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Kandis Samuels is part of the 2004-2006 US-2
Missionary Class. She serves
at Hampden Family Center and HWRMW in Baltimore,
MD
Date posted:Jan 31, 2005
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The social and economic problems plaguing the Native
American community have a disproportionate impact
on Native American women, who suffer higher poverty
rates and less access to education and health care
than other sectors of the population.
Date posted:Jan 31, 2005
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Donna Wheeler has a degree in elementary
education. She's written lesson plans on the
plant cycle and elementary math. Now, as a US-2
Missionary, Donna is writing lesson plans for
the SMART Body Program that is part of the
ministry of the Wilkinson Center in Dallas,
Texas. The SMART Body program is a collaboration
with Texas A&M University, which addresses
issues of nutrition, exercise and obesity
prevention. Donna also works with other after
school programs in the community who are part of
the SMART Body network.
Date posted:Jan 28, 2005
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UMCOR Receives $6 million for Tsunami Relief, but Need Continues
As Indonesian officials once again increased the
estimated death toll from the Dec. 26 tsunami,
United Methodists continued their efforts to
assist the survivors. By Jan. 25, the
denomination had raised $6 million for relief
work. The United Methodist Committee on Relief is
encouraging church members to continue making
cash donations and collecting health and school
kits and medicine boxes for shipment to South
Asia.
Date posted:Jan 27, 2005
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In the aftermath of the world's deadliest
natural disaster, complexities abound.
How will we help care for the injured and
orphaned? Assist in burying the dead? Bring food
and healing and hope to survivors in the 12
countries touching the Indian Ocean, where
nearly 300,000 people have died and millions
have lost so much?
Date posted:Jan 27, 2005
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Elizabeth Matthews is part of the 2004-2006 US-2
Missionary Class. She
serves at Crossroads Urban Center in Salt Lake
City, Utah.
Date posted:Jan 26, 2005
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Kyung Za Yim, president of the United Methodist
Women's Division, went to North Sumatra,
Indonesia,
January 12-16, with an eye for the concerns of
women
and children. She left the tsunami-devastated
area
knowing that women needed to be intentional in
ensuring relief and rebuilding efforts are
reaching other
women.
Date posted:Jan 26, 2005
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Young people across the United States will
continue a 12-year tradition of supporting local
hunger ministries on Super Bowl Sunday by
collecting $1 donations in large soup pots. This
year, many youth groups participating in the
Souper Bowl of Caring on Feb. 6 plan to help
victims of the South Asia tsunami as well.
Date posted:Jan 26, 2005
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UMCOR Hotline, January 25, 2005
UMCOR's Sudan team has secured its Office of
Foreign Assets Control license. UMCOR's
preliminary program design for Sri Lanka
emphasizes activity leading to replacement of
lost income. Indonesia's Methodist Church will
partner with UMCOR in the Banda Aceh and Meuleboh
regions. By the end of January, some 50,000
families in India will have received emergency
food and supplies.
Date posted:Jan 25, 2005
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Souper Bowl of Caring Sunday: UMCOR's Resource Page
"The Souper Bowl of Caring" is a great
opportunity for United Methodist congregations to
involve youth in mission and raise funds for
hunger projects. This year, many groups will
also collect money to provide aid for the tsunami
survivors in southern Asia.
Date posted:Jan 24, 2005
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United Methodists in Indiana and Missouri will be
raising money to reconstruct churches, community
centers and clinics in
Indonesia following the Dec. 26 tsunami.
Date posted:Jan 24, 2005
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Stories: Church and Community Groups Support UMCOR's Tsunami Response
Local church and community groups, large and
small, young and old, are supporting the United
Methodist Committee on Relief's response to the
Asian tsunami catastrophe. Stories about their
work have appeared in local newspapers and in
United Methodist publications. A selection of
these stories are included here.
Date posted:Jan 19, 2005
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Contributions to the United Methodist Committee
on Relief (UMCOR) for Asian tsunami relief
passed the $4 million mark during the Martin
Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend.
Date posted:Jan 19, 2005
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UMCOR Hotline, January 18, 2005
Extreme weather in the western United States has
left communities in California, Utah, Nevada, and
Arizona mopping up their flooded streets and
clearing mud and debris from damaged houses.
UMCOR will be in the Indian Ocean region long
after the media and dignitaries leave. UMCOR,
already providing aid to Sudanese families in
Chad refugee camps, will extend its services to
South Darfur during January.
