WEST PALM BEACH — "As we move into the next millennium…it gives us the opportunity to let go of the baggage that has weighed us down as a church," said the Rev. Dwayne Craig, pastor of Trinity United Methodist Church here. "We can allow the Christian identity to shape and mold us as a community instead of race, class or culture."

Craig is one of seven Palm Beach pastors participating in a Jan. 1, 2000 worship service to commemorate the start of the new millennium. Themed "Beginning the Millennium with Christ," the service will be held at the United Methodist Church of the Palm Beaches at 1 p.m.

The goal of the service is to celebrate the diversity of cultures in the area, according to the Rev. David McEntire, pastor of the host church. "I was very concerned…that we don’t do more to celebrate that diversity and…lift each other up," he said. "I saw this time of change in our human history as a great opportunity to do that."

The seven participating churches are Trinity, United Methodist Church of the Palm Beaches, Wagg Memorial United Methodist Church in West Palm Beach, Simpson Memorial United Methodist Church in Riviera Beach, Korean Mission of West Palm Beach, Saint John’s Haitian Mission in Boynton Beach and First Hispanic United Methodist Church in West Palm Beach. McEntire is expecting between 300 and 500 people to attend.

The hope among the pastors planning the event is that it will be the beginning of a new and stronger relationship among United Methodists of different cultures in the West Palm Beach area, Craig said.

"I was very supportive…as long as it was not the final time we do something like this," he said. "I hope that it will be the beginning of an ongoing process…and afterward we will have known and felt the presence of God and experienced some new beginning in our lives."

The celebration will begin with a covered dish dinner. Participants were asked to bring a dish that is unique or native to their culture or is traditional for New Year’s Day.

The worship service follows the meal, with the pastor of each church leading a portion and each congregation providing special music and someone to offer a personal testimony. The service will end with communion.

During the service, there will be a call to dedication or rededication to Christ, according to McEntire. At that time, the pastors will offer to baptize anyone who has not been baptized. "My hope is that people will be so touched by this that they will want to rededicate, or dedicate if they haven’t before, their lives to Christ," he said.