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A periodic communication from the
United Methodist Missionary Association

Dear <<First Name>> <<Last Name>>,


Greetings in Christ and an apology that I failed to reach out with a personal note just after you were commissioned. General Conference was an exciting time, and I was pleased to meet several of you at the reception. I want to welcome you (belatedly) to the community of missionaries in service through the United Methodist Church. I am excited that you have chosen to share your gifts in this way. I hope that now that you are a year into your assignment that connections are feeling more established.

As part of that journey, the United Methodist Missionary Association (UMMA) is a group of your fellow missionaries who have formed a loose association to develop and nurture a vital connectional network among active, inactive and retired missionaries of the General Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church for the purpose of promoting Christian mission. I hope that you have been receiving our periodic newsletters this last year. In addition, I would like to invite your training cohort to nominate two member to serve for two years on the UMMA Steering Committee. We hope you will engage with us!

Read on
to learn more about who we are and how to be a part.

peace & blessings,
Katherine Parker
UMMA Chairperson & UMC Global Missionary in Nepal

UMMA Leadership

I am Katherine Parker, a Global Missionary currently serving with the United Mission to Nepal as a Health & Community Transformation Advisor. I started my service through Global Ministries as a Mission Intern (now GMF-International) at the Asian Rural Institute in Japan and have also served with Practical Farmers of Iowa in the USA and the Community Health & Agricultural Development project of the Cambodia Mission Initiative. I have the additional voluntary role as the chairperson of UMMA. Email me!

The Administrative Council also includes:

  • Becky Harrell, Vice-Chairperson (Mission Advocate in the South Central Jurisdiction, USA)
  • Alina Saucedo, Treasurer (Global Missionary in Nicaragua)
  • Hillary Taylor, Secretary (GMF Alumni and student at Candler School of Theology)
  • Jim Dwyer, Newsletter Editor (Retired)
Alina, Becky, Katherine & Hillary
Participants at the 2017 Gathering in Atlanta

Who is involved in UMMA?

In UMMA we understand that your calling to mission service extends beyond your employment status with Global Ministries, even as this employment is an important part of the process. In UMMA, we are linked together by our commitment to mission as a vital component of the ministry of the church and by our shared Methodist connection. We are not a formal part of Global Ministries, but a voluntary membership organization composed as above. While part of what we do as an Association is to advocate with Global Ministries’ leadership for more fair and equitable policies as related to missionaries currently and formerly employed by Global Ministries, we also see that our connections to one another go beyond this. We include among our members those missionaries who are currently active in all of GBGM categories of service (YAM/GMF, Global, Racial/Ethnic, Advocates, CCW, Volunteers etc.), missionary alumni (those actively serving in capacities other than employment through Global Ministries or retired), and associates who desire to help support this vision and connection.

Conversation with Judy Chung & GBGM Board Liasons

What we do as UMMA:

  1. Send out a periodic newsletter by email (& post as needed) called UMMA UpDate;
  2. Organize a physical presence of missionaries at Global Ministries’ Board Meetings to listen for changes that impact missionaries and to engage in an ongoing dialogue with executive leadership and board members around issues that affect the missionary community as a whole (e.g. role of MIR as advocate for missionaries, pension, SSN/Medicare equitable compensation, families in mission – unassigned spouses, policy/handbook changes or vague wording, missionary care, communication & support needs of missionaries);
  3. Engage in monthly Skype conversations among missionaries serving on the Steering Committee of UMMA, who in turn connect with missionaries serving in a similar region of the world;
  4. Periodically organize a Forum or Gathering (or join in on other events) to bring together missionaries for vital conversations to promote Christian mission;
  5. Be in mutual support of each other as we serve God through the United Methodist Church.
Marilia, Hillary & Alina

How you can be a part:

  1. We would like to offer you complementary membership in UMMA during your first year of service through Global Ministries (last year plus 2017). (Membership dues are typically $36/year for full membership, or $25/year for Associate/low cost membership. This helps to cover our overhead, website, mail newsletters to retirees without email, fund travel costs for advocacy work at Board Meetings, etc. See below.)
  2. We would like to add your email to our MailChimp newsletter. In fact, we have already done that as evidenced by your receipt of this message and hopefully also several newsletters over the last year. Please feel free to unsubscribe if you don’t want to receive this. You can also update your profile to change to a personal email address if you want to receiving the newsletter at an email other than your @umcmission.org address.
  3. Select 2 representatives from your training class to service on the UMMA Steering Committee (see below) for two years. Feel free to volunteer yourself or another from your class.
Skype call

What is the Steering Committee?

