See also: Mission Assignments Cover 12 Countries

KITWE, Zambia (UMNS) — In a moving service of prayer, praise and spiritual power, some 1,000 Christians in the family of Methodism came together in a congregation of the United Church of Zambia to commission the first wave of Missioners of Hope for the Children of Africa.

With the addition of 54 new mission staff, the event marked the first time the denomination has commissioned missionaries outside the United States.

The historic missionary training sessions and worship services were held at the Mindolo Ecumenical Foundation in the little southern African town of Kitwe, Zambia, some 200 miles north of Lusaka, the capital.

The event was also significant because most of the missionaries are African natives. African nations represented among the missionaries include Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Burundi, Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of South Africa, Ghana, Mozambique and Zambia.

During the commissioning service that concluded the missionaries’ June 8-July 15 training, the Rev. John McCullough, who heads the missionary unit for the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, said that their program kicks off a new mission emphasis for the 21st century.

This emphasis was initiated during the board's spring meeting with the commissioning of two missioners — Mary Gross Okai of the North Georgia Annual Conference, who was sent to Liberia, and Robert Emison of the Texas Annual Conference, assigned to Tanzania.

McCullough said the central theme during the discussions was "What can be done to bring together the diverse facets of this global church?"

"As we move to the year 2000, the question came up ‘How should we (United Methodists) approach mission in the 21st century?’ We began to seek the guidance of God’s Holy Spirit in the midst of this time of contemplation and prayer," he said. The crowd listened intently amid gurgling babies and whispering children.

"We asked United Methodists like you around the globe: ‘How can the General Board of Global Ministries best become organized as a global church?’ ‘How can we help all persons in the church to be full participants in ministry and mission?’ ‘How can we live out ways of bringing hope to all God’s children?’ "

A former missionary in Africa, McCullough said that Global Ministries directors and staff reminded each other that there was an ongoing initiative on children and poverty started by the Council of Bishops. With that reminder, African United Methodist bishops had a vision of ways that "everyday people" in the church could bring hope to African children who have an ongoing struggle with poverty.

"And so, the idea of Missioners of Hope for the Children of Africa was born," McCullough said over shouts of "Amen."

"This program calls for men and women across the continent (of Africa) and around the world to offer their lives in service to Christ on behalf of the children of this continent," he said. "... They have said, ‘Here I am; send me’ to care for these little ones, to love them, to nurture them, to strengthen the possibilities to reach their future."

Minnesota Area Bishop John Hopkins, no stranger to hands-on mission work in Africa, said the Zambia event had given him a new vision of mission.

"My vision . . . is that every United Methodist disciple of Jesus Christ will feel like they are a missioner. This week, I have been asking each Missioner of Hope: ‘Where are you from? What is your assignment? What will you be doing? Why are you called to do that?’

"I think that each United Methodist Christian needs to be asked the same thing," said the bishop, who was one of the original coordinators of the Indiana-based mission program called Operation Classroom, an outreach to West Africa.

Several missioners told the United Methodist Reporter that the program definitely was "their calling," because they could merge their professional and spiritual gifts to help children. One missioner, Dr. Ndabashika Benoit of Nigeria, will provide medical assistance to disabled children. With a short-term service of three to five years, the Missioners of Hope program allows him time for career and family life, he said.

"I am excited about my assignment to do United Methodist ministries of reconciliation with children who have survived being the child soldiers of the former war in Mozambique," he added.

Bishop Arthur Kulah of the Liberia Area, one of the senior episcopal leaders in Africa, shared his jubilation at the inauguration of Missioners of Hope.

"My hope is that these people have the blessings of the bishops of Africa and the General Board of Global Ministries," he said. "They should also realize that they are standing on the promises of our Lord and Savior Jesus, because Christ, at the end of his urban ministry, called his disciples and commissioned them to go out to preach, to teach and make disciples in all nations.

"My second hope is that the missioners can minister to our people who have been in need. (In Africa) our countries have been in turmoil. And whenever Africa is in turmoil, there are two groups of people that suffer, the women and the children. And so we have decided that first our emphasis is on the children."

Kulah explained that children in Africa have always been in need -- but not always for the things that most people elsewhere would think.

"(African children) are deprived of childhood: to be in families, to receive education; they need help to get what they need," the African bishop said, motioning toward the sky.

"We are looking forward to these people coming out to help the destitute and give them hope. We are the only ones who can do that!"

For more information on the Missioners of Hope program, call the mission personnel office of the Board of Global Ministries, (212) 870-3662.