United Methodist Missionary Association

UMMA Update, July 14, 2004

UMMA Gathering, October 17-19, 2004 and Update by Norma Kehrberg, Chair
Pfeifer Missions Celebration, September 10-11 by Phil Wingeier-Rayo
Our Members Write
India Reports by Frances Major; Gerhard and Ginny Johnson - abridged by editor
Spiritual Nurture Note by Archbishop Oscar Romero
How To Avoid Spam and Scam adapted from Yahoo and Earthlink
Missionary Reunions and Gatherings
Missionary Views by Richard Schwenk, editor and Communications Taskforce chair
Register for UMMA Gathering 2004 by Fred Price, UMMA Coordinator

1. UMMA Gathering, October 17-19, 2004 and Update by Norma Kehrberg, Chair

Dear Members:
I am pleased to announce the UMMA Gathering for the year 2004. The Annual Meeting of the United Methodist Missionary Association (UMMA) will be held October 17-19, 2004 in Stamford, Connecticut.

The meeting will be held at the Rodeway Inn (the previous Budget Hospitality Inn) in Stamford, Connecticut. Reservations for the meeting and the hotel should be made through the UMMA Coordinator, Fred Price. (A Registration Form is attached at the end of this letter.) As before, the members of UMMA are expected to pay their own travel, food and hotel expenses.

The UMMA meeting will begin at 3:00pm on Sunday, October 17, 2004 at the Rodeway Inn. It will begin with devotions and the presentation of a discussion paper on missions. We will meet in the UMMA configuration until Monday afternoon, October 18, when we will join the plenary session of the General Board of Global Ministries. The UMMA meeting will conclude on Tuesday evening, October 19, 2004 at 9:00pm.

This year we are hoping to be joined by a director of the General Board of Global Ministries as per the action of the General Board of Global Ministries during their March 2004 meeting.

I hope it is possible for many of you to join the UMMA Gathering in Stamford, Connecticut. We will be discussing matters related to personal issues of retired and active missionaries of the UMC as well as matters of importance to the total mission program of our church.

Yours sincerely,
Norma Kehrberg, Chair, UMMA

Update from the Chair

We welcome the news that 17 new missionaries will be commissioned in August, 2004 and sent out for emergency needs according to information released to the UMNS by Elliot Wright, information officer for the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries. In the release, Rev. R. Randy Day, the chief executive of the GBGM stated, "The commissioning service in August does not mean that we have returned to our regular pattern of missionary recruitment, training and assignment. It does mean we are deliberately moving in that direction." Let us pray that GBGM keeps moving in that direction. Full story.

Farewell and thanks to Kristin and Dave Markay. With this UPDATE we are bidding farewell and thanks to Dave and Kristin Markay who, with their family, will soon be leaving for their new missionary assignment in Milan, Italy.

It is difficult to say farewell as we have become dependant upon the work of the Markays as our "special envoys" in GBGM. Dave and Kristin joined GBGM in October 2002 during the difficult days of "downsizing" of the missionary community related to GBGM. They often had to bear the burden of the frustrations of many in the missionary community while they worked within the Mission Personnel Department of GBGM. It could not have been easy, but they did it with grace and professionalism.

With this word of farewell and thanks we also welcome them again to the trenches of missionary service of the United Methodist Church. They have continued to be active missionaries while serving as MIRs but the relationship was different. Best wishes and we look forward to hearing from you Dave and Kristin.

Thanks to Mark and Nancy Garrison, long-term missionaries in India who have worked as staff in the GBGM Mission Personnel Office during the last 18 months. Nancy and Mark are returning to India to work at Kodicanal School in South India. Best wishes to them as they return to their assignments and thanks on behalf of the mission personnel community for their work as staff of GBGM in the Mission Personnel Office.

Welcome to Kathleen and Mark Masters, former missionaries in the Solomon Islands and Africa, (among other assignments on behalf of GBGM) who have accepted a new assignment in the Mission Personnel office of GBGM as Regional Secretaries covering among other areas, Northern Africa, Europe, the Middle East and South Asia. We look forward to working with them as staff of the Mission Personnel Department of GBGM.

Kudos and thanks to all the missionaries, active and retired, who served as interpreters at the recently concluded General Conference in Pittsburgh. Their fluency in the languages for which they were requested is an indication of the skill and ability of these witnesses for God.

Mini-Consultation with Associations

On June 16, 2004, Edith Gleaves wrote to inform the Associations that a mini-consultation of the Associations will be held from August 5-7, 2004 in New York City. As you know we have been working toward this second meeting for some time.

Fred Price, Coordinator of UMMA and Jim Gulley, Treasurer of UMMA will be the representatives from UMMA at the mini-consultation. Through a special arrangement that the GBGM has with the Sheraton Hotels, hotel costs and food will be covered by GBGM for the consultation. UMMA will cover the travel costs for its representatives.

