Title: Disciples struggle with diversity in church leadership
Date: December 2, 1997
Disciples News Service
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Contact: news@cm.disciples.org
97b-64
INDIANAPOLIS (DNS) -- Four months after the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) opened its most prayerful and intentional discussion on racism to date, race was at least one factor in the rejection of an African American candidate as regional minister of Georgia.
Had he been called, the Rev. William H. Edwards would have been Georgia's first African American regional executive. He also would have been only the second African American regional minister called in any of the denomination's 36 regions. Edwards is currently executive pastor at Memphis' Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church.
At the 1997 General Assembly, Disciples General Minister and President Richard L. Hamm drew attention to the fact that no person of color presently is serving as a regional minister. "Unfortunately, that's still the case," he said, in reaction to news about Edwards.
At the same Denver assembly, the church launched a "process of discernment" on racism. The long-term process uses a variety of spiritual and discussion disciplines to try to hear God's will on a topic.
Hamm was in Chicago for a meeting of the steering committee for the racism discussion when he learned of the decision in Georgia. For him, the action reinforces the importance of the discernment process in helping the whole church grapple with the issue of racism.
Edwards failed to receive the two-thirds vote necessary from the regional board to forward his name to the assembly, meeting Nov. 14-15, said Georgia Regional Minister David L. Alexander. The Georgia constitution requires a two-thirds majority vote to forward a nominee's name to the assembly. The individual must also receive a two-thirds vote from the assembly to receive a call.
For Alexander, however, race was but one of several factors in the board's decision. The decision really was not based solely on color or racism, he said. There were some theological issues and "many other factors involved."
Edwards received four of seven search committee votes during that group's deliberations, according to the Rev. Byron H. Wells, Marietta, Ga., chairperson. Two persons who previously voted for other candidates later supported the recommendation to forward Edwards' name to the regional board.
Edwards' nomination then was defeated over alleged concerns about theology, spirituality, lack of pastoral experience and -- race. "Much as we hate to admit it, this is still the South and we have a long way to go in the area of race," said Moderator Elizabeth Hamm, Atlanta.
Opponents also reportedly cited concerns that some congregations would drastically reduce their support of Basic Mission Finance, or consider withdrawing from the region because of Edwards' election.
Alexander offered that "there were . . . persons on the search committee who wanted to believe that the whole region would be able to accept this big change." Nevertheless, Alexander mused that some board members may have believed other Georgia Disciples were not ready for a young African American to serve as regional minister.
"Where is the region ready for this?" he asked. "There was an African American on staff years and years ago, but not in the last 20 years." For Alexander, "the fact that we got that close says something" about the region's openness to consider an African American candidate.
"It would have been great to be on the cutting edge but that didn't happen," said Elizabeth Hamm. She called it a "crying shame that the color of someone's skin has to be a ruling factor. At least we had the guts to make that step forward . . . we're learning from it."
Alexander recalled that his own election as Georgia regional minister occurred after a somewhat similar experience in which race was not a factor.
In this case, too, a new search committee will be appointed to conduct another search. An initial task, however, will be identifying an interim regional minister as soon as possible. Alexander retires December 31.
"It's a sad state of affairs," said Hamm, the regional moderator. "This is something . . . which needs to be addressed." Nevertheless, she sees the experience as an opportunity for Georgia Disciples to tackle the issue head on. That's also a hope Edwards shares.
"The Georgia region has a tremendous opportunity to move light years ahead of the rest of the church in the area of race," he said. "The question now is, What does this mean?'" And " What do we do about it?'"
"All I want is for the church to honestly deal with it (the race issue) and move on," Edwards said. It would "be a tragedy" if the region is unable to struggle with members' various concerns about race, he added. Nevertheless, the former Homeland Ministries executive feels Georgia is "in a scary but exciting place . . . if they will respond openly and honestly instead of out of defensiveness."
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That's also a sentiment shared by Wells, the search committee chairperson. "We recommended the candidate we felt called by God to this position (regional minister). I hope this causes a frank, open and honest discussion about racism" in the church, said the pastor of Chestnut Ridge Christian Church, Marietta, Ga.
With pastoral leadership by General Minister and President Richard L. Hamm and retiring Regional Minister David L. Alexander, Edwards foresees the region struggling to develop a meaningful response to this experience. The question to the whole church then will be, "What are you going to do about it?"
What the region and the church can do is engage in open and honest dialogue, according to Edwards. "How can we be intentional in our acceptance of leadership from another perspective?" he asked.
"There needs to be a real intentional process," according to Edwards, for wrestling with the issue of race in the life of the church.
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