Saturday, May 1, 2004
Young United Methodists Rally for Church Inclusiveness
By Kathryn Witte*

PTTSBURGH (UMNS)-About 100 United Methodist young adults and
supporters rallied May 1 at Smithfield Church to promote an all-
inclusive church.

Organizers said the event focused attention on the presence of young
adult delegates at General Conference and demonstrated young adults'
desire for the church to be welcoming to people who have often been
pushed away. The event was held by Methodist Students for an All-
Inclusive Church, or MoSAIC.

Christina Wright, seminary student at Harvard Divinity School and
MoSAIC planning committee member, sees the group as a start for a
broader movement to get young adults involved in the church as well
as responding to issues beyond inclusiveness.

"The overall goal for me is to get young adults involved with the
church - to reclaim our heritage," she said.

A skit set to the song "The Promise" included audience participation
and sparked testimonials from the group.

Peggy Laemmel, a seminary student at Union Theological Seminary in
New York, was brought up Presbyterian but saw her parents become
active United Methodists. She described returning to the United
Methodist Church after several years' absence. "The Methodist Church,
for all our sins and faults, is truly one of the best organizations
to work toward inclusiveness," she said.

Her witness to the group, she said, was centered on "speaking to fear
(and) using courage to overcome it."

Called "Witness to the Waters," the rally moved from Smithfield
Church in a procession down Liberty Avenue, to the David L. Lawrence
Convention Center. Robbie Gill, a student at Millersville University
in Lancaster, Pa., reminded those present of their baptism and urged
them to pray for the delegates.

Participants dipped their hands in river water, running underneath
the convention center, and then anointed those standing next to them,
saying, "Remember your baptism." Respondents replied, "I am thankful."

MoSAIC is an extension ministry of the Reconciling Ministries
Network, an unofficial United Methodist group advocating
inclusiveness in the church.

*Witte is communications director for the United Methodist Church's
Nebraska Annual Conference.