Items for the mini-consultation are being identified and these will be circulated as soon as possible. The members of the UMMA Steering Committee have forwarded comments to Howard Heiner who is working to help shape the agenda items. Agenda items from UMMA will be sent to Edith Gleaves who is compiling the agenda for the mini-consultation. If you have specific suggestions, please forward them to Fred Price, Jim Gulley, or Howard Heiner.

Please remember all our colleagues in thought and prayer as they move through the changes in their assignments and pray for the mini-consultation that it may indeed be a time when crucial issues in the missionary community can be addressed.

2. Pfeifer Missions Celebration, September 10-11 by Phil Wingeier-Rayo

Pfeiffer University cordially invites you to join us in the inauguration of our new missions degree. All are invited to come to Misenheimer, North Carolina and participate in a two-day symposium on September 10th and 11th entitled: "Great Commissions: A Pfeiffer Missions Celebration." This new major will be the only one of its kind in the United Methodist Church.

UMMA Chair Norma Kehrberg will appear in a panel discussion with Rena Yocum, special assistant to Randy Day, along with Winston Worrell from the World Methodist Evangelism Institute and Bishop Charlene Kammerer. The keynote speaker will be Anglican Bishop Claude E. Payne, author of Reclaiming the Great Commission. The key phrase from Payne's vision is "transition from maintenance to mission."

Participants are also invited to several training workshops:

Nick Elliott, SEJ-UMVIM, "Organizing an International Mission Trip"
Betty and Walt Whitehurst, "Individual Volunteers in Mission"
Michael Collins, WNCC, "Disaster Relief"
Paul Brown, MOBY (My Own Back Yard), "Mission in the Local Church"
Kim Lehmann, GBGM, "Mission Opportunities with the GBGM"

Saturday will be a day of mission service entitled "More than Words" in which the Pfeiffer University community, along with local UM youth groups, will volunteer in the community. - Phil Wingeier-Rayo is currently assigned by the GBGM as a missionary-in-resident to Pfeiffer.

3. Our Members Write

"Out of the Ashes" - an update by the Rev Fred Price (spouse of Rev. Lanie Price). Since the December 1st fire that destroyed the historic Pitman UMC building in Pitman, NJ, much has happened. Initially, the Baptist church provided meeting and office space. Worship was in the town theater and then shifted to the middle school. Within weeks the church opened an office in a small store across the street from the fire ravaged building. Meetings, worship, weddings, took place in a variety of locations. The Baptist and Presbyterian churches have been very helpful.

Recently, Pitman UMC moved into two new buildings on the main street. A worship and educational center has been opened in what was a hardware store. Also, they are preparing to move into an old bank next door to the center. It will provide offices and additional meeting space. The congregation has moved from the middle school back to the theatre for worship. In addition, during the summer they do a contemporary service in the local camp meeting tabernacle.

Sunday, July 4th the congregation welcomed their new associate pastor, Rev. Chris Heckert. Along with being an ordained pastor, he is a professional musician and has a master's degree in communication. He will be charged with developing ministries for 20- and 30-year-olds. The church will interview a clergy couple who will be responsible for seniors ministry. This will allow, senior pastor, Lanie Price to concentrate on persons forty to fifty years of age and to provide administrative oversight.

After a period of study and discernment, the congregation appears to be close to choosing a site for the new building. Engineers have agreed that a 10-acre parcel of land will support the new church building and a future retirement home. Your thoughts and prayers mean so much as the people of Pitman UMC continue to seek God's will and to move into God's future.

*****

Dear Ric, Thanks for the excellent edition of UMMA UpDate. The views of General Conference were great! As a Board member of Oregon MFSA I really appreciated Cherie White's comments on MFSA - several of our members were there. I will share her kind words with them. Also the tributes to Donna Lou were wonderful. I've been focused on getting word out to folks I haven't heard from re: our own reunion, and passing on news about Donna Lou. Also liked Carolyn Cowen's and your pieces at the end. Amen and well said! Please bring hard copies of this edition of UMMA UpDate to the reunion, and make a plug for membership. Those who haven't joined are missing a lot. - Pat Williams

*****

We have learned that Stirling and Stirling is planning to issue insurance ID cards to those who are eligible for Collins Health Benefits (those retired with 15 years or more of service). Hopefully, you will receive these cards this summer. For follow-up information, please contact Imelda Delrosario, GBGM (). We hope this information is helpful. Peace, Revs. Kristin and David Markay, Missionaries-in-Residence for the last two years.

*****

Quote lifted from one missionary email to another younger missionary: "Among many other things, UMMA is currently trying to get the Board to make all information concerning missionary pensions readily available to missionaries. Otherwise, one cannot plan for one's retirement nor know of the amount of one's savings."

