Every now and then I come across an attention-grabbing story in the bound volumes of World Outlook or The Missionary Voice--both predecessors of New World Outlook magazine. Such a story helps me understand that history is never quite what I supposed it was. Martha Drummer's story was captured in World Outlook in 1952 by Florence Hooper, a mission secretary who had been responsible for sending Miss Drummer her monthly pension.
Source: New World Outlook
More about: Civil rights | Education | Global connections | Health | Human rights | Missionaries | United Methodist Church | Women | Focus on Ministry with the Poor | Focus on Global Health | Angola |
Date posted: Mar 08, 2012

Under a hot and humid December sky, 800 Filipino protesters were marching. Some farmed rice paddies for a living, some fished, and some scraped by in the big cities. Others represented churches, nongovernmental organizations, and political parties. Children and old women walked side by side. But one protestor was conspicuously different from the rest. Not only did he stand head and shoulders above his companions--he had white skin and auburn hair.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Civil rights | Communities | Human rights | International affairs | Justice | Mission opportunities | Poverty | Youth | Focus on Ministry with the Poor | Philippines |
Date posted: Feb 29, 2012

Thomas Kemper letter: Dear Friends, Please join me in praying for our brothers and sisters in Senegal. They are facing political violence as they prepare for coming elections scheduled for this Sunday. According to Global Ministries national in mission, Aly Bashir, 20 people have died, hundreds have been injured, and hundreds more arrested.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Civil rights | Conflict | Ethics | Global connections | Human rights | International affairs | Peace | Poverty | Violence | War | Statements | Focus on Congregational Development | Focus on Ministry with the Poor | Senegal |
Date posted: Feb 23, 2012

Today's youth are often confronted at every turn with peer pressure to take drugs and engage in destructive behaviors. The latest podcast from the United Methodist Special Program on Substance Abuse and Related Violence's "Speak About It!" series features a substance-abuse ministry in the North Carolina Annual Conference's Rockingham District that is empowering youth through positive activities and programs to stay away from behaviors that may lead to drug use.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Children | Communities | Health | Poverty | Youth | Urban | Focus on Ministry with the Poor | Focus on Global Health | United States |
Date posted: Feb 13, 2012

Jamila Hunter from Brooklyn, New York, served with Hyde Park Community United Methodist Church in Cincinnati, Ohio, for the first of her two years as a US-2. US-2s are missionaries between the ages of 20 and 30 who teach, learn from, pray with, and advocate for people in communities seeking transformation and justice in the United States.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Children | Communities | Education | Missionaries | Prison | United Methodist Church | Youth | Older adults | Focus on Ministry with the Poor | United States |
Date posted: Jan 20, 2012

Thery's family was living in extreme poverty and could no longer care properly for their young daughter. They found a home for Thery at Cambodia Light Children's Orphanage and the affiliated Methodist school. Teachers recognized that she was a gifted dancer and nurtured her passion. Today she is 19 years old and attending the Royal University of Fine Arts. She continues to live at the orphanage and teaches dance to the children. The children's dance performances help raise funds to support the orphanage.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Children | Poverty | Women | Youth | Focus on Ministry with the Poor | Cambodia |
Date posted: Dec 20, 2011

Dear Friends, On behalf of the General Board of Global Ministries, thank you for all you do to share God's love and light throughout the world. Through our work, together we are building a path that Isaiah prophesized--a radical path to liberation, peace, and justice. A path that is possible because of the birth of a small and helpless child. The light of the world lies in the hands of someone as powerless as a newborn baby.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Advent | Christmas | Emergencies | Justice | Missionaries | Natural disasters | Peace | Prayers | United Methodist Church | Women | Statements | Tsunami | Focus on Ministry with the Poor | Cote d´Ivoire | Japan | Liberia |
Date posted: Dec 16, 2011

Methodist Cambodian youth, aged 16-24, gathered from around their country last week in Phnom Penh for their 2012 strategic planning at the Wesley Bible Center. Irene Mparutsa, a Global Ministries missionary and a nurse from Zimbabwe, took the opportunity to facilitate a discussion about HIV/AIDS with the 35 young people. While the rate of HIV infection is declining in Cambodia, there is a need to teach prevention as well as reduce stigma for those who are HIV-positive.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: AIDS/HIV | Health | Mission opportunities | Poverty | Prayers | United Methodist Church | Youth | Focus on Ministry with the Poor | Focus on Global Health | Cambodia |
Date posted: Dec 01, 2011

