Aug. 15, 2002
Church relies on policies, awareness to combat sexual abuse
By Joretta Purdue and Tim Tanton*

Headlines about clergy sexual misconduct are prompting members of all denominations to look hard at their own churches and ask pointed questions: To what extent is this a problem in our congregations? What is being done to address it? Are our members, especially young people, safe?

Though the Catholic Church is struggling with a growing sexual abuse scandal, the problem of clergy misconduct is not isolated to one church. United Methodists and their counterparts in other denominations have also contended with cases of sexual misconduct over the years. Most recently, a former United Methodist youth pastor in Jackson, Tenn., was indicted by a grand jury for sexually abusing three teen-age boys.

In addition to issues of protecting church members from misconduct, whether by clergy or laity, the problems in the Catholic Church raise questions about accountability and leadership. Could a cover-up occur in which Protestant church officials put a lid on clergy sexual abuse and simply move offenders to different congregations?

United Methodist leaders who have worked on such issues say that prevention and education are emphasized throughout the denomination, and pastors and bishops are trained and retrained. Moreover, they say, the church’s process for handling misconduct complaints decreases the likelihood of a high-level cover-up similar to what the Catholic Church experienced in Boston.

"What the denomination … does is to take every allegation seriously," said the Rev. Stephanie Hixon, who heads the staff of the United Methodist Commission on the Status and Role of Women, headquartered in Evanston, Ill.

In May, the denomination’s Council of Bishops issued a statement on church-related sexual abuse, saying in part, "We are committed to addressing sexual misconduct promptly and forthrightly … [C]lergy and other persons within our communion who abuse children or who are sexual predators will not be knowingly shielded or protected."

"The United Methodist Church is in front of the curve," retired Bishop Joe A. Wilson of Georgetown, Texas, told United Methodist News Service. "I think that we have dealt with procedures, and we have dealt seriously with sexual misconduct for the last 10 years, and if there’s any conference that does not have a policy intact and any bishop who is not thoroughly trained in how to manage such accusations, then I would be very surprised." As Fort Worth (Texas) Area bishop in the 1990s, Wilson dealt with one of the most-publicized cases of clergy misconduct, when several women accused a prominent pastor of sexual harassment.

The denomination’s policy has evolved through the years, Hixon said. Current policy is expressed primarily in two resolutions of the General Conference, the denomination’s highest legislative body. One deals with sexual ethics of church personnel – paid and volunteer – and the other outlines actions to reduce the possibility of child sexual abuse and measures to employ if such an accusation is made.

Resolutions

"The United Methodist Church renews its stand in opposition to the sin of sexual misconduct and abuse within the church," according to the resolution titled "Sexual Ethics Within Ministerial Relationships." The statement, adopted by General Conference in 2000, is a revision of an earlier version passed in 1996 and is included in the church’s Book of Resolutions.

Sexual misconduct in the ministerial relationship is "a betrayal of sacred trust, a violation of the ministerial role and the exploitation of those who are vulnerable in that relationship," according to the resolution. Such abuse occurs when a person in a ministerial role of leadership, lay or clergy, engages in sexual contact or sexualized behavior with a congregant, client, employee, student, staff member, coworker or volunteer.

"Sexualized behavior," according to the resolution, includes such actions as "displaying sexually suggestive visual materials, making sexual comments or innuendo about one’s own or another person’s body," as well as kissing, touching and sexual intercourse.

"Those in positions of authority in the church, both clergy and lay, have been given much responsibility, vested with a sacred trust to maintain an environment that is safe for people to live and grow in God’s love," the resolution states. "Misconduct of a sexual nature inhibits the full and joyful participation of all in the community of God."

When people are ordained as clergy, they enter into a covenant or sacred trust, Hixon explained. Similarly, those who fill leadership roles in any aspect of the church’s life – including camp counselors and youth leaders – are entrusted with maintaining integrity and safety, she said.

The resolution "Reducing the Risk of Child Sexual Abuse in the Church," passed by the 1996 General Conference, recommends specific measures for prevention to congregations, annual conferences (regional administrative units) and churchwide agencies. The resolution cites Christ’s warning to adults of the consequences of causing children to stumble. It also quotes the denomination’s Social Principles: "Children must be protected from economic, physical, emotional and sexual exploitation and abuse."

