|
Leaders of the 1-million member United Methodist
Women advocated for a ban on trade with Burma -
also known as Myanmar -- for several years.
Last
June, they thought their advocacy on behalf of
Burma’s enslaved was a success when President
Bush signed a ban on trade with Burma into law.
Date posted:Mar 31, 2004
|
|
|
UMCOR Responds in Europe, Middle East
When violence between ethnic Albanians and Serbs
in Kosovo flared up in March, the United
Methodist Committee on Relief responded within
hours of the outbreak. It was able to do so
because of the way the agency's nongovernmental
organization is now organized.
Date posted:Mar 31, 2004
|
|
|
Deputy General Secretary, Joyce Sohl gives last
report at the Women's Divsion Spring board
meeting.
Date posted:Mar 31, 2004
|
|
|
UMCOR Hotline, March 30, 2004
A grant from UMCOR is helping to assist 30,000
displaced people in Sudan. An UMCOR grant has
gone to reconstruction projects in Iran.
Volunteers are needed in California to help
rebuild after the wildfires. UMCOR is assisting
victims of Hurricane Isabel.
Date posted:Mar 30, 2004
|
|
|
The United Methodist bishop who has led Sierra
Leone's Truth and Reconciliation Commission said
its report and recommendations would be
published soon.
Date posted:Mar 30, 2004
|
|
|
The United Methodist missions agency has
commissioned more than 30 new missionaries - the
first such group since a temporary moratorium
was imposed due to budget restraints.
Date posted:Mar 30, 2004
|
|
|
The past two decades have seen the issue of
violence against women explode into public
consciousness. Laws protecting women from abuse
have been created and strengthened, shelters and
other services have been developed, and media
attention to the issue has increased. In The
United Methodist Church, as in most faith
communities, educational resources have been
developed, policy statements have been adopted,
and clergy and lay leaders have been offered
training in responding to domestic violence and
sexual abuse in their churches and communities.
Date posted:Mar 29, 2004
|
|
|
Doing laundry. Buying groceries. Driving to
work. Fixing the car. Mowing the lawn. Shoveling
the snow. Going to meetings. Filling out
paperwork.
Sometimes, oftentimes, these things in our lives
seem overwhelming. It seems like all we can do
and are doing is getting through, meeting our
basic needs but still feeling like something is
missing. We forget, or don’t have the energy, to
pause, be thankful, and recognize God’s mighty
works around us.
Date posted:Mar 29, 2004
|
|
|
A Texas Conference contribution of $40,000 for
mission in Latin America was presented to
directors of the United Methodist General Board
of Global Ministries at their semi-annual
meeting last week in Stamford, CT.
Date posted:Mar 29, 2004
|
|
|
Al Smith, a retired American League baseball
umpire, was having difficulty getting up and
down the front steps of his house in Bossier
City, La.
The effects of knee surgery had forced Smith -
who once shared the baseball diamond with
legendary players like Mickey Mantle - to use a
walker and a wheelchair to get around.
Date posted:Mar 29, 2004
|
|
|
Expressing continued concern for the people of
Haiti, the United Methodist Board of Global
Ministries has called the denomination to action
on behalf of the Caribbean nation.
Date posted:Mar 29, 2004
|
|
|
An excited and slightly nervous Louisiana
Volunteers in Mission team boarded a flight from
Shreveport on Jan. 25 that brought them- 30
hours later- to Phnom Penh, Cambodia for the
experience of a lifetime.
Date posted:Mar 26, 2004
|
|
|
Dozens of African and Philippine delegates to
the ten-day United Methodist General conference
in Pittsburgh, April 16 to May 7, have been
denied entrance visas into the United States by
the U.S. Department of State or put on a slow
track visa review process.
Date posted:Mar 25, 2004
|
|
|
Like waves in a turbulent sea, United Methodist
Women must move and act in today's turbulent
world.
That was the farewell message of Joyce Sohl to
directors of the Women's Division of the United
Methodist Board of Global Ministries, during
their March 19-22 meeting in Stamford.
Date posted:Mar 24, 2004
|
|
|
Twenty-seven new Deaconesses and four new Church
and Community Workers were commissioned at the
General Board of Global Ministries Board of
Directors Meeting for mission service through
The United Methodist Church.
