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Be sure to read
the 8/25/06 anniversary issue
of remembrance and recovery.

For more on New Orleans churches, check out the N.O. District webpages.

Katrina:
Remembrance & Recovery
Mission Zone

Mission zones help New Orleans churches rebuild ministries

By Kathy L. Gilbert*

NEW ORLEANS (UMNS) — When the dust settled and water receded after Hurricane Katrina hit last year, 90 churches in three Louisiana parishes were damaged and 80 pastors were displaced.

The widespread devastation left a lot of holes — physically and emotionally — for Louisiana Bishop William Hutchinson and the conference to fill.
FUMC New Orleans - photo by Mike Dubose

After many sleepless nights and countless prayers, Hutchinson and a blue-ribbon advisory committee came up with a plan to get as many pastors back in ministry as possible.

Starting with the new clergy appointments made at the Louisiana Annual (regional) Conference in June, 38 churches are each assigned to one of seven mission zone cooperative parishes. Each parish has a team of pastors working with congregations from as many as eight churches.

Station churches have also been assigned to each mission zone and include churches that have a stable ministry but are geographically connected to the seriously affected areas.

The Rev. Martha Orphe, mission zone director for the Louisiana Annual (regional) Conference, knows challenges lie ahead.

“Cooperative ministries are not new to United Methodism, but the challenges and opportunities for creating dynamic cooperative ministries are compounded by specific situations found in the storm-damaged zone areas,” Orphe says. 

The zones consist of churches in Orleans, Jefferson, St. Bernard, Plaquemines and Cameron parishes most affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

As a former district superintendent, Orphe worked with cooperative ministries in Pittsburgh before taking the new position.

“Louisiana’s mission zone churches have many of the same characteristics of those in Pittsburgh and other parts of the United States,” she says. “However, those churches were working together amidst more stable populations and communities. Louisiana’s churches not only have to rebuild their ministries but must also help rebuild, repopulate and meet the needs of the community.”

Initially, 58 churches out of 79 in the Orleans District were damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Today, 16 congregations are unable to meet in their buildings, and several churches are meeting in gutted buildings.

Mission Zone 7

The Revs. Irvin Boudreaux, Deborah B. Williams and Jon M. Lord are stepping out on new pastoral territory in Mission Zone 7.

Boudreaux has been in ministry for several years, most recently as associate pastor of First United Methodist Church in Baton Rouge. Lord comes to Mission Zone 7 from Johannesburg, South Africa, and this is Williams’ first appointment since finishing seminary.

“I am committed to rebuilding this city and ministering to the people,” Boudreaux says. He admits to feeling a little nervous about the new ministry.

Mission Zone 7 includes congregations from Metairie, St. Luke’s, Brooks and Trinity-Gentilly, all severely damaged. Metairie and St. Luke’s were predominantly white congregations, and Brooks and Trinity-Gentilly were historically African American and are still in the early stages of being cleaned out. Trinity-Gentilly will become a mission center and depot to store supplies.

Trinity-Gentilly had a small congregation before the storm and is an ideal place to store supplies — a resource that was in short supply before Katrina, Boudreaux says.

Williams says the first “town hall meeting” they had with all four congregations was exciting.

“It is exciting to talk about joint Bible studies and missions,” she says.

The pastors agree it is hard for people to give up on the churches they attended since they were children.

“We need to get people to focus on God instead of how soon they will be able to put their church back in order,” Williams says.

Orphe stresses that the churches in New Orleans are going “back to the basics.”

“To be effective, we must engage people, wherever we are.”

Trinity UMC, Buras, LA - photo by Mike Dubose
Trinity UMC, Buras, LA - photo by Mike Dubose
Rev. Gene Faurie oversees the reconstruction of the Trinity UMC in Buras, LA

# # #

*Gilbert is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in Nashville, Tenn.
News media contact: Kathy L. Gilbert, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.

 

The Louisiana Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church
527 North Blvd., Baton Rouge, LA 70802       Ph: 225-346-1646       Toll-free: 888-239-5286         Fax: 225-383-2652

Belle Chasse United Methodist Church is now open for business.

Although the surrounding area was devastated by Hurricane Katrina, the church had minimal damage. Slowly but surely, power is now being restored to parts of the small Louisiana town.

Rev. Jeff Duke, displaced pastor from Belle Chasse UMC, evacuated for a short time to Baton Rouge with his wife Rev. Barbara Duke, a Hospice chaplain. They are now back home in a church that never stopped its ministry, even though the residents had to leave.

Shortly after the storm hit, the church building was turned into a hospital for the Belle Chasse area. “The pastor's office is now a nurse dormitory, and the art studio is serving as a laundromat. Three ambulances are parked outside the church at the ready. There is a treatment room and a pharmacy as well,” said Jeff.

Six National Guard chaplains have been operating out of the church, offering protestant worship services and a counseling center.

While in Baton Rouge , Barbara Duke found herself serving in the neo-natal department of Women's Hospital, working with the families of over 100 babies sent to the facility.

“I spent two days, doing ministry with the parents through the hospital's social service office. We offered counseling and spent a lot of time working with agency databases trying to reunite families. It was a joy to see loved ones brought back together,” said Duke.

One particularly touching story involved a woman and her pregnant daughter who had been airlifted out of New Orleans . The daughter, who was actually in false labor, was forced to leave behind four children, ages 13-17 with loved ones. “One of the children was a diabetic, another suffered from seizures,” said Duke.

Social workers at Woman's Hospital made several contacts with authorities and were able to reunite the children with their mother and grandmother.

The Dukes are returning to perform their ministries in a very different town. “Before Hurricane Katrina, we would drive 45 minutes south before we hit the Gulf of Mexico . Now, the ride to the gulf is only 20 minutes.

As it stands now, the towns of Buras and Venice are covered by water. We don't know what the fate of those churches are,” said Jeff Duke.