Denomination celebrates African Americans contribution

General Conference delegates celebrated the African-American witness and presence within the United Methodist Church and recognized "those who stayed" in spite of racism. Delegates participated in a Service of Appreciation, honoring and celebrating those African-Americans who remained as members of the former Methodist Episcopal Church and other predecessor Methodist bodies in spite of the racial indignities that occurred in a segregated structure.

The service celebrated God's presence in the life of the church, recognized wounds, and encouraged healing. A video montage of African-American United Methodists of yesterday and today centered the delegates as they began their witness and confessed to the sin of racism that continues to exist in the denomination.

The delegates gathered to "rise above the transgressions that have wounded us" and "celebrate a new beginning.and human dignity," said Bishop Peter Weaver, Philadephia Area, the opening liturgist for the service.

As United Methodist Christians, Weaver said, the delegates came together as a community of faith under one baptism and gathered "because sin interrupts community" and shatters hope and possibilities.

The delegates were reminded that the African-American presence in the United Methodist Church did not begin with the denomination's 1968 creation, but existed when Methodism began. Today, there are 423,456 African-American U.S. members of the United Methodist Church, including 14 bishops.

"The roots of Methodism are in the African-American community," said the Rev. Vincent Harris, president of Black Methodists for Church Renewal, a 37-year-old national caucus that promotes advocacy and leadership development. The roots are evident in the fruits of new church starts and other acts that not only benefit the church but also are new creations for the future, he said.

"It is important to be clear that I would not be here if they had not stayed," Harris said. As a third-generation Methodist, "I believe in the church; I believe in what Jesus brought to us in the Gospel, and I believe that by staying, we not only make the church better, but we build a foundation for our future."

The need for such a service arose following the 2000 General Conference, where delegates participated in an "Act of Repentance for Reconciliation" service, acknowledging the racism that caused blacks to leave the denomination in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. But no mention was made of the African-Americans who stayed.

Confessing to the sin of racism as a member of the majority population was Bishop Charlene Kammerer, who leads the church's Charlotte (N.C.) Area. During her message highlighting the African-American legacy of faith, she told the delegates that the United Methodist Church inherited a big, worldwide house for the whole family. But, she said, a problem arose because ideas, cultures, and interests "unduly" separated the family.

The service, she said, would pave the way for United Methodists because "we are getting our house in order." Holding the service at a General Conference was a way to verbalize how the denomination "has been blessed by the presence of faithful, strong African-American members," she said.

Kammerer thanked the generations of black Methodists who stayed in an institution that excluded them. "For all those faithful, courageous black Methodists who stayed in an inhospitable place and abusive church, we say, 'Thank you, God' for you," Kammerer said. "Those of us in the white majority confess that we have sinned against you and against God who made us all one family. We have excluded you from our sanctuaries, schools, colleges, our public domains, our neighborhoods, our homes and, worst of all, our hearts. For that we are truly sorry.

"We confess our sin and ask with humility that God move us toward repentance and a place of reconciliation and forgiveness."

The delegates also recognized Bishop James S. Thomas for the historical contributions he made in the former Central Jurisdiction and as the chief architect of the plan that helped dissolve that racially segregated jurisdiction in 1968 and merge it into regional jurisdictional conferences. He was also awarded for the vision he cast in his book, Methodism's Racial Dilemma, where he stated that the "opportunities before the church are always better than dilemmas."

Thomas thanked the United Methodist Commission on Archives and History, the bestowers of the award, and the delegates. "Over the last 40 years," he said, "I tried to do what I could do."

Linda Green is a writer for United Methodist News Service.

Black church initiative

African-American United Methodist churches will continue to be strengthened and revitalized for mission and ministry for another four years. Delegates approved continuation of the Strengthening the Black Church for the 21st Century (SBC21) initiative. They also approved creation of an African-American Methodist Heritage Center.

The $2.2 million Strengthening the Black Church initiative was first enacted by the 1996 General Conference and continued by the 2000 session as a major program initiative of the denomination. Its goal is to link growing U.S. congregations with partner churches and to revitalize the more than 2,500 African-American United Methodist congregations.

SBC21 offers the denomination a model of enabling vibrant, growing congregations to share their experiences and learnings with other churches that seek growth, vitality, and transformation.

"The mission of SBC21 is to make disciples of Jesus Christ," said the Rev. Tyrone Gordon of Dallas, before the vote to continue the initiative was enacted. He told the top legislative assembly that SBC21 has "breathed new life into many churches" and "is a witness that God can bring life out of death, hope out of despair, victory out of defeat."

In other actions, the delegates also approved an African-American Methodist Heritage Center that would become a central depository of black Methodist history. The center, proposed two years ago at a national meeting of Black Methodists for Church Renewal, will collect the history, memories, and stories of those of African descent who have been a part of Methodism since its inception in the mid-eighteenth century and those of African descent who have stayed throughout Methodism's history, said the approved legislation.

Until a permanent facility is built at one of the denomination's historically black colleges or universities, the center will be housed at the United Methodist Commission on Archives and History at Drew University, Madison, NJ.

Between 1939 and 1968, the Methodist Church operated the Central Jurisdiction, a racially segregated, non-geographical jurisdiction for African-American churches in the denomination. The jurisdiction was created as a compromise on the issue of race when the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Methodist Protestant Church, and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South merged in 1939 to create the Methodist Church. When the United Methodist Church was created in 1968 with the union of the Methodist and Evangelical United Brethren denominations, the Central Jurisdiction was eliminated. The jurisdiction's churches, clergy, and bishops were assigned to the five geographic jurisdictions.

By Linda Green

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