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By Duane Schuman |
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Constant Struggle
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"The Negro problem," as it was called in 1939 in Kansas City during the Uniting Conference that would create the Methodist Church, continues to trouble United Methodists today. During this spring's annual conferences, Indiana's Methodists will seek an answer through services of repentance for past acts of racism. |
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"I've never accepted the fact this church is for white people," said Indiana Area Bishop Woodie W. White, who is himself black. "I've always felt that way."
But for much of its history, The United Methodist Church treated blacks as inferiors. Whether it was telling blacks in post Revolutionary War-era Philadelphia where to sit, or tolerating a slave-holding bishop in the South, or segregating blacks into their own Central Jurisdiction in 1939, it is only in the past 35 years that blacks have begun to be treated as equals in the U.S. church.
A call for reconciliation
A call for racial reconciliation was laid down at the May 2000 General Conference in Cleveland. United Methodists nationwide have been urged to repent for past racist acts and attitudes within the church. Such treatment caused black Methodists to break off and form the 2.5-million member African Methodist Episcopal Church, the 1.5-million member African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church and the 700,000 member Christian Methodist Episcopal Church.
"My guess is, the average member doesn't know the history," White said.
An historical video and a study guide titled "Steps Toward Wholeness: Learning and Repentance" is available to United Methodist congregations to teach members. The study guide is ideally designed to be worked through with members of one of the three traditional black denominations which broke from the Methodist Episcopal Church.
The North Indiana Conference holds its service of reconciliation and repentance the night of May 29 at Purdue University's Elliott Hall of Music. The South Indiana Conference will observe its "Service of Healing and Reconciliation" June 5 at Indiana University's Auditorium. Representatives from the AME, AME Zion and CME churches plan to participate in both annual conferences' services, White said.
A constant struggle
Jim Shaw is the South Indiana Annual Conference lay leader. Shaw said his board of laity participated in a September 2001 retreat on racial reconciliation where those attending worked through the "Steps Toward Wholeness" workbook. While participation went well, Shaw understands some laity of both races may see racism as ancient history and not worth addressing. He feels there is a need for repentance.
"The bottom line is, Christ calls us and God calls us to be in unity with everyone. That's the constant struggle," he said.
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"There are still places where racial discrimination exists, and we need to challenge racism wherever we find it. We need to make a personal pledge to do that. There's a lot more for each person to do, including myself." -- Indiana Area Bishop |
And in Indiana, the struggle toward wholeness continues on Sunday mornings. Of the nearly 1,300 United Methodist congregations in Indiana, White estimates only about three dozen have more than a handful of black members. And most of those churches are almost exclusively black.
Shaw sees The United Methodist Church's segregation practices, if no longer policies, when he views his Barnes United Methodist Church on West 30th Street in Indianapolis. The church is more than 90 percent black, including Shaw.
After decades -- if not centuries -- of lower status, the process of blacks believing they are welcome in any United Methodist congregation has been slow to develop.
"There is a need for racial healing between the African American group that stayed (in the Methodist Church) and the Caucasians," Shaw said.
That healing could cause a breakdown of barriers, real or imagined, between the races -- if not the denominations. The Commission on Pan-Methodist Cooperation and Union has discussed the possibility of a merger among The United Methodist Church and the AME, AME Zion and CME churches since the 1970s. White said such a merger is unlikely during his lifetime.
Unofficial unity
But whether one occurs officially, Indiana churches can make the spirit of slavery opponent and church founder John Wesley come alive by reaching out to their own local black church, said Gary Forbes, senior pastor of Grace UMC in Kokomo.
After a member of Forbes' church expressed concern over racial relations in Kokomo, Forbes urged him topursue a relationship with a traditional black church. Historic Wayman Chapel AME Church was approached and the two churches have worshiped or fellowshipped together on four occasions. Included were Watch Night services during the past two New Year's Eves.
"One of our major goals is to get into the homes of one another so we can relate as people and learn," said Forbes. "Another goal is to say to the city of Kokomo there's a group of churches taking the matter of racial togetherness very seriously."
Michael Carson, pastor of Historic Wayman Chapel AME Church and located on Kokomo's north side, said he is proud of his denomination's connection to John Wesley, and that he received his pastoral education at United Methodist-related schools.
The hard part for Carson was agreeing to break with tradition and shift his church's traditional Watch Night service downtown to Grace United Methodist Church this past New Year's Eve.
"I put my neck on the line," Carson said. "But I do understand, it's not a sacrifice without a sacrifice. . While on our corner it's dark, the greater blessing is in going over and worshiping with our friends."
Friendship makes men and women feel welcome in any church, regardless of race. That truth was shown to Carnell Scott when a white pastor visited him in Scott's home in Gary in 1973. The pastor of a United Methodist congregation in the neighborhood, and the pastor's loving heart led Scott to begin attending. Scott had grown up in the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church and also attended AME churches.
Now Scott is a leader within the Black Methodists for Church Renewal (BMCR). The national group works to eradicate racism within The United Methodist Church.
Scott attends Fifth Avenue UMC in Gary. His church awarded its Woodie W. White Humanitarian Award last November to a white person from a cross-town, predominately white United Methodist church. The Saturday award ceremony caused many white people to attend Gary Fifth Avenue, an occasion different from Sunday morning services.
The trust factor
"I think if we're to have reconciliation and make it real, we have to have leaders step forward and say that we're going to go forward and fellowship with Gary Fifth Avenue," Scott said. "And vice-versa. black people have their own hang-ups. That's the trust factor, and there's a lot of work to do to make that happen."
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| Grace UMC, a predominately white congregation, worships with Wayman Chapel AME, a predominately black congregation, during holidays including Watch Night services which are common to both Wesleyan based congregations. Pictured are the Rev. Phil Carroll, Ron Harper (lay coordinator of Racial Conversation), Dr. Gary Forbes and Dr. Michael Carson. |
Kokomo's Forbes does not believe this year's reconciliation services will be meaningful without ongoing relationship work by Indiana's United Methodist church bodies.
"You can do symbolic things and never get involved on an interpersonal relationship level," Forbes said. "I don't think racial reconciliation and repentance can be done at the top. It has to come from the grassroots."
What does White want to see during the repentance and reconciliation services? The bishop carries his own memories of being jailed during the 1960s in Mississippi when he drove from his church in Detroit to attend a Methodist church that did not allow blacks in its congregation.
"I hope we give genuine thanks for the gains that have been made in race, and give thanks for the leaders, some of whom have given personal sacrifices for racial reconciliation and healing," White said. "While we may not be where we want to be, we're further along than we used to be."
That's not to say the bishop is resigned to only slight improvements from the present.
"There are still places where racial discrimination exists, and we need to challenge racism wherever we find it. We need to make a personal pledge to do that. There's a lot more for each person to do, including myself."
Duane Schuman is a freelance writer living in Forth Wayne, Ind. He has written and edited news stories for more than 15 years in northeastern Indiana at Columbia City, Huntington and Fort Wayne.
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