United Methodist Missionary Association

UMMA Update, Christmas 2010 (pdf version), No. 74

In this issue

A Word from the Editor
Recruiting Young Adults for Mission
Word from the Chair
MIR Position Opening
A Mid-Timers' Report from Milano, Italy
GBGM's New Director of Mission Communications
UMMA Explores the "LILLIPUT STRATEGY"
Flooding in Central America
Passings Noted
Comments and Thanks from Our Readers
Reunions Anticipated
Links of Interest

1. A Word from the Editor ()

UMMA UpDate is available via e-mail from an "announcement-only" Google group (groups.google.com/group/umma-members), 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 ().

We hope you have found opportunity for a Christ-centered Advent and that you will sense "Emmanuel" - God with us - this Christmas season and throughout the new year. - Your editor, Jim Dwyer

2. Recruiting Young Adults for Mission

Elizabeth Chun Hye ("Liz") Lee (), GBGM Executive for Young Adult Missionary Services, enlists our help in recruiting candidates for 3-year Mission Intern and 2-year US-2 programs before the February 15 application deadline. More info can be found here.

3. Word from the Chair

Dear colleagues in mission,
The busy-ness of our lives often takes a great crescendo as we pass through Advent, anticipating Christmas: never enough time; always in a "triage" mode: what to do first? what to let go. Sitting in a communion circle with United Methodist Volunteers in Mission at the Methodist Church of Haiti Guest House in mid-December, we shared what we would take away from our time in Haiti. How quickly I seemed to have "spaced" in practice what I shared: "What I have gained most from my Haitian colleagues during my multiple visits this year is their sense of calm, assurance and yet resoluteness in the face of seemingly insurmountable challenges." In spite of the enormous demands on their time, their personal and institutional resources, the leaders of the Methodist Church of Haiti have continually conveyed a sense of calm and assurance, as well as determination to overcome. The source, I believe, is that "peace of God, which transcends all understanding."

Recall what the year 2010 has been like for the people of Haiti. A massive, devastating earthquake taking the lives of upwards of 300,000 people; months of snail's-paced progress in rubble removal and resettlement of 1.5 million displaced persons; a 30-minute September storm destroying 8,000 tents, killing six and downing trees that knocked out power to many for over a month; an October outbreak of cholera, a disease unknown in Haiti for the past century, followed within days by Hurricane Tomás whose most powerful winds mercifully navigated the Windward Passage between Haiti and Cuba but still induced torrents of rainfall followed by flooding that contributed to the spread of cholera into epidemic proportions (100,000 cases and more than 2,000 deaths). And if the pummeling from the natural order were not enough to bring despair, the highly suspect preliminary results of the presidential election disgorged tens of thousands of incensed Haitians onto the streets for three days and nights, bringing the entire country to a standstill.

In Haiti, in Sudan, in the Middle East and other places where the search for peace with a full measure of justice often seems an impossible dream, let us return to the original Advent promise: "[God] has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty." - to once again be renewed in faith and commitment to be instruments of God's peace and justice. Let us emerge from this Advent and Christmas season not harried and hurried but renewed in determination to continue our walk alongside Haitians, Sudanese and Palestinians in their struggles for justice and peace. Let us not grow weary in this life-long calling and journey toward justice which will bring genuine peace on earth. Grace and peace to all. - Jim Gulley, UMMA Chair ()

4. MIR Position Opening

Bruce Griffith, Associate General Secretary for Missionary Services, recently wrote a letter to all active GBGM "standard support" missionaries inviting letters of application for a three-year assignment as Missionary in Residence. Letters were to be sent to his Administrative Assistant Alexandra Franco () by December 17. UMMA's Chair Jim Gulley is officially requesting that letters continue to be received through the end of the year to allow your response to this announcement.

5. A Mid-Timers- Report - from "PENNE & INK" - November 2010
Revs. Kristin and David Markay (), Chiesa Evangelica Metodista, Milano and Novara, Italy

On Gabriel(s)
"I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you this good news." (Luke 1:19)

"How was your week, Gabriel?" I asked. His response to my routine question startled me.

"Pastor," he said, raising his large fists near his face, "I am glad you asked. I must tell you what happened!" The tribal scar on his cheek glistened in the sanctuary lights.

"Pastor, a miracle happened to me this week. A miracle!" He released his fists and raised his long arms, pointing both index fingers upwards. "A miracle!" he repeated, more toward the heavens than to me.

"I needed to go to Hospital San Paolo for a test. You know, Bus 94, the orange one, goes there. So I took it to the end of the line. Then, I knew I had to take another bus, a blue one. You know it, the blue one?

"I found the fermata and stood there for a while, and the blue bus, it came. I boarded the blue bus and showed the man my ticket from the orange bus. The driver, he looked at me, and shook his head. He told me that I needed a different ticket for his bus. But I did not know that! I had spent my money for the first ticket. I had no money in my pocket.

