| Baltimore Central district takes shape Erik AlsgaardUMConnection Staff 
How do we rebuild the churches of Baltimore? That question is gathering serious attention from leadership in the Baltimore-Washington Conference as it moves towards strengthening its presence, ministry and mission within a city that has made headlines recently as the Murder Capital of America. The city of Baltimore is carved into three districts in the Baltimore-Washington Conference: Baltimore-Harford, Baltimore North and Baltimore West (see illustration, page 16). That structure, many agree, hinders effective ministry and witness in the city at many levels. Come next July 1, that could all change if a proposal is adopted that would create a so-called Baltimore Central District, comprising mainly of churches inside the Baltimore beltway.  This has a lot to do with developing a cohesive strategy for the city, said the Rev. Mark Derby, superintendent of the Baltimore-Harford District. Weve learned from experience that its hard to coordinate ministries within the city and have pastors build significant relationships with each other. The districts, in a sense, divide them.
 What were looking at is the possibility of being able to concentrate missionally on the spiritual needs of the city of Baltimore, said the Rev. Louis Shockley, superintendent of the Baltimore West District. And then, being able to offer each otherUnited Methodism as a force.
The plan, which has already been approved by the Cabinet, would create a new district with approximately 60 churches in 51 charges. The remainder of the charges would be combined to create a new Baltimore North District with 76 charges and 97 churches, and a new Baltimore West District with 70 charges and 79 churches. According to the 2000 Book of Discipline or church law it is the right of the bishop to form the districts after consultation with the district superintendents. (415.4) Shockley echoed Derbys comments. When our bishop developed a network of support with the mayor of Baltimore and some of the mayors staff, he did a wonderful job, Shockley said. But then the mayor turned around and said, Well alright, good: you want to be able to participate in this, I need 50 of your people next week. We had trouble producing. Derby said that the present alignment of the three districts stems from the 90s, when the conference went from 10 to nine districts. Many of the issues confronting the city would be better addressed through a single Baltimore Central District, Derby said. One of the things weve talked about was identifying two or three citywide emphases, he said, noting HIV/AIDS and drugs as areas of concern. The redistricting plan is being shared with the churches in the districts that are being affected, said Derby. At this point, were not hearing enough concern to say, this plan wont move forward. Shockley added that a tri-district gathering, sometime early in 2004, could be possible to offer people opportunities to learn, ask questions and air concerns. One of those concerns is that in creating a Baltimore Central District, the church might be isolating the city of Baltimore. The response that weve been giving is that we could potentially (isolate the city) if we do not really focus on building partnerships with churches outside of the city, said Derby. The present superintendents understand that partnering is crucial in order to strengthen ministry in the city, he added. Another concern, noted Shockley, is that some people may look upon the creation of a Central district as the creation of a poor district. Several pastors have made this point with me, he said. If and when this city district is created, how many million dollars come with it? How manydollars come with it as a programmatic thrust from the conference, to what it is were trying to do? If youre going to try to build this thing without doing that, its superfluous. Emotions are high on both sides of the plan, the superintendents said. But as Shockley said, At least we feel like, man, if we do this, we will have a focus and we will have a team that builds a focus. And so, were moving forward with it. | 
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