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Hoosier United Methodist News Archives
| Hoosier United Methodists together |
January 2004 |
Ebony bishops convene summit on black church
By John W. Coleman Jr.
WASHINGTON (UMNS) -- Three hundred African-American United Methodist leaders recently discussed common challenges and ideas for strengthening the ministries of black churches during a first-ever summit.
"We are not well in this denomination," said Bishop Felton Edwin May, leader of the church's Washington Area, in an opening address at Asbury United Methodist Church. The host bishop called for a renaissance of the black church.
Participants included pastors and laity from churches of all sizes, and leaders from annual conferences and general church agencies. While white racism was named among the challenges they face, it received scant attention. The summit's clear focus was on the black church's own shortcomings and its potential to reclaim its historic role to spiritually and socially support and uplift the black community.
Thirteen of the denomination's 24 active and retired African-American bishops known collectively as the Ebony Bishops Network, convened the summit following the United Methodist Council of Bishops' fall meeting in Washington.
Participants addressed the black church's role in responding to myriad problems in the black community, including rampant violence, HIV/AIDS infection, homelessness, incarceration, teen pregnancy and school dropout rates. They also wrestled with obstacles to church growth and vitality, the alarming absence of young people in black congregations, and the difficulties many black leaders reportedly face in advocating for the concerns of black people in their denomination.
"The major problem with black people and the black church today is not racism but 'us-ism' ... and our oppression of each other," said Trudie Kibbe Reed, program facilitator and keynote speaker for the summit. Reed is president of Philander-Smith College in Little Rock, Ark., a United Methodist historically black college.
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"The United Methodist Church has made strides in its repentance, but it needs assistance in identifying the missing pieces." Anne Marshall |
Despite social and economic gains achieved by many African Americans since the civil rights era, Reed cited consequences of the broken covenant with God, including infighting in black churches and institutions, failure to pass on positive aspects of black heritage and culture, and lack of support for black churches, organizations and businesses.
She denounced jealousy, misuse of power, materialism and the prevalence of dehumanizing language and behaviors in the black community as "dysfunctions ... adapted from our oppressors."
"We must confess and repent of our sins, our broken covenant and disobedience," Reed said. She called for black churches to "take action to become transformed people of God."
Reed and the Ebony Bishops Network plan to develop a study guide for churches in early 2004 with video excerpts and information from the summit. In the meantime, nearly a dozen attendees agreed to form a national initiative among their churches to minister to homeless and displaced people in their communities.
Coleman is the co-director of communications for the Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference.
Last updated on 02/10/2004