Spring Special Gathering of UMMA — April 22-23, 2017
While you are in Atlanta, the United Methodist Missionary Association invites you join in a spring “Special Gathering” in the time between the GBGM Board of Directors Meeting and the Open House at GBGM’s new offices. The Directors meet Thursday-Saturday April 20-22; 2017. The Open House follows on Monday, April 24, 2017.
UMMA’s tentative schedule follows:
Saturday, April 22
— Lunch opportunity to be arranged
— 2:00-5:00 p.m.
— Special Gathering for UMMA business, planning and strategy
— Evening meal to be arranged
— 7:00-10:00 p.m.
— Time available for regional or class reunions at your initiative. (Please share plans as they may develop.)
Sunday, April 23
— Lunch opportunity to be arranged following 11 a.m. worship at Grace Church
— 2:00-5:00 p.m. — Intergenerational Conversations on GBGM’s Theology of Mission
- We envision small groups with Young Adult Missionary participation addressing one or another aspect of our mission statement and its implications in our respective life situations and mission assignments. We will each be urged to define the most urgent issues. They could, for example, include immigration, migrants and displaced people; human rights, civil rights and reproductive rights; oppressive regimes; justice for indigenous peoples; issues of gender identity and discrimination; racism; exploitive and extractive economic models based on greed; nationalisms; or others you can surely name.
— Evening meal to be arranged
—7:00-10:00 p.m. — Time available for regional or class reunions at your initiative. (Please share plans as they may develop.)
Information about lodging will be forthcoming from our MIRs Larry and Kristen Schmitz MiR@umcmission.org. They can be reached by phone at (816) 500-2584 (Kristy) or (816) 560-6739 (Larry).
Please note: All travel and lodging expenses will be the responsibility of the participants.
U.S. Americans are asking, "Now that the electoral season is over, how will we survive its results ?" Meanwhile the first GBGM "Annual" (fall) Board Meeting in Atlanta has ended. Advent has advanced toward Bethlehem, the world is not in order, and we all hope,"Savior of the Nations, Come."
New Mission Fellows Commissioned
In New #1 I listed many Global Missionaries and Global Mission Fellows who had been recently commissioned. Unfortunately, I overlooked the largest group of Global Mission Fellows to date, including only the ones commissioned in Korea because they could not get visas to come to the U.S. The larger portion of the GMF-International and GMF-US2 young adults were commissioned in August at the new Board headquarters in Atlanta and are listed here.
Commissioned as Global Mission Fellows: International
YVONNE AGDUYENG — Pacific Northwest Annual Conference (USA) — Placement: Community Development GMF, International and Migrant Ministries, Germany
SUSHI AU — Overseas Chinese Mission Church, New York (USA) — Placement: Outreach and Impact Program Assistant, Mission for Migrant Workers, Hong Kong (PRC)
CHIE BAUTISTA — North Central Philippines Annual Conference — Placement: Teacher, Children’s Ministry, Southeast Asia
NOE CENAL — Rizal Philippines Annual Conference — Placement: Community Health Education Assistant, the Center of Hope, Mozambique
TAWANDA CHANDIWANA — East Zimbabwe Annual Conference — Placement: Peace and Advocacy Associate, InPeace, Philippines
AMANDA CHERRY — North Alabama Annual Conference (USA)— Placement: Migrant Ministries Coordinator, Methodist Church of Mexico (IMMAR), Mexico AMANDA CHNG — Chinese Annual Conference, Methodist Church in Singapore — Placement: Youth and Children GMF, International and Migrant Ministries, Germany
RUT CHRISTY — Mennonite Church in Indonesia — Placement: Program Coordinator, Wesleyan Sinnanen Foundation, South Korea
WAYNE COGAY — Northeast Philippines Annual Conference — Placement: Youth Worker, Methodist Church in the Caribbean and the Americas, Barbados
KING FABROS — Northeast Luzon Philippines Annual Conference — Placement: Recruitment and Graduate Outreach Coordinator, Asian Rural Institute, Japan
PRISCAH FISHO — Eternal Word Ministries International Zimbabwe — Placement: Hope for Children Assistant, Pilgrim Wesleyan Church, Zambia
NAYARA GERVASIO — National Baptist Church of Brazil — Placement: Assistant to Pastoral Work on Migration, Salvadoran Lutheran Synod, El Salvador
NINA GUZMAN — Rizal Philippines Annual Conference — Placement: Children’s Worker, INSPIRE, Germany
ISABEL ICAZA WILLETTS — Florida Annual Conference (USA) — Placement: Women’s and Children’s Shelter Coordinator, Salvation Army of Tijuana, Mexico
