United Methodist Missionary Association

Letter from George Gish, a GBGM Missionary in Japan

Dear Howard,
Thanks for all your work to try and get a handle on the so-called Japan situation (see UMMA at Work article). There are several things I would like to share as background to give a perspective on where we are and where we can go from here.

The Mission Dilemma Today

I see a dilemma in the way the UMC looks at mission today. There is much confusion in the very concept of mission. This confusion is nothing new. However, in reading recent UMC materials and relating to persons in local UMC churches and organizations, I feel what people are talking about is a more limited area of mission work that has been spoken of familiarly as missions. The more wholistic meaning implied in speaking of the mission of the Church as the missio Dei seems to be missing in speaking of the work of the General Board of Global Ministries or the mission work of local churches, districts, and conferences.

There is also confusion about the various stages of mission as seen from a historical perspective. At one stage, there was the concept of foreign missions as an extension of the North American or European churches often referred to as the 19th Century model of mission. In the next stage, there was more talk of overseas mission as being church to church in which the relationship was between the older and sending churches and the younger and receiving churches. This became the more common 20th Century pattern. However, there was still the predominant sense that mission was from the wealthier churches to the poorer have-not churches.

In the post-WWII period, there was the developing idea of mutuality in mission which sees world mission as mutual cooperation and involvement in mission by Christian partners and colleagues wherever they are found around the globe. This would seem to be the direction that needs to be affirmed as we move into the 21st century.

When we look at the present reality, we must recognize that most of these patterns of mission can still be found co-existing side by side. The movement from one stage to another has not been universal or consistent. In our own UMC/GBGM we can observe recent shifts of emphasis and priority being placed on the above-mentioned 19th Century model of extending the denominational entity of the UMC into areas where there is no established UMC body or where the UMC presence had been weakened or discontinued. We can even see new US UMC work being established in areas where there are other Methodist-related bodies or historically affiliated ecumenical church bodies already present.

Japanese Methodist History and Ecumenism

Almost from the beginning of the Methodist mission in Japan (1873), it was seen as a vital part of mission strategy to train Japanese for leadership in the newly established churches and schools (e.g. By1890 the leadership of a major mission school in Tokyo, Aoyama Gakuin, was in the hands of Japanese Christians never to be relinquished.)

In 1907, under the influence of Yoichi Honda, three Methodist mission churches, the Meth. Episcopal (North), Meth. Episcopal,South and the Canadian Methodist Church were united as the Japan Methodist Church under Japanese leadership.

In the early 1940s the wartime government of Japan forced all Christian religious bodies to be administered as one organization for purposes of control. At the end of the war, the leadership of the Japanese Methodist Church and the related mission boards agreed to remain within the United Church of Christ in Japan along with several other mainline protestant denominations.

In summary, the missionary role in Japan for several decades has been that of co-worker and colleague under the leadership of the United Church of Christ in Japan and related institutions and agencies. We work side by side with other missionary co-workers who have been requested and sent by other denominations with ties to the United Church. Ever since 1945, the Christian community in Japan has felt it was absolutely necessary to have the continued presence of international and ecumenical persons in mission serving as witmesses to the global nature of the church in a way that would prevent the Japanese church and society from reverting back to the narrow nationalism of the first half of the 20th century. This is the over-arching motivation of the Japanese church which places such a high priority on the presence of international persons in mission in that nation.

Issues for the UMC Today

Issue one: What is the UM Mission Today?
Since the amalgamation of the World and National Divisions of the GBGM, the trend has been to establish and develop programs and projects that are not yet self-sustaining. Such programs and projects are of vital importance in many parts of the world including the US and even Japan, however, by ignoring the economic undergirding of mission, there is the growing need to eliminate other forms of ministry that are already self-sustaining or autonomous.

This is not to say that such missions are not important, but to lift up commitment to overcoming poverty and all the injustices that come from economic exploitation as if there were no other mission for the church today defies our Wesleyan tradition.

I recall a time when the theology of mission that provided the vision for the former World Division was one that could be referred to as wholistic. It was a concept that encompassed all the ministries of the church regardless of economic needs of the various missions because it embraced evangelism, education, community development, health and welfare to mention the major endevers. There was no area of human concern that was outside the mission of the Church. This was a vision that offered the best of the Wesleyan social gospel with the theology of missio Dei and liberation theology which understood salvation as the saving acts of God working in history for the liberation of all persons through the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Somehow, this wholistic theology of mission needs to be reclaimed by all the General Boards and agencies of the UMC beginning with the GBGM. Without this vision in place, there is little potential for restoring the mutual trust and integrity for persons in mission in full cooperation with historically related churches around the world.

Issue Two: Who determines the definitions and policies of Christian mission for the UMC?

We need to ask: What is the role of the General Conference and the General Council on Ministries vis-a-vis the various boards and agencies of the UMC?

For the GBGM, we need to feel assured that it is the directors who determine the guidelines and policies to be carried out by all the support staff from General Secretary down.

What is the role of colleague and partner churches as well as Christian communities historically related with the UMC in policy formation? What part do they play in determining missional priorities?

When the United Church of Christ in Japan to which we United Methodists relate and its connected institutions and program agencies have come to a consensus as to which projects and what type of mission personnel is a priority for the life and mission of the church in Japan, what should be the response of the GBGM and the UM church at large? Further, when the Christian institutions in Japan have gone the second mile for almost 30 years in providing mutual support for mission personnel that has relieved the financial burden of sending boards, how should the GBGM respond?