In order to facilitate communication among us all, UMMA has formed a Steering Committee for regular dialogue. The Steering Committee meets quarterly on the first Tuesday of the first month of each quarter at 1 or 2pm UTC/GMT for a Skype conversation about key issues happening in the missionary community. In order to accommodate time differences, a second or third call is often set up to engage more people. We also often meet by Skype on the first Tuesday of in-between months to discuss specific topics that have arisen needing more focused conversation. Steering Committee members then are encouraged to be in communication with other missionary members either in the region or class/cohort whom they represent to share details of the conversation and gather additional feedback.

Nominate a Steering Committee Rep
Reply to this email (or click th above button) to nominate yourself or another class member to serve on the UMMA Steering Committee! If there are more than 2 nominations, I’ll send up a follow up to allow you to vote for your representatives.
UMMA Gathering 2016 -- in person and by skype

How can I become a full (paying) member?

Paid membership in UMMA helps to fund our presence and advocacy with the Board of Directors of Global Ministries and in conversation with Executive Leadership (Thomas, Roland & Judy). It also covers the administration of the organization such as website and mailing newsletters to those (retirees) who don’t have email, and seed money to organize Gatherings and Forum. Dues can be paid at any time during the calendar year. Dues also entitle you to a vote at the Annual Gathering (business meeting), which you can attend in-person or via Skype. Most importantly they allow us to count you on our roster when we advocate for changes with Global Ministries. UMMA has made it a policy to not disclose the names on our membership rolls to Global Ministries, but only the numbers as some folks (mostly in the past) have worried about retribution of being associated with “those rabble rousers.” At the end of your complementary period, you will start to receive a reminder along with UpDate newsletters, inviting you to pay dues.

Dues are $36/year per person (or $25/year for Associate/low cost level).

Lifetime membership is also available for the cost of 15 years of annual membership.

Pay by check: Send a check, payable to UMMA to Jim Dwyer, assistant treasurer, 787 Plymouth Rd., Claremont, CA 91711-4249

By PayPal or CreditCard: Follow the link to our website where you can choose your membership level and pay using Credit Card via PayPal

Pay dues
Other options: We have requested and continue to follow up on the option to pay dues by salary deduction. We recognize this is important for missionaries who don’t have a US bank account. In some countries, missionaries have worked together to send in dues from several folks together during a regional gathering, etc. or using one person coming on itineration. Please be in contact if you would like to become a full member but would like help coordinating one of these options.
In worship together

UMMA’s role in mutual support and advocacy

UMMA recognizes the need for advocacy on both a personal and collective basis. Over the years, UMMA has advocated to establish and strengthen the position of Missionary in Residence (MIR) who can be supportive when missionaries need a personal advocate to help them navigate a particular situation. We hope that you will be in touch with the MIR (it is a three-year post) when you are having difficulty navigating a challenge in your relationship with Global Ministries. They are there in Atlanta, among other things, to help identify who is the best person to address your challenge and also to walk over and knock on a door if you are not getting a response to inquiries. By building a supportive community and communication among missionaries, we also hope to be of mutual support and to share experiences and support to each other when challenges arise. However, UMMA as an organization also tries not to be involved in issues relating to specific missionaries. If you choose to share personal challenges with us (confidentially or not), this helps us as we look for trends and challenges that arise from a common source and act as an advocate in these areas. Usually this takes the form of questioning policies & practices and how they are interpreted with respect to our Theology of Mission within Global Ministries.

Happy to help.

Please be in touch with me, Katherine Parker, or any of the current Steering Committee for more information. Use the button below to see their names and contact on the UMMA Website www.umma-global.org

Contact the current Steering Committee
UMMA Website
Pay dues
Steering Committee contacts
Facebook
Email feedback
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