Safe sanctuaries

The need that fired the 1996 resolution also brought about regional training events and the creation of the manual Safe Sanctuaries: Reducing the Risk of Abuse in the Church. The churchwide Boards of Discipleship and Global Ministries developed the book, in cooperation with the risk management area of the General Council on Finance and Administration. The manual contains suggestions, sample forms and other information to help congregations make their own plans for child abuse prevention.

Peggy Halsey, an executive with the Board of Global Ministries, has been encouraging its use for the four years since it was published. Training sessions across the United States also were included in the effort, said Halsey, who deals with issues facing women, children and families. Themanual is a guide for local congregations and is available from Discipleship Resources at (800) 685-4370.

Halsey wants every congregation to implement policies and procedures addressing the issue as called for by the resolution.

"Churches can do this on a step-by-step basis," she said. "They can begin to implement a plan." She advises congregations, particularly small ones, not to be intimidated by the scope or cost of the recommendations but to begin a step at a time.

For example, the denomination recommends that at least two unrelated adults be present with any child or group of children, but a church that has just four Sunday school teachers might not be able to meet that requirement immediately. In such a case, the church might add one teacher to circulate at random among the four classes while others are being sought, she said.

Another aspect of this problem concerns the church’s responsibility when a member of the congregation is a convicted sex offender. In response to a number of inquiries, last summer Halsey wrote an article on "When the Abuser Is One of Us" for Interpreter, the denomination’s magazine for church leaders. In the article, she suggested that the church council develop a written and signed covenant with the offender. If the offender is opposed to a covenant, Halsey observed, then he or she probably has not really come to terms with the problem.

Hixon praised abuse survivors for their courage to break the silence, for saying what was helpful and what was not, and for letting the church know how better to be the church. The church has learned that "there has to be comprehensive response," she said.

Some recent training events have been devoted to teaching church members how to provide care when misconduct has occurred. Many people are affected in such cases, Hixon noted. Besides the victim or victims, their families, the congregation and the minister’s family may need help.

"There has been a broad range of training focused on clergy," Hixon said. The church’s bishops have had several training sessions on this subject over the years. Now, more and more laypeople are also being trained.

Taking action

Retired Bishop Jack Tuell of Des Moines, Wash., is a former attorney and an expert on church law. He said he knew of only one case during his tenure – in the 1970s and ’80s – in which a clergy person was accused of having sexual contact with a minor, and the church dealt directly with that situation. The clergyperson surrendered his or her credentials and left the ministry, Tuell said.

As leader of the Fort Worth Area in the early 1990s, Bishop Wilson dealt with one of the most widely publicized clergy misconduct cases in the United Methodist Church. The Rev. Barry Bailey, a well-known pastor who led one of the denomination’s largest congregations – First United Methodist Church in Fort Worth, Texas – retired in 1994 after several women complained that he had sexually harassed them.

Several months after leaving office, Bailey surrendered his clergy credentials rather than face a church trial. Many of the women filed lawsuits, but the church settled the cases; Wilson stated at the time that the settlements were not admissions of guilt by any party. Bailey always maintained that he was innocent.

When a bishop receives a report of misconduct, taking immediate action is important, according to Wilson. "The most effective bishops are those who will take those stories and do their research and determine whether or not there is truth in them." Care must be given in dealing with both sides, treating each with fairness and balance, he added.

"We have to review the lives of those who have been hurt and touched by misconduct, and we have to be able to give them some margin of credibility and also to take seriously their hurt and their pain," Wilson said. "And once we do that, then I think we as a church … have a procedure that is balanced. We’re not trying to in any way prejudge, but we’re trying to accept both sides in a balanced way and use our very best skills in researching their validity."

A wise bishop consults with the conference chancellor and follows the procedures laid out in the Book of Discipline for dealing with misconduct cases, he said.

Could the United Methodist Church experience a high-level cover-up of clergy misconduct? "My judgment is that it would be much more unlikely to happen," Wilson said, "and I think the reason is that our church has taken very seriously the pain caused by sexual misconduct of any nature."

