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African United Methodists and the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries remain committed to collaborating on mission work and the shared goal of helping the church in Africa become self-sustaining, the agency’s top executive said during its first board meetings outside the U.S.

“African partners are very interested in developing new and strengthening partnerships that recognize and utilize African assets, build capacity and develop leadership within African conferences and move the church in Africa towards greater self-sustenance … based on mutual respect and accountability,” said Roland Fernandes, who leads Global Ministries and the United Methodist Committee on Relief.

The agency’s board gathered April 20-22 in Maputo, Mozambique for its spring meeting. It was the first time the board has met outside the U.S. 

Fernandes said the board received “some very honest and open feedback” on how self-sustenance was coming along.

“Some of it was affirming for the work we’re doing, especially in agriculture and health,” he said. “Some of it was critical of how our mission was done in the past, especially those instances in which Global Ministries has come in with the attitude that we know what is best.”

In a related move during meeting, the board approved $5 million in funding for the Yambasu Agriculture Initiative, continuing to prioritize the effort to improve food security and strengthen farm communities across Africa. The initiative is named for the late Bishop John K. Yambasu of Sierra Leone, who was a key player in the effort. Yambasu died in a car accident in 2020.

“(The Yambasu Initiative) is ambitious, enlisting sustainable agriculture in the causes of both food security and income production for local churches and annual conferences,” Fernandes said. “It puts land the church already owns into broad-based use. It can serve as a tool of evangelism through the promotion of community welfare and prosperity and hopefully will play a significant economic role in Africa’s United Methodist Church of tomorrow.”

Three days before the board meetings, the Africa Partners Mission Consultation gave members of the executive committee an opportunity to see missions work up close. It was the first in a series of gatherings planned over the next year to discern how God is leading United Methodists in mission. The full board later saw presentations of United Methodist-supported projects. 

Holding the meetings outside the U.S. was significant, Fernandes said. 

“Meeting in Mozambique dramatizes for me the need and the possibility of building broad community and collaboration within the church — to foster within the church a sense of global community and coming together in the name and spirit of Jesus Christ. Diversifying the location where the directors of this United Methodist agency convene is our testimony to the unity of the United Methodist community in faith and mission.” 

Other actions at the board meetings included:

• $356,000 that was earmarked for scholarship funds in 2013 for the Asian Rural Institute was redirected for trainings, educational initiatives and disaster response in Asia.
• It was announced that the denomination’s guiding principles for missionary service will be updated, based on conversations being held with missionary groups. 

Current events including the Ukraine war and faltering stock market affected the board’s finances in 2022. 

The situation in Ukraine was credited with huge growth in operating revenues in 2022. Gifts to the International Disaster Relief Advance fund jumped from $3.9 million in 2021 to $30 million last year, and operating revenues grew from $72.2 million to $101.5 million.

However, net assets went down $48 million to $324.5 million, mostly due to unrealized market losses.

“This primarily is all related to our investment losses,” said Mike Gurick, chief financial officer. “These are unrealized losses; we did not liquidate any of our investments.” In 2023, Global Ministries has seen about $10 million of unrealized gains.

Operating expenditures were $93.6 million, up from $53.1 million in 2021. Large grants from the United Methodist Committee on Relief to help migrants and victims of the Ukraine war accounted for that increase. One grant of $1 million went to Church World Service to support host committees in Moldova to improve access to needed services and relief for refugees from Ukraine.

Global Ministries collected “immense” data during the Africa Partners Mission Consultation, Fernandes said. He promised a summary of the results to African partners in 90 days for their review. 

“We have hardly touched the surface,” he said. “Now that the consultation is done, we need to analyze the information … and figure out how we carry the work of the consultation forward so that it will have a meaningful impact.”

Even before the data is analyzed, there is a victory in the “humble leader” approach of the communication between U.S. and African participants, said Bishop Hee-Soo Jung, president of the Global Ministries board.

“The humble leader is a leader who actively lives within the reality of togetherness with the sense of empathetic unity,” Jung said. “So, it’s a tremendous, empathetic unity that we found and we celebrate. 

“Hopefully God will, through the Holy Spirit, continue to strengthen our humble collaboration and the equity-related relationship in mission in Africa.”

