 Laying-on of hands during service: from right to left–Bishop Katembo Kainda, Bishop Christopher Jokomo, Zacharias Uqueio (GBGM Director from Mozambique) and Rev. Kathleen Masters, GBGM missionary. Photo: Connie Nelson. |
KITWE, ZAMBIA (GBGM) --Two Africans--one Liberian and one Kenyan--were commissioned as mission personnel March 24, reflecting the increasing rise in numbers of persons from outside the U.S. being commissioned for service by the General Board of Global Ministries of The United Methodist Church.
Esther Gitobu of Kenya and the Rev. Levi Williams of Liberia were commissioned during a special service held in the chapel of Mindolo Ecumenical Foundation. Bishop Christopher Jokomo, episcopal leader of United Methodists in the Zimbabwe Area, presided during the service. He was assisted by the Rev. John L. McCullough, Associate General Secretary of the Mission Personnel Program Unit of the General Board of Global Ministries, the Rev. Dr. Allan Kirton, Director of the Mission Resource Center; and the Rev Laurence Konmla Bropleh, Regional Executive for Sub-Saharan Africa, Mission Personnel Program Unit. Zacharias Uqueio, a layman from Mozambique and director of the GBGM, also participated in the service.
The significance of the commissioning was underscored by Bishop Jokomo in his address to the new missionaries.
"We (in Africa) have received missionaries from South America, North America, Europe and other parts of the world. But now, you are among the first from this continent that we send out as missionaries. You go out to represent Jesus Christ as servants of the people," he said.
Asking the question, "What took us so long (to commission Africa missionaries)?" Bishop Jokomo concluded that, "Now, we celebrate this act of commissioning."
Ms. Gitobu, a native of Meru, Kenya, is assigned to the Southern Congo Annual Conference where she is responsible for the conference's conflict resolution and peacemaking program. Based in Kitwe, she previously was chief cashier for the Central Bank of Kenya. She is married to Nicholas Gitobu Kithinji, also a GBGM missionary, who serves as Area Financial Executive for the Southern Congo Annual Conference. They have two young daughters.
Rev. Williams, from Monrovia, West Africa, has a two-fold assignment: Dean of the Missioners of Hope training in Africa and Chaplain of the Mindolo Ecumenical Foundation.
Rev. Williams, a clergy member of the Liberia Annual Conference, is the former Dean and President of Gbanga School of Theology in Monrovia. He also served as a local church pastor, was director of the Liberia Annual Conference council on ministries and served as conference communication director.
He is married to Matilda Dehkontee Williams and has five children.
More than 1,800 persons serve throughout the world as mission personnel of the General Board of Global Ministries, the official mission agency of The United Methodist Church. For more information about mission service, contact the Board's Mission Personnel Program Unit, 212/870-3660; or visit the GBGM website at http://gbgm-umc.org.
* The Rev. Connie Nelson is Executive Secretary, Mission Personnel Program Unit, General Board of Global Ministries.