He "would be very surprised in this day and time" if a bishop would deliberately participate in a cover-up, he said. "The intentional cover-up is what I would doubt. That’s primarily because there’s been so much training, and there have been so many reviews of what we do."

The procedures are there, he said. He added that the church has "accepted very early on the value and the sacredness of relationships of genders different than our own, and we have always recognized that. … That’s part of our whole inclusive policy that the United Methodist Church has been very strong in."

Purdue is news director of United Methodist News Service’s Washington office. Tanton is news editor for UMNS


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Aug. 15, 2002
United Methodists use education to head off potential abuse
By United Methodist News Service*

United Methodist leaders are focusing on training and education as a first line of defense against possible sexual abuse problems.

Around the U.S. connection, clergy members and even lay people are participating in workshops or seminars dealing with sexual ethics and the denomination’s policies. Such events have been going on for years. Many of the church’s annual conferences, or regional units, held a round of training sessions on sexual ethics at their yearly business sessions this summer.

"Education is an ongoing process," said the Rev. Stephanie Hixon, who heads the staff of the United Methodist Commission on the Status and Role of Women in Evanston, Ill. "The best experts in the field continue to learn about these issues."

The Central Pennsylvania Annual Conference held a workshop in May featuring Joy Melton, the author of the manual Safe Sanctuaries: Reducing the Risk of Abuse in the Church. Bishop Neil L. Irons required all conference clergy to participate, and lay members were encouraged to attend, said Peggy Halsey, a Board of Global Ministries staff person who deals with issues facing women, children and families.

In Western North Carolina, Bishop Charlene Kammerer required all of the more than 800 appointed clergy to attend one of three scheduled training sessions on sexual ethics. More than 1,000 clergy and church staff turned out for the three sessions, held in mid-May. The training had been scheduled for more than a year.

Kammerer issued a statement reaffirming the denomination’s stance and continual revisions of its policy on clergy sexual misconduct as recorded in the 2000 Book of Discipline. She admonished the clergy that if information comes to her about any clergy sexual misconduct she must and will act on it. "I am no longer just your colleague and friend," she said. "I am your supervisor, and what you share with me will not be confidential. This is my posture."

At one of the sessions, the Rev. Mary Jane Wilson-Parsons, a sexual assault counselor, spoke to more than 500 United Methodist clergy and church staff assembled at Wesley Memorial United Methodist Church in High Point, N.C.

"The very nature and work of ministry is intimate," she said. "It is because of these intimacies that we run the risk of engaging in unethical situations with those whom we work with and supervise."

Wilson-Parsons cautioned the clergy to guard their role as pastor. "It is never appropriate for clergy to engage in a consensual love affair with one of their parishioners."

Western North Carolina adopted a policy on sexual misconduct by church professionals at its annual session in June last year. Among other items, the two-page policy defines sexual misconduct/harassment and lists procedures for reporting and responding to complaints.

Throughout the daylong sessions, clergy delved into resources related to power and control in ministerial relationships, clarifications on healthy relationship boundaries, watched a video on handling clergy sexual misconduct and studied a graph on clergy misconduct ranging from boundary violations to rape.

"This was very informative," said Harold Zimmerman, local pastor of Cornatzer United Methodist Church in Advance, N.C. "This is an issue that has concerned me for some time. I tend to be a hugger, and I don’t want to do anything that may have a bad perception."

Dawn M. Hand, director of communications in the Western North Carolina Annual Conference, contributed to this report.


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Aug. 13, 2002
Lawsuit charges discrimination at Georgia children’s home
By Alice M. Smith*

ATLANTA (UMNS) -- A lawsuit has been filed against the United Methodist Children’s Home in Decatur, Ga., charging that it discriminates in employment practices while receiving state funding to care for children placed in its care.

The children’s home had yet not been served with the lawsuit and could not comment on it.

"We can’t really say anything at this point because we don’t have the complaint, and we don’t know all of the issues involved or what’s alleged," said the Rev. Richard Puckett, director of development at the home and a former attorney who has been designated spokesman in the case.

However, Lambda Legal, a national organization that litigates for the rights of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender people and persons with AIDS, distributed a nationwide release Aug. 1, announcing the filing of the lawsuit by seven Georgia taxpayers, including a lesbian youth counselor and a Jewish psychologist who said they were denied the right to work at the home because of sexual orientation or religious beliefs.

