Articles

Friend-to-Friend Initiative Forges Bonds for Congregations and Individuals

By Rosalyn Dailey Shareef
Faith And The City E-Letter
Volume 2 Issue 5
April 8, 2003

Cascade United Methodist Church member Juanita Vassar and Glenn Memorial United Methodist Church member Virginia Mayer have a friendship that is social as well as spiritual. They met through their involvement with the Friend-to-Friend Program, an initiative of the Congregational Exchange Program, which brings together congregations in partnerships across racial lines to nurture closer bonds -- racially, spiritually, and socially.

Cascade and Glenn collaborate on several programs in which members engage in activities that include humanitarian efforts and music celebrations, along with traditional fellowship, "good eating," and conversation.

"It's been about 10 years that our churches have had a covenant relationship, starting with pulpit exchanges and choir exchanges, working on building Habitat for Humanity houses, and working together at Trinity Table at Trinity United Methodist Church," Mayer explained.

One of the most enriching and enduring collaborations between Glenn and Cascade has been the Friend-to-Friend program, launched about five years ago. It started with four pairs of people who met over dinner and then spent the weekend in each other's homes. The program has grown, and the challenge is to continue to provide for intimate friendship experiences while, at the same time, including more people. The newest idea is to establish supper clubs involving eight to 12 members from each church, who will have the opportunity to develop friendships through meeting regularly and "breaking bread" at each other's homes. Mayer and Vasser hope that this format will make possible the participation of more couples and young families.

The decade-long partnership between Cascade and Glenn has set the stage for individual friendships like that of Juanita Vassar and Virginia Mayer. Five years ago, when the churches were introduced to the Friend-to-Friend exchange, the two women's friendship really started to grow. The associate pastors at the time, Renee Slater at Cascade and Donn Anne Webber at Glenn, approached Vassar and Mayer, respectively, with the Friend-to-Friend idea. The bond between Vassar and Mayer is so close today that in the joint telephone interview for this article, they found themselves completing each other's sentences and expanding on one another's comments.

"I'm involved and I'm a friend of Virginia's because I like her and I love her and I cherish the person that she is," said Vassar. "She's become a very, very dear friend in my life, which has nothing to do so much with the covenant and/or the church activity that we're involved in."

Mayer chimed in, "I had lived in Atlanta for 40 years and I had African American acquaintances, but not a very close friend. I thought this would be a good opportunity to get to know someone on a deeper level and, with Juanita, this has happened."

Confidants and pals they have become. They both love travel, theatre, and various genres of music. They even find themselves enjoying national and international cross-cultural events.

Just as Vassar and Mayer have much in common, so do their churches. Friend-to-Friend's goal is to match congregations that have similarities. For example, the members of Cascade and Glenn tend to have similar educational and professional backgrounds, according to Vassar. In addition, both churches are part of the United Methodist denomination and share a common theological tradition. Rev. Walter L. Kimbrough, senior pastor at Cascade, and Rev. Wesley Wachob, senior pastor at Glenn, are committed to the covenant relationship between the two churches.

However, there also are there differences. The two churches are located in opposite corners of the city, with Cascade in southwest Atlanta and Glenn Memorial in the northeast. Vassar and Mayer agree that the unique characteristics of the two churches are greatly appreciated and help to keep things interesting.

"I think that Glenn's music is more formal and mostly classical," explained Mayer, "while the music at Cascade is more rich in the African American experience." Vassar agrees that there is a difference in the music. There are also differences in preaching style and often the service at Cascade is longer.

Friend-to-Friend was conceptualized collaboratively by the Friendship Force and the Congregational Exchange Program (CEP). Now Friend-to-Friend falls exclusively under the umbrella of CEP, with the primary goal of challenging participating congregations to come together on common ground to break down stereotypical barriers. CEP is currently a program of Faith And The City.

For more information on Friend-to-Friend, contact Jan Swanson at jswanson@faithandthecity.org, or call her at 404-523-5554.

For more information on Cascade United Methodist Church or Glenn Memorial United Methodist Church, visit http://www.cascadeumc.org or http://www.glennumc.org, respectively.