"I looked around and saw a woman. 'Signora," I said, "I need a ticket for this bus. Could you please give me 2 Euro?' She shook her head and moved away.

"I found another signora. I asked her. She also said no. You know, with my dark face, the Italians are sometimes afraid.

"What was I to do? I had waited for this appointment for 3 months. And today was the day. I had to go to the hospital.

"Suddenly, someone touched my coat. He was a young man. An Italian. He said to me, 'Here, here is a biglietto.' he said. And he handed me an unused ticket!"

Gabriel's eyes got big. Without a trace of irony or sarcasm, he said, "Pastor, the Lord, he is so good. He knows what we need!" His voice raised up to a high-pitch: "He performs miracles in the desert! Miracles! He holds us in the palm of his hands! Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord who does miracles!"

He is not the first Gabriel to have alerted someone to God's silent and miraculous activity.

On the Church and Same Sex Partnership
The Italian Methodist and Waldensian congregations are in a phase of emotional (and potentially divisive) discussions about the issue of homosexuality and same-sex unions. Here is a sampling of some of the most helpful comments we have heard: "I do not agree with that interpretation of the Scripture. But I will commit myself to research." - "Their views are backed by the Bible, as they know it." - "Before we speak, let's listen and study." - "One day God will judge if I am right or wrong. For now, I have to remember that you are my sister." - "This issue is a combination of Bibbia (Bible) and pancia (gut). I may not change my view on the Bibbia. I will work on my pancia." - "Pastor, you remember how angry I have been with those two liberals. Well, I just wanted you to know that we had coffee together this week."

On Moving On
(The Markays' 15 years of missionary service with GBGM - in Lithuania, as Missionaries-in-Residence in New York, and in Italy - will come to an end in August 2011. Their future service will be in the British Methodist Church. They await word of their next assignment.)

With our wishes to each of you for a holy Advent - The Markays
Advance Special numbers: Kristin #12193Z, David #12192Z

6. Greetings from GBGM's Director of Mission Communications
Associate General Secretary Larry Hygh (), (212.870.3770) (Room 1473)

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

For the past three months it has been an overwhelming joy to join you in mission and ministry at [GBGM]! I know that you have been the hands and feet of Christ all around the world helping to empower people to live their best lives!

I am a layperson and lifelong, fifth-generation Methodist. My great-great grandfather, who was a freed slave, who migrated from Macon, Georgia, to Ore City, Texas, after slavery, was Methodist, and a portion of my family has been Methodist since that day. I grew up in Ebenezer United Methodist Church in Marshall, Texas.

I come to 475 Riverside Drive after serving for eight years as the director of communications for the California-Pacific Conference …. Prior to Southern California, I served for two years in the Baltimore-Washington Conference, a year in the Mississippi Conference, and a year in the New England Conference. It has been a blessing for me to be in ministry in four of the five US United Methodist jurisdictions.

At the general church level, I was a lay delegate to the 2008 General Conference, and have served on the General Commission on Communications (UMCom), Strengthening the Black Church for the 21st Century, the board of directors for Black Methodists for Church Renewal, the Bishop Melvin G. Talbert Leadership Institute, the African American Methodist Heritage Center, and the board of the United Methodist Association of Communicators (UMAC). Currently, I serve on the board of trustees at Lon Morris College, a United Methodist related institution in Jacksonville, Texas. Since coming to GBGM, I have witnessed an integrated health campaign on the African continent to combat malaria and the killer diseases of poverty that included the distribution of bed nets in Sierra Leone. I have seen our agency launch 10-Fold, an interactive global gathering that puts faith into action, living out the commitment of The United Methodist Church to congregational development, leadership development, global health, and ministry with the poor. Each day brings excitement as I hear about and witness God's faithful people called United Methodists in ministry in more than 125 countries around the world.

I whole-heartedly believe, in this day and age not only are we called to tell an oral story of Jesus' love, but we must embrace all the technologies that are available to us to lift up his name all around the world. I believe that God is calling The United Methodist Church to move rapidly and aggressively beyond our walls and to share our faith stories with the world. Communications plays the most important role in helping to tell that story not only to The United Methodist Church, but to the secular world as well.

I look forward to moving us forward technologically. Please contact me with any ideas or suggestions on how Mission Communications can best serve you as you tell the story. I look forward to getting to know each of you as we continue to build God's Kingdom!

