United Methodist Missionary Association

UMMA Update, Easter 2011 (pdf version), No. 77

In this issue

A Word from the Editor
A Word from the Chair
Our Chair Honored
Passings Noted
Directors Take Momentous Votes
Comments and Thanks from Our Readers
Reunions Anticipated
Staff and Stuff
Links of Interest

1. A Word from the Editor and Communications Chair ()

UMMA UpDate is available via e-mail from an "announcement-only" Google group, or for online reading or download from our website. Please write us with questions or input (reunions, death notices, matters you would like dealt with in future issues) at our e-mail address (). You may also check out recent updates regarding our Steering Committee and task forces there.

As a group of old and young missionaries trying to keep up with God's call and the world we live in, we are trying new things. Geeks among us can begin to utilize the Google group which anyone may join to offer feedback to specific UMMA-related material. It is located at . Likewise you are invited to try out our blog, still developing, at umma-global.blogspot.com. Both sites are "moderated" - so it may take a little time for your comments to appear.

Social networkers can now "like" our Facebook page "UMMA - United Methodist Missionary Association," not to be confused with our former "group" which will soon disappear according to the way of all flesh - and media presence.

Response to online dues payment now via PayPal™, accessible from UMMA membership form has been strong. Thank you!

Recalling that change (along with death and taxes) is all that is certain, we look to the future in anticipation of new media to assist us in our communication of our concern to fulfill God's mission. Jim Dwyer

2. A Word from the Chair

Eastertide greetings as we live out of the knowledge and power of the Resurrection. May we be vehicles of hope for new life wherever we serve. Lent included some momentous events for us members of the United Methodist missionary community, which UMMA strives to connect, support and represent.

The missionary network passed the word that Howard Heiner, UMMA's founding chairperson, had begun to falter in his battle with two cancerous brain tumors. I immediately called Howard via Skype from Haiti. We chatted briefly and agreed to talk the next day. Struggling mightily, Howard expressed gratitude for his shared life of service with Peggy and shared his deep sense of serenity with his life. Days later, Howard passed into the fullness of God's Kingdom. I am grateful for Howard and Peggy's faithful service as "ambassadors of Christ" around the world and within the missionary community. I personally admired Howard's courageous leadership of UMMA in its early years and later benefited from both his counsel and constant encouragement. May all of his family know how greatly we appreciate Howard and Peggy's service and witness, and particularly what they have meant to UMMA.

How fitting that within days of Howard's passing, UMMA received its greatest official acknowledgment by Global Ministries. During Global Ministries' wrestling with constant change during these recent years, UMMA proposed that the missionary community needed "a place at the table." The proposal noted four specific ways for missionaries to be more fully "at the table":

missionary presence within the Board of Directors supported financially by Global Ministries;
a strengthened position for the Missionary-in-Residence (M I R);
mission forums to bring together Global Ministries missionaries, staff, and directors, along with members of seminary communities and the general church, to engage regularly in missiological reflection leading to renewed mission practice; and
renewed commitment to mobilizing active, retired and former missionaries for mission education, interpretation and for providing hospitality for 2/3-world missionaries itinerating in the U.S.

Two of UMMA's proposals were acted on at the joint GBGM-UMMA luncheon meeting on April 11. UMMA's six representatives present welcomed Thomas Kemper's two decisions: (1) the re-positioning of the Missionary-in-Residence to report to the General Secretary; (2) the provision for financial support for the Chairperson of UMMA to participate officially in each Board meeting.

The new Missionary-in-Residence, Cathy Whitlatch, UMMA vice-chair, will work on a day-to-day basis as a vital part of the Mission and Evangelism Leadership Team (MELT) while reporting to and working closely with the General Secretary. The GS made it clear that the missionary community has a strong voice through the M I R. He noted that the next six months would be seen as an experimental period to see how this positioning will work out practically. The M I R has been challenged to provide leadership, alongside other Global Ministries staff, to further mobilize the missionary community for mission interpretation, education and hospitality, as well as participation in missionary forums.

Howard Heiner, Gilbert Bascom and other founding leaders have left us a great legacy of leadership. Having won the battle for recognition and a strengthened position within Global Ministries, the ball is in our court. Are you ready to serve anew?

Grace and peace. , Jim Gulley, UMMA Chair ()

3. Our Chair Honored

As part of commencement ceremonies at the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, DC, UMMA Chair and recently named "Global Ministries and UMCOR Coordinator for Haiti" Rev. Dr. James L. Gulley received a "Distinguished Alumni Award" from Wesley Theological Seminary and was inducted into "The Society of John Wesley." Congratulations, Jim!

