Dedicated to fostering conversations about the global nature of The United Methodist Church
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Discussion: Sharing church buildings as cooperative ministry?
As a recent guest blog post by Hendrik Pieterse and associated comment by Robert Hunt suggest, one of the ways in which The United Methodist Church can be a global denomination is by engaging in ministry to the global diversity of people present in the United States. This recent article from Grand Island, NE, represents a common model for collaboration between Anglo and immigrant churches: sharing a church building, as First UMC and Ministerio de Fe have begun to do. Yet does sharing a building really count as engaging in shared ministry? Is co-location a path to greater cooperation? Or does it preserve unnecessary barriers in what should be a multicultural church? Post your thoughts in the comment box below.
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You can't have a multi-cultural church until you have a multi-cultural society. In the US that is something now emerging. What we have had is multiple cultures in a common geographic space, but nothing like a multi-cultural society. That is only now emerging, and probably cannot be forced. Sharing a building may be a good first step, particularly if there is complete partnership in managing the building itself, rather than treating one congregation as a renter. I found working in such a situation in Vienna that shared responsibilities for property management were a start in deeper and more fruitful relationships.
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