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VOL. 13, NO. 20

What: 4th Annual Partners Convocation with presidential inauguration

Who: The Rev. David McAllister-Wilson, will deliver keynote address, Calling on God: Positioning the Church for New Century Ministry

When: Saturday, Oct. 19, 9:30 a.m.,with workshops in the afternoon at the Seminary.

A reception for McAllister-Wilson will follow at 3 p.m.

Where: Metropolitan Memorial UMC,3401 Nebraska Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C.

Contact: Development Office, (202) 885-8620 or
www.wesleysem.edu

New Wesley Seminary president to apply practical divinity
Correction Posted Oct 17, 2002

BY LINDA WORTHINGTON UMCONNECTION STAFF

When David McAllister-Wilson journeyed across the country with his youth choir 20 years ago, he had no idea how the trip to Washington, D.C., would change his life. By the time he returned three weeks later, McAllister-Wilson was committed to being ordained, and had sold his guitars to attend seminary in Washington, D.C. This week, hell be inaugurated as the seminarys president.

On Oct. 19, the Rev. David McAllister-Wilson will take the helm as the 10th president of Wesley Theological Seminary since its founding in 1882.

It is a tumultuous time for seminaries, McAllister-Wilson said. All are on the boat of the ebbing tide of the United Methodist denomination, he said, and all are facing financial struggles related to the decline in the economy.

David becomes president at an extraordinarily important time in the life of the seminary, the church and our nation, said Mike McCurry, a board member and former White House press secretary. He does not want to cede the winning of new disciples to those who provoke the angry and play off the schisms that cynicism creates. He wants hope to replace despair in the minds of those who think about our public institutions.

McAllister-Wilson considers leadership training and studies one of the most important roles of the seminary. I want to challenge students to think more about the leadership to which theyve been called, he said. Those students include 691 graduates living in the Baltimore-Washington Conference, according to statistics from the alumni office.

McAllister-Wilson has a Wesleyan approach to leadership that includes a strong element of social witness.

Im a Wesleyan evangelical, he said. Wesley had a passion for the work of sanctifying grace, a different view from the predominantly Calvinist approach of the time, which emphasized justification, he said. Were working out salvation as we grow in grace. While were organized and passionate about social issues, we need to recover the language of our faith the language about Jesus and the role of the Spirit.

McAllister-Wilson hopes to address the decline in mainline denominations by applying his practical divinity to the seminary. He has a passion to revitalize the local church by shifting the focus of the students and administration away from the institution, dominated by a culture of decline.

Vital congregations share in common their ability to avail themselves to the means of grace, McAllister-Wilson said. Such churches provide deep Bible study, have vital worship that includes more than just solid preaching, offer small group discipling experiences, and engage in mission. In the Baltimore-Washington Conference, he cited Oakdale-Emory UMC and First Church in Hyattsville as examples of vital and growing congregations.

To be responsive to the clergy supply problem, Wesley Seminary has instituted the culture of the call for people of all ages. To talk about the call is to talk about the Holy Spirit, Gods presence in the world, he said. The church is not doing that anymore.

McAllister-Wilsons vision looks to local churches, as part of their mission, to subsidize seminary students, especially those with a connection to the congregation. Despite the fact that most seminarians graduate with large debts, 45 percent of the cost of seminary education comes from elsewhere, including the Ministerial Education Fund (from apportionments), gifts to the seminary and the endowment fund, he said.

Everybody is called to some form of ministry both ordained and laity, he said.

Prior to his presidency, McAllister-Wilson helped to establish the G. Douglass Lewis Center for Church Leadership, named for his predecessor, which will be officially opened in spring 2003. It is designed to provide training and resources for those in leadership positions in the church and in the secular world. We will engage in helping the church think through issues, he said.

The seminary is also ecumenical, representing 25 denominations. Currently the student enrollment of 660 men and women includes more Presbyterians than United Methodists, he said.