4. Highlights of Two Visits to India one by Gerhard and Virginia Johnson, the other by Frances Major
(both reports abridged by the editor)

On January 6, (Epiphany) Bishop James K. Mathews met with several leaders of various departments of the GBGM to urge a renewed attention and interest in their relationship with India. In recent years, partly due to autonomy in India, partly due to various tensions over assignment of funds and related events in the Methodist Church in India (MCI), and partly due to the lessening of direct involvement due to absence of missionaries supported by the Board, there has been less emphasis and involvement and perhaps less interest by the Board in this large Methodist church.

Out of this conversation, it was suggested that we, Gay and Ginny Johnson, who were due to go to India in another connection, be asked to go on a sort of "good will" visit to all the present Bishops of India and where possible some retired ones. The idea was an unofficial visit to show renewed interest by the GBGM. We finally agreed to this and we were in India from February 4 through March 10, (2004) visiting eight cities in six weeks, which included all six of the present bishops and 2 retired bishops.

Today there is a very large constituency (over 700,000) organized in 12 regional Conferences, in six areas throughout India. Unlike most other Protestant communities, except for Anglicans from the UK, the Methodists alone are spread throughout most parts of India. This was due to remarkable church expansion in the Anglo Indian community stemming from widespread revival gatherings in the late l870s.

Some congregations have developed specialized ministries to the poor and needy. Several new congregations have been started in recent years. Mission outreach to tribal groups has happened. Sunday worship attendance is usually large. In Bangalore, some 'high-tech' folk were attracted to this 'new community' in an English-language congregation and asked for baptism. Many such urban congregations give liberally to help support rural pastors in a "home mission" program. This congregational life is totally self-supporting and giving increases.

In view of the vast needs of the many millions who have subsistence-level income in the rural areas, adequate health care should not be neglected! A fresh assessment of the Mission of the MCI in this area is needed. We hope and pray this will happen, even if slowly and 'step by step'! Gerhard (Gay) and Virginia (Ginny) Johnson, Bremerton, WA

*****

Dear Friends: I was very happy to get Gay and Ginny's report. Bishop Matthews has been telling me about it. My trip to India was in February 2004 with a group of 12. Bishop Matthews telephoned me several times about encouraging the Church. We spent some times in the villages and with Christians in Bengal Conference. The institutions and some of the churches were doing well. I have today submitted my application to be a teacher at Schools of Mission in 2005 and 2006 for the India/Pakistan study. I think my autobiography, My Indian Jatra, will be on the UMW reading list. Let us keep busy in the Lord's work and for India. - Frances Major, Ashville, NC

5. Spiritual Nurture Note by Archbishop Oscar Romero

A preaching that awakens, a preaching that enlightens
- as when a light turned on awakens and of course annoys a sleeper -
that is the preaching of Christ, calling:
Wake up! Be converted!

This is the mission entrusted to the church, a hard mission:
to uproot sins from history,
to uproot sins from the political order,
to uproot sins from the economy,
to uproot sins wherever they are.

What a hard task! It has to meet conflicts amid so much selfishness,
so much pride,
so much vanity,
so many who have enthroned the reign of sin among us.

The church must suffer for speaking the truth,
No one wants to have a sore spot touched,
and therefore a society with so many sores twitches
when someone has the courage to touch it and say:
'You have to treat that.
You have to get rid of that.
Believe in Christ. Be converted.'

6. How To Avoid Spam and Scam adapted from Yahoo and Earthlink

1. Never open an unsolicited email (i.e., spam) unless you have the "Block HTML graphics" setting on.

2. Never respond to spam.

3. Never respond to the spam email instructions to reply with the word "remove" unless you trust or know the sender.

4. Never click on a URL or web site address listed within a spam email.

5. Never sign up with sites that promise to remove your name from spam lists. Although some of these sites may be legitimate, more often than not, they are address collectors.

6. Take a cautious look at stories that urge us to send on to everyone on our mailing list. These are probably bogus. That is another way to gather email addresses. To debunk false stories, urban legends, and chain letters scams, click here.

Educate yourself, your family and friends to avoid spam and scam.

Earthlink offers these further words: Relax! Email security isn't difficult - even if you've heard frightening stories about email viruses, identity theft, and pyramid schemes. Email safety smarts can keep you and your computer clear of problem situations. Practical tips to help keep your email safe:

Scenario 1: You receive an email - it may even appear to be from a friend. It has a simple subject line and a strange-looking attachment within an unfamiliar suffix, like ".src" or it is an ".exe" file which could be anything. Your friend never said they were sending you this file. Don't click on that attachment! It could be a virus. At a minimum, contact your friend and check to be sure the attachment is safe before you open it.
Scenario 2: You get an email that appears to come from a company you trust saying they've lost your account information. They direct you to a Web site requesting your name, credit card number, and other personal information. First, call the phone number on your credit card bill and ask the "fraud" department about the validity of that email. Don't go to the Web site! Don't fill out that form! It may be a hacker trying to steal your private information.
Scenario 3: You receive junk email every day. At the bottom of these messages, there's usually a link that says you should click it to "unsubscribe" from the mailing list. See the "nevers" above!

