NAIROBI – “I feel as if I am in a dream…I can’t believe this meeting is happening,” said Bishop Daniel Wandabula, episcopal leader of the East Africa Episcopal Area, as he welcomed guests attending the East Africa Mission Consultation, Jan. 16-17, in Nairobi, Kenya. The mission consultation, led by General Board of Global Ministries’ General Secretary Roland Fernandes, was the first formal meeting held between Global Ministries and the East Africa Episcopal Area since they announced in May 2023 that they had reestablished formal relations, after more than a decade-long freeze on church and mission funds because of past auditing issues.

In his opening remarks, Bishop Wandabula expressed gratitude to God for allowing 2024 to begin with such an historic event. He praised the courage, commitment and efforts of all who had sought to address the mission opportunities and challenges of the episcopal area and noted the significant efforts by Global Ministries to review past audits and negotiate a path forward that would allow funding for mission work to restart. The Bishop offered appreciation to Roland Fernandes for his dedicated leadership in seeking to reestablish the relationship and in planning and holding the consultation. Acknowledging the deep pain caused by the long-severed relationship, as well as isolation from the ministry of the broader United Methodist Church during that time, Bishop Wandabula reinforced his commitment to transparency and accountability moving forward.

Fernandes also spoke about the audit issues that led to the long-fractured relationship between the East Africa Episcopal Area and Global Ministries, while expressing his hope that the consultation would be forward-looking.  “We are here because we want to listen to you and continue to learn about what God is doing in your midst,” Fernandes said. “We have often used the words ‘mutuality in mission’ and I hope this will be a space where we can live it.”

Fernandes acknowledged both the significance and the complexity of this time for East Africa, the African continent, The United Methodist Church and the world. He urged consultation participants to trust that “God has called us to God’s mission in such a time as this, and with God’s help, our actions can bring new hope for mission in the region.”

Consultation participants included representatives from the four annual conferences that comprise the East Africa Episcopal Area, Uganda-South Sudan, Kenya-Ethiopia, Burundi and Rwanda; the general secretary, staff and board members from Global Ministries; and general secretaries and staff from the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry (GBHEM) and United Methodist Communications (UMCOM), two agencies in close partnership with Global Ministries. The Rev. Dr. Peter Mageto, vice chancellor of Africa University, served as a resource person for the event.

In his sermon, “Does your soul look back?,” Mageto referenced the story in Genesis of Lot and his wife as they fled the city of Sodom. He urged consultation participants to look ahead, charging them to recast the future for their children and “to be witnesses of the transformation that is taking place in the lives of men and women because of faith.”

On the first day of the meeting, representatives from each of the four conferences of the episcopal area presented their strategic and program visions for their conferences, sharing pressing needs and challenges. All delegations talked about the impact of the 12-year “embargo.” Subsequently, staff from the various programs of Global Ministries shared overviews of their programs as did staff from GBHEM and UMCOM.  Following the overviews, conference teams met individually with staff leaders of each Global Ministries program and each general secretary in attendance.

Delegates from each conference shared their feedback from the individual conversations in the final session of the consultation. Training, capacity development and infrastructure, as well as missionary placements and disaster assistance, were expressed as urgent needs by conference leadership. Agriculture and global health support were also lifted up, among other programs, as vital to the overall well-being of the people of each conference.  Above all, the delegates expressed great hope for the future of mission in the region. There was also feedback from the delegates about the importance of accountability and transparency to prevent a recurrence of what had happened.

In his closing remarks, Fernandes expressed his concern for the impact of the long freeze on mission support for the people of the East Africa Episcopal Area. He pledged that Global Ministries would work closely with each conference after they provide their respective strategic plans, which will be used to determine how Global Ministries might partner with each conference and how conference needs relate to Global Ministries’ strategic priorities and available resources.  He highlighted the bishop’s and his shared focus on identifying a missionary to serve as treasurer for the episcopal area as soon as possible so that funding can be released for mission. A treasurer will also be able to implement processes, financial training and best practices to aid the conferences. Fernandes expressed gratitude for the candid conversations that will guide future mission partnerships between Global Ministries and the East Africa Episcopal Area. Bishop Wandabula expressed his deep thanks to Global Ministries for enabling and leading this event and his enthusiasm for the results of the consultation.  

Missionary training and commissioning events were held a few days prior to the East Africa Mission Consultation. Thirty-nine young adult Global Mission Fellows were commissioned by Bishop Wandabula at Trinity United Methodist Church in Naivasha, Kenya.

