United Methodist Missionary Association

UMMA Update, February 2011 (pdf version), No. 75

In this issue

A Word from the Editor
A Word from the Chair
UMMA Founder Battles Cancer in Oregon
UMMA Explores the "Lilliput Strategy" - Part II
Prayers for Missionaries
Rethink Mission: Reflection and Action
Passings Noted
Reunions Anticipated
Good News from the UMMA Treasurer
An Update on UpDate (Proofreaders needed!)
Comments and Thanks from Our Readers

1. A Word from the Editor ()

I would welcome your response to two technical matters: (1) We have decided to expand this issue and the next to 12 pages each (from 8 pages) to catch up with a backlog of information. Is this "TMI" (too much information) at one time? or is more better? (2) Please let me know what you think of my dividing some longer articles over two issues. Good? Bad? Indifferent? Send your comments to me () or via "snail mail" to 123 W. 104th St., Apt. 10D, New York, NY 10025. Please write with questions or input (reunions, death notices, matters you would like dealt with in future issues) For public comments our new blog is open at UMMA Blog. UMMA UpDate is available via "announcement-only" Google group (groups.google.com/group/umma-members) or online. - Your editor, Jim Dwyer

2. A Word from the Chair

In recent months several highlights have lifted our spirits as members of the United Methodist/Global Ministries missionary community. The Nashville Rethink Mission event stimulated the ongoing conversation of how the missionary community can engage more effectively and faithfully in mission now and in the future. Another parallel conversation between Global Ministries staff, board members and the missionary community about what it means for UMC/GBGM missionaries "to be at the table" within Global Ministries is taking place. A paper documenting our reflections together should be finalized for you to read and for your feedback by the time the next UMMA UpDate appears later in March.

A recent exchange of emails within the UMMA Steering Committee related to the Missionary-in-Residence (MIR) position focused on where within the structure the MIR position should be placed. UMMA has proposed that the position should operate out of the Office of the General Secretary in order for the missionary community to liaise seamlessly with each program area - Mission and Evangelism, Women's Division and United Methodist Committee on Relief - as well as each non-program unit - Development and Communication, and Finance and Administration.

In that exchange of ideas within UMMA's twenty-three-person international/global missionary Steering Committee, the role of the MIR was variously described as "complex". "arduous" and possibly even "hazardous"! I believe that neither missionaries nor the MIR should any longer be considered an "endangered species" within Global Ministries. Rather, both Global Ministries staff and board members regularly meet us around various tables to work mutually toward a dynamic, international mission outreach that truly reflects "mission in an age of global Christianity" (Dana Robert). You are invited to contribute to that current ongoing, lively dialogue of what it means for the missionary community to be "at the table" within GBGM through UMMA's website (mid-March). Join with us as we strive to open our whole United Methodist Connection to what it means "to hear [and] respond to God's call through all the cultural layers that sometimes keep us away from the 'real' call," as Eunice Arias put it in a recent exchange.

Last, I want to inform you that UMMA's Administrative Council (7 persons) and Steering Committee (23 persons) are "Skyping" our way through this 21st century. That means that potentially two dozen Global Ministries missionaries, living and working in 15 countries, are talking to each other in "real time." How refreshing to hear the voices of new and old SC members this month in "real (late!) time" in Cambodia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Nicaragua, Venezuela as well as the U.S. We are a global community! Thanks be to God for new and better ways to strengthen our connections and to grapple with the issues that matter most not just to the missionary community, but to the mission of Christ in the world today. Check out the complete list of your UMMA officers. Grace and peace, Jim Gulley, UMMA Chair ()

3. UMMA Founder Battles Cancer in Oregon

Howard Heiner was happy when his doctor told him he only had two brain tumors. At least it wasn't Alzheimer's, Howard says. So although the hair on the top of his head has suffered from the radiation treatment he received in late January, Howard's still-bushy eyebrows frame eyes that gleam with peace after 81 years of adventure.

Howard and Peggy Heiner arrived in Bolivia in the sixties with four children for their first assignment as Methodist missionaries. On the way into La Paz from the airport, their church hosts asked them to lie on the car floor so no one would see their pale gringo faces and attack the vehicle. Political instability prevented Howard from fulfilling his assignment to teach forestry, so he ended up working as an assistant to Bishop Mortimer Arias as the church struggled to keep faith in the midst of uncertainty and turmoil.

