United Methodists and other concerned people outside the church have contributed $4 million to the denomination's relief efforts for the people of Kosovo.

But the denomination's Council of Bishops is hoping its members can do more. Working with the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), its executive committee adopted a statement, issued July 15, entitled "A Call to United Methodists for Continued Support for the People of Kosovo." The statement seeks to elicit "a faithful response to reach out to our suffering neighbors." President of the committee is Bishop Robert C. Morgan of Louisville, Ky.

Many of the Kosovar refugees are returning to villages that were nearly destroyed. A survey released in early July by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees revealed that two-thirds of the homes in many villages are uninhabitable, mostly because of burning by Serbs. Schools also have been destroyed and water systems have been polluted. "In addition to rebuilding homes, schools and the infrastructure, there is a great need for emotional, psychological and spiritual healing from the trauma of war," the bishops pointed out. "Children and youth need programs such as the youth houses established by the United Methodist Committee on Relief in Bosnia and in the Republics of Georgia and Armenia.

"Women and their families need counseling to deal with the personal trauma and social stigma of rape. People of all ages will have to cope with the loss of loved ones. In a country where ethnic tensions remain high, there is urgent need for ministries promoting tolerance, understanding and reconciliation."

Bishop Marshall L. (Jack) Meadors Jr. of the church's Mississippi Area has been leading the Council of Bishops on this issue. Meadors was part of the religious delegation assembled by the Rev. Jesse Jackson that convinced Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milosevic to release three captive U.S. soldiers.

After that visit, Meadors said, "I felt a need and I guess maybe a call to see the war from the other side." At the end of June, he visited refugee camps in Albania and spent two days in Kosovo.

United Methodists have "five primary ways" to continue to respond to the people of Kosovo, according to the bishops. Those ways include:

Prayer.

Raising concerns and awareness in worship and in times of fellowship and education.

Financial gifts to these Advance Numbers: Kosovo Emergency Relief, No. 982450-8; Mother/Child Survival, No. 982645-1, Kosovo; Youth House, No. 982844-8, Kosovo.

Material resources, such as hygiene, school and layette kits and medicine boxes.

Volunteers in Mission teams.

UMCOR has been working in Kosovo and in the refugee camps through Action by Churches Together (ACT), and the relief agency recently opened an office in Pristina, funded by a $100,000 grant from the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries. Angela Oliver, a United Methodist from the Atlanta area who has worked for UMCOR in Bosnia, is running the office.

Sam Dixon, the executive in charge of UMCOR's NGO (nongovernmental organizations) office in Washington, said the denomination's work there will involve shelter rehabilitation, community development and trauma counseling. Christian Aid -- an organization supported by 42 denominations including the British Methodist Church is providing an initial $1 million for UMCOR's shelter project. At first, the shelter rehabilitation work in the Orahova area and in two villages in Mitrovica will be done by families and local hired workers. Dixon expects to place volunteer work teams eventually, but he said the current situation in Kosovo is not stable enough for volunteers.

A few small United Methodist congregations had been established in Kosovo before the war. United Methodist Bishop Heinrich Bolleter of Zurich, Switzerland, has reported that Mehmet Sopaj the lay pastor for those congregations has safely returned home. Sopaj is trying to make two habitable rooms out of the remnants of the parsonage for his family, the bishop said, and has learned that his daughter, who had remained behind, is safe. Donations can be made to UMCOR through local churches or directly to 475 Riverside Dr., Room 330, New York, NY 10115. More information is available by calling the agency's hotline at (800) 841-1235.

Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency of the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville, Tenn., New York, and Washington.

| Top | GBGM News | GBGM | Kosovo |