The Church in Mission:A Sign of God's Presence on EarthRecent Data on GBGM Programs of the General Board of Global MinistriesDr. Randolph Nugent, General SecretaryOctober 18, 1999Church Growth and Evangelization Church Growth and Evangelization At no time in the last half century has the good news been proclaimed and received in so many new places around the globe. This decade of unprecedented growth and dramatically increased mission involvement by local churches, districts, and conferences could be called the "mission decade" for the United Methodist Church as we return to places that had been closed to us under governments that banned religion and go to places where our church has not been before, or where churches are struggling to survive as places of evangelistic witness. The story of the church in mission has been one of willingness to venture into every corner of this planet in God's name for God's purposes. We have challenged United Methodists to respond to the call to mission and they have met that challenge in committed, faithful ways. The Board of Global Ministries has attempted to--and is succeeding in articulating for United Methodists a vision of mission and ministry that is helping them to fulfill a burning desire for direct involvement in ministry throughout the world. In Russia, the General Board of Global Ministries' Millennium Fund has made possible the purchase of a facility in Moscow to house the Russian United Methodist Theological Seminary, Episcopal Offices and conference program activities. We have established a new district has been in Ukraine and two missionaries, both graduates of the Russian United Methodist Theological Seminary, now are proclaiming the good news in Kazakhstan and Kaliningrad. In Lithuania, we have successfully re-registered the United Methodist Church and reestablished six congregations. Through a Millennium Fund partnership, the Kaunas mother church building has been restored, and three other properties or sites for new churches have been purchased. The assignment of a missionary couple to establish the first United Methodist in the capital of Vilnius has been assigned and, in cooperation with the Polish Annual Conference, a missionary has been assigned to begin Polish language services in Vilnius. In Estonia, we are nearing completion of the Tallinn Church Building (Baltic Mission Center), in cooperation with Millennium Fund partners in conferences and churches, and have completed work on the Parnu Agape congregation life and children/youth services. In Latvia, we have established a district under the Northern European Central Conference. In Czechoslovakia, we have completed construction of the Pilsen Lochotin Church Building, the first new church in the Czech Annual Conference, with Millennium Fund partnerships. In Hungary, another Millennium Fund project, the Budapest Church Center Conference headquarters, church and program facilities, has been completed. In Bulgaria, we have expanded our ministry into several new communities and have completed work on the Varna Church Building with Millennium Fund grants. In Germany, through the Millennium Fund, we have provided support for a Ghanaian Ministry in Hamburg, in cooperation with the Germany Conference, completed two church buildings in the former East Germany, and cooperated with the Germany Conference to complete construction on the new Altsdorf Church building. |
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Proclaiming the Gospel in Africa Our response to God's call to mission also has led us to Africa, the area of most rapid growth for the United Methodist Church. In the East Africa Annual Conference, we have established the Rwanda District, representing the first United Methodist presence in the country and consisting of several new congregations and schools. In Uganda, we are nearing success in our attempts to gain official recognition of the Uganda District of the United Methodist Church, and in Kenya, United Methodist congregations are growing rapidly. In Senegal, we are establishing worshiping United Methodist communities committed to proclaiming the Gospel through community outreach in the form of prison ministries, economic development, and social services ministries. We will also be purchasing property for the first United Methodist church building in this new mission area. In Mozambique, we are establishing annual conference partnerships to support pastoral training and salaries, and providing leadership development opportunities for conference evangelists opening up work in new areas. Since the conclusion of the civil war, the church has moved into provinces that United Methodist mission had never reached. In South Africa, we are providing support for new districts churches and schools established by Zimbabwe and Mozambique Annual Conferences. In Malawi, we are providing support for Zimbabwe Annual Conference mission work, including schools and churches. Mission Involvement in Latin America, the Caribbean, and Asia Our mission work in Latin America and the Caribbean, has resulted in the establishing of United Methodist churches in Honduras, in cooperation with CIEMAL and the Honduras District of the Methodist Church of the Caribbean and the Americas. Vital congregations and significant outreach ministries have been established in the past three years with the presence of United Methodist mission personnel. In Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Colombia, we are developing new congregations and training leadership in cooperation with CIEMAL In Cambodia, we have established more than 110 churches in three years, making United Methodism the largest Protestant Christian body in the country. We also have developed Christian education curriculum and worship materials for Methodist congregations in the Khmer language and are training young pastors, many of them new Christians, to engage in ministry. In Nepal, we have assigned mission personnel to develop training opportunities for pastors and church leaders in emerging Christian congregations, and are exploring opportunities for new church development. In Manchuria, we are attempting to reestablish United Methodist Mission work closed during the communist period. In Mongolia, we are building relationships for new mission development. Other Ministries In other mission initiative, more than 500 congregations have responded enthusiastically to GBGM inquiries regarding their participation in direct involvement with prison populations through our prison ministry. As part of the Russia Initiative, more than 800 Russian visitors were hosted by United Methodist families that participated in the Summer 1999 Open House program sponsored by the Library of Congress. |