Before leaving for Bolivia, Howard had been a staunch Republican in Libby, Montana. A former Air Force fighter pilot, he had endless stories of plane engines' quitting at the most inopportune moment while he served as an engineering test pilot. As a forester he headed south as a missionary to help the church proclaim more viable models of environmental stewardship.

In 1973 Howard and Peggy traded the frequent coups of Bolivia for Chile, where once again Howard planned to teach forestry. Yet they arrived just weeks before the CIA-sponsored overthrow of President Salvador Allende, and before long Howard and Peggy were helping feed hungry families and support people fleeing political repression. Howard was eventually arrested and spent months under house arrest.

Eventually Howard and Peggy took their kids back to Olympia, Washington, where Howard bought a building supply store. But his heart was still in mission, and by the early eighties he and Peggy were off to Somalia, where they spent a year managing a refugee camp for Church World Service. Howard helped plant trees around the camp for shade and firewood, and Peggy put her skills as a nurse to work in an environment where suffering and death had become routine. Although living conditions were harsh, questions about their personal sacrifice will only yield funny stories about the huge camel spiders that shared their tent.

Then they moved to Nicaragua in 1983, Howard helping a young government establish sustainable models of forest management. But soon a war subsumed much of the country's energy, and Howard and Peggy had friends and colleagues martyred by the U.S.-backed Contras. The two missionaries could be found in front of the U.S. embassy every week, maintaining a protest against their own government's terrorism. Always believing that the truth could convert even the hardest hearts, the Heiners used their living room to host visiting members of the U.S. Congress for talks with ordinary Nicaraguan church folks. Yet Howard's patience had limits; once when hosting Dick Cheney and Henry Hyde, Howard threw a U.S. embassy staffer out of his house because the guy kept insulting a nun doing human rights work.

A letter to United Methodist bishops that Howard and Peggy co-signed with other United Methodist missionaries caught the ire of the Institute for Religion and Democracy, which demanded the missionaries be recalled. Howard traveled to the U.S. with Lyda Pierce to debate the situation in Nicaragua with representatives of the IRD in front of a meeting of GBGM directors, who in turn unanimously passed a resolution praising the missionary's "heroic service." The brouhaha attracted the attention of Bill Moyers, who went on to produce a 90-minute documentary for PBS about the work of U.S. church personnel in Central America. Howard was one of the stars; Moyers' interview with him took place in the middle of a former cotton field where Howard was supervising the planting of thousands of trees.

In the nineties, Peggy and Howard moved to Washington, D.C. Peggy worked with the General Board of Church and Society and Howard lobbied on international forestry policy. They later retired to Ashland, Oregon, where both have been active in their local United Methodist Church while enjoying their family throughout the Pacific Northwest.

Howard's passion for mission often overcame his patience with mission bureaucrats, and he helped to found the United Methodist Missionary Association, believing that missionaries, given their unique perspective, deserved a voice in devising mission policies. He served as UMMA's chairperson for many years.

Early this year, Howard's doctors discovered tumors in Howard's brain and lungs. He underwent 15 days of radiation treatment. On the day after the last session, Howard says he woke up feeling a clarity and peace he'd never known. While he knows his medical prognosis isn't good, he says that his life has been filled with adventure and love. So he's not complaining, and wants the world to know he is alive and well, no matter the course his illness takes. Howard and Peggy are making plans to celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary in June - and Howard says it's going to be one heck of a party! Paul Jeffrey ()

4. UMMA Explores the "Lilliput Strategy" - Part II

(The introductory paragraphs of this article appeared in UMMA UpDate 74 and can be found here.)

The "Killer Coke" Campaign
In recent years a growing number of socially concerned individuals, organizations, and institutions have joined the boycott against "Killer Coke." The campaign began in 2001 when two labor leaders in a Coke bottling plant in Colombia were assassinated by death squads to intimidate workers from joining the SINALTRAINAL union. Since then, exploitation and abuses of workers in Coke bottling plants have been identified in China, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico and Turkey, as well.