Date posted:Jan 18, 2005
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The passage of each day leaves the Rev. Wesley
S.K. Daniel more concerned about missing family
members in Sri Lanka, where the Dec. 26 tsunami
killed thousands of people and wiped out
churches that Daniel's father had started.
"As the days keep going by, we are getting less
hopeful that we will hear from our missing
family members," said Daniel, Des Moines (Iowa)
District superintendent for The United Methodist
Church.
Date posted:Jan 18, 2005
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Randall Miller currently serves on the GBGM
Board of Directors and is an active layperson in
the California-Nevada Annual Conference. Randall
is writing a dissertation on Martin Luther King
Jr.’s understanding of Social Justice as the
final requirement for completing his PhD in
Social Ethics at the Graduate Theological Union.
Date posted:Jan 17, 2005
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A United Methodist team’s visit to the island of
Sumatra following the Dec. 26 tsunami has laid
the foundation for a future partnership with the
Gereja Methodist Indonesia (Methodist Church of
Indonesia).
Date posted:Jan 16, 2005
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Staying the Course in "Mega-Disaster" Rehabilitation
How well do relief operations follow through with
rehabilitation after "mega-disasters" such as the
earthquake and tsunamis that swept the Indian
Ocean on December 26? "In big, complex recoveries
from mega-disasters, UMCOR plans to be in place
for a long time-- for years," said the Rev.
Kristin Sachen of the United Methodist Committee
on Relief (UMCOR).
Date posted:Jan 14, 2005
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BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (UMNS) – As you drive along
Tenku Umar, the road to Loknga Beach, the piles of
debris grow bigger and higher. Uprooted palm trees
and planks of wood, ripped from houses, are
everywhere. Mattresses, tangled metal, plastic bottles,
woven baskets, pieces of clothing and an odd
assortment of household items are mired in water and
mud.
Date posted:Jan 14, 2005
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MEDAN, Indonesia (UMNS) – The tsunami disaster in
Indonesia has allowed United Methodists to reconnect
with their Methodist counterparts here.
Date posted:Jan 14, 2005
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MEDAN, Indonesia (UMNS) – On the streets of Medan
– where motorcycles, trucks, mini-buses and pedi-cabs
sluggishly push past a landscape of small shops and
meandering people – the effect of the Dec. 26 tsunami
that devastated the Aceh Province to the north is not
immediately apparent.
Date posted:Jan 14, 2005
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BIREUEN, Indonesia (UMNS) – When U.S. Secretary of
State Colin Powell visited Banda Aceh to survey
tsunami damage there, the world’s attention followed.
Date posted:Jan 14, 2005
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Before the earthquake and tsunami, a wave of poverty
had already swept through Indonesia and other Asian
as well as African countries, setting them up for the
devastating number of deaths, said a top United
Methodist executive traveling in Indonesia.
Date posted:Jan 14, 2005
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United Methodists in Africa are raising money
and praying for their brothers and sisters in
South Asia, who have suffered most of the deaths
and destruction from the earthquake and tsunami
in the Indian Ocean.
The Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami also struck
the northeast coast of Africa. According to
reports, one person was killed in Seychelles,
one in Kenya and 13 in Tanzania. Somalia, the
hardest-hit country in Africa, lost nearly 300
lives. In a dozen countries around the Indian
Ocean, about 150,000 people are believed dead
and many are still missing.
Date posted:Jan 13, 2005
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Human Relations Day calls the Church to
recognize the right of all God’s children to
reach their potential as human beings in
relationship with each other. On Sunday,
January 16, 2005 all United Methodist Churches
are encouraged to participate in this Special
Sunday, which occurs during Epiphany, the season
of God’s light manifesting in the world.
Date posted:Jan 12, 2005
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Horrified by what they saw and heard of the
destruction wrought by deadly tsunamis in South
Asia, Methodists across Europe have lined up to
help in whatever way they can.
A congregation in the north of England is
filling and shipping plastic crates
called "aquaboxes" that contain water
purification and filter equipment. An elderly
Irish Methodist couple donated their government
winter fuel subsidy to those they believe have
more need of the money.
Date posted:Jan 12, 2005
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The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR)
thanks the many donors to the Indian Ocean
tsunami relief fund and hopes the generosity
will continue.
Date posted:Jan 12, 2005
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How far will a dollar go? Not very when it comes
to acquiring high-tech gadgets and designer
clothing. But a dollar in the hands of
volunteers buying tennis shoes and school
supplies for jail-bound teenagers can literally
change lives.
In some cases, those dollars even save lives.
Marilyn Higgins of Milwaukee saw that firsthand
in the aftermath of a suicide at a local
elementary school.
Date posted:Jan 12, 2005
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Mary Sriyoyogaveni isn't ready to go home yet.
Sheltered in the Holy Trinity Methodist Church
in Kaddaively, she is still healing from the
lacerations she suffered when the Dec. 26
tsunami ripped through the coastal fishing
villages in this part of northern Sri Lanka, on
the Bay of Bengal.
Date posted:Jan 12, 2005
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United Methodist contributions to tsunami relief
in the Indian Ocean region reached $2 million
yesterday (January 10).
Date posted:Jan 11, 2005
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God calls on each of us to be in mission
service. Hearing and responding to that call
involves a process of discernment. Mission
Personnel of the General Board of Global
Ministries (GBGM) travel on many paths to
discernment and mission service.
From March 3-6, 2005 GBGM will host a Deaconess
Discernment/Reflection event at Gulfside
Assembly in Waveland, Miss. for women
considering the call to mission service in the
Deaconess Program.
Date posted:Jan 11, 2005
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UMCOR Hotline, January 11, 2005
In Sri Lanka this week UMCOR international
disaster response staff are to look at ways to
plug gaps in longer-term recovery plans even as
the acute phase of the response is only weeks
old. Across Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and parts of
West Virginia, floodwaters threaten along with
ice storms. UMCOR urges local church youth to
participate in the Souper Bowl of Caring.
Date posted:Jan 11, 2005
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UMCOR Sets Stage for Long-term Tsunami Recovery
In Sri Lanka this week UMCOR international
disaster response staff are to look at ways to
plug gaps in longer-term recovery plans even as
the acute phase of the response to the Asian
tsunami disaster is only weeks old. The Sri Lanka
conference is the third in a series of face-to-
face meetings that will provide the grist for
UMCOR's mid- and long-term plans as staff members
design future aspects of the church's response
after survivors' immediate emergency needs are
met.
Date posted:Jan 11, 2005
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The Rev. Sabah T. Dweh-Chenneh is an elder of
the Liberian Annual Conference of The United
Methodist Church who recently served as the
church’s
director of Youth and Young Adult Ministries. On
a recent visit to the General Board of Global
Ministries, he agreed to update our readers
concerning the challenges faced by The UMC in
Liberia in its efforts to expand its youth and
young adult program throughout the nation.
Date posted:Jan 10, 2005
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Last year, General Conference, the highest
legislative body of The United Methodist Church,
renewed five ethnic/language ministry plans,
continuing them through the next quadrennium.
These ministries, better known as the
US “national plans,” are supported by general
church funds and specifically charged with
making disciples for Jesus Christ among five
minority communities in the United States—Asian
Americans, Hispanics/Latinos, Korean Americans,
Native Americans, and African Americans.
Date posted:Jan 10, 2005
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Technical words are part of our vocabulary
today, but two decades ago most of us had no
idea we would rely so heavily on computer
technology.
Our “technological revolution” started with the
development of the personal computer about 20
years ago, when a group of twenty-somethings
envisioned that “one day there would be a
computer in every home.” Most people asked why
they would need personal computers at home. Keep
in mind that, at the time, those computers were
bulky and slow machines.
Date posted:Jan 10, 2005
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What happens when you give 16 kids between the
ages of 9 and 11 disposable cameras and ask them
to tell a photo story about their lives? The
next four pages are a result of a project funded
by New World Outlook in partnership with the
Friendly Center in Toledo, Ohio. Friendly
Center's executive director, David Morris, took
our challenge and worked with a group of
students to help them think about their families
and neighborhood and document some of the sights
that are part of their everyday lives.
Date posted:Jan 10, 2005
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This issue of New World Outlook considers some
United Methodist mission developments of 2004
and anticipates new ministries that are
developing in 2005. The 2004 General Conference
passed legislation and a number of resolutions
that will affect the work of the General Board
of Global Ministries and voted to continue
several programs into the next quadrennium.
Date posted:Jan 10, 2005
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Abdul Mahid stands looking at what is left of
his house. Unlike his neighbors, he is not
searching through the rubble - all that remains
of his home.
"More than 50 of my neighbors died," he says. He
is still dazed at having escaped the force of
the waves with his life.
