methodist pioneer Francis Asbury preached there more than two centuries ago, so a power outage wouldn’t be a problem for Sunday worship. The chapel has no running water or electricity, Collier said, "so we won’t be bothered at all."
*Gilbert and Tanton are staff writers for United Methodist News Service.
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Aug. 15, 2003
Africa University gets biggest-ever gift for scholarships, projects
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) – United Methodist-related Africa University has received an anonymous gift of real estate valued at US$5.2 million, the largest donation in the school’s 11-year history.
"This is a week of hope and affirmation for Africa and its people," said Rukudzo Murapa, Africa University’s vice chancellor, Aug. 15. "Earlier this week, we witnessed African leaders bringing their influence and resources together in Liberia, showing that with the right help at the right time, Africans can work to confront challenges to peace and prosperity and to solve their own problems. By giving so generously right now, this United Methodist family is asserting its confidence in Africa University and its hope for Africa’s future."
The university will receive the dollars from the gift in about two years, officials said. About US$4 million is designated for the Africa University Endowment Fund, which supports scholarships for needy young Africans. The balance will fund a capital project in one of the institution’s seven faculties or departments.
"Though they wish to remain anonymous, these donors are deeply interested in empowerment and in providing opportunities for African children, (and) that’s why they’ve given in a way that helps to ensure that Africa University will grow and remain fiscally sustainable," said James Salley, the university’s associate vice chancellor for institutional advancement. "They’ve seen the impact of AU graduates in communities across the continent, and they want to see that continue."
Salley, who made the property announcement during a meeting of the United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry, said the commitment of the school’s advancement team and advisory development committee played big roles in securing the gift. The couple that donated the gift had already made a major donation to the school, he added.
Despite Zimbabwe’s political and economic problems, the university began classes Aug. 13 at full capacity, with 1,200 students from more than 20 countries.
Local congregations support the university’s day-to-day needs through the denomination’s Africa University Fund, but the institution has never collected 100 percent of the annual $2.5 million asking. Total funding of that commitment is essential, Salley said, describing the challenges the school faces in rising utility, fuel and food costs. The university increased annual tuition fees this year from US$3,950 to US$5,200.
"As it moves forward towards General Conference 2004, Africa University needs more friends and advocates in the church," Salley said, "… people like this couple, who stand with the church in good times and bad times and who see the university as a wonderful model for the church at its very best: connected, relevant and acting on God’s word in the global arena."
Africa University is based in Mutare, Zimbabwe. It opened in March 1992 and is the only General Conference-approved, degree-granting institution related to the church in Africa.
Information for this story was adapted from a release from the Africa University Development Office.
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Aug. 11, 2003
Women focus on peace, action, social responsibility
By Linda Green*
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) – Making peace is an essential part of being a Christian, yet for too long, the church has not followed Jesus in that respect, according to a United Methodist human rights leader.
"Peace and being called to be peace and justice makers is an essential part of what it means to be a follower of Jesus," said David Wildman, staff executive on human rights and racial justice at the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries in New York. For too long, he said, "the church has only believed in Jesus and not followed Jesus. To be a disciple is to be a faithful follower."
The focus is about action, he said. "Jesus said blessed are the peacemakers, not those that study peace, but those that make peace."
Wildman was one of several study group leaders during the United Methodist Women’s National Seminar, held Aug. 2-8 at Scarritt-Bennett Center in Nashville. About 250 women attended the event to focus on social justice issues and responsibility and answer the question: "If not me, who?" The event is held every four years.
Throughout the week, each participant studied a specific social issue, with leadership from experts on the topic. Wildman led an issue group called "Peace/War: Pushing Up Daisies."
Before the United States went to war with Iraq, leaders from around the world were championing peace, he noted. "I asked myself, ‘If everyone is for peace, how come we keep marching toward war and waging war?’" Peace, he said, is defining the positive aspects and what it is you are saying "no" to. Peacemaking also involves saying "no" to war, he said.
"Peace is not the absence of open conflict but the presence of justice in people’s lives," Wildman said. Justice materializes when people are given respect as equals, concerns and pains are acknowledged, and ways of gathering around the table in fellowship are emphasized, he said
The United States, he said, accounts for half of the world’s military expenditures in a given year. That spending is to defend 4 to 5 percent of the world’s population, he said. "Jesus said if there is a problem that you face, examine first the log in your own eye."