In India, an epidemic of farmer suicides has occurred because of the way Coke bottling plants have drained the ground water and turned their fields into deserts, destroying their crops and livelihoods. In response, the state of Kerala has expelled Coca Cola from its borders.

In solidarity with these workers and farmers, trade unions, colleges, religious institutions, and individuals have joined the international "Campaign to Stop Killer Coke", which seeks to hold The Coca-Cola Company, its bottlers and subsidiaries accountable, and to end a cycle of violence. The Campaign has documented cases of systematic intimidation, kidnapping, torture and murder of union leaders and members of their families in efforts to crush their unions, and has launched court cases in several countries to bring the Company to justice. Some have also joined the boycott to protest the contribution Coke products make to the obesity epidemic in the United States.

Campaigns to ban Coke products have been undertaken by students at NYU, Purdue, St. Olaf's, McMaster, Washington State, University of California - Long Beach, and many other campuses, with varying levels of success. Many trade union halls have removed their Coke machines in solidarity with workers in other countries. Protests have been undertaken at shareholder meetings of The Coca Cola Company - and of TIAA-CREF in an effort at divestment.

Bottled Water
A related issue is the consumption of bottled water, which is marketed by Coke, Pepsi, Nestlé and other large corporations. Studies show that this water is often no safer [or less safe -- ed.] than tap water, and the accumulation of disposable plastic bottles in landfills and oceans has contributed to an environmental crisis. Over the last two decades, these big beverage companies have spent millions of dollars making consumers afraid of tap water. In the U.S. alone, we consume 500 million bottles of water each week. While a billion people lack access to safe drinking water worldwide, we spend billions of dollars on a bottled product that is no cleaner, harms the environment, and costs up to 2,000 times the price of tap water. But this is changing. People are waking up. Last year, for the first time, bottled water sales fell. Consumers who want economy, portability, and convenience are gradually switching to refillable metal bottles. Restaurants are once again proudly serving tap water, and cities, states, companies and schools are ditching the bottle to save money and do their part for the environment.

Fair Trade Coffee, Cocoa, and Tea
Many UMMA members have been missionaries in countries where coffee, cocoa, and tea are major export products. We have seen how small farmers are victimized by market fluctuations and workers are exploited on large plantations that sell directly to multinational companies like Nestlé, Folgers, Sam's Club, and Starbucks - sometimes at prices so low they cannot break even. We have also seen how coffee cooperatives and small farmers whose product is organic and shade-grown have benefitted from selling directly to Fair Trade organizations like Equal Exchange for a fair price, with the result that their living standards rise and their lot improves. Fair Trade products are increasingly served and used in many local churches and church-related institutions.

At the October UMMA meeting in Nashville, all these issues were brought up, with a view to raising consciousness about individual consumption patterns and making use of the "Lilliput Strategy" to influence places where UMMA holds its meetings and where other church-related gatherings are held.

[P.S. from the editor: If you check out Coca-Cola's own website, you may be amazed at how many carbonated beverages and bottled water products with names not associated with Coke are actually part of the picture. It makes you wonder if they are looking for a world water monopoly!] Douglas Wingeier ()

5. Prayers for Missionaries

Thomas Kemper has instituted an every-Wednesday, Board-wide period of centering and devotion and of prayers for missionaries and projects listed in the Women's Division's Prayer Calendar. The first service took place February 23 and was led by Deb Tyree of Global Praise. Leadership will rotate weekly as persons volunteer. If you wish to join in spirit or in the flesh, the services begin at 11:45 a.m. each Wednesday in the third floor assembly room at 475 Riverside Drive. (Cf. "Connected in Prayer")

6. Rethink Mission: Reflection and Action - Edinburgh 1910-2010

(This report was distributed as Part I in UMMA UpDate 75 and Part II in UMMA UpDate 76. Here you find both parts together.)

RETHINK MISSION SMALL GROUP REPORT [Part I in UMMA UpDate 75]

The "Rethink Mission Conference" provided an opportunity to discuss critical mission issues on the occasion of the 100-year anniversary of the Edinburgh 1910 World Missionary Conference. When the missionary community began wrestling with this idea, the mission agency of our church, the General Board of Global Ministries (GBGM) was restructuring and could not provide leadership. Rather than lose the opportunity, missionary associations¹ related to GBGM initiated the "Rethink Mission Conference."