ANANY KANDA — South Congo Annual Conference (DR Congo)— Placement: Social Educator, Shade and Fresh Water Project, Brazil
MURIVALU KAWEA — Methodist Church in Fiji and Rotuma, Fiji — Placement: Chaplain Assistant, Methodist Church in the Caribbean and the Americas, Barbados
ARSENE LUMAMI — South Congo Annual Conference (DR Congo) — Placement: Peace Educator, Border Peace School, DMZ, South Korea
GAD MAIGA — East Africa Annual Conference (Kenya) — Placement: Natural Resource Program Manager, Church of Christ in the Congo, DR Congo
EDMUND MAKOWA — West Zimbabwe Annual Conference — Placement: Agriculture and Food Production Trainer/Advisor, Community Health and Agricultural Development Program (CHAD), Cambodia
TRISHA MANNS — North Georgia Annual Conference (USA) — Placement: Justice, Peace, and Reunification Associate, National Council of Churches in Korea, South Korea
DRING MENDOZA — Philippines Annual Conference Cavite — Placement: Assistant Program Officer, the Council of Churches in Zambia, Zambia
BELLARMEE MILOSI — South Congo Annual Conference (DR Congo) —Placement: Development Worker, Kapatiran-Kaunlaran Foundation, Inc., Philippines
PETER MUZARAKUZA — Heartfelt International Ministries, Zimbabwe — Placement: HIV/AIDS Program Field Officer, Bwafwano Care Providers, Zambia
HYEIN OH — Korean Methodist Church (South Korea) — Placement: Youth Worker, Methodist Church in the Caribbean and the Americas, Barbados
JUNIOR REYES PACHECO — Redeemed by Faith Church, Barranquilla, Colombia — Placement: El Faro Mission Coordinator, Methodist Church of Mexico (IMMAR), Mexico
JOSEPH RUSS — California-Pacific Annual Conference (USA) — Placement: Junior Consultant in Interreligious Dialogue, World Council of Churches, Switzerland
ZVIKO SIMANGO — East Zimbabwe Annual Conference — Placement: Junior Consultant in Health and Healing, World Council of Churches, Switzerland
JONATHAN SMITH — Florida Annual Conference (USA) — Placement: Teacher, Asia
JESSICA STEWART — North Georgia Annual Conference (USA) — Placement: Community Mapping Specialist, Cape Town Bold Empowerment, South Africa
DUVAN VARGAS MARIN — The Colombia Methodist Church (Colombia) — Placement: Student Ministry, St. John’s United Methodist Church, Lviv, Ukraine
LEAH WANDERA — East Africa Annual Conference (Kenya) — Placement: Gender and Advocacy Officer, Women’s Action and Support Center, Zimbabwe
CRISTAL WINU — First Assembly of God, Waukesha, Wisconsin (USA) — Placement: Junior Consultant in Just Community of Women and Men, World Council of Churches, Switzerland
Commissioned as Global Mission Fellows: US-2s
QUITA COATES — Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference — Placement: Justice Seminar Coordinator, Bridges, Waller Center, West Sacramento, California
ISAAC DUNN — Central Texas Annual Conference —Placement: Case Worker, NOAH Project, Detroit, Michigan
ERIN FREY — West Michigan Annual Conference — Placement: Children’s Hunger Program Services Coordinator, United Methodist Community Ministries/ Suncoast, Gulf Central District, Florida
AUDRA HUDSON — Detroit Annual Conference — Placement: Community Organizer, Tacoma Community House, Tacoma, Washington
CHASITY JONES — Church of the King, Louisiana — Placement: Organizing Intern, Faith Action Network, Seattle, Washington
TRESOR SELENGA KUMUGO — Wisconsin Annual Conference — Placement: TBD, United Methodist Community Ministries / Suncoast, Gulf Central District, Florida
MAGGIE LOHMEYER — Missouri Annual Conference — Placement: Field Coordinator, Jubilee Initiative, West Sacramento, California
KAYLA PLESS — Manna Church, Fayetteville, North Carolina — Placement: Church Poverty Liaison, Restore Hope Ministries, Oklahoma
STEPHANIE QUAMMEN — Oklahoma Annual Conference — Placement: Serving Ministry Coordinator, Metropolitan Memorial United Methodist Church, Washington, D.C.
SYDNEY STANBERRY Word of Restoration International Church, Texas — Placement: ESOL Coordinator, United Methodist Community Ministries/Suncoast, Gulf Central District, Florida
RICK SULLIVAN — Peninsula Delaware Annual Conference — Placement: Associate for Community Engagement, American University, Washington, D.C.
By doing an "advanced search" from the missionary bios page at the Global Ministries website you can find "global mission fellows" and check out the bios of any or all of the 139 of them. The link is here.. (You may also ask Jim Dwyer, as UMMA communications chair, for contact information.)
First Women
Last issue's mention of "First Women" acknowledged at General Conference brought forth a discussion from two missionaries whether the list was accurate.