If Christians in the United States are concerned about violence and the spread of weapons in the world, including weapons of mass destruction, "we need to look at the log in our own eye," he said. "The United States has more weapons of mass destruction than any other country. The United States has more bases and more military personnel in other countries than any other country, and (it) is spending close to $12,000 a second on war and readiness for war. What is the United States devoting to peace?"
Christians and people of all faiths have different answers to the question of whether war is just, he said. It is difficult to find statements by Christ that support war, he said, adding that the just war theory itself didn’t emerge until Christianity became the religion of the Roman Empire under Constantine. "The early church was often on the receiving end of violence and war."
Although the Bible contains violence, the overwhelming message is one of peace of justice, Wildman said. "Those stories that are most violent and seem to be calling on military action and resorting to war could be read as, ‘war is the fruit of those who sow injustice.’ So, if you mistreat or abuse people, the consequences of those actions will often be by military action."
Throughout the seminar, participants focused on concerns such as education, ethics, globalization, faith and health, and examined how those affect women and children.
Aruna Gnanadason, the World Council of Churches’ justice, peace and creation program director in Switzerland, led Bible studies each morning. She discussed biblical and contemporary women who brought about change or helped end injustices, and she showed how women in Somalia, Latvia and India had the courage to face authority in non-aggressive ways. "Aggression only leads to more aggression," she said.
Gnanadason led the United Methodist Women in exploring how to use their vulnerability as women to address authority and power and counter injustice. Citing Samuel 25:2-42, in which Abigail keeps David from killing innocent people, she noted, "Women find power in their powerlessness."
Though conflicts rage around the world, Gnanadason said women "are ambivalent about what we should do, (and) we have stopped doing anything. In a way, we need to continue to show that we will not tolerate this. We will not allow our young people to die. We need to talk about how to become more (resistant to) military plans and not allow the military to use our young people in the way they have done so. There are many things we need to do because if we stop now, there will be another war."
Responding to a question of whether war is "sometimes good," Gnanadason said, "In my opinion, never.
"Violence can never resolve problems, and we have proof of that throughout history," she said. The solution, she said is a stronger United Nations, a respected body that can respond to the dictators of the world. " No government should think that they can police the whole world," she said.
At one point in the seminar, the United Methodist Women engaged in peaceful action by standing in solidarity with Women in Black. The international peace networks stages silent vigils each week in support of peace. The vigils began in Israel in 1988 by women protesting Israel’s occupaction of the West Bank. The United Methodist Women also hosted the Kensington Welfare Rights Union as its members marched through Nashville on their way to Washington to raise awareness of poor people’s plight.
The National Seminar, which once spanned five weeks, was inherited from the former Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and is based on the belief that the church and Christians have a responsibility to address political and social issues.
During the gathering, the women looked at the history of United Methodist Women’s social justice efforts, engaged in problem-solving and skill-building activities, and made a commitment to return home ready to work for peace. They looked at United Methodist resolutions, how issues impact women and children, and the stories behind the issues. They also participated in hands-on social action throughout the Nashville area.
The hands-on events helped give the women "concrete action plans for being Christian activists," said Lois M. Dauway, who heads the Christian social responsibility section of the Women’s Division, which administers United Methodist Women.
United Methodist Women is a million-member organization that seeks to foster spiritual growth, develop leaders and advocate for justice. Members raise approximately $20 million annually for projects and programs related to women, youth and children in the United States and in more than 100 countries worldwide.
*Green is United Methodist News Service’s Nashville, Tenn., news director.
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Aug. 20, 2003
New United Methodist ad focuses on giving
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) – The United Methodist Church will soon begin airing a new national television advertisement depicting the benefit of giving of one’s self.
The commercial, "The Gift," will air primarily in a 30-second format on 17 national cable networks and NBC beginning Sept. 2, said the Rev. Larry Hollon, top executive at United Methodist Communications.
"This message invites viewers to embrace the idea of giving of themselves to others," said Hollon, in announcing the denomination’s advertising plans. "This new ad conveys a traditional Christian message of sharing and speaks of God’s active presence in the world through us," he said.
