Bishops will focus on children, poverty concerns at meeting
4/24/2003 News media contact: Tim Tanton · (615) 742-5470 · Nashville, Tenn. By United Methodist News Service* Issues
related to children, poverty and violence in the United States and
Africa will be key agenda items for the United Methodist Church's
bishops when they meet April 27-May 2 near Dallas.
The
international United Methodist Council of Bishops will meet at the
Crowne Plaza Hotel in Addison. The council comprises 50 active bishops
in the United States; 18 bishops in Europe, Asia and Africa; plus 75
retired bishops worldwide. They are the top clergy leaders in the nearly
10 million-member church.
The council's semi-annual meeting
opens April 27 with a memorial service at Perkins Chapel on the campus
of Southern Methodist University.
The bishops will go into their
first plenary session the following day, with Bishop Sharon A. Brown
Christopher giving the final address of her one-year term as council
president. Christopher leads the church's Illinois Area. During closing
worship May 2, Bishop Ruediger R. Minor of Moscow will be installed as
the new president.
Children's issues will receive much attention
as the bishops hear reports related to their Initiative on Children and
Poverty, launched in 1996. The council's task force on children and
poverty, led by Bishop Donald Ott of Pewaukee, Wis., will give a report
April 28. Bishop Elias Galvan, who leads the church's Seattle Area, will
report the next day on the "Hope for the Children of Africa" appeal.
Other
speakers on the initiative will include Sarah Wilke, a staff member of
the North Texas Annual Conference, and Gary Gunderson, director of the
Interfaith Health Program at Rollins School of Public Health at United
Methodist-related Emory University in Atlanta. The initiative is
expected to unveil a new study guide for communities working with
children and the poor, and it will offer reports on special ministries
in congregations in Fairport, N.Y., and Towanda, Pa.
Marking the
300th anniversary of the birth of John Wesley, founder of the Methodist
movement, the council will have a presentation April 29 by a Wesleyan
scholar, Marjorie Suchocki of Upland, Calif. Suchocki is a retired dean
of United Methodist-related Candler School of Theology at Emory
University in Atlanta and teaches at Claremont (Calif.) School of
Theology.
Other reports will include an update from Bishop
Melvin Talbert, the council's chief ecumenical officer, on his recent
activities; and an update on worship plans for the 2004 General
Conference in Pittsburgh.
During their closing plenary session, the bishops will consider resolutions on a number of topics.
# # #
*Information
for this report was provided by Stephen Drachler, director of the
Office of Public Information at United Methodist Communications in
Nashville, Tenn.
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