Patterson is a UM News reporter in Nashville, Tennessee.

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The African Mission Partners Consultation, the first held in several decades, will bring together African UMC bishops, representatives from each African UMC annual conference, members of the Global Ministries executive committee of the board, senior staff members and guests. They will engage in high-level conversations about the future of United Methodist mission in Africa with the goal of coming to a more integrated vision. Dr. Reggie Nel, dean of the faculty of Theology at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, will provide a keynote speech for the consultation.

“Trusting that God has called us to God’s mission, and that with God’s help, our actions can bring new blessings and healing for God’s people, Global Ministries’ goal for the consultation is to look at the future of mission on the continent, develop a mutual understanding of each other’s work, and in particular, for Global Ministries to listen to and learn from its African partners,” said Roland Fernandes, general secretary of the General Board of Global Ministries and the United Methodist Committee on Relief of The United Methodist Church. “Through these conversations, Global Ministries hopes to identify priority areas of work with African partners and develop new engagement in God’s mission in this new mission era.”

Global Ministries’ board meeting will immediately follow the mission consultation. Inspired by the theme “Spurred to Love and Good Deeds in Such a Time as This,” the meeting will be attended by members of the board of directors. Directors, who represent conferences and jurisdictions around the world, typically meet twice a year in committees and as a full board to review the agency’s work in its four mission priority areas: missionaries, evangelism and church revitalization, global health and humanitarian relief and recovery, including the work of UMCOR. The board has not met in person since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“During our time in Maputo, we will consider expectations and projections being set forth for the future and the need for all of us to remain steadfast in the calm assurance of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Consciously upheld by God’s constancy, we will strive to embody the characteristics of fidelity, of a church connected in mission today and in the future,” said Fernandes.

In considering the meetings held in Maputo, Global Ministries’ board chair, Bishop Hee-Soo Jung, quoted Hebrews 10:23-25 (NIV): “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

The board of directors meeting will begin with the commissioning of 18 Global Mission Fellows (GMF) at Malanga United Methodist Church in Maputo and will include welcoming remarks by several leaders of the agency as well as a greeting from Dr. Manuel de Jesus Didier Malunga, who serves as permanent secretary of the Ministry of Justice, Constitutional and Religious Affairs, for the government of Mozambique.

Board members will hear presentations about several projects: agriculture in the Mozambique South Annual Conference, Cambine Mission Station, Chicuque Rural Hospital and activities of the Mozambique Health Board and Disaster Management Office in Inhambane province. They will also visit several Global Ministries grantee locations in Maputo, including the Support Center for Girls with Need, founded by the Christian Council of Mozambique; Tsalala United Methodist Communitarian Center, a school and training center; and JustaPaz, a Mozambican nonprofit organization that advocates for the constructive resolution of conflicts and promotes good governance and human rights.

The board meeting will conclude with a worship service that includes missionaries from across the continent. Regional missionaries will then gather for several days of fellowship and meetings with key staff.

Business meetings will be conducted at the Southern Sun Hotel in Maputo, Mozambique. Press credentials can be obtained by contacting benedita.penicela@imummoz.org (in Africa) or media@umcmission.org (in the U.S. or elsewhere).  

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About the General Board of Global Ministries of The United Methodist Church

Global Ministries is the worldwide mission and development agency of The United Methodist Church. Founded in 1819, Global Ministries today supports more than 200 missionaries in over 60 countries, including the United States. It has personnel, projects and partners in 115 countries. Founded in 1940, the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) is the global humanitarian relief agency of The United Methodist Church and is a part of Global Ministries. Learn more about Global Ministries by visiting umcmission.org or by following facebook.com/GlobalMinistries and twitter.com/UMCmission.

Media Contact:

Dan Curran for Global Ministries/UMCOR
770-658-9586
media@umcmission.org

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For release: IMMEDIATE 

Mary Lou Greenwood Boice, Director of Communications

mboice@umcmission.org 

Global Ministries’ Board of Directors will formally install Roland Fernandes as general secretary (chief executive) at its annual Fall meeting, which will be held virtually on Thursday, Nov. 12. During the opening worship service, the board’s president, Bishop Hee-Soo Jung of the Wisconsin Episcopal Area, will lead the installation and deliver the sermon. The service, beginning at 8:30 a.m. EST, will be livestreamed on Global Ministries’ website and Facebook page. 