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Community and Institutional Ministries A major emphasis for Community Ministries has been to develop strategies for broadening its focus to include our global partners because of our recognition that the social issues, gender issues, family issues, and spiritual issues addressed by community ministries are not unique to the United States. The greatest strength of Community Ministries' lies in the breadth and scope of the ministries housed within the unit. Here is a sampling of some of those ministries. An important initiative of Community Ministries was a mission trip to Nicaragua with staff persons from Evangelization and Church Growth and Institutional Ministries. The experience awakened in us all a commitment to work with people outside the United States to find faith-based solutions to the spiritual, social, and economic ills that plague communities around the world. Out of that trip came several opportunities for consultation and collaboration with global partners who might benefit from the resources of Community Ministries. Strengthening Holy Boldness Urban Ministries has worked to strengthen the Holy Boldness strategy for empowering urban congregations and communities. Holy Boldness seeks to develop leadership modeled on Christ's response to persons in disenfranchised, densely populated and under-served environments. The East and West Ohio Conferences have completed Urban Academy training in Holy Boldness. An Urban Convocation held in November 1997 brought together 500 urban community leaders from around the globe to share their experiences in an urban ministry. At present, the Holy Boldness team is increasing one-on-one consultations with annual conferences to strengthen the effectiveness of the ministry by preparing more people for leadership positions in such ministries. Shalom Communities Exceed Goal General Conference 1996 mandated the creation of 300 Shalom sites by the year 2000. As of October 1999 we had created 313 Shalom communities, trained 41 annual conferences in Shalom principles, and established a Shalom presence in Zimbabwe and West Africa, where more than 250 pastors are preparing to start Shalom ministries. Women, Children and Family Ministries continues to provide caring, nurturing ministries and faithful witness to God's liberating and redeeming love for women, children and families facing compelling issues. Alcohol on College Campuses has been successfully using student leadership and influence in an attempt to eradicate the abuse of alcohol on college campuses. The ministry is being developed as a model for use across the United States and efforts are underway to enlist the collaboration of Wesley Foundations and other campus faith-based organizations to help guide young adults toward the spiritual connection. This, along with other ministries within the Community Ministries Unit works closely with a number of church-wide initiatives, including the Bishops' Initiative on Children and Poverty and Shared Mission Focus on Young People. Institutional Ministries has had an enormous impact on the lives of people throughout the world. More than two million persons have had their lives touched by the ministries and mission of our National Mission Institutions. So effective are the NMIs that three of them-The Bennett of London in Kentucky, New Hope Community Center in Georgia, and Bethlehem Community center in South Carolina-have been reopened so that they might once again provide ministry in communities crying out for spiritual, social, and economic enrichment. To assure a continuing pool of qualified, committed, faithful mission workers, Community Ministries established an Accelerated Disciplinary Program at Clark/Atlanta University to train recipients of the Bachelor or Masters degrees from the School of Religion for work in the mission field after graduation. The unit also trained approximately 500 United Methodist Women, held 18 skills building institutes, trained staff from 70 National Mission Institutions, facilitated training of 38 new executive directors of NMIs, and sponsored Youth Empowerment Strategies II Training for 14 NMIs, in which 24 youth participated as part of the leaders. In an important contribution to the economic development of the area, Institutional Ministries, established the first NMI Credit Union, in Chattanooga, TN, during the quadrennium. Mission Personnel The church in mission is a sign of God's presence in the world-- and a visible manifestation of United Methodists responding to God's call to mission is the more than one thousand missionaries sent forth by the General Board of Global Ministries to serve in ministries throughout the world. The story of our mission presence is an exciting one: We are sending missionaries to places where we have never been and we are sending them from places that in the past have only received missionaries. We are experiencing slight increases in giving for missionary support through the Advance and significant increases in both Church and Community Ministry and Global Mission partners. Most significantly, we are beginning to see the results of our education ministries throughout the world as more and more people from outside of the United States who were trained at Methodist schools begin to take their places in the mission leadership of the church. We now have 3,790 covenanting congregations, which represents just under 10% of all United States congregations. Following is a breakdown of mission personnel over the last decade: |