7. UMMA Explores the "LILLIPUT STRATEGY" - Part 1 - Douglas Wingeier ()

Aware of the way the tiny Lilliputians in Jonathan Swift's 18th century novel, Gulliver's Travels, joined forces to tie up the giant Gulliver and thereby remove him as a threat to their liberty and well-being, many present-day First World (i.e. "Minority World") activists for some time have been adopting the "Lilliput Strategy" in the present day. This involves collaborating with peasants, workers, and human rights advocates in the "Majority World" to seek justice by tying up giant multinational corporations on issues like sweatshops, deforestation, privatization of public utilities, and pollution of indigenous land and water by mines and factories. Boycotts, negative publicity, lawsuits, and shareholder resolutions here have joined in solidarity with strikes, demonstrations, and union organizing efforts and protests there to shame, force, or convince large corporations to "do the right thing" for the people.

At their recent meeting in Nashville, UMMA members considered how to utilize the "Lilliput Strategy" in taking action on three current issues--the worldwide boycott of Coca Cola beverages, the consumption of bottled water, and the use of fair trade products.

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 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, Nestles and other large corporations. Studies show that this water is often no safer 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 Nestles, 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 other church-related gatherings are held.

8. Flooding in Central America

Nan McCurdy () (Nicaragua) and Becky Harrell () (Costa Rica) have both reported on the effects of tropical rains and hurricanes in their respective settings. Nan's report witnesses to the importance of the work of the organization Mujer y Comunidad (Women and Community) in Nicaragua: "San Francisco Libre is once again under water! …. Lake Managua is now a meter higher than during Hurricane Mitch [at] 4.42 meters [more than 14 feet] above its normal level….One-hundred-fifty families up in Lomas del Sol (Sunny Hills) - the new neighborhood built by Women and Community with help from UMCOR after Hurricane Mitch - are housing 150 more displaced families." As part of a harrowing story of individual loss of life and personal tragedy in the floods and mudslides in the path of Tropical Storm Tomás exacerbated by recent deforestation for new housing, Becky reflects: "…This life is not without difficulties nor is it forever. Our actions…as we seek a better life for…our families…affect others. Telling nature where to live, where to be, how to act, may leave us in great dilemma."

9. Passings Noted - Our Thoughts and Prayers go out to Families and Loved Ones

Word has come of Gertrude Bloede's death on November 1, 2010: "How appropriate that God should call home this saint on All Saints Day. [At 99 she was] very alert and busy to the end," wrote Randy Crouse at Otterbein Home in Ohio. Nephews Curtis Bernd, N 2583 Melody Lane, Waupaca, WI 54981, and Keith Bernd, 1955 16th Avenue, Grafton, WI 53024, survive her.

The Rev. William T. Carter, former director for 27 years of the Advance for Christ and His Church, died November 22 at age 68 in Little Rock, Arkansas, where he and his wife, Etta, had been living. Messages of condolence may be sent to 6403 Shirley Drive, Little Rock, AR 72204-1571.

Word has reached us of the death of Ruth Ann Bonorden Robinson Caulfield at age 81 on September 28. The Memorial Service was held in First UMC in Port Lavaca, Texas, on October 23. Memorial gifts may be directed to GBGM's "Encounter with Christ Permanent Fund." Ruth Ann served in Angola, Bolivia, Ecuador, as MIIR in the South Central Jurisdiction, and in a second assignment to Bolivia before retirement in 1994.

Rev. Finis B. Jeffery died on July 16, 2010. He was 92. His obituary describes a dramatic call to missionary service in Korea. Cf. Condolences can be addressed to his widow Shirley Jeffery, 730 Babcock Road, Apt.4401, San Antonio, TX 78201-2669.

Barbara Rogers, daughter of Loyd and Margaret Schaad, has shared word of their death in Portland, OR. Margaret died February 15; Loyd died September 27 of this year. Email notes of condolence can be sent to Mrs. Rogers at .

10. Comments and Thanks From Our Readers

What an inspiration the Gorans' reflections are! It is a joy to see young missionaries take up the torch with such sensitivity and fruitfulness, that we once carried! Meanwhile, the last week of October I delighted in attending the reunion of the Stony Point class of 1965, which was held at Brooks-Howell in Asheville. Twenty-four of us renewed friendships and learned of the trajectories of our lives in these 45 intervening years. A wonderful experience! Best wishes and blessings, - Marianne Hutchinson

11. Reunions Anticipated

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

12. Links of Interest

New Preferred Plan Organization (PPO) for GBGM benefits for active missionaries when in the USA: Multiplan/PHCS, 888.342.7427 (cf. Health Happenings, November 2010 (pdf))

The Four Corners Native American Ministry's Newsletter from Shiprock, NM, provides a non-traditional perspective on U.S. Thanksgiving worth noting (Horizons: Views from Shiprock: "Voilá, Thanksgiving Day!")

Jim Perdue (), a GBGM missionary in the Desert Southwest Conference recently provided jurisdictional CSGMs [Conference Secretaries of Global Ministries] with insights into "Immigration 101," "Holy Conversation" and related essential resources for our century.

The newsletter of the Universidad Bíblica Latinoamericana (pdf).

We welcome your comments: