 Global Ministries to Focus on Building Relationships at Board Meeting |
|||||||||||||||||
In addition to standard business meetings, the Global Ministries fall board meeting will include opportunities for worship, building new relationships, and actively exploring new ways to facilitate mission. For the first time, directors will meet at the agency's New York City offices. The semi-annual meeting is scheduled to take place October 10-13, 2011. Thomas Kemper, the mission agency's top executive, says, "Many of our headquarters staff operate 'behind the scenes.' This is an exciting opportunity for the staff to become acquainted with our committed board members and for the board to meet our passionate staff." Much of the meeting will be webcast, and visitors are invited to view sessions online at gbgm-umc.org/live. The meeting will kick off with this year's 10-Fold launch. 10-fold is a ten-day multimedia experience that spotlights ten powerful ways the church is making an impact worldwide--from planting churches to eliminating death and suffering from malaria. Online visitors are invited to participate with the board in an interactive live webcast about Imagine No Malaria at 12:30 p.m. ET. The fall board meeting will be a time of holy conferencing with a focus on partnership in mission around the world. Bishop Bruce Ough will lead the opening worship at 2:00 p.m. ET. Ough is the Episcopal leader of the West Ohio Annual Conference and also presides over the General Board of Global Ministries. "As we near the end of this quadrennium in the life of our church, connections and partnerships have never been more important." At 4:30 p.m. ET that afternoon, Dr. Dana Robert and David Scott from Boston University will address the board on the "World Growth of The United Methodist Church in Comparative Perspective." Kemper appreciates their participation and commitment to strengthening the denomination with their work. "They have the courage to ask challenging questions, and they remind us of the importance of active collaboration with professional and academic missiologists. It is in the spirit of collaboration that Global Ministries invited Dick McLain, the president of the Mission Society, to lead the directors in worship on October 11 at 8:30 a.m. According to Kemper, this is part of a series of intentional actions the organizations are taking to work with each other and potentially with other mission organizations. "We are getting to know one another as fellow mission executives, listening, learning, and sharing in the love of Christ." After worship, at 9:30 a.m. ET, Kemper's report as general secretary will focus on the role of the organization's new strategic plan in projecting the agency's work in the years immediately ahead. The title is "Expect Great Things in Mission." The evening of October 11 will be full of worshipful celebration as ten missionaries are commissioned for service around the world. The commissioning service is at 7:00 p.m. and will be held at First United Methodist Church in Flushing, a local church with a Korean congregation in Queens, New York. Rev. Eumin Kim and Prumeh Lee Kim are affiliated with the church and will be commissioned to serve as co-directors of The United Methodist Mission Center in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Jorge Dominguez, head of mission and evangelism for Global Ministries said, "We are excited that First United Methodist Church will host the commissioning service. It is even more meaningful because two of the new missionaries are connected to the church." The three-day board meeting will be a prayerful, diverse gathering that incorporates worship, discussion, collaboration, and academia as ways to approach mission. Says Bishop Ough, "as a global mission organization, it is our responsibility to explore opportunities to partner and share resources." He continued, "I am encouraged by the direction of our board and look forward to engaging in transformational dialogue."
Date posted: Oct 06, 2011 |
|||||||||||||||||