"It also comes at a time of heightened civic-mindedness in this country. The generally good-natured behavior of those affected by the recent power failure in the Northeast and Midwest is evidence of our basic concern for the welfare of others," he added.
"The Gift" portrays a woman silently and anonymously leaving wrapped packages of various sizes in different places. The woman returns home to find a wrapped gift on her own doorstep.
The spot concludes with: "If you’re searching for ways to share your gifts with others – and possibly even receive something in return – our hearts, our minds and our doors are always open. The people of The United Methodist Church."
The television advertising is part of the denomination’s national Igniting Ministry initiative, a four-year, $20 million effort spearheaded by United Methodist Communications. More than 92 million television viewers have seen the commercials since the effort debuted in 2001. The campaign’s success in raising awareness of the denomination and increasing first-time worship attendance in the United States has led UMCom officials to propose significantly expanding the program beginning in 2005.
The denomination airs commercials three times a year-- in the Easter, back-to-school and Christmas seasons--because they represent times people are most receptive to spiritual messages, officials note.
The commercial is available for news media previewing at www.ignitingministry.org . VHS news media preview copies are available by contacting Pam Price at (615) 742-5405.
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Aug. 20, 2003
Historian: women’s place in Methodism inconsistent
MADISON, N.J. (UMNS) – Early Methodism may have accepted women’s participation more than in subsequent years, according to a historian who has specialized in the topic.
Jean Miller Schmidt said John Wesley, who founded the Methodist movement in England in the 18th century, did not feel he could authorize women preachers as the Quakers did in his time, but he extended "the extraordinary call" to them as well as to men.
He encouraged women to perform a diaconal role, often calling on them to be the "visitor of the sick," a specific office in the classes or small groups he created to foster the spiritual life of believers. Women were welcome to pray in public, witness and exhort, noted Schmidt in an address to the Fifth Historical Convocation Aug. 16, held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the United Methodist Commission on Archives and History.
Schmidt, the Gerald L. Schlessman professor of Methodist studies at United Methodist-related Iliff School of Theology, Denver, received the 2003 Distinguished Service Award for her contributions to United Methodist history. She is particularly interested in North American religious history of the 19th and 20th centuries. She is the author of Souls or the Social Order: the Two-Party System in American Protestantism and Grace Sufficient: A History of Women in American Methodism.
Although women were pioneers in the Methodist movement, men held the institutional power and eventually told women that their place was in the home, she said.
Schmidt cited Mary L. Griffith of Mauch Chunk, Pa., who appealed to the General Conference – in writing because women were not allowed to speak. Like others, she felt called to preach but ordination was denied to women. She pointed out that women were two-thirds of the membership of the church and that women were being shut out of the functions of the church because of their gender.
"If God calls, how can the church refuse the call without coming into controversy with its divine master?" Schmidt quoted Griffith’s message of 1880.
Today’s ordained women "stand on the shoulders" of laywomen who struggled to serve, Schmidt said. She noted that the United Methodist Church, beginning in 1980, has elected 14 women bishops.
"We give thanks for all that has been accomplished," she said. "But the struggles still go on and go on."
During the commission meeting, the Rev. Justo L. Gonzalez was named to receive the 2004 Distinguished Service Award. Born in 1937 in Havana, Cuba, Gonzalez has taught at the Evangelical Seminary of Puerto Rico, Candler School of Theology and the Interdenominational Theological Center, both in Atlanta, and Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Ga. The author of more than 75 books, he edited the 14-volume Spanish edition of The Works of Wesley .
In other business, commission members voted to forward a resolution to the 2004 General Conference asking every annual conference and every congregation to celebrate 50 continuous years of full clergy rights for women in 2006.
The voting members also reviewed a resolution calling for establishment of an African-American Methodist Heritage Center, but after discussion decided to suggest an endowed position for a librarian at the church’s present center on the Drew University campus. The librarian would preserve ethnic minority materials and make them broadly available to the church and the public.
Grants totaling $28,000 were awarded to assist in the ongoing maintenance of 11 heritage landmarks related to the history of the United Methodist Church.
Voting members also agreed to recommend to General Conference the addition of another such landmark. New Hope Baptist Church in Boston, formerly Tremont Street Methodist Church, was the site of the founding of the Methodist Episcopal Church’s Woman’s Foreign Missionary Society in 1869.