Fernandes, a layman originally from India, has been with Global Ministries since 1995. He has served as both chief operating officer and chief financial officer of Global Ministries and its United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) since 2003 and has several times served as interim general secretary and executive director of UMCOR. 

As he began his term on Sept. 1, 2020, Fernandes said, “The opportunity to serve as general secretary is one I welcome with a sense of deep humility. I pledge my full attention to holistic mission in the tradition of John Wesley and the 200 years of our past work.” 

About Global Ministries of The United Methodist Church 

Global Ministries is the worldwide mission and development agency of The United Methodist Church. Founded in 1819, Global Ministries today supports more than 300 missionaries in over 70 countries, including the United States. It has personnel, projects, and partners in 120 countries. Learn more about Global Ministries by visiting www.umcmission.org or by following www.facebook.com/GlobalMinistries and Twitter.com/UMCmission.

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Most Central American countries are experiencing severe political and economic instability, violence, corruption and social fragmentation. Yet, these same countries embody a colorful context packed with a cultural richness that surpasses understanding. Within this context, we see the complexity of forced migration resulting from fear and lack of opportunity. We need a church with a spirituality and doctrine that addresses and ministers with these communities and speaks to these issues.

Because of these challenges, we believe a renewal movement for congregational development is necessary, as is the case in Honduras. Thank God, what gave birth to the Methodist Church was a renewal movement in the 1700s, known as the Methodist Movement, from within the Church of England. As such, historically, we are familiar with renewal movements!

John Wesley most often preached and ministered in the rough, violent places of his time, seeing and working from the goodness of people and communities. Those experiencing salvation were organized into small groups to receive care and practice accountability and holiness in their daily lives, living under the Methodist General Rules. For some pastors, organizing small groups in which people reflect upon how they live and what they believe is not easy. Here are some observations about why we believe this is a challenge in the Honduran context.

There are contextual mission challenges that need to be confronted by local pastors of the Honduras Mission Initiative. Missionaries are called to walk alongside local leaders, inspiring them to identify, ask and respond to the tough questions they encounter. We listen to the Holy Spirit together to develop a renewal movement. We emphasize this because incorporating change is a slow process that needs reflection and evaluation at each step. We understand missionary work as the sacred task of discernment and patience, walking alongside local pastors who must usher in changes as leaders.

First, Honduras is in one of the most violent regions of the world. Along with other countries in the region, it has become an alley for the trafficking of drugs and humans, gang violence and extreme poverty that feeds migration; at least in some localized regions. This creates a complex chain of evil that is like a hurricane of violent exploitation toward women and children on our continent. At the same time, we witness uplifting resilience and creativity within the impacted communities – a paradox central to our theology of sanctification.

These socially complex issues, along with poverty and, in some cases, in neighborhoods controlled by gangs, create a difficult environment in which to do ministry. Some Christians make their churches safe havens, where members can escape or partially circumvent this violence and insecurity. We can understand the need to construct a church behind high walls, with cameras and guards. But a missionary, walking alongside the pastor, asks, “how do we serve the parish in mission,” a challenging concept for the church. How can the local church be a place to find stability amid the violence, unemployment, and extreme poverty, and at the same time, be a place for mission, which, by definition, means going outside the protective walls?

Currently, most churches have home worship groups during the week, but we believe there would be more spiritual growth by adding other models for small groups, such as Class Meetings. Wesley’s Class Meetings were designed to disciple new members engaging in a process of holiness, not just with works of piety, but with works of mercy. Thus, the call is to form small groups for reflection and growth as they serve with their communities.

Second, most churches in Honduras are filled with at-risk children and women. Some leaders in the structure and some pastors, who are most often men, complain about low wages and therefore welcome financially stable families in their churches, but not at-risk children who bring no financial gain. In these contexts, most churches tend to be adult-centric and male-oriented. There is a lack of discipleship opportunities for women and at-risk children. And there is a lack of vision at times, not realizing that evangelization may take more than one generation to bring about fruition. Thank God, we can now witness, in some cases in Honduras, that the second and third generations, with opportunities for some to attain higher education, have started to solidify local church ministry.