Date posted:Mar 24, 2004
|
|
|
The United Methodist Church currently has a
total of 710 missionaries and other commissioned
mission personnel. ... The total supported
mission personnel is 1,069 persons serving in 70
countries.
Date posted:Mar 24, 2004
|
|
|
The top executive of The United Methodist
Church, speaking here, challenged the
denomination and its members to listen to “God’s
call from tomorrow” to be in mission today and
to prepare for the mission opportunities God
will offer as the future unfolds.
Date posted:Mar 24, 2004
|
|
|
The participation of many international
delegates at the 2004 United Methodist General
Conference is in doubt because of difficulties
obtaining visas to enter the United States.
Date posted:Mar 24, 2004
|
|
|
UMCOR Hotline, March 23, 2004
Leaders of Haiti's Methodist Church have
prioritized
three projects as critical to longterm recovery
from the current crisis. In Liberia, as many as
4,500 former soldiers will be housed at a new
demobilization camp to be operated by
UMCOR. 'Calm, though tense,' is the way UMCOR
workers describe conditions in the Mitrovica
region of Kosovo. 'Multiplying Hope' is a new 7-
minute UMCOR video.
Date posted:Mar 23, 2004
|
|
|
On Monday February 2, 2004 President George Bush
presented his 2005 fiscal year (FY) budget,
which
begins on October 1, to Congress.
Date posted:Mar 23, 2004
|
|
|
Poem: At UMCOR Sager Brown God Calls Us to Serve and Love
Needs around the world press on.
We see and share the pain.
Needs around our own locale
Hurt and need remain.
God calls us to serve and love
Where ever we might be.
Do we hear this voice of God
And serve unselfishly?
Date posted:Mar 22, 2004
|
|
|
UMCOR Gumbo: A Poem About Volunteers in Mission
After 12 hours of the Interstate with lots of
Mississippi pine trees,
We were happy to arrive at Sager-Brown with
accommodations to please.
Date posted:Mar 22, 2004
|
|
|
Janice Love was elected today as the chief
executive officer of 1-million-member United
Methodist Women.
President of the Women's Division, Genie Bank,
told directors of the Division at the March 19
board meeting in Stamford, Conn., that Ms. Love
would lead the organization "into the future
with faith."
Ms Bank led a search committee in a process for
filling the position, which took several
months. She described Ms. Love as a "woman of
many gifts and graces."
Date posted:Mar 19, 2004
|
|
|
Mission Education Opportunities Schools of Christian Mission 2004
Date posted:Mar 18, 2004
|
|
|
Eleven directors and three alternates were
elected to serve on the governing board of the
Women’s Division of the General Board of Global
Ministries, the national administrative body of
the million-member United Methodist Women. Also
elected were 14 new members for the
organization’s Southeastern Jurisdiction (SEJ)
Core Planning Group, which plans regional mission-
related events and serves as a link between
United Methodist Women and the Women’s Division.
Both elected groups serve four years.
Date posted:Mar 18, 2004
|
|
|
United Methodist Women are getting involved with
their local schools, and the results are showing
in local students.
Date posted:Mar 18, 2004
|
|
|
San Antonio, Tex.-United Methodist Women elected
their national leadership at the South Central
Jurisdiction meeting March 12-14 in San Antonio,
Tex.
The women elected 8 women who will serve as
the decision-making body of the Women’s Division,
responsible for close to $20 million a year in
mission funds and for leadership of the 1-million
member United Methodist Women.
Date posted:Mar 18, 2004
|
|
|
There Is Always a Way: No Team for This Individual Volunteer in Mission
Sandra Entenman has served as an individual
volunteer in Armenia and Bosnia-Herzegovina for
the United Methodist Committee on Relief. Her
first assignment was to teach English in Armenia
during four months in 2000. "These children are
excited, intelligent, and from educated families.
I fell in love with these children and couldn't
wait to see them each day," she said.
Date posted:Mar 17, 2004
|
|
|
We condemn the atrocious terrorist attack that
took the lives of hundreds of people in Madrid
and left its consequences on the lives of family
members, friends, the people of Spain, Europe
and the entire world.
Date posted:Mar 17, 2004
|
|
|
Condenamos el atroz atentado terrorista que
segó la vida de cientos de personas en Madrid y
que deja su secuela en la vida de familiares,
amistades, del pueblo de España, Europa y el
mundo entero.
Date posted:Mar 17, 2004
|
|
|
A story in the Christian Science Monitor of
Tuesday, March 16, 2004 significantly
misrepresented the number of United Methodist
missionaries in service today.
Date posted:Mar 17, 2004
|
|
|
Mary's anointing of Jesus' feet is an
extravagant celebration of love just before the
Savior is arrested and crucified. It is a
celebration of life on the eve of death.
Date posted:Mar 16, 2004
|
|
|
Two United Methodist-related entities and a
research hospital have entered a partnership to
advance health care in Africa by training
medical providers to respond more effectively to
infectious diseases.
Date posted:Mar 16, 2004
|
|
|
Methodist Healthcare is committed to its
connection with The United Methodist Church and
to the denomination's mission, according to its
top official.
That commitment to mission led the hospital
system into a partnership with Africa University
and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital to
help health care providers respond to HIV/AIDS
and other infectious diseases across Zimbabwe
and eventually, the rest of Africa. The United
Methodist-related university is based in Mutare,
Zimbabwe
Date posted:Mar 16, 2004
|
|
|
Music, worship, dance, Bible study and a
demonstration by a potter brought approximately
1,500 members of United Methodist Women from
throughout the Northeast to Baltimore, Md., March
5-7. The Northeast Jurisdictional Quadrennial
Meeting of United Methodist Women was a time to
celebrate current mission outreach and 135 years
of United Methodist Women's history.
Date posted:Mar 16, 2004
|
|
|
As Lisa Swett, 36, of New England Conference
became president of United Methodist Women (UMW)
in the Northeast, she challenged women in the
region to reach out to children by sponsoring
schools of Christian mission for them.
Date posted:Mar 16, 2004
|
|
|
United Methodist Women from the Northeast
gathered in Baltimore, Md., March 5-7 to elect
directors to the Women's Division of the
denomination's mission agency. Eight women,
including a teen and young adult, were elected to
four-year terms.
Date posted:Mar 16, 2004
|
|
|
"Molded by 'God the Potter," glazed with
diversity, we are God's vessels, filled with
faith and commitment, empowered by the Spirit to
be in mission, locally and globally."
This was the vision statement embraced by the 601
women representing eight different regions which
make up the western jurisdiction of the United
Methodist Church. The women gathered for their
quadrennial meeting this weekend in Oakland,
California to elect Women’s Division directors
and educate themselves for mission.
Date posted:Mar 16, 2004
|
|
|
Over 650 people packed the banquet room of the
Marriott in Oakland, Cal., on the evening of
March 13 to hear Dr. Joycelyn Elders’ keynote
address to the United Methodist Women's Western
Jurisdiction Quadrennial Meeting.
Date posted:Mar 16, 2004
|
|
|
UMCOR Hotline, March 16, 2004
UMCOR's head of emergency services has returned
from Haiti Monday March 15 following meetings
with l'Eglise Metodiste leaders. The head of the
Evangelical Church of Spain has called for
renewed commitment to peace in the wake of
terrorist bombings of trains in Madrid on March
11. Flood and wind damage are the reminders of
early March storms in Texas and Oklahoma.
Date posted:Mar 16, 2004
|
|
|
Children of imprisoned mothers can now hear their
Mother's Voices on tape, thanks to a project
begun by a United Methodist woman at the Berks
County Prison.
Date posted:Mar 16, 2004
|
|
|
This year, United Methodist Women in local
units, districts, and conferences are
celebrating 135 years in mission. This gives us
the opportunity to study our history, and see
how it has made us what we are today.
Date posted:Mar 14, 2004
|
|
|
Haiti: UMCOR Programs and Projects
The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR)
supports several projects in Haiti, including a
hot lunch program for Methodist schools, Grace
Children's Hospital, and community agricultural
programs.