The 120 participants and speakers (including 15 student participants from Pfeiffer University) came at their own expense to "rethink mission." The conference was held in the historic mission training site at Scarritt Bennett Center and brought together a wide spectrum of passionate mission interests - active and retired deaconesses and home missioners, missionaries, and church and community workers; mission professors; GBGM staff; current and former GBGM directors; volunteers in mission; local church pastors, and district and annual conference representatives.

It was a diverse group but unified in their passion for mission in the UMC. The Rethink Mission Conference was initiated to recall events in mission, but more importantly to strengthen prophetic acts in working for the transformation of lives in the present Reign of God. Together the participants remembered, pondered, asked forgiveness of past mission "wrongs," and were challenged to be energized anew to work toward changed lives, changed communities and - maybe even - a changed church.

Selected themes of Edinburgh 2010 were highlighted in the opening presentations by mission leaders including the keynote address by Dana L. Robert, Truman Collins Professor of World Christianity at Boston University. The presentations provided a common background and understanding for the event. The digesting, processing and discernment of that information in smaller working groups gave life to the ideas presented in this report.

Kay Clifton, deaconess, analyzed the reports from the working groups through a content analysis and provided the following summary of the ideas in the three working sessions for this report.

Group Summary Analysis - Session I: The Foundations: Signs of God at work and UMC Involvement
We see signs of God through UMC involvement in the rich variety of our ministries: local communities, national efforts and international initiatives. We recognize that God is disturbing us and also that we should let God do God's unexpected work. More than two dozen see God in UMC involvement through lay participation and leadership in mission. Equally highlighted are youth participation, learning and spiritual growth as well as general lay mission leadership, such as UMVIM, Deaconess and Home Missioners, and the Women's Division. Another two dozen signs are noted in revived and emergent local church trends. About half of these signs include missionary visits, education for missions, arranging mission scholarships, connecting church to community and involvement in missions - including new mission ventures. Another fourth of them highlight church youth evangelism and mission activities. The remaining note faith-changed lives: in small groups, by faith permeating our lives, being peace makers and keepers, giving more in times of crisis, even changing lives in ways we have not seen before.

Four themes evidence God in our UMC works: empowerment, diversity, ecumenical collaboration, and social justice. God is most often seen in the development of indigenous and local leadership, especially among traditionally marginalized groups, and, perhaps correspondingly, our developing authentic servanthood attitudes and acts. Ecumenical dialogues and partnerships are highlighted, as are the various pursuits in diversity: Hispanic ministries, solidarity along the border, bringing marginalized groups to the table and raising awareness of cultural diversity. The call and concern for justice is surely kingdom-building.

Aims and strategies for the UMC to become more fully and effectively involved in the Mission of God
The largest set of strategies suggests changing our priorities and perspectives. We can broaden our viewpoint by engaging marginalized groups: learn new ways to see them, go to where they are, listen to them and bring the world into the church. Work to lead churches away from being maintenance-minded and "attractional" and into being more mission-oriented. Recover Jesus' Biblical messages of mercy and social justice, and witness through our lifestyles. The next set of strategies urges strengthening connectionalism through communication.

Better communication about mission by missionaries was a priority: anyone who does mission (or has retired from formal active service) can be available to speak at local churches, colleges, seminaries and training events.
Broaden the communication channels and mechanisms that we use to inform churches, colleges and seminaries about mission opportunities, training and experiences.
Connect those who [do] mission with those who write and teach theology so that our theology emerges from a missional stance.

Another set of strategies involves education and training. And these were equally concerned with involving youth and more adult laity in Schools of Christian Mission, deepening the education of short-term missionaries through the action-reflection model, and equipping seminarians, pastors and bishops with hands-on missionary experience. The aim is to empower the interested laity so that they and a more mission-educated clergy can lead together.

Do mission in new ways: engage youth in service as soon as possible; engage more church members in short-term mission trips; use service and mission to encourage empowerment of marginalized people - those who visit and those visited; emphasize listening and studying in order to better understand the context and culture; share the 'good news' rather than the UMC; include more justice themes and justice work in mission trips. Increase strategically placed, longer term missionaries in specialized ministries including accompaniment and presence.