4. Passings Noted - Our Thoughts and Prayers Go Out to Families and Loved Ones

Bishop John Yambasu, Sierra Leone, has shared the sad news of the death of GBGM missionary Abraham Sellu on March 29, 2011. He is survived by his wife Elmira, still an active Women's Division missionary. The bishop's communication notes: "Both Abraham and Elmira served the United Methodist Church Sierra Leone Annual Conference for years until their assignment and eventual relocation to Kenya and Uganda as GBGM Missionary and Women's Division Regional Missionary respectively." Last respects were paid at the King Memorial United Methodist Church, Freetown on Friday, April 8, followed by burial in his hometown of Kenema on Sunday, April 10.

UMMA's first Chair and founding member Howard Heiner succumbed to his illness at home in the early hours of April 9, 2011, and has surely taken his place in the great cloud of witnesses supporting us all in perpetual prayer for peace and justice around the throne of God. See Howard's online memorial here. Joyce Hill shared these words of tribute: "Howard Heiner was a gentle giant whose penetrating eyes, beneath bushy eyebrows, saw through pretense and envisioned a better future for all of God's beloved community.... His booming voice spoke out for peace with justice for all - be they in Bolivia, Chile, Somalia, Nicaragua or the United States.... His love for The United Methodist Church was expressed by his tireless efforts that everyone have a place at the Table." (UMMA has gratefully received a number of memorial gifts in honor of Howard's memory for work of the Association.)

5. Directors Take Momentous Votes

Coming to their final meeting in Stamford, CT, for the foreseeable future the Directors of GBGM took several significant, indeed momentous, steps for the church's mission. (The next annual meeting will be held at headquarters at the Interchurch Center, 475 Riverside Drive, New York City, and subsequent meetings will itinerate through the U.S. - first to Plano, Texas, in April 2012.)

Perhaps most talked about will be the unanimous decision of the directors of the Women's Division to seek a separate status as a U.S.-based membership organization - branding itself "UMW Inc." for the moment - and the unanimous concurrence of the whole GBGM directorate. This reverses the unification of the women's mission organization into the church's mission agency in 1964 as one of three Divisions (World, National, and Women's). In the meantime, the structure of World and National Divisions has been twice superseded by further structural changes in 1996 and 2010, leaving only one so-called "Division." Under the banner of "Structurally Separate, Missionally Connected" General Secretary Thomas Kemper and Deputy Harriett Jane Olson greeted the new era of cooperation.

An equally radical change was the decision to request a reduction in Board size from 90-plus directors to only 32 (plus equalization which General Conference may require). "UMW, Inc." will still have 5 delegates (instead of the Women's Division's current one-third). GBGM will also provide delegates to the proposed new advisory council for "UMW, Inc." These changes, if approved by General Conference, would not take effect until 2013.

Perhaps of less obvious immediate impact will be the adoption of a Strategic Plan for the agency, developed under the leadership of The Novak Consulting Group and a Strategic Planning Team consisting of three Program Cabinet members, a number of Directors and our own James Dwyer as staff liaison and missionary representative. A twenty-two-page report with final revisions was released to the Directors following the meeting. The adoption of the plan marked the end of the largest parts of the restructure following the earlier institutional audit. The plan includes a new statement of the theology of mission of GBGM and the identification of do-or-die "key performance areas" on which the Board's success is believed to depend.

Lively discussion of board policy and programs in subcommittees under the new, widely inclusive structure of the Mission and Evangelism program unit also marked the meeting. The new unit subsumes most of the work of the former three Program Areas of (1) Mission Contexts and Relationships, (2) Evangelism and Church Growth and (3) Missionary Personnel. The three former program areas had related loosely to one another but directly to the General Secretary. The new, realigned units which encompass the former tripartite work relate more organically to one another under the supervision of Deputy General Secretary Jorge Luiz Domingues. (See links on last page.) Several UMMA Steering Committee members and others were able to be present for the Board meeting. The comments in this article are drawn from their reports. Our time together began with the pre-meeting luncheon at invitation of General Secretary Thomas Kemper for UMMA representatives and selected staff members and directors. For the first time this luncheon was published in the official program.

DarEll T. Weist, a recent member of the UMMA Steering Committee, reported from the Development and Mission Communications committee meeting:

The second "10-Fold" promotional will begin on October 10, 2011; it is an online audio-visual emphasis on the work of The Advance around the world. Days 7 and 8 focus on support of missionaries in the USA and around the world. Last year's effort reported $600,000 in new funds for missions. (See links below.)
The "50-50 Partner Church Covenant" of the "In Mission Together" program for Mission Initiatives intends to provide a new model for partnership without dependency for congregations, districts or conferences who partner with a Mission Initiative or project anywhere in the world, seeking to further healthy mutual relationships that are transformative and inspirational, and acknowledging that "ownership" of the ministry or project rests not with financial donors alone but with all partners, especially those who live in the mission context.
Joseph Bishman, a District Superintendent from the West Ohio Conference, spoke to the committee and the plenum. His district, described as one of the poorest in the U.S., has developed a Mission Covenant Relationship with Vietnam in response to the question , "Where is your Jerusalem?" - based on Paul's appeal to churches weak and strong to support the needy. Bishman noted that when all 100-plus churches on his district are added together, they can present the resources of a Megachurch.

