'World parish' takes on new meaning for church, bishop says
11/6/2003 News media contact: Tim Tanton · (615) 742-5470 · Nashville, Tenn. This report accompanies UMNS story #537. Photos are available. By Tim Tanton* WASHINGTON
(UMNS)-For United Methodists, the idea of doing ministry in a "world
parish" is changing and creating new possibilities for church growth,
according to the denomination's top clergy leader.
John Wesley,
who helped found Methodism in the 18th century, redefined the concept of
"parish" as an open world, said Bishop Ruediger Minor, president of the
United Methodist Council of Bishops.
"'The whole world - our
parish.' Yes, Mr. Wesley, you have been right, (for) four continents at
least: Africa, America, Asia and Europe," said the bishop, who leads the
United Methodist Church's Eurasia Area.
"A new dimension of
United Methodist presence in the world has opened a wide range of
possibilities," he said. "The world has become our parish (on) a scale
that Wesley could never dream of."
Minor focused on "God's World -
Our Parish" in his Nov. 5 president's address to the Council of Bishops.
He delivered it at a banquet following an afternoon of visits with
lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Nearly 330 people, including diplomats and
ecumenical leaders as well as homeless and needy people, attended the
dinner, sponsored by the church's Washington Area and emceed by Bishop
Felton Edwin May.
Nearly 112 bishops from around the world are attending the semiannual meeting.
In the United States, the awareness of the worldwide nature of the church has grown in the last 25 years, Minor said.
"Has
United Methodism become another big American corporation, trying to
take over the world in the general rush of globalization?" he asked. The
answer, he said, is just the opposite. The influence of the
denomination's central conferences - regional units outside the United
States - is growing, benefiting the entire church, he said. "The world
is our common parish indeed.
"It is time for a new relationship
between the church in the USA and in the central conferences," he said.
"We are leaving behind a model of large-scale dependence in leadership,
policy and finances."
Numerous people from the United States
have told him how their churches have benefited from working with those
in central conferences, he said. During a trip to Arkansas last summer,
he met a team from one of his Russian churches that was doing a program
for American street kids - a program the Russians had developed.
One
of the advantages of the United Methodist connectional system is that
church members don't have to shop around for mission projects, he said.
The world parish helps them find those projects.
"Sharing this
view of a world as our parish opens a potential for growth of the church
worldwide," he said. "…Meaningful involvement in the mission of the
church will release energies that are untapped so far and will attract
new persons."
# # #
*Tanton is United Methodist News Service's managing editor.
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