[Part II in UMMA UpDate 76 follows here]

Session II: Responding To Call

Understanding Call; Sending and Receiving in God's Mission
The understanding of call is different and comes in many ways; however there is much consensus that discernment and mentoring accompanied with prayer and meditating on the word of God define an appropriately lengthy process. Responding to call is an individual's evolving experience which the UMC and the local church can help refine and embed through annual conference and other discernment events and by training local churches in discernment. [Such pre-assignment church-based discernment, along with interim and post-assignment mission personnel and volunteer visits could help change local church culture from 'maintenance' or 'attractional' to 'missional.']

While there was mild discomfort with the 'stakeholder' language, almost every UMC entity was named; those mentioned most were local churches (including UMW, UMM, pastors and youth groups), and - next - active, retired and volunteer missionaries, educational institutions, especially UMC seminaries and colleges, GBGM and Women's Division, and conferences and their committees. Some groups report discomfort with sending and receiving language, yet, all groups highlight need for mutual communication and responsibility, partnerships in a two-way process during which the sent just as often receive and receivers also send. For a few, the personal experience of being sent is an on-going evaluation of call and fit with expectations that elicits further discernment.

Indicators of Faithfulness
Consensus is lacking on this. Five corporate indicators of faithfulness are mentioned by two or three groups: listening as a first step; continuing education, collaboration, communication and transparency among partners and between clergy and laity; adequacy of resources, encouragement and prayer; fruitfulness but not necessarily measured by goals attained - need patience. For a few others, call and faithfulness indicators are personal: call from God is verified, or it is an individual journey of faith with individual accountability.

Strategies and Actions to Bring Passionate Partners in Mission Together
There is much agreement on four strategies: communication, education, collaboration and empowerment. Communication to inform members of mission opportunities, training, and the power of mission to change people's lives, through mission saturation events at many UMC entities (local churches, conferences, colleges), using new media, and GBGM helping place mission magazines at seminaries and having a once every three-year brunch seminar presence. Another communication theme is better UMC interagency communication, to avoid duplication and to pursue collaboration. After communication is education which focuses on understanding and developing respect for others (religions, ethnicities and cultures), understanding systemic justice issues, mission discernment events at UMC entities, and mission trips employing the action-reflection model. Next is mission education and learning experiences in mission study and work trip collaboration among UMC local churches and through ecumenical efforts where there are common values; linking of active, retired and volunteer missionaries with other UMC entities that support, recruit and educate for mission. Empowerment is a minor theme in bringing partners together: essentially, empowerment results in more and more passionate partners.

Session III: Prioritizing Our Mission

Our Primary Aims in Mission
Our primary aims, noted by every group, are shared with the broader UMC: making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world and bringing about the reign of God. A few stated the aim as sharing the good news, love, word and deed of Jesus. Specifics included releasing the captives, alleviating suffering, and working for peace and justice. Evidence of UMC pursuit of these aims repeats the aims and specifics, and then adds education and training or equipping local churches for mission, and keeping our theology and action together.

Recommendation to Various UMC Stakeholders that would Prioritize Mission(s)
Education encompasses the primary strategies, and most of the recommendations involve the local church, directly or indirectly. Elevate the awareness in local churches of UMC missionaries, mission initiatives, programs and opportunities, including covenant relationship; include missions and service in Sunday School and VBS. Increase training and continuing education of local laity; use professional and volunteer missionaries as speakers and educators. Use the action-reflection model in educating volunteer missionaries. Deepen the mission experience and activity of pastors: participate in VIM study and learning experiences (or other missions) regularly; do more preaching on mission(s), more support and praying for missions, more promotion of missions and missionaries. Seminaries could better prepare pastors to be mission-minded by requiring a cross-cultural immersion, lengthy enough to listen, understand the context, build relationships, engage in mercy and justice ministries and witness indigenous empowerment.

The next set of recommendations focus on communication. Most important are increasing the channels and mechanisms of communication to raise awareness, to recruit, to educate and train, and to raise funds.

