| Ebony bishops convene summit on black church by John W. Coleman, Jr.UMCONNECTION Staff We are not healthy in this denomination, Bishop Felton Edwin May said in welcoming more than 400 black church leaders to a national summit on the state of the black United Methodist church, Nov. 7-9, in Washington D.C. May, host for the event, opened the meeting at Asbury UMC in Washington by calling for a renaissance of the black church. He closed it two days later with an impassioned prayer that departing attendees would mobilize their new insights and convictions into strategic action. Thirteen of the denominations 24 active and retired African-American bishops, known collectively as the Ebony Bishops Network, convened the summit following the Council of Bishops fall meeting in the Washington  area. At a retreat earlier this year they had examined together the seriously fractured state of the black church on all levels, as well as our diminishing presence and effectiveness in fulfilling the needs of the black community, according to the invitation letter from the networks chairman, Bishop Rhymes Moncure of the Nebraska Area. From Oppression to Liberation: Responding to Gods Call for the Black Church was the theme of the summit. Participants addressed the black churchs role in responding to myriad problems in the black community, including rampant violence, HIV/AIDS infection, homelessness, incarceration, teen pregnancy and school dropout rates. The cross-section of participants included pastors, laity and leaders from local churches, annual conferences and general church agencies. The summits clear focus was on the black churchs own shortcomings and its possibilities and potential for reclaiming its historic role to spiritually and socially undergird and uplift the black community. The major problem with black people and the black church today is not racism but usismand 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. We are out of alignment with God and with each other, she explained. It comes from a broken covenant with God and with our ancestors who paved the way for us Despite social and economic gains achieved by many African Americans since the civil rights era, Reed cited consequences of that broken covenant, including selfish 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, said Reed, calling for black churches to take action to become transformed people of God. Subsequent sermons preached by the Revs. Tyrone Gordon, pastor of St. Lukes Community UMC in Dallas, Texas, and Dorothy Watson Tatum, director of Metro Ministries in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference, stressed Gods help as essential to the black churchs prospects for transformation and triumph over daunting challenges. I see the exodus of young people from (our) churches, said Gordon. Its not that theyre not coming to church. Theyre just not coming to ours. In 11 small groups, summit attendees discussed familiar congregational dysfunctions, and heard success stories about black United Methodist congregations that are overcoming many of those challenges. Those examples and a long list of ideas and recommended solutions seemed to encourage and energize participants. They included: - More teaching of evangelism, discipleship and church administration in churches and seminaries.
- More use of visual media and computer technology to attract young people and to enhance worship and other ministries.
- Reclaiming a tradition of mentorship and apprenticeship to help people identify, develop and use their spiritual gifts in service to church and community.
- Intentionally building more relationships between congregations and their communities through shared activities, dialogues and experiences.
We must be on the edge where our black culture is going, not behind it, said Bishop Alfred Johnson  of the Greater New Jersey Area. He and his episcopal colleagues expressed some of their own concerns and promised to consider and respond to many of the ideas presented. They encouraged participants to value and teach the heritage of the black church, to identify and employ all the resources for ministry available to them, to study and use the United Methodist Book of Discipline to their advantage, and to measure vitality not in the survival or size of their congregations but in the quality of their discipleship and the growth of their ministries. Reed and the Ebony Bishops plan to develop a study gbwc_superusere 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 persons in their communities. | 
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