Pastors need qualitative data to understand the realities in which they serve. To ask the tough questions, we began a project this fall using data on Sunday worship and Sunday school attendance by age and gender, along with other data to evaluate the state of the mission in Honduras. Data can answer questions, such as: How are we ministering with children, women and the elderly? Is our church attendance increasing? Who is joining our congregation, new believers or “church hoppers?” How are we providing them with care and accountability to walk under the guidance of the Holy Spirit?

Finally, a menace that most our congregations in Honduras (and much of Latin America and the Caribbean) face is a cheap spirituality that provides magical answers to the above contextual challenges. The region has been inundated by “prophets” and “apostles,” promising prosperity and offering spiritual warfare to stop the demons that produce violence, poverty and political instability. The church faces evil and wickedness in all forms, but this neo-Pentecostalism responds to people’s superficial need for fast and miraculous solutions to fix their problems and provide church entertainment as an emotional escape. Such religious competition is tempting, and some small-church pastors fall into the trap, at least partially.

“Evangelical” media, internet, TV and radio are inundated with products such as music, sermons, and “miracles.” Some of our pastors may not be in full accordance with neo-Pentecostal doctrines, but they have adapted organizational practices that can be toxic. For instance, it is typical to find monolithic pastors who, along with their families, control and micromanage all areas of ministry in a congregation. Worship becomes a time for performance, and very dangerously, for improvisation. There is no need to plan liturgy, and even the sermon is constructed right in the moment.

To implement Class Meetings, we need to develop lay leadership beyond the pastoral family, and we need planning, organization and evaluation of the impact these small groups are having in the life of the people. We tackle basic questions in small groups, like: What do we Methodists believe? How are we living what we believe? How are our people working out their salvation?

People immersed in rough and violent contexts need space to discern their walk toward holiness of heart and life. Are we living what we believe? How is it with my soul? Are we loving God and our neighbor? Creating these spaces for reflection and discernment may not be easy, but neither is incorporating organizational change in congregations in contexts of violence and poverty. It is even more difficult when we recognize that, among many United Methodist congregations, Class Meetings and the General Rules have simply been forgotten, written relics in our Book of Discipline. The implementation of Class Meetings for congregational development in Honduras may take a while, but every step is being evaluated and prayerfully considered as we ask tough questions to engage the world in mission.

Dr. Osias Segura-Guzmán is a Global Ministries missionary and coordinator of curriculum and small-group leadership development for new churches in Central America.

Edgar Avitia Legarda is the regional representative for Latin America and the Caribbean with Global Ministries.

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Global Ministries is holding its biannual board of directors meeting October 10-12 at its Atlanta headquarters. The fall meeting’s theme is “Mission in a Fractured World and Church,” and Bishop Hector F. Ortiz Vidal, leader of the Methodist Church of Puerto Rico, will preach on that theme at an opening worship service.

Board members will travel from eight international locations, Puerto Rico and the United States to conduct agency business and celebrate milestones. One milestone includes the success of the Encounter with Christ in Latin America and the Caribbean fund as it has passed the million-dollar mark for project support. Started in 1992, Encounter with Christ is a board-related fund that supports mission in the Latin American region and builds international Methodist solidarity. It provides financial support of shared missions with Methodist churches in 26 different countries.

As this is the first meeting since the board of directors unanimously affirmed the “Call For Unity in God’s Mission” statement in April, the importance of mission is likely to be discussed. The statement, initiated by Katie Dawson, affirms Global Ministries’ commitment to continue “God’s work” despite the challenges The United Methodist Church is facing.

Global Ministries’ general secretary, Thomas Kemper, asked that prayer be a part of preparation for the meeting in a letter to board members: “As we approach our 2019 annual meeting, please pray for the whole church, for Global Ministries and our staff and missionaries, and that all United Methodists will be faithful to the missio Dei – God’s mission – in a fractured world and church.”

Follow along on our website and social media for forthcoming news and stories from the board meeting.

Marcy Heinz is the senior communications manager for Global Ministries.

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