The gathering in Kenya marked the fourth mission consultation organized by Global Ministries within the last year. Other consultations were held in 2023 in Maputo, Mozambique; Seoul, Korea; and Atlanta, Georgia.

Susan Clark is the chief communications officer for Global Ministries.

The post Moving forward in mission with East Africa appeared first on Global Ministries.

ATLANTA – At Global Ministries’ U.S. Mission Partners Consultation, held Nov. 28-29 in Atlanta, Ga., nearly 250 United Methodist mission leaders from 53 U.S. annual conferences gathered to discern ways to reimagine, reinvent and reignite mission in the U.S.

The event was the final of several consultations in 2023 hosted by Global Ministries, The United Methodist Church’s mission and development agency, as opportunities to deeply listen to and learn from its mission partners. The first consultation was held in April in Mozambique with African partners; a second was held early in August in Atlanta to reexamine practices of missionary sending; and a third was held later in August in Seoul, South Korea, with the Korean Methodist Church.

Faithful Methodists from many levels of the church attended the consultation, from bishops and directors of connectional ministries to racial ethnic ministry leaders and volunteers in mission coordinators. Participants engaged in sessions designed to not only capture the current realties of mission practice in the U.S. but to facilitate a collaborative process of discerning what partnership in mission should look like moving forward.

In his opening remarks, Global Ministries’ General Secretary Roland Fernandes expressed excitement and hope for the future of mission, “The church is being led to a new focus on mission and meaning, and it is rewarding and exciting to join in God’s mission as the Holy Spirit sweeps us into a new mission age.”

Methodist mission in the U.S. has a vibrant history. Camp meetings, circuit riders, missionary families, and deaconesses and home missioners all helped to propel the movement of Methodism forward.

And yet, amid the stories of transformation are also stories of harm. Colonialist and racist ideals have influenced the church’s practice of mission…and still do in many places. Consultation participants deeply wrestled with the question of how to better incorporate values of anti-racism and decolonization into mission at both the local and global levels of the church.

“We have much to atone for,” said the Rev. Dee Stickley-Minor, director of Mission Engagement for Global Ministries. “But the past does not hold us captive. It is a catalyst for change.”

One way the church moves past its colonialist history of mission as flowing “from the West to the rest” is by commissioning missionaries from the U.S. to serve in the U.S. – as Church and Community Workers (CCW’s), young adult Global Mission Fellow US-2s (GMFs) and some Mission Volunteers – living and serving in community, helping to identify and alleviate issues of
injustice alongside their neighbors.

Another major topic of discussion was how to shift from a transactional to a relational model of mission. How can the church’s expression of mission be centered in mutuality and relationship instead of revolving around the exchange of values and goods?

An asset-based approach to communities was discussed as a way forward, a concept that invites the church to see gifts and abundance over need and deficit. In service with others, this demands a posture of humility and acknowledgement of equality as well as a belief that mission is and should be mutually edifying and enriching.

Global Ministries’ work in disaster response, migration, agriculture and global health, among other areas, relies heavily on the gifts, expertise and knowledge of its partners. On the continent of Africa, for example, understanding regional contexts and strengthening global connections are key to the success of mission. UMCOR’s disaster management office in Mozambique, overseen by local leaders, is the first line of response to a disaster in that region. And in the area of health care, UMC health boards are staffed by locally trained professionals who are also leaders in caring for their own communities.

As Global Ministries redefines its mission footprint in the U.S., it is focused on models of ministry that begin with mutuality and a greater understanding of local contexts, as well as moving from siloed mission programming to a more strategic and coordinated approach.

Woven into the gathering’s services of worship was an emphasis on baptism. It served as a reminder that all Methodists are called to participate in God’s mission.

“Offer the fullness of who you are in ongoing life-giving service to the God who has given you life through Jesus Christ,” urged Bishop Gregory Palmer, resident bishop of the West Ohio Episcopal Area, in closing worship.

This truth was confirmed in feedback from small group sessions. Conference leaders shared a desire to be better equipped to guide lay and clergy in being missionaries in their own contexts. And to cultivate the calling and leadership development of people of all ages, especially young adults, who can uniquely usher in fresh and innovative expressions of mission within the church.

Areas of growth noted by participants included better means of communication and transparent sharing of information, increased awareness of mission activity across U.S. conferences and in global regions, and closer collaboration to avoid duplication of efforts.