Year | Number | Commissioned |
1990 | 879 | 14 Missionaries 0 Deaconesses 15 US-2s 18 Mission Interns |
1991 | 1090 | 25 Missionaries 2 Deaconesses 17 US-2s |
1992 | 969 | 39 Missionaries 0 Deaconesses 31 US-2s 18 Mission Interns |
1993 | 1002 | 48 Missionaries 4 Deaconesses 40 US-2s [largest class] 5 National Plan [first class] |
1994 | 1005 | 40 Missionaries 1 Deaconesses 26 US-2s 16 Mission Interns |
1995 | 950 | 23 Missionaries 0 Deaconesses 28 US-2s |
1996 | 950 | 17 Missionaries 1 Deaconess 21 US-2s 12 Mission Interns |
1997 | 963 | 43 Missionaries 7 Deaconesses 18 US-2s |
1998 | 1047 | 17 Missionaries 6 Deaconesses 24 US-2s 15 Mission Interns 35 Korean Mission Pastors [first class] 2 Missioners of Hope [first class] |
1999 | 1763 | 21 Missionaries 8 Deaconesses 17 US-2s 9 National Plan [Total is now 20; Goal: 25] 29 Korean Mission Pastors 45 Missioners of Hope 38 Summer Interns [largest class] |
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Since 1991, we have deployed mission personnel to 11 additional countries, including Bulgaria, Bosnia/Herzegovina, Cambodia, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Papua New Guinea, Palestine, Russia, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia. Over this quadrennium we have held 18 commissioning services, in the United States and in Zambia. The board also makes grants to central conferences to allow them to recruit and employ Persons in Mission (PIMs) for mission and ministry in conferences outside of the United States. We currently support the ministries of 139 African PIMs, who serve in their home countries in Africa and 15 African International Persons in Mission(IPIMs), who serve outside of their home countries in own countries. In Latin America and the Caribbean we support the ministries of 113 PIMs and 13 IPIMs. In Europe, we support the ministries of 15 IPIMs, and in Asia/Pacific we support 38 PIMs and 1 IPIM.. New Mission Initiatives Here are some highlights of the past decade in mission: National Plan for Hispanic Ministriesmissionaries commissioned in 1993 First Korean American Mission Pastors commissioned in 1997 Global Mission Personnel Conference, 1997 to 1999, replaces the former Missionary Conference Conference Committees on Mission Personnel established in 1998 to enable Annual Conferences to participate in the identification of mission personnel for the denomination. First Missioners of Hope, including 41 from the continent of Africa, commissioned in the United States and Zambia in 1998 and 1999. Bishop W.T. Handy Jr. Young Adult Missioners developed in 1998 to enlist 800 young adults across the global church in mission. Deaconesses program revitalized in 1998. Prison Missioners, Mission Pastors, & Traveling Preachers developed in 1999. United Methodist Committee on
Relief
(UMCOR) There have been few, if any, disasters, natural or man-made, that our church has not in some way responded to through the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR). In almost any place where there is human suffering, UMCOR is there in the name of the Lord and the 9.5 million United Methodists around the world who give so generously of their time and money to help ease the pain of tragedy and to witness God's grace. UMCOR provides monetary gifts to supply refugee camps and to purchase necessary supplies, Medicine Boxes to for basic medical care in emergency situations; volunteer teams to help with rebuilding; and medical staff to train local health care workers and to provide primary care. UMCOR works independently and with ecumenical partners. When Hurricane Mitch struck, UMCOR responded in Honduras with support for 42 volunteer teams who have completed work in 15 villages. Fifteen more teams are scheduled through the end of the year and 43 are planned for the year 2000. In Nicaragua, UMCOR provided support for 17 volunteer teams, with another 10 scheduled through the end of 1999, and another 22 scheduled for the year 2000. Responding to Global Crises UMCOR is implementing a self-help reconstruction program of weather-proofing for war damaged homes before the onset of cold weather in Kosovo. Other UMCOR contribution include food, shelter, clothing, tool kits, a tractor repair program, and funds for the purchase of school equipment. In Rwanda, UMCOR, completed construction of 320 new mud-brick homes in a small refugee community in the northwest, and provided Medicine Boxes and Clinic Boxes containing basic medicine and pharmaceuticals to more than 100,000 people living near the unstable Rwanda-Congo border. In Liberia, more than 500,000 people living in Monrovia now have new or renovated latrines to use, thereby reducing the risk of cholera and other water-born diseases, and provided nearly 10,000 farmers with seeds, tools, and technical assistance. In Haiti, UMCOR reconstructed more than 800 meters of sea walls damaged in flooding from Hurricane Georges, and renovated eye care facilities so that doctors are able to perform four times more cataract and eye care surgeries per day. In 1999 alone, UMCOR has brought immeasurable caring and healing to the people of the newly-independent states of the former Soviet Union. In Armenia, 100,000 beneficiaries-- mostly women and children--received essential medicines and improved primary care, with a value of $6 million, through UMCOR; and more than 6,000 people have received nearly $2 million in loans through UMCOR's Micro lending in the last four years . In Azerbaijan, 120,000 women and children are receiving improved health care and medicines with a combined value of $8 million, and UMCOR is the only non-governmental organization assisting the country's large population of displaced Meskhetian Turks. In Georgia, UMCOR provided business grants for 10,000 small-scale farmers, health care and medicine for some 70,000 women and children, and two Youth Houses, which have served 17,000 youngsters over the past four years. UMCOR now has begun a new Youth House ministry in Tajikistan. There already are five UMCOR Youth Houses in Bosnia, two in Kosovo; and one under consideration for Rwanda. Medicine Boxes Since the inception of the United Methodist Church Medicine Box Program in August 1994, 1040 Medicine Boxes have been donated by United Methodist congregations. Of that number, 571 have been donated since October 1998 when this program was lifted up at the Annual Board meeting. To date, United Methodist Medicine Boxes have been distributed in 30 countries throughout the world. Global Networks and Ecumenical
Relations Ecumenical and global cooperation within the faith community is an opportunity for United Methodists to respond to God's call to mission in a broader sense by linking with God's people throughout the world to proclaim the word. The General Board of Global Ministries sponsored or participated in several events that brought together God's people from all corners of the world for vibrant witness. These are a few highlights of the work we are involved in through Global Networks and Ecumenical Relations. Four jurisdictional training events entitled Seeking Justice: The Emerging Role of the Church in Doing Justice in our Communities, were held in Los Angeles, Nashville, Oklahoma City, and Minneapolis/St. Paul in August and September 1999 with more than 200 participants. The fifth and final jurisdictional training event is scheduled for January 2000 in New York. More than 350 persons, including Christians (with United Methodist representation), Muslims, lay, clergy, youth and women, and members from civil society, including teachers, human rights organizers and trade union organizers attended met at the October 1999 National Consultation of the Congolese Churches and Civil Society. Participants discussed the recent peace agreement in the Democratic Republic of Congo and explored ways in which the faith community and civil society can assist with both the implementation of the peace agreement and the implementation of restorative justice in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The conference was funded with an emergency grant from UMCOR. More than 150 youths, including 50 international youths from 35 countries convened at GBGM's International Youth Conference for Mission, held in Manchester, New Hampshire to discuss issues of mission, faith, and justice. Forty Hispanic youths and young adults from the United States and Puerto Rico met during the second National Hispanic Consultation to organize a Hispanic Youth and Young Adult Movement aimed at lifting up their cultural tradition and incorporating it into their involvement with the church. A Youth Summit in Puerto Rico attracted more than 300 youths from local churches across Puerto Rico. Forty Methodist youths from 7 countries in Asia gathered at the fourth Asian Methodist Youth Conference to develop strategies for a Network of Asian Methodist Youth. In a successful effort to provide young people with new opportunities for mission service, Women's Division, Mission Volunteers, and the Youth and Young Adult Office of Mission Contexts and Relationships program areas collaborated on GBGM's Global Justice Volunteers ministry. Thirteen young adults, including, 2 international youths served in Brazil, the Philippines, Liberia, and Armenia as part of the ministry. GBGM also is supporting a ministry of the West Africa Central Conference Youth Committee The West Africa Young Women Empowerment Workshop, currently taking place in Nigeria, in which young women from the Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone annual conferences are being trained and empowered. The workshop is an important process in preparation for the Central Conference meeting in 2000. Office of Finance and Field Service The Office of Finance and Field Service is the fund-raising ministry of the General Board of Global Ministries program area in Evangelization and Church Growth. Its responsibility is to provide quality fund-raising campaigns to local churches, districts, annual conferences, and institutions of the church for a variety of financial needs, such as annual operating budgets, capital funds (including building and debt reduction), and special mission emphasis. Additional services include pre-campaign studies, major gift emphasis, for districts, conferences and institutions of the church, capital funds campaigns, church development/redevelopment, pensions, camping ministries, colleges, homes and hospitals, and other needs. During the present quadrennia, with the help of the United Methodist Finance and Field Service, more than 161 churches in all four jurisdictions, with memberships ranging from fifty-six to thirty-one hundred, have raised more than $52 million. Our campaigns are faith- based , with an emphasis on tithing and proportionate giving. Our goal is to challenge the financial stewardship responsibility and commitment of giving Christians. Here's what some of the churches who have used the board's Finance and Field Services ministries have to say:
With news stories detailing the plight of farm families -- loss of family farms, inadequate delivery of services, homelessness, substance abuse and related violence, and the impact of natural disasters--such as floods and lack of rain-the church has a responsibility to develop mission initiatives aimed at easing the suffering. In response, The General Board of Global Ministries has instituted Rural Chaplains, a new category of mission personnel, supported by, but not assigned by the board. The Rural Chaplaincy Program now has nearly 200 Certified Rural Chaplains, both lay and clergy persons. Formed in 1991 by concerned town and rural leaders in the church, the Rural Chaplains Association is an ecumenical organization. It is primarily United Methodists, but also has members from the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Roman Catholic, and Presbyterians churches. Some of the Rural Chaplains are from countries outside the USA. Among the newest members is Rev. Alexander Kominin, a rural physician in Kashari village, Russia, who has established the first rural Russian United Methodist Church Responding to Human Suffering Several focus training events (national and regional) have been held throughout the quadrennium to provide updated information to Rural Chaplains on the economic crisis now facing many farm families that the economic boom of the quadrennium has passed by, to alert them to potential acts of hate/violence, and to explore roles that Rural Chaplains can play as they stand with these besieged individuals, families, churches and communities. Lay Rural Chaplains have been in the forefront of ministries in the midst of hate and violence, designing and presenting seminars and other training events, locally and regionally, around this issue. A volunteer team of Rural Chaplains has done a work project in rural Russia each year for the past five years. Resource Book and Video Produced and Distributed Staff of the office of Town and Country Ministry has worked throughout the quadrennium with the Cooperative Parish Ministry movement. A Leadership Team on Cooperative Parish Ministry, composed of both rural and urban representatives, has developed resources to undergird the cooperative ministry movement. The office revised and distributed more than 100 copies of the Resource Notebook for Cooperative Parish Ministry, a tool for revitalizing congregations and transforming communities, and produced, in cooperation with the United Church of Christ, the video, Cooperative Parish Ministries: Transforming Congregations and Communities. The Leadership Team also has designed a quadrennial Consultation on Cooperative Parish Ministry, to be held November 18-21, 1999. The Theme of the consultation is Congregations Living the Gospel: Working Together, Making Disciples, Shaping Communities. To date, almost 500 persons, from rural and urban/suburban cooperatives, have registered to participate. Registrants are from several countries, including Australia, England, Ireland, the United States, Mozambique, and Mexico. With the guidance of the Holy Spirit, local churches are enhancing their witness to each other and to the world by celebrating the love of Christ through mutual cooperation in this ministry. Mission Evangelism One of the most significant ways in which we interpret and witness to our faith, indeed one of the most significant ways in which we evangelize, is through our song. We sing our faith, we sing our theology, and we proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ through our song. During the current quadrennium the Mission Evangelism office, under the direction of Associate General Secretary for Mission Evangelism Dr. S T Kimbrough, Jr., continued developing resources for interpreting the mission and evangelism of United Methodist Church in the light of the Bible, the Wesleyan tradition, and contemporary contexts. The Global Praise Program of the Mission Evangelism office has expanded the witness and mission of the GBGM during the quadrennium in numerous ways. The voices of peoples from diverse cultures proclaim the gospel on the following new Global Praise recordings: Christmas Around the World
(just released) The following Global Praise songbooks are new publications making possible new witness to their gospel in unique sounds and many tongues: Christmas Around the World Creating New United Methodist Hymnals During the quadrennium the Mission Evangelism office launched a new effort for enhancing the witness and worship of emerging churches by developing a program for the creation of United Methodist hymn books where they do not exist. In cooperation with indigenous leadership, hymn and worship books have been developed for the first time in Cambodia and Russia. In the year 2000 the first United Methodist hymnals will be printed in those two countries as a result of this mission evangelism effort. Interestingly, in Cambodia, for the first time in the history of Methodism a hymn book will be printed with more indigenous hymns of the faith in it than western hymns translated into the native language. By the end of this quadrennium 140 persons in all of the jurisdictions of North American United Methodism and one Central Conference area will have been trained to present the songs of the Global Praise 1 songbook and annual conferences will be offered Global Praise events to enhance the worship and witness of local churches. Youth Mission Chorale A major mission outreach of Mission Evangelism was the 1998 European tour of the Youth Mission Chorale, sponsored by the Mission Evangelism Office, Women's Division, and the Evangelization and Church Growth Program Area. Twenty-four United Methodist college students under the direction of Dr. S T Kimbrough, Jr. and the sponsorship of Women's Division Deputy General Secretary Joyce Sohl, visited newly emerging churches in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Russia and witnessed to the faith of Jesus Christ in word and in song with the music of global Methodism. New Publications New publications developed of the Mission Evangelism Office to enhance the witness and interpretation of the Good News of the gospel are: Who Are the People Called
Methodists? With accompanying Bible Studies, Russian Khmer edition (for Cambodia), and
English edition (forthcoming) Consultation on Orthodoxy and Methodism/Wesleyan Tradition In 1999 the Mission Evangelism Office sponsored a major consultation on Orthodox and Wesleyan Spirituality, which brought together scholars, clergy, and laity from the following spectrum of Orthodoxy and Methodism/Wesleyan tradition: Russian Orthodox Church, Greek Orthodox Church, Orthodox Church in America, Bulgarian Orthodox Church, United Methodist Church, British Methodist Church, Nazarene Church, The Methodist Church in Singapore. They convened at St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary for a week to explore the common ground of witness and service that followers of Jesus Christ in these two traditions share. Such conversation serves the witness and mission of the gospel in ways unexplored in the past and which move us toward the unity of the Spirit in Jesus Christ to which the Bible calls us. A volume is forthcoming under the title Orthodox and Wesleyan Spirituality. Dr. Kimbrough has completed a volume on new paradigms of witness and evangelization in the new millennium entitled Resistless Love: Christian Witness in the New Millennium. It will be available at the next board meeting. Office of Loan Administration The Office of Loan Administration's work this year has been accomplished by providing church extension financing assistance in several ways. Funds have been provided directly to United States -based United Methodist churches for building projects and to conferences and districts for the purchase of property for new church construction or to finance major renovation and expansion projects aimed at revitalizing existing churches. Together, the General Board of Global Ministries and the United Methodist Development Fund granted more than $20 million in loans in 1999 alone, thereby providing a means by which congregations, districts, and conferences can construct, expand, or renovate churches for ministry. The General Board of Global Ministries approved financing for Mt. Zion United Methodist Church in Leesburg, Virginia, the oldest continuing African-American Congregation in Virginia. The loan will help finance the renovation of the historic building and the construction of an addition. In another project, United Methodist Development Fund approved loans to refinance land purchases by the Peninsula District of the Virginia Conference and the Little Rock District of the Arkansas Conference. The land will be used to develop new congregations in those conferences. Other work with annual conferences included the Arkansas Area Strengthening the Black Church initiative. Requests for support to this initiative resulted in renovated church buildings for African-American United Methodist churches. This is only one aspect of the partnership between GBGM and the Arkansas Area's in strategies to provide training opportunities in leadership development, evangelization and outreach ministries to African-American churches. In past years, UMDF has partnered with the Demopolis District in Alabama and several districts in Louisiana Conference and in Northern Illinois Conference to accomplish several projects. The office received several requests in 1999 that required funding in excess of the UMDF's current limits. Requests from churches in the California-Nevada and New York Conferences were successfully funded using financing packages. Combining funds from GBGM or UMDF with funds from commercial lenders, conferences, or United Methodist Foundations made it possible for many churches to reach their goals. In addition GBGM support for many of these projects has gone beyond dollars for construction to include access to the staff and resources of Evangelization and Church Growth and Community Ministries Units. In July, the Loan Office instituted a new Fast Track loan process. Fast Track offers an easier two-page application form requiring the submission of only basic information for pre-approval of a loan request within 72 hours. This process was developed to encourage more United Methodist Churches to take advantage of the very affordable loan opportunities available though the UMDF and GBGM. Loan Totals January, 1999 To-Date Total UMDF Loans
41 Total UMDF Resets
01 Total Amount UMDF
Loans $19,195,115 Total Amount GBGM
Loans $1,069,000 Total All Loans $20,264,115 During the quadrennium, we began to place more emphasis on the Internet as a means of sharing information about our global mission work with people around the world. The web site continues to gain in popularity as a way of sharing information rapidly and globally. The web site, in addition to the many written and taped resources available through Communications has helped to spread the news of the church in mission far wider than was ever possible before the advent of this new technology. Electronic Media In the past year alone, GBGM has traveled to many locations in the United States and around the world for video documentation of our mission work. Places we have visited include Lithuania, Hungary, Estonia, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Bosnia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Kenya, Burundi, Angola, Honduras, and Cambodia. In the United States, we have traveled to Louisiana, Georgia, New Mexico, Alabama, Pennsylvania, California, Illinois, Maryland, New York, Arkansas, and Texas. Web Page The GBGM web site continues to grow in popularity. From mid-April to October 1999 the site averaged 4094 visits per day and 120,893 visits per month. The web site is an important tool for increasing our ability to share information globally. In September 1999 alone, people from 53 countries outside of the United States visited the web site some 10,000 times. The top 15 pages visited during that period, in order of popularity, were the GBGM home page, United Methodist Connection , UMCOR Hurricanes '99 , UMCOR Hotline, The Wesleys and Their Times , UMCOR Earthquake in Turkey, United Methodist Women Main Menu Page, Free Web Space, GBGM Main Menu Page, UMCOR Home Page, John Wesley: Holiness of Heart and Life, UMCOR Earth Quake in Taiwan , Download File Transfer Software for GBGM's free web space program, GBGM Global Search, United Methodist Women Home Page, HIV/AIDS Network , Church Web Page Helps, Mission Opportunities, AIDS in Africa, End Child Labor Campaign, GBGM Mission Index, Charles Wesley's Hymns , The Bible: The Book, Inspirational Poems, and Free Graphics from GBGM. During the Kosovo crisis, the top pages were the GBGM Home Page, UMCOR Kosovo, How You Can Help (Kosovo) , UMCOR, United Methodist Connections, UMCOR