One of the most positive and practical outcomes of the 1996 General Conference of The United Methodist Church in Denver, Colorado, was the mission statement for the church: “making disciples of Jesus Christ.” It helped all levels of the church move toward the future with a sense of clear direction and purpose. In the last few decades, we have not been very clear about our direction and purpose as a denomination. Now our direction, our purpose, is to make all people on earth disciples of Jesus Christ. This General Conference mission statement affirmed our effort at the General Board of Discipleship to help United Methodist leaders and congregations make disciples. The General Board of Discipleship has been seeking to help leaders of the general church, annual conference, district, and local church make their members and people of the world disciples of Jesus Christ by networking and by providing resources, learning events, and consultations. One of the first things we do to achieve this is to constantly listen to people, with a focus on discovering the program resources and learning opportunities they need.

One of the many needs of congregations in disciple-making is to learn and practice embracing diversity in the church and community. Churches and communities in this world are becoming increasingly diverse. In Christian churches, we experience and feel tension arising from diversity in theological stance, gender, generation, class, and cultural background among people. Many complex issues around this diversity divide our church, causing us to experience pain and shame.

Evangelicals and liberals do not agree on most theological and social issues and harshly criticize each other. We see few signs of willingness to initiate dialogue. Many women’s voices in the church (lay and clergy) demanding equal opportunity and equal rights are growing louder and clearer. Male leaders in the church are sometimes insensitive toward women’s needs and feelings. Over the decades, The United Methodist Church has become a middle- and upper-class church, often leaving out the poor and the marginalized. Youth and young adults often have not been heard, and, at times, the needs of older adults have been neglected.

Racial and ethnic churches of our denomination have been greatly strengthened through three quadrennia of missional priority emphases and national mission initiatives, such as the National Plan for Hispanic Ministries, Strengthening the Black Church for the 21st Century, and the Native American Comprehensive Plan. Yet, racism and prejudice against ethnic minorities in our church are alive and well. Still, in spite of all the complex issues surrounding the diversity within the church, congregations are becoming more diverse and multicultural. In the eighteenth century, John Wesley said, “The world is my parish.” If he were saying it today, he might modify that to: “My parish is a world.”

As technology develops, the world grows smaller. The existence of racially and ethnically diverse urban neighborhoods is a well-known fact. As U.S. society becomes more racially and ethnically diverse, this affects our Christian congregations. More congregations today have become diverse in terms of race, ethnic background, and nationality. Many churches in and near university campuses today are filled with people literally from all nations of the world. There are approximately 25 nations represented in an average Sunday worship service at Belmont United Methodist Church near the Vanderbilt University campus in Nashville, Tennessee. Both political and religious leaders are working to promote peace and justice among all races in the nation and embracing diversity and multiculturalism within their communities and churches.

Congregations are places where all God’s people come together for worship and fellowship. Churches of Jesus Christ should be places where all people of God—poor and rich, women and men, people of all colors and all ages—feel free to come celebrate the goodness of life from God. Furthermore, these churches should be places that encourage all people to embrace diversity throughout the nation. Embracing diversity in congregations is not an option; it is a biblical mandate.

Who are these diverse people and what are their critical issues? The United Methodist Church has officially recognized four racial and ethnic groups as major caucuses within the denomination: African-American Caucus (Black Methodists for Church Renewal), Hispanic Caucus (Metodistas Asociados Representando la Causa Hispano-Americana), Native-American International Caucus, and Asian-American Caucus (National Federation of Asian-American United Methodists). The Pacific Islanders Caucus is added to the list as the fifth officially recognized ethnic caucus. Of course, each of these five groups is further divided into many subgroups. There are African Americans native to the U.S. ,and there are people in the U.S. from several African nations. Hispanic groups represent many nations: Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Central and South America, and the Caribbean. There are so many nations represented in Asian groups that I cannot list them all. Although there are similarities, Asians do not share one culture. Their cultures and roots are entirely different. Within the National Federation of Asian-American United Methodists (Asian National Caucus), there are nine sub-caucuses of nationalities: Chinese American, Japanese American, Filipino American, Korean American, Taiwanese American, Vietnamese American, Cambodian American, Hmong American, and Laotian American.

Issues these racial and ethnic groups and individuals face within The United Methodist Church and in U.S. society can be broadly categorized as social-political issues and ministry issues. Social-political issues include: racism, prejudice, exploitation, exclusion, and justice. Ministry issues include: lack of leadership, resources, structure, congregational development, age-level ministries (children, youth, older adults), and ministry for women.