At the end of his sermon, Bishop Palmer closed the gathering and sent participants forth with a challenge and an opportunity: “Our entire future relies on our willingness and ability to work together, interdependently.”

Sara Logeman is the senior manager of content and marketing for Global Ministries and UMCOR.

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ATLANTA – Global Ministries will commission Fifty-seven new EarthKeepers in an online service on Tuesday, Nov. 14 at 8 p.m. ET. This service will affirm the EarthKeepers in their call to the ministry of creation care and bless their work in their communities. The service will be livestreamed at www.facebook.com/GlobalMinistries.

Global Ministries EarthKeepers is a training program to equip United Methodists in the United States for environmental stewardship. Participants discuss theology, United Methodist resources, community organizing and anti-racism, and then use what they learn to develop an environmental project for their churches and communities. The program is both a launchpad for people looking to turn an idea into action and an incubator for people who want to deepen an existing ministry. Participants develop plans in conversation with their peers, troubleshooting ideas and sharing strategies.

The fall training marked the return to in-person training following the COVID-19 pandemic and took place in Birmingham, Alabama; Denver, Colorado; and Hartford, Connecticut. The spring training took place online.

This year’s EarthKeepers represent 23 annual conferences and all five jurisdictions. The group includes clergy, laity, a mission advocate, and agency and conference staff.

“In a year of epic heat, storms, fires, floods and droughts, the work of Global Ministries EarthKeepers is crucial,” said Roland Fernandes, general secretary of Global Ministries and UMCOR. “The world needs faithful leaders in every community to take action to harness climate change and interrupt environmental degradation. Global Ministries is proud to support these United Methodists as they answer God’s call to care for creation.”

“The urgency of the environmental crisis is clear,” said the Rev. Jenny Phillips, director of Environmental Sustainability. “These EarthKeepers are leading the way in grassroots, community-based responses through projects focusing on energy, food production, water management, plastic reduction, textile waste and more. Their ministries will have wide-reaching impact in their churches and communities.”

This is the seventh year that the EarthKeepers commissioning service has been held online. The online service allows EarthKeepers to participate along with their family, friends and church community. The service will be led by Bishop Thomas Bickerton, resident bishop of the New York Conference in the Northeastern Jurisdiction, president of the UMCOR board and president of the Council of Bishops of The United Methodist Church.

Headshots of the participants are available for annual conference communications use at https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjAu7BL.

To read more about their projects and to get updates on 2024 trainings, join the Global Ministries Creation Care Network at http://creationcare.umcmission.org/signup.

The 2023 Global Ministries EarthKeepers reside in the following conferences:

Photos are available at: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjAu7BL

The post Global Ministries to commission EarthKeepers for environmental stewardship appeared first on Global Ministries.

ATLANTA

“Go.” From the time of the early church, this short imperative has shaped Christianity’s understanding of mission.

It is a central part of the Great Commission in the Gospel of Matthew: “And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’”

For centuries, the theological understanding and practice of “going” has influenced missionaries’ sense of calling as well as where and how they serve. Through Global Ministries, The United Methodist Church commissions and sends missionaries into service. Currently, more than 200 missionaries are placed in over 60 countries.

In the “Guiding Principles of Missionary Service” consultation held at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology in Atlanta, Ga., on Aug. 1-3, Global Ministries convened a group of missionaries, mission staff, board members and ecumenical partners to reexamine and renew its practices of missionary sending. The agency’s current set of guiding principles were established in 2012 at a gathering at Drew University in New Jersey.

This August gathering was the second of three critical consultations about the future of mission being convened in 2023. The first was held in Mozambique in April with African United Methodist mission partners and, in November, Global Ministries will convene a third consultation with U.S. mission partners.

In his opening remarks, General Secretary Roland Fernandes framed the purpose of the consultation in this way: “The centrality of missionaries in God’s mission cannot be overlooked, and yet, what missionary service should look like needs to be discerned anew in each new era.”

In a time that is bringing much change within our world and denomination, Fernandes stressed the importance of guiding principles that are grounded in and guided by a theology of mission. Specifically, a theology that embraces and embodies the claim that the Spirit of God is always “sweeping us into a new mission age.”

To that end, panel discussions and small groups facilitated conversation on topics like the historical and contemporary role of mission sending agencies and the intercultural and incarnational nature of missionary work. In a posture of curiosity and respect, the dialogue among presenters and participants both affirmed and challenged current guiding principles.

