FAITH focus 3B UM CONNECTIONS


UM agency supports ‘Day of Justice’ drive The United Methodist Gen- eral Board of Church and Society (GBCS) is part of a coalition launching a “Day of Justice” campaign this fall to urge reform of the U.S. criminal and juvenile justice systems. The cam- paign seeks to build support for reform through hosting visits from federal policy- makers to local prisons, jails, youth detention cen- ters, restorative justice min- istries and related programs. For more infor- mation, contact Laura Markle Downton, criminal justice grassroots coordina- tor for the GBCS, at ldownton@umc-gbcs.org or (202) 495-2956.


SMU to start offering human rights degree Southern Methodist Univer- sity in Dallas will offer a bachelor of arts degree in human rights, starting in the spring 2012 semester. Most SMU students will be able to apply past or current courses toward the degree. The move makes SMU the first university in the South— and only the fifth in the country—to offer an aca- demic major in human rights. “It is beyond my comprehension that pro- grams like this do not exist throughout this country, but at least it now exists here,” Rick Halperin, director of the university’s Embrey Human Rights Program, said in a news release.


Exploration 2011 registration still open Late registration continues through Oct. 3 for Explo- ration 2011, an event for young adults who are ex- ploring calls to ordained ministry as deacons or eld- ers in the United Methodist Church. The event will be Nov. 11-13 in St. Louis, Mo. Sponsored by the denomi- nation’s General Board of Higher Education and Min- istry, it’s open to young adults age 18 to 26. The registration fee covers a two-night stay at the Millen- nium Hotel, meals and pro- gram fees. To learn more, click on “Exploration 2011” under “Events” at www.gbhem.org.


—Compiled by Bill Fentum  CONNECT Continued from page 1B


up more than 50 percent; Latinos be- tween 15 percent and 30 percent; Asians around 5 percent; and whites less than 30 percent. It’s the same kind of demographic


shift that has left many longtime white churches in the middle of African- American and Latino neighborhoods. Some have closed in recent years, in- cluding Westover Hills Presbyterian, Duncan Memorial United Methodist and Crossroads Presbyterian. But Hickory Grove Presbyterian


and some of the others in the Pres- bytery’s pilot program are trying to become multicultural along with their neighborhoods. So the new emphasis is to reach


out and invite in those African-Amer- ican, Latino and Asian families. Hick- ory Grove’s website is filled with pictures of neighborhood kids who participate in various church activi- ties: soccer league,dance class and an after-school program where church members and UNC Charlotte students help Hispanic children with their Eng- lish-language homework. “God knew what he was doing


when he put us here,” says Hickory Grove pastor Ms. Murphy, who’s 35 and also helped lead a multicultural church in Boston.“And God was not asleep when this neighborhood was changing.” In hopes of wooing more neigh-


bors to Sunday service, the church has even voted—as part of the pilot pro- gram—to follow a two-year timetable of changes that will lead to a new name for the church, a remodeled sanctuary and an African-American or Latino worship director. The changes in Plaza Midwood,


Kilgo’s gentrified neighborhood, have been generational, not racial. As the church’s membership grew older, their neighbors got younger. Since the bishop appointed him in


2008, the Rev. Mike Harris, the church’s 38-year-old pastor,has been making up for lost time by tirelessly reaching out to young families. A church that for many years had more funerals than baptisms, it now hosts frequent neighborhood events geared to kids and their parents. And the neighborhood has responded, show- ing up for everything fromfamily movies on the lawn to Water Fun Days to a live Nativity. “It’s all about image,” says Mr. Har-


ris, who has a degree in marketing. “It’s all about getting out in the neigh- borhood and telling people you care about them.” The welcome mat appears to be


paying off: Neighbors started“Friends of Kilgo,” which organized a day of painting and landscaping on the church grounds. Some members of the group now attend Sunday services


PHOTO BY MAUREEN A. COYLE, CHARLOTTE OBSERVER


Changes at Kilgo United Methodist Church in Charlotte have met with approval from some longtime mem but not all. “The o


e old hymns,” on at Kilgo, and a few have joined.