GBGM and GBOD receive affirmation and suggestions: carry on but do more: help develop curricula for local church, Sunday Schools and VBS; help connect retired and volunteer missionaries to local churches, colleges and seminaries, and mission magazines to colleges and seminaries. Annual Conferences also have a role in mission awareness, recruitment/discernment, and resources and promotion; could be implemented through a Conference Secretary of Global Ministries with automatic reporting times.

Observations
The summation of the groups affirms and emphasizes best practices in mission. Many, if not most, of the ideas suggested from the groups, are already a part of mission in various arenas of our church. However, it is not enough! It is apparent that we must relentlessly pursue and step up our actions - education of clergy, meaningful itineration of mission personnel, positioning of the few available longer term mission slots dedicated to prophetic witness in ministries of peace and justice, and increase theological mission reflection in local churches among the laity and clergy.

Some unresolved issues relate to mission theology when working on a daily basis with people of other religions. Individuals who are in daily contact with peoples and communities of other religions seem to have a broader understanding of the "inclusiveness" of people in God's Reign and they are seeking theological mission reflection to undergird this. One mission presenter stated, "Mission in the next 100 years must include other faiths" while another presenter more boldly reminded us, that for him it is "Not Without My Neighbor". An interesting paradox is that when working alongside peoples of other religions, whether in a mission capacity or in one's own environment in the US, there is less promotion of our denomination as we relate and witness to the core of the Gospel without denominational branding. It appears that denominational mission philosophy and mission theology needs rethinking.

One feature of the Rethink Mission Conference was opportunity for participants to share their publications at a book signing organized by Scarritt Bennett Center. Eleven authors presented their works including mission history, memoirs, mission education, and justice issues in mission life. The book signing event exhibited active energy in mission documentation and scholarship and a reminder of prophetic witness. Many issues identified in the group reports are found in these mission books.

Finally, it was apparent that the community of those passionate about mission, learned together from the wide variety of mission interests present. Discussion never abated. It flowed out of the plenary sessions into the small groups, leading to discussions around the mealtimes as old friendships were renewed, new friendships forged and emerging mission understandings shared. One poignant memory was the challenge of a VIM leader, after discussion relating to work in the Palestine, to petition the Bishops of the United Methodist Church to reconsider their use of Educational Opportunities (EO) in leading trips to the Holy Land. There have been changes in the EO guidelines, but in reality the Palestinian voice and perspective is still not heard during these visits. The petition was drafted and signed by 85% of those present at that session and sent to the Executive Secretary of the Council of Bishops to distribute to active and retired bishops of the UMC. It was also sent to the president of Educational Opportunities.

Passionate prophetic mission voices and action are needed now more than ever. They may not emerge from church institutional mission processes. It will require extra efforts from all those passionately committed to working toward God's Reign and may need to be done within and outside the present norms of denominationalism. We must go forward passionately and persistently, promoting and provoking prophetic witness.

There was an understanding that issues identified in the working groups would be forwarded to various sites and agencies in our church for action However, in discussions after the working groups, it became clear that change will only occur, if each one present continues to initiate and increase efforts in our established and ever expanding circles of relationships to influence prophetic mission in voice and action.

Small Group Analysis Summary Reports: Kay Clifton ()
Introduction and Observations: Norma Kehrberg ()

¹National Association of Deaconesses and Missionaries (NADAM), Church and Community Workers Organization (CCWO) and the United Methodist Missionary Association (UMMA)

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

Elizabeth Clarke reports that Helen Post, missionary journalist, who worked with the Nihon Kirisuto Kyodan (United Church of Christ in Japan), died of bone cancer at the age of 90, at Pilgrim Place, Claremont, California on October 20, 2010. A memorial service celebrating her life took place on December 3. The Women's Division of the General Board of Global Ministries sent Helen to Japan in 1960. From 1974 she taught writing at Tsuda Women's College in Tokyo. She first retired to Evanston, Illinois, in 1982 before moving to Pilgrim Place in 1993.

Anna Morford shares the following from the Servants of Sierra Leone: Ruth Gess, wife of Dr. Lowell Gess, died on October 25, 2010, at the age of 93. The couple served in Nigeria and Sierra Leone first with the EUB Church and then GBGM. Since retirement Dr. Gess has continued to coordinate ophthalmologists for the Kissy Eye Hospital in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Read her obituary here.