The Rev. Dr. Robert Hunt, professor of Christian Mission and Interreligious Relations at Southern Methodist University’s Perkins School of Theology and former Global Ministries missionary, delivered a talk in which he claimed that the full scope of God’s saving work in the world can only be understood and achieved interculturally. God is seen, experienced and known through diversity and difference. And yet, he also named the importance of continuing to challenge the colonialist model of mission as “taking the gospel” to new places and new people. “The gospel does not travel,” Hunt claimed, “It emerges.” And the role of missionaries is to help it flourish where it already exists.

In the sharing of personal experiences, unique perspectives and innovative ideas, healthy tensions and questions emerged. How do we think and act more global in nature? How do we increase cultural awareness? How do we fully live into mutuality in mission? What does it look like to go; be sent; serve?

And this was the goal: To begin discerning where God is leading the church anew in the area of sending missionaries into service. In this era; in this mission age.

In worship together, the gathered group sang this familiar verse by Dan Schutte:

Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord?
I have heard you calling in the night.
I will go, Lord. If you lead me.
I will hold your people in my heart.

Whether missionaries go across the street to welcome a new neighbor or go across an ocean to be shaped by a new culture, they will continue to ask questions, listen and “go” at the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Sara Logeman is the content strategist for Global Ministries and UMCOR.

Global Missionaries

Global Ministries missionaries are a tangible connection between The United Methodist Church and mission. Through denominational or ecumenical ministries, missionaries bear witness to God’s presence all around the world. They are called by God and sent out to serve by the church, usually placed in a new cultural context beyond their country of origin. Missionaries engage in ministry that is defined by mutuality and partnership, seeking to expand the mission of God already present and active in people and places.

Support the ministries of missionaries working around the world, Advance #00779Z.

The post Consultation reexamines principles of missionary service appeared first on Global Ministries.

May 11, 2023 | ATLANTA

On Thursday, April 20, at Malanga United Methodist Church in Maputo, Mozambique, a new class of 18 Global Mission Fellows (GMF) were commissioned by The United Methodist Church for two years of mission service.

The Global Mission Fellows program allows young adults to live and work in new communities around the world, partnering with local organizations to address a variety of issues including migration/immigration, education, community development and poverty.

This cohort of fellows hails from 10 different countries and, collectively, will serve in 16 countries. Their type and place of assignment range from climate justice in Kenya to immigrants’ rights in the U.S.

Below, watch highlights of the service of commissioning and see a listing of each fellow’s home conference, place of assignment and link to Advance bio and giving information.

Global Mission Fellows: International

Hosea Wanniya Ado
Northern Nigeria Annual Conference
Placement: Ganta United Methodist Hospital, Liberia
Advance #3022707

Adolé Gloria Rébécca Akue
Salem Parish Methodist Church of Togo, Togo
Placement: Jerusalem UMC, Democratic Republic of Congo
Advance #3022697

Steven Chingadza
St. Michael & All Angels CCAP Church, Malawi
Placement: Bishop Judith Craig Orphanage Home, Liberia
Advance #3022708

Jolainne Andrea Thowinson De Hoyos
Lazos de Amor Mariano Church, Colombia
Placement: Junta Unida de Misiones, Argentina
Advance #3022677

Elizabeth Birhan Kiros Dishman
Holston Annual Conference
Placement: Bethanien Diakonissen Stiftung, Germany
Advance #3022676

Qutee Gbadeh Freeman
Liberia Annual Conference
Placement: International Leadership Institute of Southern Africa (ILISA), Zambia.
Advance #3022685

Heath Lee Jackson
Oklahoma Annual Conference
Placement: Northfield Methodist Church, South Africa
Advance #3022684

Momodu Syl Josiah
Sierra Leone Annual Conference
Placement: Pan African Climate Justice Alliance, Kenya
Advance #3022690

Rose Kaisi
East Zimbabwe Annual Conference
Placement: Northfield Methodist Church, South Africa
Advance #3022693

Mary Grace Maliday Luna
East Mindanao Philippines Annual Conference
Placement: Evangelical United Methodist Church of Ecuador, Ecuador
Advance #3022679

Priscille Hassa Malandji
South Congo Annual Conference
Placement: Koinonia, São Paulo, Brazil
Advance #3022686

Camille Bianca Manangan
Quezon City Philippines Annual Conference East
Placement: Northwest Methodist Mission, Ireland
Advance #3022657

