Recommendations: Common Needs and Strategies
Recruitment and Training of Pastoral and Lay Leadership
One of the most pressing needs for the Asian-American United Methodists is recruitment and training of language ministers. Except for the Korean United Methodist community where there is an ample supply of ministers due to the concerted efforts of the general boards and agencies, particularly the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry and the General Board of Global Ministries, Asian-American churches are in dire need of ministers who can speak native tongues of new immigrants. A small number of diverse ministers fluent in different languages is needed who have a command of Mandarin, Cantonese, Amoy (Taiwanese), Tagalog, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Laotian, Hmong, Urdu, Hindi, Gujirati, Telegu, Tamil, and/or Japanese. While the long range plan is to recruit and train committed persons for the ordained ministry, many communities face competition from secular fields when recruiting young people for pastoral ministry. There is, therefore, a need to develop lay persons who can serve churches on a voluntary basis. Developing such programs should be by a self-determining process initiated by the respective ethnic groups.
Development of New Congregations
Once there is a pool of strong leadership, new congregations can be developed without much difficulty. The "house church" or fellowship can be developed later into a "preaching station," and the station into a church with or without a charge conference structure. The General Board of Global Ministries and each sub-ethnic caucus can provide helpful information concerning the demographics in communities. We suggest that a team of consultants for each language group be formed to help the general church for its development of language ministry.
Development of Community Ministries
The immigrant congregations have other important sociological dimensions. The immigrant churches are and can be important vehicles to transmit one's own cultural heritage to the following generations. The immigrant churches are not only faith communities, but they function in our society as a place where meaningful programs and activities can take place. Cultural activities, language schools, and social welfare programs for new immigrants, for instance, can be carried out by these faith communities. Immigrant churches are most suited to strengthen outreach ministries and family ministries. The church can be the most important social entity for the immigrant community. This is already proven by the Korean community where more than 70% of the population are Christians.
Development of Language Resources and Materials
Successful language ministries cannot be achieved without being strongly supported by adequate resource materials. Language materials from their native countries do not reflect the different social settings in the United States, and consequently they are not useful for the American congregations. The Asian-American churches have come to the conclusion that they need to develop their own resource materials that would adequately cover and support their ministry. Worship resources such as hymnals and liturgies are needed. The original material must be user-friendly to the Asian-Americans. Leadership training materials such as summaries of The Book of Discipline and "Guidelines for Leading Your Church" will greatly help emerging Asian-American congregations. At present, only Korean language materials are available. Other Asian groups need language materials.
The following budget is recommended for Asian-American Language Ministry in the next quadrennium:
Proposed Budget - 1997-2000
Program $ 920,000
Grants $ 560,000
Leadership Development $ 160,000
Resource Development $ 200,000
Program Support Services $ 200,000
Total $ 1,120,000
Annual Budget
Program
Grants $ 140,000
Community Developers $70,000
New Congregational Development $ 70,000
Leadership Development $ 40,000
Lay, Women, and Youth $ 25,000
Ministerial Leadership $ 15,000
Resources Development $ 50,000
Worship $ 15,000
Educational Resources $ 35,000
Program Support Services $ 50,000
Administration $ 10,000
Consultant Services $ 40,000
Total $ 280,000
General Conference Webmaster: Susan Brumbaugh
PETS Creator: John Brawn
Petition Text: 21344-GM-NonDis-O$
1996 United Methodist General Conference