Date posted:Mar 12, 2004
|
|
|
The Permanent Commission of the Evangelical
Church in Spain would like to express its
condolence before the horror and barbarities of
the terrible terrorist attacks of yesterday
[3/11/04]in Madrid. At this time, feelings of
concerns are increasing. First, we would like to
manifest our solidarity and closeness with the
victims and their families; and also our
disposition to collaborate and provide physical
and spiritual support from our church through
its Institutions and Communities in Madrid.
Date posted:Mar 12, 2004
|
|
|
La Comisión Permanente de la Iglesia Evangélica
Española quiere expresar su profundo pesar ante
el horror y la barbarie de los terribles
atentados perpetrados ayer en Madrid. En estos
momentos en que se multiplican los motivos de
preocupación, queremos en primer lugar
manifestar nuestra solidaridad y la cercanía
con las victimas y sus familiares, así como
nuestra disposición a colaborar y canalizar la
ayuda material y espiritual que nuestra Iglesia
pueda realizar a través de sus Instituciones y
Comunidades en Madrid.
Date posted:Mar 12, 2004
|
|
|
The son of a United Methodist missionary couple
based in Madrid, Spain, narrowly escaped one of
the terrorist bomb blasts there.
Four commuter trains were bombed in coordinated
attacks during the March 11 morning rush,
killing nearly 200 people and injuring more than
1,400, and plunging Spain into three days of
mourning. According to The New York Times, it
was the deadliest terrorist attack in Europe
since World War II.
Date posted:Mar 12, 2004
|
|
|
The mission study this year on Public Education
will concentrate on the role of the church in
advocating for and supporting quality public
education for all children in the United States.
In this country, The United Methodist Church and
its predecessors, with a few exceptions, have
supported secular public education rather than
establishing parochial schools...Today, McCurdy
School, Red Bird Mission School, and a few
United Methodist charter schools serve
populations in the United States that might
otherwise fall between the cracks of the public
education system.
Date posted:Mar 11, 2004
|
|
|
In 1925, the Methodist Mission in Singapore
purchased from Madam Tan Teck Neo, widow of Mr.
Lee Choon Guan, 10 acres of property at Barker
Road for the use of Oldham Hall, a hostel
associated with the Anglo-Chinese School (ACS).
The property included Dunearn House, which was
used to house missionaries and ACS students. It
is unlikely any of the missionaries or students
of that day could imagine what the Barker Road
property would become.
Date posted:Mar 11, 2004
|
|
|
Providing public education for those who could
not afford to pay for it was a sudden change
from the practice in the Philippines before
American colonization in 1898. At the end of the
Spanish-American War, a Methodist chaplain began
to preach to Filipinos as well as to American
military personnel. Bible study groups soon led
to the formation of Methodist churches that
followed the Wesleyan tradition of preaching,
teaching, and ministering to the masses.
Date posted:Mar 11, 2004
|
|
|
In March 2003, we returned to Liberia to assume
our assignment at Ganta United Methodist Mission
Station. ... On March 29, 2003, rebels overran
the town of Ganta and other towns and villages
throughout the country. Many residents were
killed. Others fled to Guinea as refugees. Some
became internally displaced people, fleeing for
temporary residence in safe urban centers within
the country. Everybody else ran to the “bush”
(forest areas) for safety. There, they erected
makeshift huts out of sticks and thatch.
Date posted:Mar 11, 2004
|
|
|
My name is Margarita Virginia Sausa Arili. I am
18 years old and I come from a very poor family.
I have six siblings. My mother is a Quechua from
Potosi.
Date posted:Mar 11, 2004
|
|
|
Recent reports indicate that 104 million primary-
school-aged children around the world are not
attending school, but the 2004 State of the
World’s Children report by UNICEF puts the
number at 121 million. A majority—65 million of
these children—are girls.
Date posted:Mar 11, 2004
|
|
|
The General Board of Global Ministries and the
people of The United Methodist Church join you
and the Iglesia Evangélica Española in grieving
for those killed and wounded in the bombings in
Madrid today.
Date posted:Mar 11, 2004
|
|
|
La Junta General de Ministerios Globales y el
pueblo de la Iglesia Metodista Unida se unen a
usted y a la Iglesia Evangé lica Española en el
dolor por todos los muertos y heridos en las
explosiones hoy en Madrid.
