Rev. Gladman Kapfumvuti, United Methodist Volunteer in Mission for the Zimbabwe Annual Conference in Harare, ate his first banana split in Oklahoma City last month.

Rev. Kapfumvuti was among more than 150 church workers and volunteers gathered at Oklahoma City University for three days to celebrate the first International Conference on Sending and Hosting Volunteers, sponsored by the Mission Volunteers Program Area of the General Board of Global Ministries. Boyce Bowden, director of communications for the Oklahoma Annual Conference, described his friend's banana split experience as symbolic because the Volunteer in Mission program is "expanding in more ways than one."

The Mission Volunteers program is a new direction of the church, created after the 1996 General Conference restructuring. Currently, the work of the Mission Volunteers program entails four areas: strengthening the Annual Conference and jurisdictional United Methodist Volunteers in Mission networks; resourcing volunteers to respond to needs identified by mission partners; involving a broad spectrum of participants in the volunteer movement; and encouraging ecumenical links and programming.

For their part, the Zimbabwe Annual Conference plans to expand and explore ways of sending their own volunteers to other countries, Rev. Kapfumvuti reported. Many of the conference attendees representing 35 countries that have received mission teams now plan to send teams. Rev. Kapfumvuti said that mission groups "have been able to overcome parochialism and gain broader understanding of the Christian mission."

Workshop discussion topics included mission as partnership, not paternalism; and mission as a means of uniting people in Christ rather than dividing them over fringe issues. Christian unity, new friendships, and cultural exchange were the themes of this conference. Several hundred members of mission teams are sent and hosted around the world every year through the Volunteers in Mission program.

As for this year's conference, "Never before has there been such an inspiring gathering of United Methodist Volunteers in Mission from all over the world," said Rev. Robert Walton, Executive Staff of Mission Volunteers, General Board of Global Ministries. Because the participants were from so many parts of the world, the worship and praise in many languages, voices and styles, created a powerful reminder of the global nature of the church, said Rev. Walton.

Meeting people of faith from all over, "just can't help but expand your appreciation of our God, our faith, and God's people working around the world," said Rev. Darrel Cates, pastor of St. Mark's United Methodist Church in Oklahoma City.

Jeanie Blankenbaker, Executive Staff for the Mission Volunteers program, foresees even more personal growth for individuals and dynamism for the church and its partners around the world through this ministry. Jeanie said, "The United Methodist Volunteers in Mission program movement is one of the fastest growing participative movements in the life of the church. The General Board of Global Ministries, through Mission Volunteers, works toward advancing and enhancing this work. It's an exciting place to be!"