OCR Text |
Show METHODIST CHURCH UNITES WITH SISTER GROUP "This gathering could become a mockery," warned Bishop R. Marvin Stuart, Methodist Bishop Bish-op of the Denver Area (including (includ-ing Colorado, Wyoming, Montana Mon-tana and Utah), as he address-, ed the 800 General Conference! delegates attending the final' historic session in the history of the 10 million member Methodist Church held in Dallas Dal-las this week. He was reacting to a Dallas newspaper story stating that the principal business of the conference was to enact the ceremonies uniting two churches church-es "and argue over some of the rules and regulations." "We meet at a crucial hour," Bishop Stuart said. "War, racial conflicts and cities splitting wide open with violence. "The silence of the church in our society is deafening in the face of so many pressing issues. is-sues. Our failure to address ourselves to more than housekeeping, house-keeping, to more than internal policy and disciplinary reform, will leave such a silence on the land as to echo with judgment upon us for decades to come." Bishop Stuart's remarks were made at the last official session of the 10 million member Methodist Meth-odist Church. Tuesday, April 23, that body joined officially in union with the 750,000 member mem-ber Evangelical United Brethren Breth-ren Church to form the new United Methodist Church. The delegates will continue to meet in Dallas thru May 4, working out details of the new church constitution and, if Bishop Stuart's words are heeded, to grapple with such issues as Vietnam and the crises in the cities. |