Remembering the Central Jurisdiction, reunion to celebrate history
Remembering the Central Jurisdiction; reunion to celebrate history
Photo courtesy of the General Commission on Archives and History
Charles Golden was elected a bishop in the Central Jurisdiction in 1960.
Courtesy: General Commission on Archives and History Charles Golden(right) was elected a bishop in the Central Jurisdiction in 1960.
July 21, 2004
By Linda Green
United Methodist News Service
African
Americans across the country once had to operate under a segregated
societal structure and those in the former Methodist Church also had to
endure a separate racial structure to worship, lead and preach.
On
Aug. 27-29, African-American United Methodists will remember the
Central Jurisdiction, the racially segregated structure for black
Methodists that existed from 1939-1968, when it was dissolved in the
five current geographic jurisdictions of the United Methodist Church.
The event will be at the Atlanta Marriott Airport Hotel.
The
Central Jurisdiction, composed of all the “Negro Annual Conferences” in
the former Methodist Church, functioned exactly as the jurisdictions
for the church’s white membership. The only difference was its racial
distinction.
Bishop Woodie W. White
Bishop Woodie W. White
The
jurisdiction was the result of an agreement for a place for black
Methodists in the merger of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the
Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and the Methodist Protestant Church.In the introduction to the book Our Time Under God is Now,
Bishop Woodie White wrote that although the creation of the Central
Jurisdiction was nearly unanimously opposed by black Methodists, those
same Methodists “endeavored to make it an effective organization. It
became almost a church within a church.”
It
is that spirit that African-American United Methodists, especially
those who were a part of the Central Jurisdiction, will celebrate and
remember at the first “reunion” of the former jurisdiction, which was
disbanded 36 years ago.
When
the Central Jurisdiction was created, there were more than 300,000
black Methodists in the Methodist Church. The racism that helped create
the jurisdiction also led some African Americans to leave and join the
other churches, including black Methodist denominations. Today, there
are 423,456 African-American U.S. members of the United Methodist
Church, including 12 bishops and 2,500 black congregations.
Under
the theme “Reviewing Yesterday...Discerning Paths to Tomorrow,” the
reunion is designed to provide a “living history from the voices of
those who stayed during segregation and remain today within the United
Methodist Church” and to collect artifacts and documents from the era
for the proposed African-American United Methodist Heritage Center.
Delegates to the 2004 General Conference approved
the center and established an endowment fund through the United
Methodist Church Foundation. Until a permanent facility is built at one
of the denomination’s historically black colleges or universities, the
center will be housed at the United Methodist Commission on Archives and
History at Drew University, Madison, N.J. The General Conference
also approved a motion directing the churchwide Commission on Christian
Unity and Interreligious Concerns, with assistance from other
churchwide agencies, to collect data on African Americans in the United
Methodist Church and its predecessor bodies in preparation of a resource
or resources that will inform the church and other faith communities of
the contributions African Americans have made and are making in the
denomination.
“We
have never had a reunion of the Central Jurisdiction and at this
juncture in the church, especially in the black United Methodist church,
we need to revisit our history and move forward while learning from the
past,” said the Rev. Renita Thomas, a member of the reunion design team
and associate director for church development for the North Georgia
Annual (regional) Conference.
“So
many of those people who were part of the Central Jurisdiction are
dying off and since there has never been a time where those of the
jurisdiction could come together and share their history, we wanted to
have an event that allows for reconnecting with the past and seeing how
the past can inform our future as blacks in the United Methodist
Church,” she explained.
Bishop Leontine T. C. Kelly
Bishop Leontine T. C. Kelly
The
reunion will include worship, presentations, panel discussions and an
old-fashioned church picnic. Featured among the leadership will be
Bishop Leontine Kelly, who will preach at a citywide worship service,
and Bishop Forrest Stith, who will provide a historic overview.
One
person who was a member of the predecessor denomination before the
jurisdiction was created in 1939 is Bishop Charles W. Jordan, Upland,
Calif.
The
Central Jurisdiction has a historic place in the life of the church, he
said, while describing it as a setting where clergy and laity were not
only trained and mentored in ministry, but also given opportunities to
thoroughly understand and appreciate the connection even though they
were a separate part of the church.
“I
remember well how much people were committed to the connectional
institutions of the church, the agencies, apportionment payments,
missionaries. It was something that I think we have lost today. The
claiming of the connection and the commitment to our connection is not
as strong as it was back then.”
Jordan
said the benefit of a reunion of the Central Jurisdiction “is for us to
remember what has been, to tell the stories and hopefully see how those
stories and experiences will help us as we ponder what our future is
all about.”
As
the bishop reflected upon growing up in the Central Jurisdiction, he
added, “Those were some great days, even in our segregation. We were
segregated, but connected.”
Acknowledging
that a reunion of the former Central Jurisdiction is long overdue,
Cecelia Long, Dayton, Ohio, said it is an opportune time to celebrate
the past and remember the positives that resulted in spite of the racism
upon which the jurisdiction was founded.
“We
must keep issues of full inclusiveness always before the United
Methodist Church and I think the reunion could help do that,” she said.
“The reunion can be an educational opportunity for our children to learn
the history and appreciate how we’ve come to this point in the
denomination.”
Although
Long entered the denomination after the jurisdiction was dissolved, “I
appreciate all that happened and the leaders who emerged and how they
impacted my life,” she said.
The Rev. Gil Caldwell
Gilbert Caldwell
Also
affirming the impact the Central Jurisdiction had on his life and how
involvement in it formed him to take what some say are radical positions
today is the Rev. Gil Caldwell.
This
reunion is an opportunity for black United Methodists to remember,
reflect and reconstruct, he said. “The reunion should be the first of
subsequent gathering to refine the Central Jurisdiction experience so
that it can have meaning for the 21st century,” he explained. “There is
something unique that black United Methodists have to contribute to the
denomination as well as the nation that we have not yet done.”
Caldwell
calls the Central Jurisdiction the heart of the United Methodist black
experience. “It was a living manifestation of how belief in God, Jesus
Christ and the Holy Spirit can sustain people,” he said. “We did not
allow segregation to destroy our humanity and hope.”
Like
much of the black experience, the Central Jurisdiction “is an
illustration of how we create soul food,” he added. “We take leftovers
and make something good and the Central Jurisdiction is a representation
of that.”
For
more information, including registration and hotel information, call
either Evelyn Lowrey or Linda Askew at the Central Jurisdictional
Reunion Headquarters at (404) 589-1120 or e-mail sashabselina@msn.com.
*Green is a United Methodist News Service news writer in Nashville, Tenn.
News media contact: Linda Green, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org
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