Vivian Olson died on December 19, 2010, with the funeral at Christ Community United Methodist Church, Joplin, Missouri, on December 23. Condolences for the family may be sent to Margaret Hartman to be shared. Her address is PO Box 407, Carthage, MO 64836, (cell phone) 417.359.4308. Vivian was 92. Read her obituary here.

8. Reunions Anticipated

Korea Missionary Reunion July 22 - 24, 2011, Lake Junaluska
Servants of Sierra Leone biennial reunion Sioux Falls, SD, summer 2012
India Missionary Reunion October 7-9, 2011, St. Louis, MO.

9. Good News from the UMMA Treasurer

UMMA Treasurer, Richard Vreeland, reported to our last Steering Committee Skype call that income from the Forum "Rethink Mission" last October exceeded the final costs of $27,154 by $47. All UMMA seed money for the project returns to its CD hot-bed for such future events! Our deep gratitude to Dick for his help in the careful financial planning, and to Norma Kehrberg and team for this highly significant opportunity we had for keeping discussion of the mission of the church at a vital level.

Dick reports 2010 dues of more than $6,000 exceeding expenditures, leaving us a balance of just over $10,250. Of that, $2,910 has been set aside in trust on behalf of seven persons who have paid membership dues at the "life member" level.

A list of members paid up for 2011 has been sent as a reminder to those who are on the Google group "UMMA Members' Forum." Or you may ask Dick () about the status of your membership dues payments.

10. An Update on UpDate (proofreaders needed!)

Did you know that Gene Matthews faithfully sends hard copies of the UMMA UpDate to several dozen readers who cannot access email, and forwards the e-mail version to half a dozen others who cannot deal with Google groups? Gene has been doing this for years. Thanks, Gene!

Did you know that each issue of UMMA UpDate is carefully proofread by a dozen or more eyes (and spell- and grammar-checked, and read aloud by Mac software) before being distributed? Recent proofreaders have included Caring Schwenk (who did the "final" proof for Ric), Elizabeth Clarke, Gene Matthews, Nan McCurdy, Hugh Johnson, Lyda Pierce, Cathy Whitlatch, Shannon Goran, Jim Gulley, Dick Vreeland, Phil Wingeier-Rayo, Norma Kehrberg, Joyce Hill and perhaps a few I have overlooked. If you have a gift for the correct turn of phrase or a strong affinity to correct spelling, grammar and punctuation, it may be you have a calling to join our proofreading team! Please let me know. (The process usually allows us about three days from first draft to final copy.)

11. Comments and Thanks from Our Readers

Copies of the Rethink Mission summary report appearing here and in UMMA UpDate 76 were put in the hands of a number of decision-makers and actors in the UMC's global mission. Bishop Hans Växby's response, sent to all his Episcopal colleagues and the forum leadership, is one of the first:

"I read this with great interest and appreciation. It must have been a very rich and inspiring conference. The report shows deep insight and great creativity in the field of mission. "Presuming that the rethinking of Mission is an ongoing process, I would like to make the following contribution to the conversation:

In addition to the sending perspective of mission, a global and connectional church needs to reflect on mission from the receiving perspective as well. Especially as we see how short-term mission plays an increasingly important role, it is important to remember, 'It is primarily at the level of the charge consisting of one or more local churches that the church encounters the world. The local church is a strategic base from which Christians move out to the structures of society.' (Discipline 202.) We therefore need to be mindful of how we build an indigenous church in places and countries where we send short-term missionaries, long-term missionaries, and VIM teams, and where we develop projects and programs. At the same time as we respond to problems and needs all over the world, we want to build the Church of Christ (ecumenically or denominationally), a church that stays - and stays alive - when all missionaries have gone home and all projects are completed.
As parents we want to give all we possibly can for our children, but we also want them to take responsibility and stand on their own feet. A global and connectional church wants to be helpful and generous, but it also needs to be mindful not to leave the recipients of the sending mission in a dependency trap. We can never build a sound and vital church, unless we teach stewardship from the very beginning and intentionally guide young churches to become self-sustainable when it comes to the basic functions of a local church (as described in said 202 of the Disciple).

Yours in Christ, Hans Växby, Moscow ()

We welcome your comments: