Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, "Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me."

—Mark 9:36-37

Their resilience is amazing. Across the continent of Africa, despite the many strides in commerce, education and community development, the scars of civil war, colonial rape-and-pillage, corrupt government, poverty and hunger mar the land.

Still, the children’s faces shine with hope, with promise, with goodness, with the faith that God has great plans for the sons and daughters of what is arguably still the most misunderstood continent in the modern world.

It is this hope, seen through the eyes of children, that has touched the bishops of The United Methodist Church - those born in Africa and those from other nations.

And it is with that hope that the bishops now challenge the entire denomination to put dollars, cents, prayers and human resources to work to make a difference in the future of African children, their families and their communities.

Local churches are asked to take up an offering in support of the appeal. The money will be used for such projects as:

• caring for children displaced and orphaned by war
• rebuilding schools and clinics destroyed by war
• restocking medical supplies in hospitals
• developing health and nutrition programs in hard-hit areas
• rebuilding churches and church-related community centers
• establishing new faith communities

Although the money will be used in part for United Methodist churches and facilities, planners emphasize that the aim of the appeal is to improve the quality of life for any African child, regardless of religious affiliation.

The Bishop's Appeal, "Hope for the Children of Africa," kicked off early in 1998 with a Lenten-season offering.

The goal is to raise $12 million dollars through local church and individual donors during the next three years.

In addition, church agencies are asked to lend their support by developing resources and assigning personnel to make Africa’s children a priority.

The denomination’s international mission arm, the General Board of Global Ministries, is now recruiting 100 "Missioners of Hope."

These short-term missionaries—who’ll serve for two to five years—are being recruited in cooperation with the Africa Central Conferences and other Methodist bodies on the continent.

The recruits will work with host churches in Africa to develop ministries and construct facilities to serve the needs of children.

And, rather than require the people come to them, the ministries will go directly to the people.

"Jesus went to the folks where they were," the Rev. Laurence Bropleh, of Global Ministries’ Mission Personnel unit, explained.

"We are going to send ‘Missioners of Hope’ into the camps, into those displaced centers to sleep beside the people, to worship where they worship, and to be with them in their communities," Bropleh added.

The first two missioners of hope, commissioned in October, will serve in Liberia and Tanzania.

On either side of the river, is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.

—Revelation 22:2

Not surprisingly, African bishops—at least two of them, recently exiled in the wake of civil wars at home—have been the driving force behind this appeal.

Bishop Joseph C. Humper of Sierra Leone returned home from the United States in July nearly a year after he fled for his life from his native country.

A military coup—since ousted—forced 700,000 people like Humper to leave their homes. Humper knows first-hand the terror of war and the destruction and despair it leaves in its wake.

Upon his return home, Humper listed as his top priority rallying members of the nation’s 258 churches to create ministries of healing for children and women survivors of military brutality.

A fact-finding team who went to Sierra Leone at Humper’s request found that, before they were overthrown, rebel forces had killed thousands of innocent children and adults during the seven-year conflict.

"Some children were recruited as soldiers, others died of starvation, malnutrition and disease," the report noted.

Churches, mission schools and clinics were destroyed.

Humper says churches—United Methodist and others—are seen as a lifeline for people in his war-pocked homeland. A strong faith has seen them through atrocities most Western United Methodists cannot imagine.

"In the midst of all this pain and anguish and trouble, when they hear the church bell, they go to give praise to God for everything," Humper said.

"They go from one suffering to another, and still they say, 'I believe God is there; I believe God will help us make it through,' " the bishop adds.

Bishop Forrest Stith, who heads the Global Ministries’ Africa Project, has spent time in the refugee camps that served Rwandans who fled to the Congo beginning in 1994 to escape civil war.

Stith’s stories tell of deprivation and desolation and families torn asunder. Rwandan refugees returned home, "trying to make a way out of no way," Stith recalls. Many found their homes and property destroyed, schools and churches stripped, family members murdered.

And still, they begin again to rebuild, rejuvenate and re-imagine a better future for themselves and their children. Makeshift schools operate as classrooms are being rebuilt. Faith communities worship in the open air. The horrors of war cannot destroy the power of hope, Stith says.

When the Apostle Paul undertook an "appeal" among the congregations of Gentiles on behalf of people living in poverty in Jerusalem, he underscored the importance of mutual responsibility.

"It is a question of a fair balance between your present abundance and their need," (2 Corinthians 8:13b-14a).

"Hope for the Children of Africa" invites United Methodists from every walk of life to help create a sense of Christian community and find common ground with people of Africa, even as we offer material assistance.

The appeal is not a call to the church for a temporary fix, the bishop’s said, but is a call to ongoing transformation. Such change starts with understanding that when some of God’s people hurt, we all hurt. It continues long after outward signs of relief, reconciliation and rebuilding occur.

• Pray for relief and reconciliation through restoration of United Methodist churches and ministries that serve the physical, social and spiritual needs of Africa's children.
• Inform your pastor, lay leader, mission chair, congregation and family about the appeal, and solicit their support.
• Give to the Bishops' Appeal: Hope for the Children of Africa, Advance #101000-4. (Please write the Advance number on checks submitted through your local church treasurer.)
• Compose and present special litanies and prayers during Advent. Include ones written by children and youth.
• Send a holiday letter church members asking them to pray for peace, justice and reconciliation throughout the world.
• Urge families to hold regular meditations and give thanks for the ways children of Africa offer hope to the world.
• Keep a written and or photo journal of children you meet if you travel to Africa. Include them in the church newsletter, on bulletin boards or as a part of special presentations.
• Coordinate an art exchange between children in your congregation and children in a church in an African nation. Draw pictures of favorite things and exchange them. Use them for bulletin covers or banners.
• Coordinate a special worship service with neighbor churches using children in key planning and leadership roles.
• Become a pen pal. Write special prayers for your pal, and include their letters and prayers back to you in worship.
• Become a pin pal. Turn photos of you into pin-on buttons and send them to your friends in Africa. Or use photos they may send to you and return them as gifts. Wear the pins on special days during which you pray for African children and their families.
• Dedicate specific bulletin board space for the appeal. Use it to collect and share special requests from the congregation, posters, artwork, prayers, activities and updates on the financial progress.

  If you're interested in communicating with a church in Africa, contact the General Board of Global Ministries, Clyde W. Anderson, (212) 870-3703, canderso@gbgm-umc.org or Zebediah T. Marewangepo, (212) 870-3701, zmarewan@gbgm-umc.org.
  
  

  "[God] has given us a new birth into a living hope...and an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading..."— 1 Peter 1:3-4