Gobin UMC revisits history of social activism/awareness

By Ethel McCane
Special to the Hoosier UM News

"Racism Methodist Style," was the sermon topic during a Jan. 20 morning worship service, as the pastor and members of Greencastle Gobin UMC re-affirmed their social ideals and remembered when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stood in their pulpit 42 years earlier.

During this year's service, a plaque was commemorated in memory of the late civil rights leader. The plaque bears a picture of King speaking at Gobin in 1960 and a quote from King about the state of the church.

Commenting about this year's ceremony and his sermon topic, the Rev. Rick Miller said he wanted to share the history of racism in the Methodist Church and focus on what the youth and children could do to affect change in the future. According to Dr. Miller and other church leaders who have served in the Greencastle area, Gobin UMC has a long and vibrant history of social activism and diversity awareness.

"We included our young people in the unveiling ceremony," said Gobin's senior pastor. "I want them to realize that although we adults have done much to mess things up in this world, we must now depend on them to help correct things."

Miller has been at Gobin only five years. But there are those who were in the area and remember King's visit to Indiana. The Rev. Harold Leininger, pastor of Brownsburg Calvary UMC, said he met and spoke with King the year he visited.

"I remember asking him what I, as a young Methodist minister, could do for the Civil Rights Movement," said Leininger, who was 24 years old and a recent seminary graduate at the time.

Addressing the Methodist church's structural segregation, through the super-imposing of a separate and distinct jurisdiction for African-Americans (the former Central Jurisdiction), King responded, "if the Methodist Church was going to have a future, it would have to abolish the Central Jurisdiction!"

"Eight years later," remarked Leininger, "the church re-structured and the Central Jurisdiction was abolished to help bring the true meaning of unity into United Methodism."

Some might wonder about King being invited to Gobin during the period of widespread prejudice, bigotry and Ku Klux Klan activity openly raging throughout Indiana. Miller remarked that since the church sits on the campus of DePauw University, student and faculty affiliation have always been an influence on Gobin's social awareness and commitment to diversity. "The church has always been in the forefront of social justice issues. We've recently started social awareness study groups as a part of our outreach mission," said Miller of his 400-member congregation. "We believe the church can continue to make a difference and impact the broader community with diversity awareness."

Editor's note: To read more about the Methodist church of the 1960s and the civil rights movement in Indiana, read Amazing Grace: a history of Indiana Methodism, 1801 - 2001 by Dr. Carver McGriff. The book was written in commemoration of the church's bicentennial last year and is available through Cokesbury.

Last updated on 01/14/2004

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