Facing steep climb Still, being a neighborhood church


was probably easier when Kilgo and Hickory Grove were new. In those days, denominations really meant something, most families went to church on Sunday, and many of them walked to worship. Back then, too, the churches


tended to mirror their neighbor- hoods—generationally, racially and culturally. To be a Charlotte neighborhood


church in 2011 brings steeper climbs. For starters, there’s little denomi-


national loyalty. Those “tags are pretty irrelevant to


people 18-40,” says the Rev. George Thompson, who retired this summer after eight years as superintendent of the Charlotte District in the UMC’s Western North Carolina Conference. Then there’s church attendance,


which took a big drop in the 1960s. These days, it’s mostly the Catholic


Church and large evangelical and Pen- tecostal churches that are gaining members. The moderate-to-liberal Protestant


mainline denominations—Presbyte- rian Church (USA), United Methodist, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Amer- ica, Episcopal Church—continue to report declines in membership. And many of the neighborhood


churches that have been struggling are, like Kilgo and Hickory Grove, mainline Protestant. Finally, there’s the resistance to


change fromlongtime members. “Demographic change in the


neighborhood comes quicker than the institution’s willingness to change,” says Dr. Roberson of the Charlotte Presbytery. Nobody has officially left Hickory


Grove Presbyterian over the scheduled changes,but 12 to 15 members have chosen to stop worshipping at the church, says Ms. Murphy. Some have left Kilgo, too. And oth-


ers are sampling more traditional churches in town. “The older people really miss the


old hymns out of the book,” says Alice Turner, a Kilgo member for 15 years. “We also have a gifted organist. . . . We don’t get to hear him enough.” But other longtime members of


the two churches say they can accept new ways if that’s what it takes to keep the doors open. “It may not be so bad once we get


over the shock of it,” says Bettie McCoy, a member at Hickory Grove Presbyterian since 1963.“And if that’s the way the Lord wants it, that’s the way it’s going to be.” Adds Kilgo stalwart Mr. Lankford,


now 83:“We have to do something or the church won’t survive.”


New vs. traditional When Kilgo pastor Mr. Harris


moved his family into the parsonage next to the church three years ago, the number of children in the congrega- tion doubled, to eight. Mr. Harris worked to bring more


children—and their parents—into the fold. “Good, healthy churches in some


neighborhoods become old because they don’t have young families,” says former local UM official Mr. Thomp- son.


So Mr. Harris showed E.T. and


other movies, sat in the dunking booth on Water Fun Day, and much more. Mr. Harris and wife, Carroll, who’s


in charge of music, also brought in a contemporary music team. They put up a big screen so worshippers could read announcements and sing along


to the songs. They encouraged a more casual dress code on Sundays. And in August, Kilgo held a “Revolution Serv- ice” meant to attract younger people. Mr. Harris’ innovations have upset


some older members, who say the big screen blocks the choir loft and that the old hymns get too little time dur- ing a 10 a.m. service that blends gui- tar and organ. “His style is just not for me. . . . I


like the traditional Methodist church,” says Joan Cude, who left Kilgo with her husband, Stan, and now worships at Memorial United Methodist. A Kilgo choir member for more


than 50 years, Ms. Cude, 70, enjoyed worshipping with her longtime friends at Kilgo,but says the changes—from the music to the in- formality—were too “drastic.” Newcomers from the neighbor-


hood, though, feel so welcome that a large contingent of them and their children have become regulars on Sunday morning. Some grew up Methodist, but most did not. Drew Reading, 15, who often


comes with his dad, Scott, is so taken with his new neighborhood church and Mr. Harris’ relevant sermons that he went on a recent Kilgo mission trip to Ecuador that he says changed his young life. Attorney Garth White, 39, one of


the founders of “Friends of Kilgo,” says he and his family have become mem- bers of the church. “There’s something idyllic about


walking to church with your kids,” he says.“And it’s such a great opportunity to have a church like this in the com- munity. I don’t have any grand plans it can get as big as it used to be, but it can grow.”


Reprinted with permission from the Charlotte Observer.


UNITED METHO DI ST RE P O RTER | SEPTEMBER 30, 2011


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