Hotline, The Medicine Box, GBGM Search, and The Wesleys and Their Times. Yahoo, a popular Internet search engine, listed UMCOR as an organization doing relief work. This resulted in visits by 258 people from Yahoo to the UMCOR Kosovo page on the first day of the listing. Our Spanish language UMCOR hotline began bringing increasing numbers of Spanish speaking people to the web site, which indicates a potential for more Spanish language materials Multilingual Resources In 1998, GBGM completed 116 multi-lingual projects, including books, brochures, letters, magazine articles, ads, posters, web page articles, and audio visual materials in Spanish, Korean, French, Swahili, and Portuguese. Promotion, Production and Design The vast majority of the 13 million print pieces distributed by the Service Center are produced by GBGM's promotion, production and design department. Nearly 800,000 people reached by ads placed in conference papers, the United Methodist Reporter, New World Outlook and the Interpreter. We produced 214 different displays for use at annual conferences, consultations and special events. We currently have 150 projects in some stage of production, and completed another 408 during the quadrennium. Mission Study material, previously produced by Friendship Press, now is produced by GBGM. Research Office Through its Research Office, the General Board of Global Ministries is helping to provide churches, districts and conferences, large and small, with the sophisticated, in-depth background and statistical resources necessary to facilitate their proclamation of the Gospel. Members of the United Methodist Church increasingly are relying on this research ministry for assistance in developing strategies for ministries that respond to the needs of their particular demographic areas. The Web site maintained by the Research Office allows churches to download statistical summaries. Since June 1999, some 2,000 hits on the web page have been recorded and 500 summaries have been downloaded. During this quadrennium, 124 individuals and churches have purchased detailed abstracts, called church books, containing statistical information about the makeup of areas in which their churches are located. Other church books have been produced for use by GBGM staffers in consultations and presentations and 25 community books have been prepared for individuals, churches, or districts to aid them in developing strategies for ministry. Customized Data packages The research staff also has produced dozens of statistical reports and maps useful for a wide variety of applications for church, District, Conference level usage, as well as for GBGM staffers. The office has completed or is currently conducting District Strategy Development Consultations in Arkansas, West Virginia, Massachusetts, Detroit, Kansas, Illinois, and North Georgia. Background Data for Mission Newsletter In addition to the resources offered through the web site, the office also mails 1088 Background Data for Mission Newsletters each month to all bishops, district superintendents, conference council directors, and other subscribers. The Research staff participated in seven conferences and gatherings around the country, representatives of the office available to do computer demonstrations and to distribute product samples. The 1996-2000 quadrennium has been one of change and transition for the Women's Division and United Methodist Women. A new governance structure for the Division was adopted, and a more streamlined appropriations process was implemented. The six-year Membership Campaign "Yes! Count Me In" was launched and plans for a new, more flexible structure for United Methodist Women went into effect on January 1, 1997. With these new changes came new opportunities for engaging in activities to fulfill the Purpose of United Methodist Women and the mission of the church in today's world. Other new program emphases for the quadrennium included a special mission education focus called, "Mission Today" , and a focus on strengthening the connectional links and increasing local and district involvement in mission through a "District Visitation Program". Two special quadrennial events were planned and implemented by the Women's Division that involved participation of United Methodist Women at every level of the organization. They were the 1998 Assembly which brought nearly 10,000 women to Orlando, FL to "Make Plain the Vision" for women, children and youth. In August 1999 the National Seminar, "What Does God Require", was held in Nashville, TN. It focused on the Biblical mandate for social action and an understanding of God's will for our lives as faithful followers of Jesus Christ in local and global communities. United Methodist Women across the country also celebrated the Silver Anniversary of United Methodist Women in 1997 with the theme, "Mission Alive @ 25", and the 30th Anniversary of Response Magazine (1969-1999) Ministries with Women, Children and Youth In this quadrennium, a significant step was taken by establishing two new committees of the Women's Division: the Committee on International Ministries with Women, Children and Youth, and the Committee on National Ministries with Women, Children and Youth. These committees now determine how and what programs and projects, lodged in the former National and World Divisions since 1964, will be supported. The committees also help set program direction and policies for these ministries. The International Committee is charged with programs and ministries outside the United States. Priority issues have been: leadership education and training; health; violence; women's participation in the church; economic development; poverty; unemployment and education; refugees, migrants and displaced people. Emergency grants and scholarship assistance are also made by the committee. The primary work of the Committee on National Ministries with Women, Children andYouth is with the National Mission Institutions. There are about 100 community centers, women's residences, mission colleges and residential child care centers. This committee helps to determine policies and makes appropriations grants. A major focus in 1997 was on the impact of welfare reform on persons served by these institutions. The committee also relates to the work of Deaconesses, Church and Community Workers and U.S.