The case could have ramifications not only for the Decatur children’s home but also for numerous other religious-related agencies that provide services to the public and receive government funding. The lawsuit could also impact the Bush administration’s faith-based initiatives effort, which is advocating more federal funding to religious-related groups that provide social services.

The legal process will likely be a lengthy one, Puckett said. From the time the home is served the complaint, it will have 30 days to respond, and "along with the complaint we’ll have a bunch of questions we’ll have to answer. ... We’ll respond to the complaint and to the questions, and then there will be a whole period of discovery, possibly more interrogatories and depositions that will go on for several months. There’s likely to be a hearing about one thing or another trying to challenge certain aspects of the case ... long before it gets to trial."

The home’s primary concern, at this point and in the future, is caring for the abused and emotionally disturbed children placed in its care. "We want to continue to care for our children and provide the best care we can for them even in the midst (of the litigation)," Puckett said.

The home receives funding from the state of Georgia to care for the children placed there by the state, and that support accounts for about 40 percent of the home’s budget, Puckett said. However, this "per diem" rate for each child only covers about half the cost of caring for the child, including providing a place to live with constant qualified adult supervision and the many services disturbed children need to help them become fully functioning members of society.

According to Lambda supervising attorney Susan Sommer, "The state must hold the United Methodist Children’s Home accountable and stop funding the home as long as it continues to use tax dollars to force its religious beliefs on young people in state custody and to discriminate in employment."

In addition to Aimee Bellmore, the counselor allegedly fired because she is a lesbian, and Alan Yorker, a therapist who says he was denied employment at the home because he is Jewish, the five other plaintiffs in the case are: Stephanie Swann, an assistant professor at the University of Georgia School for Social Work and founder of YouthPride Inc. in Atlanta; Rabbi Joshua Lesser of Bet Haverim in Decatur; Thomas Morton, president of the Child Welfare Institute in Duluth, Ga.; the Rev. Harry Pritchett of All Saints Episcopal Church in Atlanta; and Gloria Rutherford, mother of a gay teen-age son and a board member of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays.

Formed in 1871 to care for Civil War orphans, the children’s home houses 70 youth on its residential campus in Decatur and offers a number of other services to children and families.

Smith is editor of the Wesleyan Christian Advocate, the newspaper of the United Methodist Church’s North and South Georgia annual conferences.

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Aug. 13, 2002
Music expert debunks myth that Wesleys used drinking songs
A UMNS Feature
By Linda Green

An oft-heard myth about the Methodist tradition is that founders John and Charles Wesley used drinking and tavern songs as the melodies for hymns.

"The Wesleys did no such thing," says Dean McIntyre, director of music resources at the United Methodist Board of Discipleship in Nashville, Tenn. "Given their aesthetic and theological sense, it would (have been) unthinkable for them to do so."

However, the popular misconception has survived among Methodists, and a similar myth is often heard about Martin Luther, the reformer who was also a musician. The mistaken belief about the Wesleys often arises when people talk about how the brothers proclaimed the gospel in the public places, where people gathered, according to McIntyre. Pastors, musicians, worship leaders, composers and hymn writers continually voice the misconception.

McIntyre decided to set the record straight after returning from this summer’s jurisdictional and chapter convocations of the Fellowship of United Methodists in Music and Worship Arts. At each event, someone referred to the "long-held and oft-repeated untruth that John and Charles Wesley made use of tavern or drinking songs as tunes for their texts," he says.

He adds that some people have used the myth as an excuse for importing secular influences into worship.

McIntyre says the legend began when a seminary or music student became confused over the musical term "bar tune" or "bar form" — a medieval pattern for poetry consisting of three or more stanzas – which became the pattern for songwriting. Someone with no knowledge of medieval poetry heard "bar form" in connection with John Wesley, and the songs became tavern songs, he says.

The "bar form" term is still used by songwriters today. The popular "Over the Rainbow" is written in this form, as are all of the classic blues. The bar form is most commonly used in hymns and folk songs, and a number of bar tunes accompanying text written by the Wesleys and Luther are found in the United Methodist Hymnal. Those songs include:

• "A Mighty Fortress is Our God," UMH 110.
  