In several cases the amount of "Shared Support" sent to the GBGM from institutions in Japan to help eleviate the high cost of living for missionaries assigned to them have totalled more than the actual costs of the missionariesÕ support and benefits provided by GBGM. However, when the Chancellor of Aoyama Gakuin asked GBGM to account for the use of the funds sent to the UMC, he received no reply. This is an area that perhaps needs full disclosure if there is to be continued trust with our colleagues in Japan.

A final issue: How did GBGM get into the present financial crisis develop that has resulted in the firing of some 20% of the executive and support staff at 475 and is now being used as the rationale for the unilateral removal of several missionary couples from Japan?

There needs to be full disclosure on this issue which seems to violate basic human rights of Board employees.

When there is an adequate response to this basic question, then other issues related to the Mission Personnel Handbook and policies governing the Letters of Agreement can be put in proper perspective. Is it really a financial crisis or rather, a question of mis-management resulting from a leadership crisis?

If the above issues are adequately addressed, then we may begin to see where the present staff leadership are in direct conflict with the historical thrust of the UMC in world mission.

Other specific issues that need further discussion and clarification

What has happened to the Consultation process that includes Directors, support staff, colleague church representatives, and mission personnel?
What has happened to the individual Letters of Agreement that no longer treat each person with dignity and justice?
What is the status of the Collins pension fund since the reorganization of the GBGM? Is the seventy year age limit still considered legal under U.S. and New York state law?

New Missionary to Germany and Europe

by Jim Dwyer

The Rev. Sam L. Greening Jr., most recently pastor of the International Protestant Church in Puerto Rico, will become the new coordinator for Methodist English-Language Ministries in the office of German Central Conference Bishop Walter Klaiber in Frankfurt, Germany.Sam will assume the post left vacant by the Rev. Sonja Waldmann-Bohn when she became a District Superintendent of the Yellowstone Conference nearly two years ago.Sam's post is supported by GBGM, the Section on Chaplains of the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry, and the Board of Discipleship.One of the important aspects of the work in the past has been trying to "tie in" U.S. United Methodist military chaplains in Europe to the United Methodist Church structures in Germany and other parts of Europe. Sam is currently completing missionary training at the Mission Resource Center in Atlanta. For more information, check out Sam's webpage.

Former UMC Bishop Designated Protestant Chaplain by President of Chile

by Stan Moore

December 14, 2001, was an historical day for the Protestant/Evangelical churches in Chile, as on that date President Ricardo Lagos Escobar designated Rev. Neftalí Aravena Bravo, out-going Bishop of the Methodist Church of Chile, as the first Protestant chaplain in the history of that country of La Moneda, Chile's presidental palace.

This designation is even more significant, in view of the fact that President Lagos is a declared atheist.

As President, he also supported congressional action that put the Protestant churches of Chile on the same legal basis as the Roman Catholic Church, ending many years of struggle to give Evangelical churches that recognition.

Fund Cut Back = Cut Back in Mission for Southern Hemisphere

by Stan Moore

The March 2002 issue of Mission Matters records the list of missionaries commissioned in Atlanta on December 9, 2001. Of the 26 missionaries commissioned, only 3 were assigned to Latin American, none to South America.

Together with a proportional decrease in the designation of funding to the Latin American churches, this would seem to reflect an emerging policy on the part of the GBGM which fails to recognize the enormous challenges and opportunities confronting our sister churches in that part of the world.

Making Maximum Use of the Internet - An Example

Here's an example from Lydia Pierce and Paul Jeffrey, Santa Lucia, Honduras who are making maximum use of the Internet. A quote from the last part of their recent email newsletter shows how they weave in links as mission resources:

"...On November 13, Paul will travel to Pakistan for three weeks to cover the churches' work with Afghan refugees there. He hopes to post a journal of his experiences on our website. We'll let you know where that is when the time comes.

Speaking of our website, it has a variety of new resources that may be helpful as you interpret what we do within your congregation. Check it out at www.gbgm-umc.org/honduras. Put a note in Sunday's worship bulletin and the church's newsletter telling members of your congregation about it. And make sure your own congregation's website has a link to ours, so that people reading about what you do as a congregation will learn about your relationship with us.

Several of you have asked us for a photograph of our entire family, and to motivate you to browse our site, we've now placed a new family photo there. (Hey, we listen to your suggestions!) You can go to it directly at www.gbgm-umc.org/honduras/familyfotos.html.

The website has a section on how to get in touch with us. You'll find there that we have new email addresses, effective immediately: and .

We've also added a new section with information about a United Methodist Advance Special that supports our work here in Honduras. These are mechanisms that your congregation can use to send money directly to projects, knowing that 100 percent of your contribution makes it to the project. With Advent approaching, you could challenge the members of your congregation to make a special Christmas contribution toward helping the seminary-an exciting place where lay and clergy are exploring new pastoral forms within an increasingly difficult economic and political context. (For the record, it's code number 014165-6.) Check out www.gbgm-umc.org/honduras/finansupport.html.

Several of you have written to ask about the passage of Michelle, which was still a tropical storm when it passed through Honduras at the end of October. In some areas, it produced flooding and damages worse than what people experienced with Hurricane Mitch. There's a short piece on our website that Paul wrote about it. If you want to help the United Methodist Committee on Relief support several groups in the region that are working with victims of the flooding, go to www.disasternews.net/donations/umcor-new.php#secure and select Hurricanes 2001, or call 1.800.554.8583 with your credit card in hand.

While we covet your prayer and financial support for us and our work here, know that in these troubled times in the United States we pray especially for you and your ministries. As you proclaim hope, fight hatred, flesh out reconciliation, and build peace, know that there are many of us here in the south praying for you. In God's shalom, Lyda and Paul"

We welcome your comments: