Live from Detroit Annual Conference 2011: Bishop Keaton on the 'house of bread', from Bethlehem to Detroit

• By RJ Walters, Editor •

Preaching from a pulpit in the north part of the country still often referred to as “The World’s Bread Basket” the Bishop Jonathan D. Keaton cried out for United Methodists to remember the “House of Bread” in the Bible and in their local churches and communities on Thursday.

At opening worship for the 2011 Detroit Annual Conference at Adrian College Keaton preached a message titled “Bethlehem Revisited,” focusing on how the gospel of Matthew and land of Bethlehem relates to nourishing the souls and bodies of the hungry and poor.

The Hebrew meaning of Bethlehem is translated as “house of bread” and a deeper look at the root origin of the word reveals “bread” stood for “the kneading of the dough,” a phrase often associated with struggles or strife in Biblical times.

“Bethlehem is world famous as Jesus’ birthplace, however it has a history that stretches out 800 or 900 years before Christ and it lives on after Christ,” Keaton said, noting that King David was also born in Bethlehem and he too was a shepherd of the people.

“Bethlehem was a ‘house of bread’ to feed the human belly and to feed kids and also the ‘house of bread’ to feed the spiritual hunger and desire of the people.”

Keaton said that history shows that while there was plenty of food to go around in ancient Bethlehem, the deacons of the city had to help many people gain access to it due to political and demographical impediments.

He said it’s comparable to the malnutrition epidemic continuing in many parts of the country and world today.

“Our country has produced enough food each year the last 40-50 years to feed the entire world…but then also, a recent CBS News report showed that (more than 40 million) people are on food stamps in the U.S.” he said. “There’s a devastating famine in the land of Detroit, much like there has been in Bethlehem.”

Keaton said just as the deacons in Bethlehem had to help distribute the food to those on the fringe of society, churches and Christians need to become more informed about the social structures and historic roadblocks that are stifling their communities, in order to create plans of action.

He said common reasons that people are poor include economic systems that control resources, consequences of military action in oppressive countries, natural disasters and simply being born into a lineage that has had a tough time making ends meet and may be uneducated.

“It is important to learn about the history of your town and understand what it means, to see it in a new light, to know its needs,” he said. “You don’t have to go 800 miles — sometimes it’s two miles, it’s right where you are.”

Keaton said his experience in sharing resources with those in need is that God will often provide an abundance and new opportunities will arise through faith.

Annual conference attendees shared resources on Thursday, through a special offering that will go toward The Advance’s Hot Lunch Program in Haiti and a safe haven known as the Bishop Judith Craig Children’s Village in Liberia.

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New DS for Metro Detroit is a diverse woman ready to embark on a multi-cultural mission

• By RJ Walters, Editor •

From being part of a family that adopted a young boy from Guatemala when she was still a child, to spending some of her college years in Spain and Costa Rica, the Rev. Melanie Carey has always embraced multiculturalism without regard for borders.

Rev. Melanie Carey

Now Carey hopes to tear down cultural divides and barriers standing in the way of progress in Detroit area as the district superintendent for the new Metro Detroit district, effective July 1.

Carey has flourished as the lead pastor of Ypsilanti: First UMC for the past 12 years, starting a weekly Spanish language worship service and shepherding a pair of Kingdom Assignments (www.kingdomassignment.org) that have provided grant money to help more than 20 Detroit Conference churches start their own Kingdom Assignment projects.

The Kingdom Assignment utilizes $100 gifts within congregations with a focus on growing that money for whatever type of ministry is near and dear to a recipient’s heart.

Carey’s penchant for local-church missions and meeting the needs of others caught the attention of Michigan Area Bishop Jonathan D. Keaton.

“Melanie combines fruitful pastoral ministry, a wide variety of conference responsibilities done well, and a passion for social justice," Keaton said. "Whenever and whatever she has been asked to do has been done with excellence, enthusiasm and attention to detail, and I am confident that she will bring those same attributes to her work as superintendent for this new district in the Detroit metropolitan area.”

Carey said she feels privileged to be part of “building God’s kingdom in the city and suburbs with everyone together” and she feels like her background fits the calling appropriately.

“I guess my story would be that Bishop Keaton asked me to serve this particular district because it’s a very diverse district in terms of every way you can think of — not just racial, ethnic diversity, but there’s economic diversity, there’s a lot of diversity in the sizes of churches — basically any way you define diversity, the new metro area is that,” she said.

She grew up in Chelsea, Mich., which she admits, “was not a very diverse place.” However, during her childhood, her parents hosted seven international exchange students for a year at a time.

In 1978 her parents adopted her younger brother from Guatemala, where the family spent weeks waiting for his paperwork to come through.

“That greatly influenced me, so I kind of grew up where multiculturalism was normal,” she said. “It was weird for me to just be around people who were exactly like me so I’ve always been kind of attracted to that.”

Carey has been actively involved in helping create Hispanic/Latino ministries in the conference. She is also a member of the regional advisory board for Justice for Our Neighbors Southeast Michigan, a program that provides free legal immigration services, education and advocacy.

Since 1994, Carey has served as a national facilitator with the General Board of Global Ministries' National Plan for Hispanic/Latino Ministry.

She acknowledges that being a vital part of a new district is one of the largest challenges she has taken on, but she said she will lean on the local churches and leaders of Detroit to “help create and cast a new vision.”

“Having churches and ministry sites work together, there all sorts of wonderful possibilities,” she said. “Plus we have such rich resources in the district in its people, who bring amazing gifts, so I think that’s another way sitting down and talking about what people can bring to the table will help.”

Carey calls her leadership style “very collegial.”

Some of her mentors include the Rev. Saul Trinidad, a National Hispanic Plan missionary who helped Carey practice her Spanish-speaking skills after college when he was serving at El Buen Pastor UMC in Detroit; FUMC of Birmingham pastor, the Rev. Jack Harnish, the first person to really encourage Carey to consider the ministry when she was younger; and the Rev. Jerry Parker, the pastor at Chelsea FUMC during Carey’s childhood.

Carey said she cannot wait to do ministry in new ways with new people in Detroit, but she is reminding people to be patient as fresh ideas and many years of history come together.

“I would to say that whenever we form something new there’s a lot anxiety about what it’s going to be. It’s important that we all give each other extra, what I call, ‘Space for grace,’” she said. “I would connect it to, you do a lot of wandering in the wilderness when you first start something brand new, but it’s also a very exciting time because things pop up that weren’t possible before because you did something a certain way.”

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Addition by Subtraction: Detroit Conference begins process of making itself the 'right size' for 21st century ministry

By RJ Walters, Editor

One era is coming to a close and another is preparing for liftoff in the Detroit Annual Conference.

Michigan Area Bishop Jonathan D. Keaton officially announced on Jan. 12 that the conference will be reduced from seven districts to six on July 1 in an attempt to save money and re-fashion itself for ministry in the 21st century.

Keaton relied heavily on the recommendations of a 16-member Redistricting Task Force he put together after legislation was passed at annual conference on May 22 to reduce the number of districts.

“After consulting with the cabinet according to paragraph 415.4 of the 2008 (United Methodist) Book of Discipline, I have determined the boundaries of the new districts,” he said. “Most of the churches in Detroit East and West Districts will become a part of a Detroit Metropolitan District. Other districts will undergo minor changes, with one exception, namely Ann Arbor."

The new districts are based on slight modifications to the “conservative model” presented to Keaton by the Redistricting Task Force in December.

The other model presented was further reaching in changes to current district boundaries.

Three districts — Ann Arbor, Flint, and Saginaw Bay — will see increases in their number of churches, while the Marquette and Port Huron Districts will see a slight reduction in the number of churches.

The Conference Leadership Team will go through the process or renaming the districts in the next few months.

The biggest geographic shift will be seven churches leaving the Detroit West District for the Ann Arbor District.

Detroit Conference Director of Connectional Ministries Jerry Devine sees the fusion of the two

Detroit districts into one as a wonderful opportunity for new growth and partnership.

“I really believe at this time it’s beneficial to bring together Detroit as an entity…because re-thinking and re-birthing Detroit is going to take everybody,” he said. “The church is a part of resurrection — that’s our theology — so as we look at the future of Detroit and its surrounding communities and people, the church needs to come together as one body to really collaborate on a new level.”

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Breaking News: Carey named superintendent for new Detroit Metropolitan Area District

By Paul Thomas, Detroit Conference Director of Communications

Michigan Area Bishop Jonathan D. Keaton has announced that the Rev. Melanie L. Carey, lead pastor at Ypsilanti: First United Methodist Church, has been appointed to serve as a district superintendent in the Detroit Conference. Carey will be assigned to the newly formed district in the Metro Detroit area as of July 1, 2011.

“Melanie combines fruitful pastoral ministry, a wide variety of conference responsibilities done well, and a passion for social justice," Keaton said. "Whenever and whatever she has been asked to do has been done with excellence, enthusiasm and attention to detail, and I am confident that she will bring those same attributes to her work as superintendent for this new district in the Detroit metropolitan area. As a bilingual member of cabinet, she will broaden our collective experience and add to the depth of our discerning conversations.”

Ordained an elder in 1993, Carey has served three churches during her 20-year ministry. Carey led Hudson: First UMC from 1991-93 before being appointed as the associate pastor at Livonia: Newburg UMC, where she served for seven years (1993-2000).

In 2000, Carey was named to her current position at Ypsilanti: First UMC and is currently in her 11th year of ministry to that congregation. Ypsilanti: First UMC is one of the churches in the Detroit Conference that offers Hispanic/Latino ministries, including a weekly Spanish language worship service.

The congregation has also conducted a pair of Kingdom Assignment (kingdomassignment.org) programs, and has been able to grant money to over 20 churches within the conference to lead their own Kingdom Assignment campaigns.

"I am very humbled by this appointment," Carey said. "With this new district, there is an opportunity to create a new identity for The United Methodist Church in the Metro Detroit area. At this particular time in the history of our state, it is very critical that we bring the good news of Christ to the City of Detroit, to the suburbs and to our state. I look forward to the opportunity for us to do this work together."

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