• "Praise to the Lord, the Almighty," UMH 139.
  
• "Come, thou Almighty King," UMH 61.
  
• "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross," UMH 298.
  
• "Praise the Lord Who Reigns Above," UMH 96.
  
• "Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus," UMH 196.
  
• "Love Divine, All Loves Excelling," UMH 384.
  

"I feel called to set the record straight," McIntyre says. "It is not difficult to understand how the musical term ‘bar form’ also referred to as ‘bar tune,’ can be confused in an uninformed person’s mind with a barroom tune, drinking song, or some other title to indicate music to accompany the drinking of alcoholic beverages."

The Wesleys’ instructions for singing their songs are found in the front of the United Methodist Hymnal. The most important, McIntyre says, are passages that admonish singers to "Be no more afraid of your voice now, nor more ashamed of it being heard, than when you sung the songs of Satan" and to "Above all, sing spiritually."

"Wesley’s aesthetic to above all sing spiritually simply would not allow drinking songs to accompany hymn texts," McIntyre says.

"In no hymn book or other publication of the Wesleys can there be found any example of or encouragement to use drinking songs to sing hymns," he says.

The deeper issue is that people have used the Wesleys as an "excuse for importing the secular music culture into worship," he says.

"Whether Wesley did or didn’t use drinking songs is not really the issue," McIntyre says. "Rather, the issue is why Wesley did not use them." Noting that Wesley found drinking songs unacceptable, he asks if worshippers today should use music from the local bar for worship. "If Wesley’s reasoning for the Methodists of his time remains valid for our own, then the answer is no."

He suggests that those who "justify" the use of secular culture and influences in United Methodist worship by repeating the Wesley legend "should be called to account."

McIntyre delves into the issue in the board’s online site at http://www.gbod.org/worship/default.asp?act=reader&item_id=2639.

Green is news director of the Nashville, Tenn., office of United Methodist News Service.


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Aug. 13, 2002
Meeting will offer chance to propose new ‘special Sundays’
By United Methodist News Service

Six Sundays a year, United Methodist congregations collect churchwide offerings for specific needs, such as disaster relief, scholarships and Native American ministries.

This fall, individuals and groups in the church will have an opportunity to request new "special Sunday" observances through the Consultation on Special Sundays. The gathering, set for Oct. 2-3 near Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, is cosponsored by the denomination’s General Council on Ministries and General Council on Finance and Administration.

In addition to the six special Sundays with offering, the church has three special Sundays without offering and four special Sundays with opportunities for annual conference offerings.

"This will be the second quadrennium that we have invited all groups or individuals that are proposing special Sundays to bring them to this consultation," said Donald Hayashi, staff executive with the General Council on Ministries in Dayton, Ohio. Before, consultations were held only with the general agencies.

Representatives of the two agencies along, with others from the United Methodist Communications and the Council of Bishops, will hear reports on the currently designated special Sundays and listen to requests for additional observances. The General Council on Ministries and the General Council on Finance and Administration, in consultation with the bishops, will then develop recommendations for special Sunday observances to be brought to the 2004 General Conference, the denomination’s lawmaking assembly.

The Sundays with churchwide offerings are:

• Human Relations Day – Recommended for the Sunday before the observance of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, this will fall on Jan. 19 next year. Fifty-seven percent of the offering will go to the Community Developers Program, administered by the churchwide Board of Global Ministries; 33 percent will go to the United Methodist Voluntary Services Program, administered by the Board of Global Ministries; and 10 percent will go to the Youth Offender Rehabilitation Program, also administered by the Board of Church and Society.
  
  
• One Great Hour of Sharing – Generally observed on the fourth Sunday in Lent, this will be celebrated April 7. The collection goes to the United Methodist Committee on Relief.
  
  
• Native American Ministry Sunday – Preferably observed on the third Sunday of Easter, this will be marked on May 4. Annual conferences may retain half of the offering receipts to develop and strengthen Native American ministries in their areas. The remaining money is evenly divided between providing scholarships for Native Americans attending United Methodist schools of theology and expanding the number of target cities in the Native American Urban Initiative.
  