Chiedza Purity Mubaiwa
West Zimbabwe Annual Conference
Placement: Cameroon Association for the Protection and Education of the Child (CAPEC), Cameroon
Advance #3022692

Jack Kitwa Mujinga
East Zimbabwe Annual Conference
Placement: Senegal District, of the Côte d´Ivoire Episcopal Area, Senegal
Advance #3022703

Mari Ellyzsa Echon Valencia
Augusta Korean American Methodist Church, U.S.
Placement: Methodist Church in the Caribbean and the Americas, South Caribbean District, Barbados
Advance #3022700

Sam Ntamb Yav
South Congo Annual Conference
Placement: Green Scenery, Sierra Leone
Advance #3022688

Ruel Jade Lucas Zaldivar
Philippines Central Conference
Placement: Surf Project, Ireland
Advance #3022681

Global Mission Fellows: US-2

Reagan Lyn Page
Oklahoma Annual Conference
Placement: Northwest Immigrant Rights Project in Seattle, U.S.
Advance #3022698

The post New class of Global Mission Fellows commissioned in Mozambique appeared first on Global Ministries.

In response to recent tornadoes in central Alabama and central Georgia and flooding in California, the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) approved early relief grants to meet immediate needs in three annual conferences.

On Jan. 12, multiple tornadoes slammed the southeastern United States, killing at least seven and destroying numerous communities.

Assessing needs in hard-hit Selma, Alabama, a leadership team from the Alabama-West Florida Conference noted that approximately 600 households were affected by more than a dozen tornadoes. “It would not surprise me,” said the Rev. Chris Ackerman, conference disaster response coordinator, “if the total number of houses affected is over 1,000.”

“From the moment the warning was activated in Dallas County,” recalled the Rev. Diane Everette, Church Street United Methodist Church, Selma, “our UMC connection stayed in touch with me to ensure that I was personally safe as well as our church members. While Thursday was, perhaps, one of the most terrifying days of my life, I was never alone, thanks to my brothers and sisters in Christ in this conference. It will be a long road ahead for Selma, but our conference disaster response team will walk with us every step of the way.” 

In the North Georgia Conference, 200 homes were destroyed by winds and hail in a multicounty area, according to the Rev. Scott Parrish, conference disaster response coordinator.

Griffin, Georgia, was among the communities impacted by a confirmed tornado. Griffin First United Methodist Church opened as a Red Cross shelter, and their trained Early Response Team (ERT) deployed Jan. 13. By the weekend, ERTs from Alpharetta First UMC, Northside UMC, Canton First UMC and St. James UMC, Atlanta, had joined the effort.

Steven Redmond, the disaster response warehouse manager for the North Georgia Conference, delivered UMCOR cleaning buckets and hygiene kits assembled by North Georgia UMC congregations to Meriwether County. In addition, the South Georgia Conference sent a shower trailer to a newly established Red Cross shelter in Locust Grove, also in Meriwether County.

Urging volunteer response through established channels, Parrish said, “Our coordinated response upon invitation is a hallmark for our United Methodist connection and one reason we are a trusted partner of GEMA (Georgia Emergency Management), VOAD (Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster) and others.”

In the West, recent rainstorms produced significant flooding in a number of communities, including Half Moon Bay, California. The Pilarcitos Creek flooded about 20 homes in an affordable housing community for low-income and agricultural workers. 

Steve Elliott, disaster response and missions coordinator for the California-Nevada Conference, expressed appreciation for UMCOR’s immediate response. “We will be providing further assistance to this flooding recovery and others as needed,” he said. He requested additional cleaning buckets, as well as donations to the disaster-response ministry.

Prayer and generous gifts, either to individual conferences or to UMCOR, are encouraged. Gifts to UMCOR U.S. Disaster Response and Recovery greatly increase UMCOR’s ability to support conference disaster response ministries across the U.S.

Barbara Dunlap-Berg is a freelance writer and editor in Carbondale, Illinois. Communicators from Alabama-West Florida, California-Nevada and North Georgia annual conferences contributed to this story.

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This is the first time I have ever felt comfortable in front of a computer!

Charles, a Saint Mark computer lab client

The South Los Angeles neighborhood that is home to Saint Mark United Methodist Church is populated by a mix of people, with a majority of Black, Latino and Asian American families. It is primarily a lower-income neighborhood, and some households do not have wi-fi connection or computers beyond phones and tablets. This made the recent COVID-19 school shut-downs particularly challenging for students in this community.

While schools would open again, and students would get back to in-person learning, the technological challenges remain the same for these families. Staff and volunteers at Saint Mark had been working on that challenge before the pandemic, but as COVID-19 shut down most gatherings, their plans were put on hold until 2022.

In 2021, Saint Mark UMC became part of an Annual Conference Community Development Program Cohort with five other churches in the South Los Angeles area. This new community development model pioneered by Global Ministries brings a cohort of churches and church leaders together to consider needs throughout their whole community and opens new possibilities with more partners.

With a Global Ministries’ grant derived from Human Relations Day funding and with the support of the California-Pacific Conference, the West District and the South Los Angeles cohort, Saint Mark moved ahead with a new computer lab, celebrating its grand opening on March 5, 2022.

The computer lab is part of a larger community center called Manna House. Saint Mark’s pastor, the Rev. Gary Bernard Williams, prefers to describe it as a “neighborhood center” being developed by the church.

“Manna House also has a gym, where young people come to play basketball, open two days a week,” Williams said. He referenced a study completed by the Los Angeles Unified School District that found only 35 of 700 schools offered music arts appreciation.

“We are developing a music center, and we are in the process now of finding a regular music teacher to offer instruction. We already have the instruments – keyboards, violins and drums.”

Saint Mark has a gifted retired United Methodist Community Developer, Latanya Cunningham, who was part of Global Ministries’ Black Community Developers Program in the 1990s. She now works full time on the church’s community engagement projects and with the other churches in the cohort as well.

“We are very happy to be of service in having the computer lab open,” Cunningham explained. “We have been very consistent, open 9 a.m.-5 p.m., three days a week. We’ve been able to hire a young adult program manager, Danyelle Benware, from our community. We also hired two high school sophomores as interns during the summer who served our lab.”

Cunningham said the computer lab provides the church with opportunities to work on three of its ministry objectives: leadership development for young adults and youth; ministry with the poor; and health and wellness for those in the community. Benware often works with seniors and others coming to the computer lab to apply for health care benefits and find the services they need. Children from a nearby elementary school also come, as well as older youth.

The South Los Angeles Mission Area, which Saint Mark is part of, was established in 2010 to create partnership among area churches. Williams became the mission area chair in 2015. 

The other churches in the South Los Angeles Community Development Cohort include Hamilton, Bowen, Wesley, Faith and St. John United Methodist churches. The cohort decided to develop a computer lab in each of the churches – Saint Mark is the first to complete the project. Faith United Methodist Church’s lab is also near completion.

Each church had the opportunity to delegate a lay leader to attend virtual training offered by Global Ministries Multiethnic Ministries, led by Dr. Dana Lyles, the program’s director. The training included cohort groups from across the U.S. Both Cunningham and Williams attended from Saint Mark UMC. Williams said he was inspired by what other churches in other communities were able to do and Cunningham found it refreshing.

In addition to the Global Ministries’ grant, Saint Mark also received funding from its district, and staff and volunteers have coordinated fundraisers, including one that featured Black women entrepreneurs who were opening their own product lines. Fundraising plans are in the works and the church would like to offer formal training in the computer lab – and then on to wherever God’s spirit leads them.

“Our church motto states: ‘We are a church in the heart of the community with the community at heart.’” noted Williams. “Our mission is to provide social services and programs that empower children and adults in our community to help promote respect for one another, self-determination, and to lift each other up and just be community.”

Christie R. House is a consultant writer and editor with Global Ministries and UMCOR.

One of six churchwide Special Sunday offerings of The United Methodist Church, Human Relations Day calls United Methodists to recognize the right of all God’s children in realizing their potential as human beings in relationship with one another.

Gifts made on Human Relations Day, Jan. 15, 2023, support the Community Developers Program as well as community advocacy through the United Methodist Voluntary Services administered through Global Ministries.

Human Relations Day Sunday offerings are coordinated by the general church and then distributed to the agencies that manage the grants from the funds.

The post Providing a safe community space in South Los Angeles appeared first on Global Ministries.

Media Contact:
Dan Curran for Global Ministries and UMCOR
media@umcmission.org

December 15, 2022 | ATLANTA

Global Ministries, the worldwide mission and development agency of The United Methodist Church, with the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), invites churches and individuals to celebrate Human Relations Day on Sunday, January 15, 2023.

One of the Special Sunday Offerings of The United Methodist Church, this collection benefits neighborhood ministries through community developers, supports community advocacy through United Methodist Voluntary Services and works with at-risk teens through the Youth Offender Rehabilitation Program.

Global Ministries connects the church in mission through four mission priorities: evangelism and church revitalization, missionaries, global health and humanitarian relief and recovery.

100% of gifts to Global Ministries and UMCOR share the love of God with those in need. Review resources for Human Relations Day here. Donate to Human Relations Day here.

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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 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.

The post Human Relations Day to be celebrated on Sunday, January 15, 2023 appeared first on Global Ministries.

The sooner you get counseled and tested for HIV, the better are your chances to live longer.

Agatha K. – Ganta UMC Hospital, Liberia

Four decades into the world’s HIV response, inequalities persist for the most basic services, such as testing, counseling, treatment and consistent access to life-saving drugs, condoms and the availability of new technologies. 

Southern Africa is the most heavily affected by HIV, with 20.6 million people – 54% of all people living with HIV in the world. Western Africa, with 5 million people living with HIV, has the third highest burden of people living with HIV in the world. Through its Global Health program, Global Ministries has been making significant investments in the countries in these regions.

In countries where Global Health is supporting the local United Methodist health boards in implementing maternal and child health programs, HIV prevalence is three times higher among women aged 15 to 49 years (1.1%) than among men of the same age (0.4%) and twice as high among young women aged 15 to 24 years (0.46%) than among young men of the same age (0.22%).

Global Ministries and the African UMC are ensuring that all pregnant and breastfeeding women know their HIV status, and those living with HIV are linked to life-long antiretroviral therapy. Patients achieve and sustain viral suppression before delivery and during breastfeeding through improved access to health services as a means of addressing the health inequalities. Through several years of community participation, Global Health and United Methodist health boards have been meaningfully complementing health facility interventions, contributing toward epidemic control in the countries.

Over the past four years, these interventions have reached approximately 75,000 women and children through United Methodist hospitals and clinics across Africa.

At a time when domestic resources for prevention programs are diminishing and dependency on external resources for antiretroviral commodities remains high, programs implemented by Global Health and UMC health boards are currently supporting about 20,000 pregnant women in the episcopal areas of Sierra Leone, Liberia, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This support includes access to quality reproductive health services and HIV testing and treatment service to pregnant women, drastically reducing mother to baby HIV transmission.

Dona C., a patient at a UMC hospital in Western Africa explained, “I first came in contact with the virus while I was helping my friend who was seriously wounded in a fight. I was pregnant at that time and I came to this hospital to join the prenatal care service. On my first day at the hospital, one of the midwives directed me to the HIV/friends unit for consultation. It was here that they told me that I tested positive for HIV. At first, I was devastated, but the staff was easy-going in educating and encouraging me to feel free to enjoy life and to take my drugs from the hospital regularly and accordingly.”

As the COVID-19 pandemic spread and now lingers in many countries, inequalities in HIV and AIDS treatment and lack of access to medical treatment in general have become more apparent. This exacerbates the dangers of contagious disease for everyone. The end of AIDS can only be achieved if all people tackle the inequalities that drive it.

“We can end AIDS – if we end the inequalities which perpetuate it. This World AIDS Day we need everyone to get involved in sharing the message that we will all benefit when we tackle inequalities,” says UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima. “To keep everyone safe, to protect everyone’s health, we need to Equalize.” 

On World AIDS Day, join Global Ministries in prayer and work to support meaningful action to ensure equalizing access for all people affected by HIV and AIDS. Give to Advance #982345.

Christie R. House is a writer and editing consultant with Global Ministries and UMCOR.

The post World AIDS Day: Equalizing access to HIV resources appeared first on Global Ministries.

By Christie R. House
September 22, 2022 | ATLANTA

Jorge Saiete, who grew up on the United Methodist Cambine Mission Station in the southern part of Mozambique, is working to complete a Master of Public Education degree with the help of a World Communion Scholarship from Global Ministries. This is a small miracle, since, at the age of eight, he had to take up fishing to support his mother and six siblings.

Saiete explains: “I was born in 1980 during the civil war that lasted 16 years. When I was two years old, my father was killed, and the fighting destroyed all my family belongings, including house, cattle and farming areas. My early years of life were very difficult. My mom, who had to take care of her seven children alone, faced many challenges to feed and provide shelter, clothes and school fees. The war subjected my family to extreme poverty.”

But poverty and bitterness could not overcome the light in Saiete’s life. With hard work and determination and help from his church in Cambine, he made it through primary and secondary school and went on to college. Instead of dwelling on his losses, he determined to study the causes and events of the civil war and work in his professional life to prevent such a destructive course of action from happening again.

“I believe that one of the root causes of the civil war in Mozambique, and in other African countries, is poor governance, which includes corruption, exclusion, lack of transparency and the absence of an effective systems of checks and balances,” Saiete said. “By pursuing this degree, I believe that I will acquire useful tools that I can use in promoting good governance, which is critical for peacebuilding in Mozambique.”

On World Communion Sunday, October 2, 2022, Christians across the world will come to the communion table to share the gift of Christ and to partake in the common ritual that binds Christians together. United Methodists who take the World Communion Sunday offering will also extend the communion table to include people like Jorge Saiete, who is working diligently to live his faith by the example of Jesus, the peacemaker.

World Communion Scholars (formerly known as Crusade Scholars) have gained knowledge and experience through educational opportunities since 1945, when Frances-Helen Foley (Guest) became the first scholar after a deadly war experience similar to Saiete’s. She was a missionary child in the Philippines where her father and mother served. They and other missionary families were rounded up under Japanese occupation during World War II and forced to live in a concentration camp for three years. Frances-Helen’s family also lost much in the war, including her father.

They endured many hardships, barely had enough food, and were liberated by U.S. troops, but had nothing to take home with them except their faith. But the larger Methodist community provided the support for Frances-Helen Foley to go to college. She eventually became a pastor and a peacemaker too.

Today, World Communion Scholars study for a variety of degrees, including divinity degrees and teaching degrees. They become leaders in agriculture, public policy, environmental work and medical fields as they return to their church communities to lead in different capacities. Many, like Saiete, have overcome obstacles to realize their potential as young leaders in their churches.

In the Philippines, Sarah Bless Sanchez-Maddela also grew up in poverty. Her mother was a Methodist deaconess, and Sanchez-Maddela attended church regularly.

“My family is not perfect, but I am thankful to my parents for bringing me to church when I was a child,” she said. “It had a great impact on my personality and faith. Even if we struggled financially. God has been gracious to us by providing everything we need.”

Sanchez-Maddela’s scholarship is helping her to earn a doctorate in clinical psychology. “I have seen the lack of mental health professionals in our province. There is an increasing number of people who are experiencing mental health issues, but psychological services are not accessible. At the same time, when I was a youth leader, I saw the need for mental health ministry for young people because a lot of them are struggling with depression, anxiety and trauma. I believe this is why God called me to this profession.”

The United Methodist Church needs clergy and lay people with different skills and expertise to increase its reach and service to communities across the world. World Communion Sunday allows the broader community of United Methodists to support dedicated leaders as they gain the knowledge they need to further their careers in ways that nourish the communion of believers. Last year, Global Ministries approved 50 scholarships for a total of $381,092.00.

Today, Saiete works for JustaPaz, a peacebuilding national NGO in Mozambique. He researches the causes of political and economic conflicts in the country. He also trains government officials and political and civic leaders on conflict transformation and promotes a permanent workshop on interfaith dialogue among Christians and Muslims.

Communion is a vital sacrament of the Christian faith. World Communion Sunday is celebrated in many different languages, but the communion elements represent the same Christ at each table. Extend the communion table this year by assisting others who work to meet their full potential and fulfil God’s purpose in their lives by supporting the offering that day as well.

World Communion Scholarships are currently administrated jointly by Global Ministries and the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry. For more information about Global Ministries scholarship opportunities, visit the Higher Education and Ministry portal. For additional scholarship information, students should contact Global Ministries by phone at 404-942-4026 or email at scholars@umcmission.org.

To make a gift to the World Communion Sunday special offering, give through your local United Methodist Church or online here.

Christie R. House is a consultant writer and editor with Global Ministries and UMCOR.

Scholarships are a part of Global Ministries’ broader commitment to evangelism and church revitalization. Founding and nurturing new faith communities and supporting existing congregations that seek to increase membership and expand ministries into local communities have historic roots and contemporary implications for Global Ministries. Missionaries who train pastors to plant churches in new places; mission initiatives, which start new Methodist faith communities; scholarships that assist church leaders to earn the credentials and degrees they need for service and ministry; and networks that resource racial and ethnic faith communities across the United States are examples of Global Ministries’ commitment to evangelism and church revitalization.

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