Lyda Pierce reported from the "missionary benefits" section of Mission and Evangelism. The group received a draft proposal for new categories of mission service, a flow chart presenting the process from receipt of an application for missionary service to missionary assignment, and current missionary statistics from DGS Jorge Domingues. The new training executive, Dr. Gwendolyn Roberts, presented aspects of her work, including the vexing and ongoing efforts to regulate visa issues for non-US-citizen missionaries who are to itinerate in the U.S. U.S. immigration policies create uncertainty and confusion for all concerned. The statistical report shows 169 "GBGM Missionaries" serving outside the U.S. and 69 within the U.S., 6 Mission Interns and 11 US-2s, 22 missionaries in the National Plan for Hispanic/Latino Ministries, and 47 Church and Community Workers. Among the other categories we find non-U.S. non-commissioned workers (16), Alaska Missionary Conference workers (32), community developers (42), Red Bird Associates (37) and Person-in-Mission grants (325), whose support varies by program and may include as little as assignment of an Advance number.

Joyce Hill, "senior stateswoman" at Stamford, again reported from the Women's Division. The session began not in Stamford, but in New York City at the Interchurch Center, with the Policy Committee meeting during the morning of April 7 prior to the commissioning of 10 Deaconesses and 1 Home Missioner that afternoon in the Chapel, before moving to Stamford.

By the close of the meeting, historic steps had been taken in proposing a new structure and a new relationship to the General Board of Global Ministries - a proposal that must be approved at the 2012 General Conference. The recommended proposal will result in the Division's becoming "structurally separate and missionally connected" to GBGM.

President Inelda González challenged the members to continue to advocate for women, children and youth, being "proactive, courageous and determined" in their actions. The Deputy General Secretary, Harriet Jane Olson, reminded them that the organization throughout its history had responded to the needs of women, children and youth in different ways, responding to different contexts, and organizing its work accordingly. Finance noted an increase in net assets of $6.54 million. Christian Social Action sent four resolutions to General Conference: (1)Speaking out against Hate, (2) On Criminalization of Communities of Color, (3) Caring for God's Creation and (4) Seeking Peace in Afghanistan. Membership and Leadership Development celebrated its first Language Ministries event. Ministry Opportunities approved appropriations of $2,600,000 for National Ministries and $2,400,000 for International Ministries. Looking back on 47 years of history, Joyce noted: "I was present at the 1964 meeting of the Board that created a new structure and relationship for the Women's Division; so I was most interested in being present at this 2011 meeting in which the Division took charge of its future by creating its proposal for a new structure and a new way of being missionally connected to the GBGM." (See links below!)

6. Comments and Thanks from Our Readers

Claudia Webster writes from Hawaii: I really appreciated the thoughtful words from the Chair regarding the earthquake in Japan and other disasters around the globe. The continuing media coverage of the earthquake in Japan and the possible nuclear disaster has taken away from reporting on other natural disasters [e.g., the Christchurch, New Zealand, earthquake, which destroyed one-third of the city]. It is hard to keep up with all the disasters at this time, but it seems to me we need a balance. Thanks

7. Reunions Anticipated

Korea Missionary Reunion July 22 - 24, 2011, Lake Junaluska
India Missionary Reunion October 7-9, 2011, St. Louis, MO.
Pakistan (Ecumenical) Reunion July 26-29, 2012, Zion IL. Contact Linda McQuinn (), 13018 Cricket Hollow, Cypress TX 77429, 281.373.9754 (Thanks to Norma and Alan Seaman!)
Servants of Sierra Leone Biennial Reunion Sioux Falls, SD, summer 2012
Nigeria Reunion September 28-October 1, 2012. United Methodist Canyon Camp located west of Oklahoma City, OK. Contact Lon Labumbard ().

8. Staff and Stuff

New M I R named - Rev. Cathy Whitlatch has accepted assignment as the new Missionary-in-Residence beginning in July, when she will leave her current position as Mission Interpreter in Residence for the Western Jurisdiction. She and husband Rev. Ron Whitlatch will reside at Grace Apartments on West 104th Street in Manhattan.

9. Links of Interest

Paul Jeffrey shares this link to a thought-provoking poem about the Holy Thursday meal with the title "By their works". You may wish to check the "Verse daily" archives.

GBGM Theology of Mission
GBGM Strategic Plan
GBGM Structural Chart
UMW /Women's Division changes (UMW Board and UMW Press Release)
"10 Fold" links to missionary podcasts and more

We welcome your comments: