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| The Crisis | Theological, Historical, Missional Mandate | Place of Children | Justice and Mercy | Historical Response | Mutuality in Ministry | Appeal Mandate | Goals | Strategies for Annual Conferences | Challenge and Opportunity |

------------------------------------------- The Council of Bishops of the UMC - 3715 Bytes


The Appeal Mandate and Authorization

In November 1997, the Council of Bishops voted to recommend a three-year Bishops' Appeal, "Hope for the Children of Africa" to provide relief, reconciliation, and rebuilding of the church, with specific attention to the physical, social, and spiritual well-being of children suffering the devastating effects of civil wars.

The church wide appeal received approval from the General Council on Finance and Administration at its December 1997 meeting.

A joint task force was appointed with the directive that it prepare a plan for a Bishops' Appeal, "Hope for the Children of Africa," that would engage the entire family of the Church in restoring war-ravaged church buildings and the life-changing ministries they once housed.

This document is the result of the work of that task force and is being sent to the Church with the authorization of the Council of Bishops. The task force continues to develop resources to undergird the appeal and to support the goals articulated by the Council of Bishops.

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Where there is faith there is hope, as witnessed by the incredible capacity of the human spirit to transcend division and despair. We are bound in the unity of the Spirit with others who belong to Christ. We draw strength and an even greater ability to share from that companionship of sisters and brothers.

Our goals for the "Hope for the Children of Africa" appeal are to rebuild United Methodist churches, which are committed to announcing and enacting hope for the children of Africa, restore ministries, and plan new ones that address the traumas of war, advance peace and reconciliation, and bring all God's people back into the caring community of the church.

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Children play around a tree. Kinshasha, Democratic Republic of Congo.

We are called to witness hope for the children of Africa by celebrating the spiritual freedom that allows us to worship and to preach the gospel of reconciliation, forgiveness, and love. Our witness for children assures that they may grow to continue the church's partnership in God's mission.

We are called to stand in steadfast, vigorous solidarity with the people called Methodist in Africa as we take our Christian witness for justice, compassion, and mercy to the cities, the towns, the villages, and the corridors of power. In all of these places our proclamation must be heard by the aggressors, the politicians, and the armies: These victims--children and adult alike--are God's people and their care is in our hands.



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for Annual Conferences and Timelines

The successful completion of our work depends on the full support of each annual conference. As the appeal proceeds strategies for the conferences will be fully outlined. The executive committee of the council has asked each appointed bishop to designate a committee of the annual or central conference with authorization for that committee to work on generating support for the duration of the appeal.

The three-year Bishops' Appeal begins with the 1998 Lenten season of sacrifice, reflection, and celebration and ends at General Conference 2000. The Bishops have asked each congregation to participate in the appeal by taking a special Lenten offering to help launch the church's response. Another church wide offering will be requested during Advent 1998. A detailed time line for events, programs, and projects to undergird the appeal will be provided.

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the Opportunity for United Methodists Today

Through the Church we proclaim the good news by seeking justice, relief, and the restoration of life in wholeness and abundance for all God's children. Just a year after the Bishops of the United Methodist Church launched the Children and Poverty Initiative, our church's celebration of mission in Kansas City, "Global Gathering III" followed up with the question, "Whose Child is This?" The resounding answer from the thousands of people assembled from all corners of the world was, "Our child!"

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Children participate in a church service.

Our witness in these chaotic times for so many nations of sub-Saharan Africa acknowledges and affirms the connection between spiritual issues and everyday economic issues and acknowledges and affirms the need to rebuild the churches and institutions and their ministries.



  • Spiritual ministries: The church is the people of God called to witness and to serve. Children are an integral part of the church and their spiritual development cannot be ignored. It is through restoration of church facilities and spiritual ministries that we provide a framework within which we can equip children to respond to God's call. Resources will include Bible study programs and materials for children, faith enrichment resources, peace education, alleviation of ethnic tensions, conflict resolution, children's books, and special programs for street children and children traumatized by war.
  • Education ministries: Education promotes empowerment and possibility and enables children to attain the knowledge they need to fulfill God's purpose in their lives. Resources under development include basic educational materials, literacy education materials, and basic educational supplies and equipment for war-torn institutions.
  • Healing ministries: Comprehensive community health care promotes physical well-being. Attention will be given to programs to reduce infant mortality through adequate nutrition, immunizations, safe drinking water, proper food handling, and AIDS education. Good health requires more than just attention to the absence of illness. We will work in consultation with the different communities to assure that facilities and programs are appropriate to answer the need for mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual health.
  • Special ministries: Children of war face special problems. Attention will be given to special programs to reintegrate child soldiers into their communities; encourage the return of young males and females who have left school because of war; minister to girls who have been especially victimized; and address the issue of land mines.

Explanatory materials designed to provoke thought, study, and a clear understanding of the crisis and the issues contributing to it, and the role of the church, will be developed and supplemented with mission study and action plans for congregations, conferences, church agencies, and the Council of Bishops. The materials will include those suitable for adult study and those designed specifically for children.

Over the next three years of this appeal much will depend on the enthusiastic participation of the global United Methodist family through prayers, study, labor, and financial support.

There is an urgency and enormity to this task of working as partners in mission, "guided by the vision of God's justice, mercy and peace, bearing witness to God who judges, supersedes and transcends all social institutions and ideologies, political and economic power structures." 5 We of the Church dare not turn away.

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NOTES

5 "Theology of Mission Statement," GBGM, 1986, p. 11.

All photos copyright © The General Board of Global Ministries, The United Methodist Church unless otherwise noted. GBGM is the official mission agency of The United Methodist Church.