AME Zion
dedicates former United Methodist
building
By
J. Richard Peck*
Aug. 16, 2007
|
The Rev. Rachel
Lieder Simeon, Bishop Edward
W. Paup and Georgina
Dapcevich represent The
United Methodist Church at
the celebration. |
A
discontinued United Methodist church
building has been formally dedicated
as the new home for an African
Methodist Episcopal Zion
congregation, ending a painful,
six-year legal journey for United
Methodists in Alaska regarding the
property.
The
property of the discontinued St.
Paul's United Methodist Church in
Fairbanks, Alaska, was formally
dedicated Aug. 12 by St. James
Temple African Methodist Episcopal
Zion Church.
The
joyful dedication celebration
contrasted with bitter beginnings
when a few members of St. Paul's
Church took The United Methodist
Church through several Alaska
courtrooms in an effort to obtain
ownership of the property, valued at
more than $400,000.
Legal
battles began in 2002 after the
missionary conference voted 60-1 to
close the 60-member church.
Litigation was concluded in October
2006, when the Alaska Supreme Court
ruled that the 1984 founders of the
congregation had "agreed to worship
and conduct business in accordance
with The Book of Discipline
of The United Methodist Church." The
court ruled that despite the fact
that the property deeds made no
mention of the Alaska Missionary
Conference, founders knew the
Discipline included a clause
that declares all church properties
are held in trust for the
denomination.
Members of St. James Temple
worshipped in the brown-stained wood
building during the last two years
of litigation. During that time, the
AME Zion congregation paid $30,000
in rent. That amount was applied to
the $150,000 purchase price when the
building was sold to the AME Zion
congregation March 30.
'A
high moment'
Bishop Roy A. Holmes of the Western
Episcopal District presided over the
Alaska AME Zion Annual Conference
session in Fairbanks and the
dedication of Saint James Temple.
|
Bishop Paup gives
the benediction. |
Bishop
Edward W. Paup, who presides over
the Pacific Northwest Annual
Conference and the Alaska Missionary
Conference, delivered the sermon.
"This is a high moment in the
Wesleyan family," Paup told the 70
participants at the Sunday service.
Paup
told United Methodist News Service
that the missionary conference
became aware of the building needs
of St. James Temple while in the
litigation process.
"Our
commitment to a close relationship
with our pan-Methodist sisters and
brothers led to the decision to make
the church facility available to
them on a rental basis until final
decision was made by the courts,"
Paup said. "When the property was
awarded to the annual conference, we
offered St. James the opportunity to
buy the church facility. We
celebrate with them the dedication
of this church building as the
sacred space for the St. James
congregation."
The
Rev. Rachel Lieder Simeon,
superintendent of the missionary
conference and assistant to the
bishop, served as a liturgist at the
dedication of the St. James Temple.
"After such a long and arduous
process, it is a significant moment
of grace and reconciliation to be
able to offer the former St. Paul
Church building in Fairbanks for
ministry under the AME Zion
denomination," Simeon said. "Their
stewardship of the building during
much of the legal process was a gift
to the conference and the
denomination."
"God
has blessed St. James Temple with a
statutory warranty deed that brings
ownership of the Farmer's Loop
property into the AME Zion Church,"
said the Rev. Charles Brown, pastor
of the 78-member St. James Temple.
"We have truly been blessed. St.
James is now settling into the
reality of property ownership with
all of its demands after having
rented worship space for 24 years.
We have had a marvelous experience
and look forward to many more years
of blessings and ministry at this
site."
Pan-Methodist cooperation
The
dedication service was held during
the Aug. 9-12 sessions of the AME
Zion Annual Conference, a regional
body that includes Alaska.
|
The St. James Temple African
Methodist Episcopal Zion
Church choir sings praises. |
The Rev.
Larry Pickens, top staff executive
of the United Methodist Commission
on Christian Unity and
Interreligious Concerns, called the
property sale "a significant
statement about pan-Methodist
ecumenical cooperation." He said the
New York-based agency "applauds the
Alaska Missionary Annual Conference
for the ecumenical spirit that it
models from top to bottom. This is a
feel-good story for the ecumenical
movement."
Georgina Dapcevich, a member of the
Christian Unity Commission from
Sitka, Alaska, represented the
agency at the dedication service.
"The spirit of God was evident in
the music and the testimonies
offered by the participants," she
said.
Lonnie D. Brooks, a member of the
Christian Unity commission and
president of the board of trustees
in the missionary conference, was
unable to attend the service, but he
told United Methodist News Service
the sale of the building to the AMEZ
church is "a landmark moment in the
history of our two churches and in
The United Methodist Church's
fulfillment of its promise at the
General Conference of 2000 to live
out its repentance for acts of
racism that led to the separation of
our two churches in the 19th
century."
*
Peck is a retired clergy member of
New York Annual Conference who has
written for UM News Service about
legal cases related to the Fairbanks
church for the past six years.
News
media contact: Tim Tanton,
Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or
newsdesk@umcom.org. |