As a historian, I have to ask, "How could it be accurate or complete?" Each of the various traditions in our UMC had its own regular and irregular and halfway measures of ordaining not only women, but men as well before the definitive 1957 decision that "God calls women and men" to the ministry! The United Brethren, for example, were willing to ordain women, on occasion, but refused them Conference Membership or appointments, except as freelance evangelists. Stickler Methodists would not have done that — something about a fear of loose canons! Methodists, on the other hand, ordained Local Deacons and Local Elders at times to recognize gifts and graces with no promise of full ministry. (A famous man, Oral Roberts, was granted this status in Oklahoma long after General Conference had discontinued it, to allow him a re-entry into the Oklahoma Conference with only minimal crow-eating with the concomitant Methodist blessing of Oral Roberts University!) But I digress. Claudia Webster initiated the dialogue: "I thought that Rev. Marian Spottswood, missionary to the Philippines and Rev. Marian Kline, missionary to the Philippines were both ordained many years before [their] serving as missionaries.… We were all in the Philippines in the 1960’s. Just wondering." Her partner in the conversation, David Williams, added: "Off the top of my head I think you remember it right. Marian Kline claimed to be the first, and a big deal was made of it when she turned 100. Wasn't she a Rev. when she was in language school? She landed after a little bit at Union Seminary as librarian, and I believe they used her status in getting accreditation. Mariam (I believe that's how she spelled it) Spottswood had a Bachelor of Divinity from Yale Divinity school, and soon afterward the Mindanao Provisional Annual Conference was formed. She was ordained in the Philippines, and that helped the Mindanao Conference to become a regular conference. Good onya!" Letting the historian kick in again, I know that Provisional Annual Conferences and missions often arranged a more-or-less provisional ordination by special dispensation — might we say "commissioning" today? — to provide needed pastoral leadership.
Who can shed more light on the question? Well, I've actually asked the Rev. Barbara Troxell who has documented these questions. More next time!
Report from the Chile Gathering 2016
Scarritt Bennett Center – Nashville, TN – August 2016 Dear friends, our “Chile Gathering 2016” has come to an end! We give thanks to God for He allowed us to experience a time of fellowship, memories, partnership, friendship, support and love. We had a great time and we know that God was with us, as well as your prayers a Missionaries, Volunteers in Mission or Chilean resident in the United States. The final number of attendees was 32 people plus 4 kids (Eliana, Esteban, Pedro and Paulina). We had 5 people that attended the Chile Gathering as a first time. OUR NEXT “CHILE GATHERING” We decided that our next Chile Gathering will be held on August 10 – 13, 2018 in Virginia. One of the suggested places was Roslyn Retreat Center in Richmond, VA. Chile-Gathering@cox.netis an email address established to collect and distribute information about the biennial gathering of persons connected to the Methodist church in Chile and maintained by John Foltz, if you have questions.
UMCOR U.S. Director Moves to NVOAD
Gregory A. Forrester, formerly Director of United Methodist Relief Work in the United States, became president and CEO of National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NVOAD) after serving for three years as director of U.S. operations of the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR). His resignation from UMCOR is effective November 11.
Books
MKs (Missionary Kids) also write books. Paul Seaman's mother has brought two of his to our attention. Paul Asbury Seaman: Far Above The Plain: Private Profiles and Admissible Evidence from the First Forty Years of Murree Christian School, Pakistan, 1956-1996; Paperback – June 26, 2013; and Paper Airplanes in the Himalayas: The Unfinished Path Home (West and the Wider World);Paperback – December, 1997.
Passings
My apologies to the "two-T" and the "one-T" Mat[t]hews families. Eunice Jones Mathews allied herself with the "one-T" branch, as Gene "two-T" Matthews pointed out.
Jeannette Palmiter sadly reports that her father, Dick Palmiter, 86, died on Sept 25, 2016. The Palmiters were Methodist Missionaries to Bolivia in the 1960s. His obituary can be found on the Riverview Cemetery Funeral Home site in Portland, OR.
John Nuessle, 63, died June 4, 2016. John spent most of his life in New York, having served as pastor and district superintendent before becoming an Assistant General Secretary at Global Ministries. An obituary can be found in the Utica (NY) Observer Dispatch UticaOD.com and Legacy.com.
Some Last Words
(Sojourners, 12/22-23/2016 inter al.)
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”
(Rediscovered in a recent financial appeal from the National LGBTQ Task Force.)
a Sojourners "voice of the day"
"If they don't give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair." - Shirley Chisholm
a Sojourners "verse of the day"
"For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in ... I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me." - Matthew 25:42-43
another "voice of the day"
"you have to understand,
no one puts their children in a boat
unless the water is safer than the land.
Warsan Shire
a "prayer of the day"
Lord, be with the citizens of Aleppo as they mourn, seek shelter, and pray for peace. Teach us how to share their burden of sorrow and address their pain.
