by A. Victoria Hunter
Joanne Reich, a 33-year-old deaconess who
has been in mission since age 22, sees herself as a bridge
builder between the local church and the community. Like many
persons in mission, Ms. Reich’s bridge building is in part
possible because of mission giving by United Methodist Women. Her
journey as a person in mission illustrates this.
She began her mission service as a US-2, a program through which young adults volunteer at a U.S. mission site for two years.
United Methodist Women supports the US-2 program.
Then Ms. Reich served as a mission intern, also volunteer program for young adults, involving three years of service divided between the United States and a mission site outside the United States.
United Methodist Women supports the mission-intern program.
In 1993, Ms. Reich was commissioned as a United Methodist deaconess. Her first assignment was as facilities manager and then director of volunteer services and community outreach for Omega House, an AIDS hospice in Houston, Texas.
United Methodist Women in the Houston area volunteer at Omega House, provide material resources and send financial support. United Methodist Women nationally supports deaconesses.
Ms. Reich received the 1994 Theressa Hoover Community Service and Global Citizen Award, which she used to research a regional, interfaith AIDS network in Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Arkansas. The award honors retired Women’s Division Deputy General Secretary Theressa Hoover.
United Methodist Women supports the award.
In July 1999, Ms. Reich moved to New York City to become the executive secretary of the office of technical assistance in the Institutional Ministries unit of the United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries.
United Methodist Women supports the unit and its work in relating to more than 100 mission institutions across the United States.
United Methodist Women’s support has been vital to Ms. Reich’s mission bridge building through financial support and through the organization’s concept of mission, she said.
"Those who belong to United Methodist Women have a commitment to be educated," she said. "Mission personnel work in tough places, there’s a stigma, and we, too, struggle with the issues. We know United Methodist Women members are committed to reading and studying. The Reading Program books are helpful to mission personnel."
United Methodist Women is there
Betty Purkey, executive secretary of the deaconess program office of the General Board of Global Ministries, said Ms. Reich is an example of the many deaconesses, missionaries, US-2s and mission interns who serve on the cutting edge of mission.
"Mission personnel are in those places where people are hurting," Ms. Purkey said. "They are where social issues are being addressed. They deal directly with the needs and the hurts. They are involved in the purpose of United Methodist Women. They are in ministry with the whole person -- socially, psychologically and personally."
United Methodist Women members, through their undesignated giving, are in those places with them. More than $2 million in 1999 undesignated-giving money will go to mission personnel. That money supports mission personnel who are working in schools, hospitals, health-care education, economic development, spiritual growth and evangelism. Schools and hospitals have been a priority for United Methodist Women’s support since early missionaries established schools and health clinics in India and South America, many of which still exist.
Annette Funk, executive secretary for mission opportunities for the Women’s Division, explained the division’s approach to funding mission personnel:
"The Women’s Division’s philosophy is that women, children and youth are the most underserved segment of the population. They have to have a voice in their own lives."
The nature of mission work has evolved over the years as new ways of raising that voice have emerged. For example, in recent years, emphasis on women’s economic development, including microcredit programs, has increased. Emerging today is the need for gender training within the church to eliminate gender bias including that which leads to violence against women.
"Training is a major portion of what a person in mission does working with women and youth to empower them for positions in church and society," Ms. Funk said. "When women advocate for their own rights, it can lead to decreased incidences of violence against them. They learn how to empower themselves and change society."
One missionary’s story
Changing things for the better can take a long time and can challenge one’s faith. United Methodist missionaries like Beth Ferrell, a missionary and nurse at Chicuque Rural Hospital in Mozambique, have made long-term commitments to mission. Originally from Belmont Ridge, Ohio, Ms. Ferrell has served in Mozambique for more than 10 years.
"Summer temperatures and rain affect the health of the people as malaria and asthma are more prevalent," Ms. Ferrell wrote in her February 1999 newsletter.
The joys of missionary service, however, overshadow the struggles for Ms. Ferrell. For example, she and missionary colleague Sue Klassen, working with Mozambican women, established a project that looks at the impact of war on women, children and youth. The program includes sharing resources and knowledge with Angolan women. The Mozambican women share both a common language and experience of years of war.
The program will be ongoing under the direction of Mozambican women.
Ms. Ferrell and Ms. Klassen’s work of empowering women is typical of the work of many of more than 450 United Methodist missionaries who are serving around the world. These missionaries include people from the United States serving outside the country and those from other nations, also serving in nations other than their own.
United Methodist Women contributes money toward support of these missionaries. The organization also supports persons in mission in their own countries. Five percent of the $2 million United Methodist Women gives to mission personnel goes to those serving in their own countries. Such missionaries include people like:
New directions
United Methodist Women’s commitment to supporting mission personnel is receiving new emphasis and direction from the Women’s Division’s Committee on International Ministries with Women, Children and Youth. The committee is launching an initiative to have the committee working more closely with the General Board of Global Ministries Mission Personnel unit to recruit, train and assign missionaries whose specific focus is on mission with women, children and youth. The change means more hands-on involvement by the committee and more accountability to United Methodist Women members.
Karen Prudente, assistant treasurer for the Women’s Division, said it’s the biggest change in more than 30 years.
"Before 1964, the Woman’s Division knew our personnel," Ms. Prudente said. "We had our missionary-sending arm and the Methodist Church’s Board of Missions had its arm. Now we work together. The Women’s Division gives a block grant for missionary support for mission personnel."
The money appropriated by the division each year is enough to support about 45 missionaries. The initiative calls for the committee and the Mission Personnel unit to work together to write missionary job descriptions and frame contexts for mission and ministry that meet the criteria and priorities of the committee’s work with women, children and youth.
"We hope to have 15 missionaries with specific assignments by next year and 45 before the end of 2004," Ms. Prudente said. She went on to explain the type of missionaries who will be sought:
"For example, we are trying to identify women and youth to work in regional positions in places like Cambodia where there is a United Methodist computer-training center. Our aim is to work ourselves out of a job as new indigenious leadership evolves."
There is a critical need for persons in mission to work regionally in areas of communications, leadership training and resourcing, and with emerging church communities with the goal of empowering women, children and youth, she said.
"This is mission in the 21st century," Ms. Prudente said. "The beauty of United Methodist Women is we are willing to challenge ourselves on justice and equality issues."
A. Victoria Hunter is senior writer for Response.