News media contact: Linda Bloom · (212) 870-3803 · New York

NEW YORK (UMNS) - A July 16 commissioning service in Zambia for 60 "missioners of hope" will be a first for the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries.

The service will be the first of its type held outside the United States and will mark the largest number of African men and women ever commissioned into ministry at one time by United Methodists, according to board officials.

Representing 10 annual conferences and autonomous churches in Africa and the United States, the new missionaries will be assigned exclusively to ministries for children. All but five of the 60 are African.

United Methodist Bishop Kainda Katembo of the Southern Congo Area is co-host of the ceremony, which will include a procession to the commissioning site at Mindolo Ecumenical Foundation in Kitwe, performances by African choirs and a special presentation for the children. Bishop John Hopkins of the Minnesota Area will lead the worship.

Assigning such a large number of mission personnel to Africa reflects a growing trend: countries that historically have only received missionaries are now sending their own missionaries abroad. For example, missionaries commissioned by the board in April included people from Burundi, Kenya, Korea, Norway, Malaysia, Zimbabwe, Bolivia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The missioners of hope program opens up a new age of mission, with "significant numbers of people originating from Africa, Latin America and Asia who will be critical to mission leadership and service," said the Rev. John McCullough, the board executive in charge of mission personnel. The program was a response to the United Methodist Council of Bishops' "Hope for the Children of Africa" appeal.

Candidates have been recruited through the board's partnerships with churches in Africa and conferences in the United States. A total of 100 eventually will be assigned to ministries for children in Africa.

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