  
• Peace with Justice Sunday – This observance is recommended for the second Sunday after Pentecost, putting it on June 15. Half of the collection goes to Peace with Justice ministries in the annual conference and the other half is for Peace with Justice ministries of the Board of Church and Society.
  
  
• World Communion Sunday – This observance is generally held on the first Sunday of October, which falls on the 6th this year. Half of the collection will go to Crusade Scholarships, administered by the Board of Global Ministries; 35 percent will go to the Ethnic Scholarship Program, administered by the Board of Higher Education and Ministry; and 15 percent will be for the Ethnic In-Service Training Program of the Board of Higher Education and Ministry.
  
  
• United Methodist Student Day – Observed preferably on the last Sunday in November, this day will fall on the 24th. The collection supports United Methodist scholarships and the United Methodist Student Loan Fund, administered by the Board of Higher Education and Ministry.
  

The special Sundays without churchwide offerings are:

• Heritage Sunday – On this Sunday, United Methodists remember the day in 1968 when the church was created through the union of the Methodist and Evangelical United Brethren denominations. Heritage Sunday is held on April 23 or the Sunday following that date. Next year, the observance will be April 27.
  
  
• Laity Sunday – Generally observed on the third Sunday in October, Laity Sunday falls on Oct. 20. The church is encouraged to celebrate the ministry of all lay Christians, as their lives are empowered for ministry by the Holy Spirit.
  
  
• Organ and Tissue Donor Sunday – A new observance, this is recommended for the second Sunday in November – Nov. 10 this year. It is viewed as a time to gather together around the issue of life and Thanksgiving.
  
  Special Sundays with opportunities for annual conference offerings, set by the conferences themselves, are:
  
  
• Christian Education Sunday – Attention is focused on Christian education in the conference, and an offering may be collected to support that work.
  
  
• Golden Cross Sunday – An offering can be elected for conference health and welfare ministries on this Sunday.
  
  
• Rural Life Sunday – The church’s rural heritage is celebrated, and members recognize the crises facing rural areas around the world. An offering can be collected for strengthening the nurture, outreach, or witness of congregations in towns and rural areas.
  
  
• Disability Awareness Sunday -- The church is called to celebrate the gifts and graces of people with disabilities, and to support the full inclusion of such people in the community. An offering may be collected to improve access for and attitudes toward people with disabilities in local churches.
  

Registration information, agenda and advance materials are available by contacting Hayashi at (937) 227-9400, Ext. 419, or dhayashi@gcom-umc.org.


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Aug. 20, 2002
Native Americans call for salary equity to retain clergy
By Linda Green*

TULSA, Okla. (UMNS) — A task force advocating for increased Native American involvement in the United Methodist Church is calling for equitable salary and parity to retain clergy in Indian congregations.

Within the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference and across the denomination, Native clergy appointed to Native ministries often work without adequate compensation, according to the 19-member task force of the denomination’s Native American Comprehensive Plan.

The lack of an adequate salary produces low morale, hinders progress of ministries and is "a contributing factor for native clergy seeking appointment to non-native ministries," plan members said at their Aug. 15-18 semi-annual meeting. The members were concerned that salary deficiencies are the cause of low recruitment of native young people for ordained ministry.

In addition to the task force’s 19 voting members, 12 nonvoting members attend NACP meetings at various times to provide support and guidance. Congregational development is one of the NACP’s components, and the task force said the salary issue is also critical to the retention of clergy in Indian churches.

Ninety Native American churches make up the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference, and they include reservation, urban and rural congregations in low-income areas. "Therefore the financial capabilities of the local church is very small," said the Rev. Ken Locklear, staff executive of the church’s Southeastern Jurisdictional Native American Ministries. "They are not strong congregations in the number of membership or economics."

Created by the 1992 General Conference, the NACP emphasizes Native American spirituality, congregational and leadership development, and involvement in the life of the United Methodist Church. The denomination has 19,000 Native Americans among its 8.4 million U.S. members.

Native people in the United States represent 554 federally recognized tribes or nations and a significant number of state-recognized tribes, all with distinct languages, cultures, history, religious traditions and economic bases. The Census Bureau reports that 1.9 million American Indians live within the boundaries of the 65 United Methodist annual conferences, and nearly 63 percent live in urban areas. The denomination has 200 Native American churches, ministries and fellowships in the country, and 28 are in urban areas.