-2's. The eight-year emphasis on Mission Today was launched as Jurisdiction Core Planning Group teams led the first eight conference events to educate and mobilize members of United Methodist Women for mission. The events were held in New Mexico, North Central New York, Northern Illinois, Southern Illinois, Southern New Jersey, Troy and Wisconsin conferences. Women learned about the biblical basis for mission and the history of mission work. The remaining 58 conferences will hold Mission Today events during the quadrennium Training for the District Visitation program began in the fall of 1997. This program is designed to help strengthen links with local and district units. The purpose is to increase members' understanding and involvement in mission through United Methodist Women. It is hoped that by the end of the quadrennium, ninety-five percent of all local units will have been visited by members of the district and/or conference mission teams. Spiritual Growth and Theological Development. The spiritual growth studies on John Wesley: Holiness of Heart and Life, Joshua and the Promised Land, and The Bible: The Book That bridges the Millennium Part I and II energized United Methodist Women and the whole church and provided opportunities for study, reflection, and growth in the Christian faith. Five regional Schools of Christian Mission held across the United States train leadership of the conferences through in-depth study and focus groups annually. During this quadrennium, special attention has been given to training leaders of youth in conference schools, and Hispanic and Korean-American United Methodist Women. Transmitting information by means of electronic media, especially by the Internet, has grown rapidly during the past few years. The Women's Division made its debut on the Internet in January 1997 and has continued to develop attractive and informative "web pages" to educate, inform and expand the knowledge of United Methodist Women about mission opportunities, programs, and resources. The spiritual growth studies and resources such as the John Wesley study, Joshua and the Promise Land, The Bible, Part 1 and 2, selected articles from Response, and a series of maps indicating the distribution of undesignated mission dollars around the globe are among the many resources on the Division's web site. United Methodist Women are also dialoguing with one another and sharing information via the Listserv chat group available through the Division. Social Justice Throughout the quadrennium the Women's Division continued to advocate for the oppressed and dispossessed, helping United Methodist Women members confront new and old issues. In 1997 the Women's Division endorsed the U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines. During the last four years the Division supported efforts to address the AIDS crisis in the African American community, and engaged in a continuing campaign to track and monitor hate crime activity. The Women's Division endorsed and joined the campaign steering committee of Jubilee 2000/USA, a worldwide movement that seeks to cancel the international debt of the poorest countries by the new millennium. Other economic justice involvements included the Rugmark, the Foul Ball and the Strawberry Campaigns, designed to address exploitative child labor practices in rug and soccer ball production and our historic commitment to the improvement of farm workers. United Methodist Women personally wrote 10,000 letters urging members of Congress to ratify the Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (C.E.D.A.W.). The Nashville Declaration on Older Women's Rights was drafted by United Methodist Women and other women's organizations as part of United Nations preparatory meeting. The Women's Division contributed planning expertise and financing for a special interfaith environmental justice training held at the Mississippi Rural Center, a United Methodist national mission institution. The Division also began to model environmental responsibility with respect to dioxin contamination by committing to use chlorine-free paper and products. Through the new membership campaign, United Methodist Women are finding new ways of organizing, working and meeting. We celebrate the formation of 24 district units, four college and/or university units, and three teen units. There is at least one unit that meets in cyberspace. This on-line unit is finding the Internet a viable medium for communicating and sharing information and resources. The total new units organized since the campaign was launched is now 688. During the quadrennium, the Women's Division passed recommendations for United Methodist Women's programs for young women, which will incorporate information, education, training, leadership development, spiritual growth opportunities and hands-on-mission experiences, and resources and training materials. During this quadrennium, the appropriations process has been lodged entirely in the Women's Division. The process is overseen by the Executive Committee, and is based on long-standing policies of the Women's Division. The process begins in the Spring when the Executive Committee approves the general distribution of undesignated funds. At the Fall meeting of the Executive Committee, the actual line item budgets for the Division are reviewed and adjusted. The final budget is then voted on by the Women's Division Directors. There were two new special emphases for Supplementary Giving during this quadrennium. A Brighter Future for Children and Youth, and Faith Meets Life, lay training at Scarritt-Bennett Center.
See also:
"Suffering's Recognizable Face" by Bishop Dan Solomon, Chair of the Board, GBGM |