The assembly hall at the Asian Rural Institute in Tochigi, Japan, was filled with a spirit of celebration as graduating students anticipated bringing the fruits of their labor back to their home countries. In a commencement message to the 2011 class on November 19, 2011, Thomas Kemper, the head of Global Ministries, said:
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Agriculture | Christian love | Communities | Donations | Emergencies | Environment | Global connections | Health | International affairs | Natural disasters | Poverty | Prayers | Rural | Welfare | Statements | Tsunami | Focus on Congregational Development | Focus on Leadership Development | Focus on Ministry with the Poor | Focus on Global Health | Japan |
Date posted: Nov 23, 2011

New York, NY, November 15, 2011--A delegation of 18 Methodists hosted by the United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries will attend the People's Global Action on Migration, Development, and Human Rights (PGA) in Geneva, Switzerland, from November 28 to December 2, 2011, as part of the mission agency's focus on global migration and poverty.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Advocacy | Christian love | Civil rights | Ecumenical | Global connections | Human rights | Immigration | International affairs | Poverty | United Methodist Church | Focus on Ministry with the Poor | Africa | Europe | Mauritius | Philippines | Switzerland |
Date posted: Nov 17, 2011

“Come to me and I will give you rest” Matthew 11:28 Dear Friends, It is with deep sadness that I share with you of that The Rev. Isaac Agre’ (link to bio), a missionary for the General Board of Global Ministries, passed away on November 3.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Education | Missionaries | United Methodist Church | Focus on Ministry with the Poor | Africa | Cote d´Ivoire | Tunisia |
Date posted: Nov 07, 2011

The East Belfast Mission is pitching its tent. The community center, Skainos, an ancient Greek word meaning tent, is being built by missionaries, staff, volunteers, and community members of Ballymacarret in Northern Ireland. All people will be welcome in this East Belfast building which will offer space for outreach groups and individuals seeking healing and transformation.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Christian love | Communities | Conflict | Evangelism | Global connections | Hate | Human rights | Peace | United Methodist Church | Violence | War | Focus on Congregational Development | Focus on Ministry with the Poor | Ireland |
Date posted: Nov 04, 2011

I have two small children--a five-year-old daughter and a son, age two. When my daughter was only a few months old, I joined the Henderson Settlement's Maternal Infant Health Outreach program (MIHOW). I usually visit the settlement once a month to get diapers, wipes, and other baby things. It means a lot to have a helping hand these days. I don't think the outreach workers realize just how much they help others and how greatly appreciated they are.
Source: New World Outlook
More about: Children | Communities | Education | Family | Poverty | Women | Focus on Ministry with the Poor | United States |
Date posted: Oct 27, 2011

Thousands of individuals and churches are expected to engage in mission through 10-Fold, a ten-day online gathering. Beginning on October 10, 2011, the event will offer opportunities to learn about powerful ministries of The United Methodist Church.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Agriculture | Donations | Education | Health | Missionaries | Natural disasters | Youth | Focus on Congregational Development | Focus on Leadership Development | Focus on Ministry with the Poor | Focus on Global Health | Africa | Congo DR | Germany | Honduras | Philippines |
Date posted: Oct 06, 2011

Rev. Ramos-Gallardo uses this image of a water-soaked Bible to express the longing for God that a steady stream of rebuilders have felt as they've come to the city of New Orleans.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Advocacy | Civil rights | Family | Human rights | Immigration | Justice | Focus on Ministry with the Poor | Mexico |
Date posted: Oct 04, 2011

Walk together in God's mission with our scholars. Give to your utmost ability. As we invest in their education and leadership, churches and communities shall help transform the world. By God's grace and sitting around the Lord's Table We bear witness to multiple ministries everywhere.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Ecumenical | Finance | Health | Poverty | Focus on Leadership Development | Focus on Ministry with the Poor | Focus on Global Health | Brazil | Liberia | Philippines | United States |
Date posted: Sep 28, 2011