The task force intends to communicate with the churchwide General Council on Finance and Administration, conference treasurers and the national treasurers’ association about implementing Paragraph 623.6 of the 2000 United Methodist Book of Discipline, which mandates that special attention be given to ethnic pastors serving ethnic ministries with particular emphasis on Native American pastors serving Native American ministries.

"These groups are not addressing it, and they need to be," said the Rev. Sam Wynn, pastor of St. Mark United Methodist Church in Raleigh, N.C. "These groups need to address the issue of equity and parity of salary of Native Americans in light of Paragraph 623.6."

The plan, in cooperation with annual conference equitable salary committees, seeks to encourage the development of competitive salary packages to retain native clergy in native congregations.

Wynn said most Native American pastors who choose not to leave their communities to do ministry in other places would remain at minimum salary in the annual conference. "We are asking the equitable salary committees to look seriously at how to bring parity to salaries if a person chooses to remain in a Native American ministry in the annual conference."

Native pastors in the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference draw a base salary of $19,500, according to the Rev. David Wilson, NACP chairman and superintendent of the conference.

Each annual conference establishes a program of equitable compensation for clergy. Out of the 65 annual conferences, the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference has the smallest package, at $24,194. The plan and the conference want salary levels for Native American pastors comparable to the current denominational average compensation package of $42,930. The denominational average includes the Puerto Rico and Puerto Rico Autonomous conferences.

"If there was a time when we could get our salaries comparable to the entire United Methodist Church, our pastors will be able to concentrate on ministry and not worry about how to make ends meet," Wilson said. More importantly, he said, equal salary will allow the conference to attract more young people to ministry. "The way it is now, a young person can go work at a convenience store and make more than our base salary of $19,500," he said.

"We have pastors who cannot keep the telephone on or who cannot afford to attend meetings because of gas prices. This is a reality for us and is an important issue not just for us but for Native American congregations across the church."

"We believe," Wynn said, "that a commitment for ministry in general, and a commitment to ministry with native people in particular, need not be hindered by increased financial struggle and debt."

Plan members also will make a request to the churchwide General Council on Ministries to participate in the annual training of district superintendents to help new superintendents become sensitive to the issues and concerns of native people serving within their annual conferences.

In other action, task force members received the results of a survey that the plan commissioned from the General Council on Ministries Office of Research and Planning to determine the training needs of local native congregations in congregational programs, outreach activities and community services. The findings will be used for future programming.

Forty-one out of 207 surveys were returned and indicated that Native Americans congregations desire training in youth/teen activities, parenting/marriage enrichment; local church officer training, special programs that attract unchurched or nonmembers of the community, substance abuse programs, tutoring or literacy programs for children and teens, and growth or evangelistic campaigns.

According to Ann Saunkeah, executive director of the NACP, the findings from the "What Can We Do" survey indicate that Native American congregations "are like other congregations in the United Methodist Church, and they worry about the growth of their churches and the loss of their youth and young adults."

Concerns about youth and young adults were at the top of the 19.81 percent of the survey responses. "This shows that Native Americans are aware that if their congregations are to be strong and keep going, ministries with young adults are the key," Saunkeah said.

During their meeting, the plan’s members also decided to:

• Establish a dialogue with the United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry and the National United Methodist Native American Center to establish a recruitment and intern program for native people to become deacons.
  
  
• Communicate with the Board of Higher Education and Ministry to develop a certification process/course of study for developing native congregations, ministries and fellowships, and with the United Methodist agencies to assist in the development of culturally specific resources to facilitate the training of Native people for ministry;
  
  
• Work with churchwide agencies to determine how the agencies will implement the plan’s goals and objectives.
  
  
• Expand their focus into urban areas.
  
  
• Will train 30 native churches to revitalize ministries of other native congregations.
  

The group’s next meeting will be Jan. 23-26 in Tulsa, Okla.

