| Baltimore eyes creating new district By Melissa Lauber
UMConnection Staff A standing-room-only crowd gathered at Lovely Lane UMC April 1 to learn more about plans to realign boundaries to create a single district of Baltimore City churches. Such realignment, said Bishop Felton Edwin May, would provide a critical mass of United Methodists under the leadership of one person, who could begin carving out the relationships necessary to speak to political and social realities of the city. According to the churchs Book of Discipline, or church law, (415.4), the annual conference sets the number of districts in its bounds, but it is the bishop who has the power to arrange or rearrange boundaries. The Baltimore-Washington Conference has nine districts. Three districts, created in 1994, currently serve the city of Baltimore: Baltimore West, Baltimore North and Baltimore-Harford. Each district includes churches that range in geographical location from rural to suburban to urban. The proposed plan would create three new districts to replace the current structure: Baltimore City District made up of 61 churches would be one; 98 churches, on 76 charges, from the Baltimore-Harford and Baltimore North District would combine to create the second; and 78 other churches from the current Baltimore West District and the Southwest Cluster of the Baltimore-North District would combine to form the third district.  Baltimore-Harford District superintendent, the Rev. Mark Derby, told the pastors and lay people who gathered for the town meeting that the city is fragmented and that such fractures have diminished the potential for ministry.
During the past decade, Derby explained, Baltimore has experienced a dramatic population decline. However, United Methodist membership is declining at twice the rate of the citys population, he said. There are now 61 churches in Baltimore with 17,000 members. In a city of 600,000 people, only 7,000 worship in United Methodist pews each Sunday. The meeting began with small-group discussions about possibility and transformation. Celebrating whats right will give us the energy to fix whats wrong, Bishop May said. We are taking the possibility and offering it up to accomplish the task of meeting human need in the name of Jesus the Christ. Currently the population of Baltimore is 60 percent black, 30 percent white and 10 percent Hispanic and Asian. Some attendees expressed concern that the creation of a Baltimore City district would be creating an all-ethnic district. Were uncomfortable with that, said the bishop. We dont want to admit it, but thats how it is now. Thats the reality. The Rev. Roberta Scoville, of Perry Hall UMC, agreed that such a reality currently exists and said her suburban church is now learning to become more intentionally involved with the city. If you want to be in relationship, she said, you have to be more intentional about it. The Rev. Stephen Tillett, of Mt. Zion UMC in Baltimore, also raised the subject of connectionalism. What will compel cooperation? New lines on paper wont do it, he said. The bishop replied that the creation of a Baltimore District would allow for more strategic and missional appointments, over the years, to create a team of pastors in the city who worked together in effective urban ministry. While no one voiced opposition to the proposed district realignment, the Rev. Dred Scott, of St. Matthews UMC in Turner Station, and many others insisted that spiritual renewal and providing necessary resources were also essential to effective ministry in Baltimore. We need Jesus in this mix, he said. Until we get sin from our lives, we can realign all day and night. Its a good idea, but we need resources. The Rev. Gayle Annis-Forder, of Ebenezer UMC in Winfield, asked about the timing of the changes, given that Bishop May is set to retire at the end of August. If this is a good idea now, wont it be a good idea a few months from now when the new bishop might participate, she asked. The bishop answered that continuity rests with the pastors and laity. You can tell the new bishop, We have a vision. This is what we want to do under God. The town hall meeting was held to give people a chance to voice their opinions and see if this alignment was the consensus of those serving and worshiping in the city. The bishop is expected to announce if the new district will become a reality during the May session of annual conference. He shared with the participants that recently he received a call from a leader in another denomination who wanted to talk about church development. The bishop was excited about the possibilities, he said, until the person asked to buy some of the United Methodist churches in the city. I asked what do you want them for, the bishop recalled. He said, Were going to grow churches. If youre not going to use them, wed like to. How in the world could we just give up? Bishop May asked the Baltimore pastors. Where is our drive? Where is our vision? Where is our call? | 
Login/Register to leave comment