Date posted:Mar 11, 2004
|
|
|
Haiti Emergency: UMCOR's Response
The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR)
assists several projects in Haiti, including a
hot lunch program for Methodist schools, Grace
Children's Hospital, and community agricultural
programs. UMCOR is also supporting the rapid
response fund of Action by Churches Together,
which will help assure immediate medical
assistance, transport and emergency
accommodation.
Date posted:Mar 10, 2004
|
|
|
In 1991, a few years after I’d started working
at Patan Hospital, I met the most memorable
patient of my medical career. Most of my
patients have been Nepali, and quite a few of
them have remarkable stories themselves. James
was an Australian medical student who’d come to
Kathmandu to do his senior year 2-month elective
placement.
Date posted:Mar 09, 2004
|
|
|
UMCOR Hotline, March 9, 2004
"I thank you really" conveyed the emotions of
Iran quake victim Asal Habib after she received
emergency supplies. UMCOR is providing a grant
for Haiti to the rapid response fund of Action by
Churches Together (ACT). High winds did damage in
Oklahoma and Texas late last week. Renovations
have begun at Ganta Hospital in Liberia.
Date posted:Mar 09, 2004
|
|
|
A Crack in the Repression: Afghan Women Register to Vote, Signal Optimism
There is a crack in the repression of Afghan
women. In late February nearly 500 women in Kabul
marched over a mile to a voter registration
center to prove it. Considering that under
Taliban rule women could not leave the house
unless accompanied by a male relative, the march
was a powerful metaphor for a future Afghanistan.
The new Afghan constitution guarantees that women
can vote, enroll in vocational training programs,
and find gainful employment.
Date posted:Mar 08, 2004
|
|
|
Some Cambodian children must literally pick
their way through trash in order to survive.
Working through a local organization, United
Methodists are reaching out to the children who
comb the Phnom Penh City garbage dump. The
children and their parents eke out a stingy
living there, earning 50 cents to a dollar a day.
Date posted:Mar 04, 2004
|
|
|
Involving their three young daughters in
community outreach has become part of a mission
strategy for an African couple based in Cambodia.
Esther Gitobu and Nicholas Kithinji,
missionaries assigned by the United Methodist
General Board of Global Ministries, want their
children - as well as other young people - to be
exposed to the lives of others "so they can
better appreciate the good life our God has
granted them in their comfortable homes."
Date posted:Mar 04, 2004
|
|
|
My position as the Reading Program Specialist in
the section of Christian Social Responsibility-
Women’s' Division has highlighted the importance
of sisterhood on a daily basis. The Women’s
Division strongly advocates for the rights and
well-being of women and children, and this has
inspired me to reach out into my community. In
2002, I became a mentor in the Daughters of The
Blue Nile Rites of Passage, a program for 12 to
16 year old girls on the threshold of womanhood.
Date posted:Mar 03, 2004
|
|
|
“Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from
the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the
wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted
by the devil…” (Luke 4:1-2)
Date posted:Mar 03, 2004
|
|
|
The top mission executive of The United
Methodist Church today called upon the United
States and other countries to address the
poverty and other causes that keep Haiti in
a “vicious cycle of poverty.”
Date posted:Mar 03, 2004
|
|
|
Bishop Heinrich Bolleter of Zurich, Switzerland
will represent the United Methodist Church and
convey the condolences of the General Board of
Global Ministries at the funeral of Macedonian
President Boris Trajkovski.
The service was expected to be in Skopje,
Macedonia, on either March 4 or 5. President
Trajkovski, a United Methodist layman, was
killed along with seven colleagues in a plane
crash in southern Bosnia on February 26.
Date posted:Mar 03, 2004
|
|
|
UMCOR Hotline, March 2, 2004
As Jean-Bertrand Aristide fled Haiti for a second
exile, some Haitians in Port-au-Prince emerged
from their homes and returned to work and school.
UMCOR and GBGM collaborate in a landmine removal
program in Mozambique, where mines have caused an
estimated 10,000 casualties since 1992.
Date posted:Mar 02, 2004
|
|
|
How powerful -- a prayer circle around the world
with prayers swirling to the heavens like
millions of butterflies in motion. To experience
this, all are invited to World Day of Prayer, as
always, this year, held on the first Friday of
March.
Date posted:Mar 01, 2004
|