If the unwanted email comes from a legitimate company, you can usually go to that company's website and change your account information privacy settings instead.

If you never signed up for the email, and it isn't from a company you trust, then don't click the Unsubscribe link! Clicking tells the spammers they have a valid email address.

If the unwanted email comes from a legitimate company, you can usually go to that company's website and change your account information privacy settings instead.
One final tip: Never send sensitive information, like credit card numbers, passwords, Social Security numbers, or PINs via email. Passwords should NOT be words found in a dictionary - they can be decoded. With a little care, you won't need a pound of cure.

7. Missionary Reunions and Gatherings

Philippine Missionary Reunion 2004

6 August (Friday evening) to 9 August (Monday morning) at Alton L. Collins Retreat Center outside Portland, Oregon. Contact: Pat Williams (), 503.295.7879.

Chilean Gathering

26-29 August 2004 at the LaSalle Manor Retreat Center, overlooking the Fox River in Pano, Illinois. Contact: Stan and Beryl Moore ().

River Plate Reunion

22-25 October 2004 at the Scarritt-Bennett Center in Nashville, TN. Coordinators: Carol and Dave Butler, 35 Asbury Lane, Hermitage, TN 37076, Tel: 615.874.8253, email: .

Liberia Reunion

July 8-10, 2005, at Lake Junaluska Conference and Retreat Center, Lake Junaluska, North Carolina. Contact: Ed and Peggy Hughell ().

Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia Reunion

June 23- 26, 2006 - Friday to Monday. We will need to know how many want to stay the extra day on Monday before December 2005. Contact Ernest Heard, in Nashville () with cc to Phil Wilson, the new chair ().

8. Missionary Views by Richard Schwenk, editor

Heard from Speakers at CalPac Missionary Luncheon, June 11, where: "Frequent Giver Awards" were given out by creative Rev. Dale K. Smith, CalPac Conference Coordinator for Missionary Support - a clever idea that enlivened support.

*****

Don Cobb, who works with ECHO, World Hunger, mentioned that over 842 million people in the world suffer from hunger related illnesses. To make it more graphic, Don said, every 5 minutes 85 persons die of hunger and of those, 65 are children.

*****

Romy del Rosario, professor at Union Theological Seminary in the Philippines, told that the first year class this year was the largest ever with 79 students. Now with a total 267 students, more scholarships are needed. A gift of $1000 will cover tuition, fees, books, room and board per student-pastor per year.

*****

Sandra Olewine, who works with the United Methodist Liaison in Jerusalem, Palestine, spoke vigorously against the illegal walls being built by Israel that take away property and rights from innocent people.

*****

There are probably some mission workers who assume that UMMA UpDate is sent to all missionaries free, for ever and ever. So far, I've been sending out as an "introductory offer" to all mission workers with email to make them aware of the good things UMMA is doing for them. UMMA UpDate is an "entitlement" for paid members and affiliates and works to protect your other entitlements.

Please join other mission workers and become a full member by making your check payable to "UMMA" and sending it to Fred Price. ($50 for couples and $25 for a single person, per calendar year.) Those wanting to support the work may pay $15 for Affiliate, non-voting, membership. Please do it now and note, "Dues for 2004 calendar year."

Please send your updated email address and postal address to:

Rev. Fred Price, UMMA Coordinator
165 Grandview Avenue
Pitman, NJ 08071 U.S.A.

9. Register for UMMA Gathering 2004 by Fred Price, UMMA Coordinator

The 2004 UMMA Gathering is scheduled to be held from October 17-19 at the Rodeway Inn to coincide with the GBGM Board of Directors' Meeting in a nearby hotel. UMMA will make the reservation to be sure you get the best group rate. The inn has complimentary breakfast. All other meals will be at your own expense. Please fill and return the following form to Fred Price (same address as above) or email as soon as possible to assure your room reservations.

Hi Fred,
Please reserve a place for _______________________________ (your name(s)) for the nights of (state which) 17th 18th 19th for ___ persons in ___ room(s).

___ I will inform you of my flight number with arrival and departure times and airport as soon as I know those details so arrangements can be made to help with ground transportation to the Rodeway Inn at Stamford, Connecticut.

___ I/We will be arriving by car at approximately (time) ___ and (date) ___ October 2004.

We welcome your comments: