Wesley United Methodist Church

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Vital Congregations in Vital Neighborhoods

The Shalom Community churches teach confirmation together, hold a peace camp each summer, offer support to each other, and have sponsored various programs on racism, poverty, and housing.  The Shalom Community began in the spring of 1995 in response to the General Conference declaring a Shalom Zone program that called for churches to revitalize the central cities of the U.S.  As we gathered to explore these possibilities we discovered that in Minneapolis we deeded to move in a different direction.  Originally, ten United Methodist Churches in South Minneapolis started the program and decided on the vision statement: Vital Congregations in Vital Neighborhoods.  Since then, three more churches have joined.  Today the Shalom Community consists of:

• Asbury UMC
• Edgewater-Emmanuel UMC
• Epworth UMC
• Hennepin Avenue UMC
• Hobart UMC
• Joyce UMC
• Minnehaha UMC
• North UMC
• Oakland Avenue UMC
• Prospect Park UMC
• Simpson UMC
• Walker UMC
• Wesley UMC

The current project, which grew out of the Shalom Community, is the Urban Academy—a two year training for urban congregations.  Churches in Minneapolis, St. Paul, Duluth, Rochester, and St. Cloud are now involved in the academy