In the month following South Sudan's independence, the United Methodist people of South Sudan outlined the priorities that will help strengthen the church as part of building a new nation. A team of clergy and lay leaders from Yei District came together for a roundtable meeting in Kampala, Uganda, on August 9 and 10, 2011, with delegates from the East Africa Annual Conference, the General Board of Global Ministries, the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), the Holston Annual Conference, and Ginghamsburg Church in Tipp City, Ohio.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Agriculture | Education | Finance | Poverty | Water | Focus on Congregational Development | Focus on Leadership Development | Focus on Ministry with the Poor | Sudan |
Date posted: Sep 23, 2011

A delegation from The United Methodist Church met with the Foreign Minister and other leaders of Côte d'Ivoire to explore areas of common interest as the West African country recovers from a post-electoral crisis earlier this year. Bishop Weaver of New England led the delegation and later said he was encouraged by the meeting and emphasized the role of the church as a global organization.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Children | Conflict | Education | Family | Global connections | Health | Poverty | Refugees | Violence | War | Water | Focus on Ministry with the Poor | Focus on Global Health | Cote d´Ivoire |
Date posted: Sep 22, 2011

"Jesus learned new things when he went to the border," said Rev. Edgar Avitia, who led the worship in Florida for US-based missionaries of The United Methodist Church. Jesus' continuing education and migration to the border of Tyre and Sidon in Matthew 15:21-28 spoke truth to missionary Jim Perdue, who attended the missionaries meeting on the heels of the immigration task force meeting at the Church Center of the United Nations (CCUN) in New York from September 16 to 18, 2011.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Advocacy | Children | Family | Human rights | Immigration | Justice | Missionaries | Poverty | Race | Social Principles | United Methodist Church | Youth | Focus on Ministry with the Poor | Guinea | Mexico | Philippines |
Date posted: Sep 20, 2011

In the late 1970s, millions of people starved in Cambodian refugee camps. Among the hungry were present-day United Methodist missionaries Marilyn and Joseph Chan. In the camps, they witnessed and experienced Christian love and converted to Christianity. The couple went on to study theology in the US and returned to Cambodia to work with Christian and global aid networks as teachers and theologians, offering to help in health and agriculture in rural communities.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Agriculture | Health | Missionaries | Poverty | Focus on Ministry with the Poor | Focus on Global Health | Cambodia |
Date posted: Sep 19, 2011

On a recent visit to Susanna Wesley House in Baltimore, Maryland, three of the house's nine housing units were found to be empty. This was a positive sign. It meant that three families had recently made a successful transition from supportive housing to their own residences in the community.
Source: New World Outlook
More about: Children | Christian love | Communities | Education | John Wesley | United Methodist Church | Welfare | Wesley | Women | Methodism | Focus on Ministry with the Poor | United States |
Date posted: Sep 13, 2011

This coming Saturday will mark 10 years of the September 11, 2001 attacks. The reactions that followed this event radically changed our world and the context of Mission. As we take time together to reflect and pray we are mindful of other instances of violence, including the recent shootings in Norway and all the places and people in the world who suffer violence in this very hour.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Children | Conflict | GBGM events | Global connections | Health | Human rights | Hunger | International affairs | Peace | Poverty | Prayers | Violence | War | Statements | Focus on Congregational Development | Focus on Ministry with the Poor | Focus on Global Health | United States | Afghanistan | Iraq | Norway |
Date posted: Sep 09, 2011

Labor Day is not an excuse to buy items on sale at department stores. Labor is a legacy of 19th-century US workers who fought for and won legal guarantees for workers, such as the garment workers who made (and make) the clothes sold in the sales racks at department stores.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Advocacy | Civil rights | Ethics | Human rights | Justice | Mission opportunities | Social Principles | Youth | Focus on Leadership Development | Focus on Ministry with the Poor | United States |
Date posted: Sep 02, 2011

I first met Dan Terry in 2004 in Afghanistan. One day he offered to help me get to a meeting on the other side of Kabul--by bicycle. We took a "shortcut" up to a steep ridge, following a rocky path where we had to push or carry our bicycles. At the top, while I caught my breath and admired the view, we encountered a family of returned refugees. This steep ridge--far from roads, water, and the city proper--was the only place this family could find to live.
Source: New World Outlook
More about: Christian love | Communities | Conflict | Education | Global connections | Health | International affairs | Missionaries | Peace | Poverty | Refugees | Rural | Social Principles | Violence | War | Methodism | Focus on Ministry with the Poor | Focus on Global Health | Afghanistan |
Date posted: Aug 24, 2011