Date posted:Jan 10, 2005
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Sudanese church leaders have expressed
happiness at the Comprehensive Peace Agreement
signed in Nairobi
on Sunday, but warn the actual work for holding
in check a
decades-long racial, religious and economic
conflict has just
begun.
Date posted:Jan 10, 2005
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UMCOR Depot Serves as Hub for Aid to Tsunami-stricken Areas
Thousands of health kits with soap, bandages and
other essentials are headed to Asia from the
United Methodist Committee on Relief. The kits
were assembled by volunteers from around the
United States working at UMCOR's Sager Brown
Depot in south Louisiana. The depot is a hub for
the flow of relief supplies from UMCOR to points
around the globe.
Date posted:Jan 09, 2005
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UMCOR Provides $750,000 in Relief to Tsunami Stricken Region
United Methodist Committee on Relief has provided
about $750,000 in relief to the tsunami stricken
Indian Ocean region. Other aid is in the
pipeline, said the Rev. Paul Dirdak, UMCOR's
chief executive.
Date posted:Jan 08, 2005
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Every morning, Rizwara Mohammed goes out into
the streets along Grant Road in the slums of
Bombay and returns with between 10-15 children
in tow. She takes them to Sharanam
(meaning ‘center’) for Street Children where she
works. At the center, the children get a
nutritious meal, engage in play activities, and
learn some skills.
Date posted:Jan 07, 2005
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UMCOR Hotline, January 7, 2005
The United Methodist Committee on Relief has
provided about $750,000 in relief to the tsunami
stricken Indian Ocean region. On December 26, a
powerful earthquake triggered tidal waves that
swept away the lives of at least 150,000 people
and the homes and livelihoods of millions more.
Date posted:Jan 07, 2005
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Top mission and communications leaders of The
United Methodist Church leave on January 10 to
convey Christian love and medicine to people
near the center of the earthquake that triggered
devastating tidal waves (tsunamis) December 26
in the Indian Ocean area.
“We are going primarily to Sumatra, a part of
Indonesia, which is the largest Muslim country
on earth, but where Methodists also died,” said
the Rev. R. Randy Day, chief executive of the
General Board of Global Ministries, an
international agency that includes the United
Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR).
Date posted:Jan 07, 2005
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Thank you for your letter expressing concern for
our people affected by the tsunami tidal waves
on 26 Dec. We are all right here but the
destruction to life and property these tidal
waves have caused is unimaginable.
Date posted:Jan 06, 2005
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Last Spring, New World Outlook received a letter
from Frances Yanus, who lives in Pitman, New
Jersey. “I want to be involved in the missionary
field, but I am in a limited environment in a
Methodist retirement home. I would like to see
practical suggestions of how to involve people
like me in the missionary endeavor, perhaps
through biographies of people of limited
financial means who have made a difference in
some missionary field.” Frances, these stories
are for you and many other faithful disciples
like you. Thank you for the suggestion.
Date posted:Jan 06, 2005
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Asian Tsunamis: Three UMCOR Church Bulletin Inserts
Three bulletin inserts. One from UMCOR: After
Walls of Water, Hope in Half a Dozen Countries
from UMCOR. Two from United Methodist
Communications: Hands Already at Work and Be the
Answer to Somebody's Prayer.
Date posted:Jan 06, 2005
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UMCOR to Consider Additional Services in Tsunami Disaster
"The Asian tsunami is a mega-emergency, and
recovery will take several years," the Rev.
Kristin L. Sachen, head of disaster response for
the United Methodist Committee on Relief, said
Wednesday. UMCOR is carefully assessing how it
will proceed in the future after the immediate
emergency needs are met.
Date posted:Jan 06, 2005
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Homeless and hungry, survivors of the tsunami
that struck Sri Lanka on Dec. 26 are struggling
to carry on with life in almost a thousand
temporary shelters around the island nation,
accompanied by faith communities providing food,
clothing, shelter and other support.
Date posted:Jan 06, 2005
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In a sea of despair, Navy Chaplain Lt. Gregory
J. McCrimmon sees himself as a lifeline
representing God's love.
Date posted:Jan 06, 2005
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Diane Ray is a missionary of the General Board
of Global Ministries of The United Methodist
Church assigned to Limuru, Kenya, where she
works as a GBGM missionary. Dr. Ronald R. Ray
is also a missionary of the General Board of
Global Ministries of The United Methodist Church
serving as a professor of systematic theology
and Christian ethics at St. Paul's United
Theological College an ecumenical college in
Limuru, Kenya.