*Green is news director for United Methodist News Service’s Nashville, Tenn., office


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Aug. 22, 2002
New churchwide task force confronts racism
A UMNS Report
By Tim Tanton

A new United Methodist task force is pulling together people from throughout the denomination’s agencies to study ways to combat racism in the church, and to enable healing and reconciliation around the issue.

When the church formally apologized in 2000 for racism, many of its own African-American members complained about having been overlooked in the process – that the apology was directed more to members of the three predominantly black Methodist denominations. Some said the church should have apologized to its own African-American members first.

A "deeper, more internal step" was necessary, says the Rev. Gilbert Caldwell of Denver.

In response, the Interagency Task Force on Racism has been formed to address racism issues in the church in a more coordinated way. Representatives from all of the church’s general agencies and possibly other organizations are expected to participate in the group, administered by the United Methodist General Council on Ministries in Dayton, Ohio.

"If we’re ever going to deal with our vision to promote racial inclusiveness and eliminate racism, it’s going to have to be more than just something that’s lodged in one agency of the church," says the Rev. Chester Jones, top staff executive of the church’s Commission on Religion and Race in Washington. "It’s going to have to be something with an emphasis on inclusion in all dimensions of the church. … Therefore, it’s going to take all the agencies working in some kind of comprehensive way to address this as kind of a priority."

Jones and the Rev. Bruce Robbins, top staff executive of the Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns, initiated the creation of the task force. Robbins had approached Jones about the concerns raised following the General Conference’s Act of Repentance. Jones suggested that the General Council on Ministries would be the best place to coordinate follow-up work.

Each of the 14 general agencies was asked to send a director from its board, plus a staff member, to serve on the task force. Representatives from church ethnic groups will also be invited, eventually boosting the task force’s size to a little more than 30 members.

The task force wants to go beyond black-white issues, to look at the whole impact of racism and racial and cultural sensitivity, says Nelda Barrett Murraine, a staff executive with the General Council on Ministries.

The group met for the first time in July in Dallas. Caldwell, serving as facilitator, describes the gathering as "a time of candor, pain and honest reflection." At the meeting, he emphasized the need to look at the impact of racism and racial-cultural insensitivity "on those whom I describe as the indigenous, the immigrants and the imported." The group observed that damage has been done to people of all races.

"Our racial legacy in terms of people of African descent has shaped our church in many ways, and we, of course, need to understand that," Caldwell says. Key parts of that legacy have included the formation of "breakaway" denominations – the African Methodist Episcopal, African Methodist Episcopal Zion and Christian Methodist Episcopal churches – and the creation in 1939 of the racially segregated Central Jurisdiction, abolished with the 1968 merger of the Methodist and Evangelical United Brethren churches.

The task force plans to get time on future meeting agendas of the general agencies. It wants to encourage their directors to incorporate diverse worship styles and to address ideas for battling racism. The group is interested in creating opportunities for dialogue and discussing with the agencies how "we move beyond our racism training and workshops to the next level of our call as Christians," Murraine says.

One idea would involve creating "grace zones" for dialogue. Such zones, similar to the truth and reconciliation commission in South Africa, would provide a place for people to talk about their experiences and feelings without fear of repercussion.

"We have to move to a point where we can dialogue about these issues and we can get it all out," Jones says. Through dialogue, the church can move into confession, repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation, he says.

The church has a lot of people who are "walking wounded," dealing with past hurts caused by racism, Jones says. It also has members who are in denial about racism and don’t want to acknowledge the hurt that it has caused not only to African Americans but also to people of otherbackgrounds, he says.

The grace zones would also be geared toward bringing local churches together in districts and communities. Even with the repentance services at General Conference and subsequent annual conference gatherings, "you still have not been able to touch the very foundation, and that’s the local churches," Jones says.

Next steps will include incorporating other ethnic groups into the task force’s work and developing a Web site. Other ideas include having the general council take inventory of church resources for eliminating institutional racism, supporting continuing education for clergy on the issue, and developing a resource on racism as a "faith question."

Jones and Caldwell see the need for the task force continuing beyond the end of the current 2001-2004 period of church work.

"My vision is that it will not end in 2004," Caldwell says. "There is much more subtle and deeper spiritual work that we need to do within the denomination on our racial history and our racial reality."

Tanton is news editor for United Methodist News Service.

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