Bishop promotes clusters to reconnect the connection
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Bishop Timothy Whitaker preaches at a "plantation cluster"
worship service in Pompano Beach, Fla., as Aurilus Desmornes translates
the sermon into Creole.
UMNS photos by Erik Alsgaard.
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By Erik Alsgaard*
Feb. 26, 2008 | POMPANO BEACH, Fla. (UMNS)
For anyone unsure what the United Methodist "connection" means, consider the "cluster."
The "connection" is a concept that began with Methodism founder John
Wesley to refer to the entire church organization. Local churches are
not independent entities but rather are connected and in relationship
with one another, as well as with annual conferences.
However, many clergy today view the connection as "a kind of
institutional mechanism," according to Florida Bishop Timothy W.
Whitaker.
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The Sanctified New Jerusalem Mission choir sings during the
gathering of leaders from eight United Methodist churches.
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The leader of the church's Florida Annual (regional) Conference shared
that assessment while speaking Jan. 27 to clergy and lay leaders from
eight Florida churches that are informally known as a "plantation
cluster,"
Whitaker said the early Methodist Church viewed the connection as
necessary. "All of the societies, later congregations, were parts of
circuits," he said. "Whenever you had quarterly conferences, they all
came together for a time of worship and to be held accountable for their
ministry. The experience that Methodists had in (early) America was one
where all the different congregations came together."
The bishop launched Florida's cluster plan in 2005 after the conference
went from 14 to nine districts. Designed to complement the connection,
Florida's clusters are sprouting new ministries and bearing fruit but
also are sometimes not working at all. The bishop’s visit to the regular
plantation cluster meeting at Pompano Beach United Methodist Church was
designed to show his support for what he considers a vital link in the
denomination.
"Asking congregations to be in clusters was a way to try and experience
again what the connection once was—a living relationship with one
another," Whitaker said.
Corporate culture
The bishop offered his own theory of why United Methodist churches gradually have become more autonomous.
"Our church tended to follow the culture in American society," he said.
"In the middle of the 20th century, American culture was dominated by
certain kinds of corporations and bureaucracies. Our church started
patterning our life after them, and that’s when each individual
congregation started seeing itself as standing alone and each pastor saw
him or herself as having a relationship only to the church to which she
or he was assigned."
By trying to mimic corporate life, Whitaker said, United Methodism lost
some of its customs. "As we all know, that culture has pretty much
disappeared, but it survives in our church."
The plantation cluster is one group that is beginning to experience more connections among its churches.
“So often, though being in the same locale, there’s no real interaction. Clusters encourage people to come together.”
–Bishop Timothy W. Whitaker
At the cluster-led worship service during Whitaker’s visit, more than
300 people prayed for each other and their churches, listened to the
Sanctified New Jerusalem Mission choir sing in Creole and celebrated
communion.
For the Rev. Debbie McLeod, superintendent of the Florida Conference’s South East District, it was a wonderful evening.
"This was a great experience of vibrancy in worship tonight," she said
following worship. "This is a lot what The United Methodist Church looks
like in Southeast Florida. … We’re no longer all white. It’s a
wonderful thing for people to come together and experience Christ."
McLeod sees a strong benefit in churches coming together, like those in
the plantation cluster, to do ministry or just be together.
"In South Florida, the communities are very fragmented," she said. "The
churches can become like silos, and it’s hard for people, even though at
work and school they know people from other cultures. It’s hard for the
church to really be the Kingdom. Having a chance to come together with
other United Methodists who may worship in a different language or come
from a different culture or country is a wonderful way of being together
in Christ."
Modeling the Kingdom
The Rev. Mary Beth Packard, pastor at Norland United Methodist Church
in Miami, said being in the cluster has been helpful. She said the
church recently went through a painful process of losing its previous
pastor, and cluster members literally showed up and prayed with and for
that congregation.
"The cluster has also helped me to learn about the diversity of culture,
both within and outside the congregation," she said. "They’ve helped me
deal with my own prejudices and assumptions."
Jonas Milice leads the Sanctified New Jerusalem Christian Mission, which
served as host congregation for the worship service. His church is
growing as it reaches out to the Haitian community in Pompano Beach.
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The Rev. Jonas Milice
leads worship.
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"The church is having a big explosion," he said. "When we became United
Methodist church, God gave us a bigger place, a nice sanctuary to
worship in."
Milice and his wife started the church three years ago in a storefront
and recently began worshiping in the sanctuary at Pompano Beach United
Methodist Church. Today, they have more than 300 people in worship, a
youth group of more than 25 and a choir of 30.
Milice and his church are new members of the plantation cluster, a
connection he welcomes with open arms. "God has blessed us; God makes us
a good explosion," Milice said. "We’re from Haiti. A lot of people have
immigration problems, but God keeps moving with us. We feel the Holy
Spirit with us when we worship. I want people to pray for us, pray for
me."
Whitaker said the conference gives clusters freedom to determine how to
organize. Some have organized around geography, some around ethnicity
and some on doing ministry together. "We have a cluster in Port Orange
that is starting a new congregation this year," he said. "They came
together and decided they were being led to start a new congregation."
Whitaker mentioned another cluster in which a mega church is working
with churches in the poorest communities of its region. This move frees
the mega church from being isolated from the poorest members of its
community and offers support to the smaller churches in the cluster.
One cluster in rural North Florida has started a creative outreach
program. After learning about a high concentration of single mothers in
their community, cluster leaders began asking how they could reach out
to that group. One church's spare room was Laundromat, and church
members offered to babysit for mothers doing their laundry.
Breaking down barriers
Whitaker dreams that clustering with help the church break down the walls of segregation.
"I heard about your cluster, not as one that was focused on doing
something, but as a cluster of churches that represented people of
different ethnic communities who came together for worship, in order to
build a spirit of unity among different communities," Whitaker said.
"We have very diverse congregations, ethnically, in our conference," he
said. "So often, though being in the same locale, there’s no real
interaction. Clusters encourage people to come together."
Whitaker estimates one-third of the conference’s clusters are doing
exceedingly well. Another third are in a somewhat "awkward" place and
seeking to figure out where the Holy Spirit is guiding them. For the
final third, the cluster concept is not working well.
"It does take time if a cluster is going to be a means of grace," he
said. "It takes patience to build relationships. You can’t live the
Christian life all by yourself."
*Alsgaard is director of communications for the Florida Annual
Conference. This article first appeared in e-Review, the online news
service of the Florida Annual Conference.
News media contact: Linda Green, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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