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Letter From the General Secretary
Did you know that since 2008, Global Ministries has helped organize more than 574 new worshiping communities worldwide? Thanks be to God, mission initiatives in many parts of the world are revitalizing the Methodist movement in the global community.
There is no greater gift we can offer to our fellow human beings than to share with them the love, grace, and mercy of God in Christ. That is what evangelism is—sharing our faith and conviction with other people, inviting them to discipleship. Such sharing takes place with both confidence and humility and as an expression of our professed love for our world.
I pray that as you read this connectNmission, you will be listening for ways that God is speaking to you. Are there places you are feeling called for your church to be in partnership? Perhaps you will visit the Global Ministries website and explore the country pages. Or maybe you will attend a mission initiative roundtable and see how God is already at work, connecting people for ministry. I hope you will consider how you can be In Mission Together through these exciting relationships and vital new congregations around the world.
In mission and ministry together,
Thomas G. Kemper
General Secretary
General Board of Global Ministries of The United Methodist Church
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574 New Worshiping Communities
Since 2008, The United Methodist Church has planted 574 worshiping communities in Southeast Asia, Eurasia, Africa, and Latin America, a number that far exceeds its goal to establish 400 new churches in the 2009-2012 quadrennium, announced Thomas Kemper, General Secretary of the denomination's General Board of Global Ministries.
Partners include indigenous organizations, annual conferences, local churches, and autonomous Methodist churches. In many of the initiative areas, church growth more closely resembles the earliest incarnation of the Methodist movement. Cell groups and small study groups form, some of which grow into traditional churches.
The worship communities have been fostered by Global Ministries' mission initiatives in Honduras, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Mongolia, Nepal, Cambodia, Malawi, Senegal, Cameroon, Malawi, Latvia, and Lithuania.
Global Ministries set up The 400 Fund as part of The Advance, the designated mission giving channel of the church, to support these initiatives—primarily through pastoral and lay education and provision of worship space. Ultimately, Global Ministries' support will be minimized as each mission initiative becomes self-sustaining. Eventually, some will become their own annual conferences.
Read More >>
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Twelve Local Leaders Ordained Local Elders in Mission in Vietnam
Although the government has not yet recognized The United Methodist Church in Vietnam, the church in this Southeast Asian country is experiencing phenomenal growth, in part because of the commitment of its local leadership.
Twelve of those leaders were ordained Local Elders in Mission in early January. The candidates worked closely with a Global Ministries' missionary couple, the Rev. Ut To and Karen Vo To, who have held up a vision of growth for the church across the whole country by identifying and equipping local leadership.
Bishop Bruce Ough, leader of the Minnesota-Dakotas Episcopal Area, led the West Ohio Episcopal Area when the 12 candidates began a course of study at United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio. The West Ohio Annual Conference Board of Ordained Ministry supervised and mentored their journeys toward ordination. A delegation from the board traveled to Southeast Asia to interview the candidates prior to their ordination.
The 2012 General Conference approved the ordination of Local Elders in Mission. Similar to local pastors, Local Elders in Mission are ordained in the mission initiative in which they serve. However, similar to the US understanding of elders, they are also ordained to word, sacrament, order, and service anywhere within that initiative. Read More >>
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Roundtables Make Mission Partnerships Real
Because the musician in Kaunas couldn't attend the Lithuanian Roundtable last November, Camilla Pruitt stepped in to provide music for both the US and Lithuanian participants.
Participants gathered at Kaunas United Methodist churches in Lithuania and at Trinity United Methodist Church in Huntsville, Alabama, in November. Unlike a mission consultation, which brings participants together at a church in the United States with a couple of guests from a mission country, a roundtable uses video conferencing technology to connect participants gathered in the United States with participants gathered in the mission country.
"What made it so personal was that we sang in English and they sang in Lithuanian, and yet we sang songs we both knew," said Pruitt, who said that even though the songs were sung in different languages, because of both groups' familiarity with the music, they all understood what each group was singing. "It was really a connection. We'd sing a verse together and we didn't sound the same, yet we knew we were singing the same words with the same message." Read More >>
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When Helping Hurts
Dr. Randy Russ of the Chalmers Center discussed the book, When Helping Hurts, with mission partners in the United States, Lithuania, and Senegal to help guide the development of long-term, meaningful, and equal partnerships.
Global Ministries' 50/50 partnership model helps churches avoid the trap of paternalistic partnerships that often develop between US and international churches, Russ said.
"We [US churches] don't intend to harm people but we end up in relationships with other churches that are dependency relationships, where money flows from the US to the church abroad," said Russ, a member of Centenary UMC in Chattanooga and a certified candidate for deacon in the Holston Conference. "With money, comes power."
Often that power translates into a series of projects, initiated by US churches that may not take into account the ministry needs and goals of the local international church. The project-based mission partnership encourages financial dependence on US churches and, according to Russ, has in "some ways prevented them from developing their own talents, assets, and financial resources to sustain their church." Read More >>
Russ will be a featured speaker at the In Mission Together Eurasia: 50/50 Roundtable to be held at Christ UMC in Memphis, Tennessee, April 26 through 27. For more information about the event or to register, visit the web site. |
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Resources to Learn More
Download and share this promotional video with your church's mission committee and consider how you can come to be "In Mission Together."
Read in-depth articles about new church growth in the January/February 2013 issue of New World Outlook. |
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