The General Board of Discipleship generally concerns itself more with ministry issues than social issues; i.e., strengthening racial and ethnic minority churches by providing program resources, learning experiences for spiritual leadership development, and staff services for consultation and nurture for congregational development.

Racial and ethnic groups of the church are facing similar issues in terms of ministry needs, but the degree and timing of their needs may be different.

The National Plan for Hispanic Ministries is fully in effect for the second quadrennium now, and work is underway on the third quadrennium. New faith community development, recruitment and training of lay missioners, and revitalization of existing congregations were identified as the most critical needs for the first four years. For the current quadrennium, the plan calls for special focus by the entire structure of the church on those three areas; specific programs were assigned to each program board and agency. The General Board of Discipleship was assigned the following eight areas of ministry:

1. Develop and produce the necessary materials and training for faith communities and local congregations to become centers of mission.
2. Design and produce stewardship resources, equip trainers, and develop training programs to support annual conferences to work with local congregations engaged in Hispanic ministries.
3. Design and produce materials and training programs to help non-Hispanics start and strengthen Hispanic ministries.
4. Develop guidelines and support for the Hispanic Ministry Institute.
5. Provide annual conferences with guidelines and resources for the recruitment, training, assignment, and support of lay missioner-pastor teams for Hispanic ministries.
6. Offer the necessary research, consultation, planning, and funding assistance to develop liturgical resources for Hispanic and for bilingual and bicultural churches.
7. Design model programs and resources for the training, support, and continuing education of lay missioner/training/pastor-mentor teams for Hispanic ministry.
8. Prepare the materials necessary to guide congregational development, revitalization, and community ministries.

As a result, according to their report to the General Council on Ministries, 64 new congregations have been chartered, 192 missions established, 24 new ministries begun, 538 faith communities established, and 263 church school extensions started.

The Strengthening the Black Church for the 21st Century initiative identified five general areas:

1. Vitalization/revitalization of congregations
2. Establishment of 25 congregational resource centers
3. Organization of lay and clergy teams from vital congregations to serve as resource people
4. Utilization of geographic-specific and need-specific models to meet the particular needs of churches
5. A strong and intentional focus on the laity

Their report to the General Council on Ministries shows that 24 congregational resource centers have been established.

The Native American Comprehensive Plan is divided programmatically into four areas: congregational development, leadership development, denominational presence, and Native American spirituality.

Committees established for each of the four identified needs areas are working diligently to achieve their goals in support of the entire structure of the denomination.

Asian-American Language Ministry Study identified needs by nine sub-ethnic groups. Commonly identified needs by these Asian ethnic groups are not different from the other ethnic groups:

1. Congregational development
2. Leadership development
3. Age-level ministries (children, youth, older adults)
4. Continuing education for clergy
5. Language ministry

According to a report by the General Conference Task Force of Korean-American Ministries, three areas of critical needs at the moment of immigration history are identified: leadership (lay and clergy) development, ministry for future generations, and congregational development. Their survey showed that ministry for future generations is one of the most critical issues Korean-American churches are facing today.

Pacific Islanders National Caucus and many other sub-ethnic caucuses, such as the Indo-Chinese Caucus, are in the process of developing their comprehensive ministry plan to present their specific needs more effectively to the church.

Racial and Ethnic Minorities and The General Board of Discipleship:
Partners in Discipleship
How can the church and the General Board of Discipleship respond to these various needs and issues of many different ethnic groups? One of the most effective responses is to help them help themselves. National ministry initiatives for major ethnic groups are a good successful model to strengthen their ministries. General boards and annual conferences can provide staff support to carry out the ministry of the ethnic caucus national plans. The General Board of Discipleship is providing staff to support some of the national plans:

• Francine Taylor-Thirus, Director of African American Ministries, P. O. Box 340003, Nashville, TN 37203-0003; 615-340-7167, toll-free: 877-899-2780, ext. 7167; ftaylor_thirus@gbod.org.

• Marigene Chamberlain, Director of the National Plan for Hispanic Ministries, P. O. Box 340003, Nashville, TN 37203-0003; (615) 340-1706, toll-free: 877-899-2780, ext. 1706; mchamberlain@gbod.org.

• Sungnam Choi, Director of Korean, Asian-American, and Pacific Islanders Ministries, P. O. Box 340003, Nashville, TN 37203-0003; 615-340-7050, 877-899-2780, ext. 7050; schoi@gbod.org.

Numerous program resources for ethnic churches have been produced by Discipleship Resources, a publishing unit of the General Board of Discipleship.

Sang Eui Chun is retired from the staff of the General Board of Discipleship, Nashville, TN.

Updated 2004