Date posted:Jan 05, 2005
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Mary Randall Zigbuo is a missionary with the
General Board of Global Ministries of the United
Methodist Church assigned to Liberia. Mary is
assigned to the Ganta United Methodist Mission
Station as an administrative assistant, and is
also responsible for developing a continuing
education program for United Methodist Church
staff persons.
Date posted:Jan 05, 2005
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When nature has spent out its fury, are there words
good enough? Is there a Word from the Lord? Yes,
indeed, there is. The Word of God is good enough to
goad us into missional action. What then is mission in
the face of terror which is apocalyptic in proportion? It is
to stand up in solidarity and take our missional stance
as Children of God.
Date posted:Jan 05, 2005
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Sri Lanka Churches Worried about Looting in Tsunami-hit Areas
The National Christian Council of Sri Lanka on
Tuesday decried looting in areas devastated by
the tsunami that have led to the death of some
150,000 people in the Indian Ocean rim, a toll
still climbing.
Date posted:Jan 05, 2005
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The caucus representing Asian-American United
Methodists is asking church members
everywhere "to pray and act" in response to the
tsunami that struck countries along the rim of
the Indian Ocean.
"My wish is that all Asian-American United
Methodists would respond to the disaster and
give generously," said Inday Day, executive
director of the National Federation of Asian
American United Methodists. The Rev. Mark
Nakagawa is the organization's chairperson.
Date posted:Jan 05, 2005
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The United Methodist General Board of Global
Ministries is recruiting young adults for its
mission intern and US 2 programs in 2005.
Application deadline for both programs is Feb.
1. The age range is 20 to 30 years old.
Date posted:Jan 05, 2005
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This is the night of the star,
The night Wise Men from the East
Come to Bethlehem with gifts
To honor a child maybe two years old;
Precious gifts for a carpenter's home
With a Davidic pedigree
That will put no food on the table.
Date posted:Jan 05, 2005
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United Methodists Tap Ingenuity, Compassion to Raise Tsunami Relief Funds
He wasn't sure it would work, but the Rev. Dann
Houghton was willing to give it a try. As pastor
of two small churches in Oregon, Houghton decided
to hold a "Tsunami Sing" before the Jan. 2 Sunday
service to raise funds for UMCOR's response.
Date posted:Jan 04, 2005
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Claire Lovelace is a missionary of the General
Board of Global Ministries of The United
Methodist Church assigned through the 10-10-10
program to the Holston Annual Conference. Also a
Deaconess, Claire will also be serving as the
Coordinator of the Neighborhood Restorative
Justice Program, a pilot program that may be
initiated elsewhere in the conference.
Date posted:Jan 04, 2005
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UMCOR Hotline, January 4, 2005
United Methodists have pulled out the stops with
overwhelmingly generous donations to UMCOR's
urgent appeal to assist tens of thousands of
earthquake and tsunami survivors in South and
Southeast Asia. The Souper Bowl of Caring, a
youth-led international event that happens the
first weekend in February. Twenty families in
Santa Fe, a small fishing town at the west edge
of Havana, Cuba, have new housing and another 100
received upgraded water service as an UMCOR
project concluded in early December 2004.
Date posted:Jan 04, 2005
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The dioxin that we as United Methodist Women have
been speaking out about, through our Chlorine-Free
Campaign, has reached the global stage when news of
the alleged dioxin poisoning of the presidential
candidate of Ukraine was revealed in December of
2004.
Date posted:Jan 04, 2005
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Standing in the Rubble of Sri Lanka: Reflections of a United Methodist Missionary
Shortly after getting off the plane in Sri Lanka,
I walked through the rubble left behind by the
tsunami in Moratuwa, a town along the coast south
of the capital city of Colombo. Amidst the smell
of death and the architecture of rubble, I found
two photographs, faded and waterlogged, in old
frames, the glass moldy but unbroken, propped
against a dense wad of rubble.
Date posted:Jan 04, 2005
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Online Giving to UMCOR Boosts Aid for Asian Tsunami Relief
As the need for help increases following the
tragedy in South Asia and Africa, United
Methodist officials say that online giving is
providing a new way of responding quickly. By
Dec. 31, online donations through
MethodistRelief.org were $445,000. But that
figure is dwarfed by the tremendous need. Sachen
noted that one agency in India alone is
requesting $13 million in aid.
Date posted:Jan 02, 2005
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