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VOL. 14, NO. 8

Churches take steps toward wholeness

By Melissa Lauber UMConnection Staff

During the Lenten season, some area United Methodist churches have been exploring racism within the church as they participate in the study Steps Toward Wholeness.

The study, published by the General Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns, examines the historical events and underlying racism that led to the formation of the African Methodist Episcopal, African Methodist Episcopal Zion and Christian Methodist Episcopal churches and the segregated Central Jurisdiction within the Methodist Church. The Central Jurisdiction was abolished in 1968, when The United Methodist Church was formed.

While the study gbwc_superusere focuses on the Pan-Methodist family, several local churches chose to tailor the material to focus more specifically on race relations within their own lives and communities.

If any real reconciliation is ever to happen we need to start within the bounds of our own conference, before we reach out to others, said the Rev. James Bishop, pastor of Sharp Street Memorial UMC in Baltimore, which did the Steps Toward Wholeness study with Timonium UMC.

The Rev. Michael Johnson of Landsdowne UMC led three classes on the Steps Toward Wholeness study that drew more than 70 people at this years Leadership Days.

While the study acknowledges the historical realities of racism, it also calls on people to examine their own lives. We can feel sorry for what our ancestors did 200 years ago, but were still racist today, Johnson said.

Within the church, one way racism manifests itself is through white flight. As more African Americans come into positions of leadership, white churches and white people participate less, Johnson said.

The Steps Toward Wholeness study is really a first step, Johnson said. Weve gone far in the upper echelons of the church. The Council of Bishops, Cabinets and general boards and agencies are integrated. When we get to the local church we meet stiff resistance.

At St. Paul and Strawbridge UMCs in New Windsor, theyre learning about sharing cultures and racial reconciliation in an unexpected way.

Nineteen members from the two churches used Steps Toward Wholeness together. When a fire damaged Strawbridge, the Rev. Mary Kay Totty, of St. Paul, immediately contacted the Rev. Gertie Williams and invited the displaced congregation to combine worship services.

The two congregations became one for six weeks. Twenty years ago, this would have ruffled some feathers, Totty said. She believes the Strawbridge congregation feels welcome and included, like theyve had a warm reception. But shes not yet sure that people feel at home worshipping together.

Totty, Williams and the Steps Toward Wholeness class have committed themselves to building on this new relationship between the two churches.

One of the vital ingredients in Steps Toward Wholeness is repentance, said Totty, who chairs the conference Board of Ecumenical and Interreligious Life. When we make an intentional commitment to repent of the sins of the past, we are at one and at the same time making a commitment that we wont allow those things to happen again.

Sharp Streets pastor agreed. Unless we repent, Bishop said, we cant move forward into wholeness. Its a reality check, doing away with denial, calling it like it is. However, he and others also expressed some concern that singling out whites in the presence of blacks made people in both races uncomfortable.

I dont think the people of Timonium wanted to be lectured about their racism in front of blacks, Bishop said.

During the study done by Hopkins UMC and Mt. Zion UMC in Highland, participants skipped the repentance altogether and celebrated Communion together, said the Rev. Sandra Demby of Hopkins UMC.

Some were concerned that this discomfort was made clear in attendance figures. At the Hopkins-Mt. Zion study only three or four people of the 20 who participated were white, Demby said. Only a third of the people who took part in the Sharp Street-Timonium study were white.

Initially, some members of my church were leery about taking Steps Toward Wholeness for fear of being blamed, Totty said. But it has become a place for United Methodists to speak honestly about issues of racism.

Demby has come to a similar conclusion. This study provided a raising of awareness that racism is alive and well. It was an eye-opener, she said.

Churches truly interested in being viable in the future need to deal with the sin of racism, Johnson concluded. Its not about guilt. Its about how to find new life in Christ and healing in, and of, the church.