wfn.org | New program encourages young adults to choose mission career

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

May 12, 1998	Contact: Linda Bloom*(212) 870-3803*New York
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NEW YORK (UMNS) - A new program aimed at encouraging young people to
pursue careers in mission work is being launched by the United Methodist
Board of Global Ministries.

"The Bishop W.T. Handy Jr. Young Adult Missioners" is about "building a
new generation of mission leadership," explained the Rev. John
McCullough, the board's associate general secretary of mission
personnel. "We're looking to identify young people who have an expressed
interest in service to the church and who may want to live that out in a
mission context."

The program is named in memory of Bishop W.T. Handy Jr., who was active
both in young adult programs and mission-related work. Handy died on
April 12.

The number of career missionaries serving the church has decreased
significantly because of retirements and the high degree of career
changes occurring in today's work force. Young Adult Missioners is one
way to address that decline, according to McCullough.

Although the Board of Global Ministries has provided mission
opportunities for young adults in the past - most notably the US-2 and
mission intern programs - the new effort will be larger and more broadly
based, he said.

As a program that stresses mission "from everywhere to everywhere," it
will highlight the increasing number of people from outside Western
countries "who are in the frontline of mission," he said.

Young Adult Missioners  also will reach out to countries that previously
had no traditional United Methodist presence. "Our church essentially
sees no boundaries," McCullough added.

Another goal is to find more effective ways for evangelization. "We need
mission personnel who will be zealous for Christ," he said.

Beginning in 1999, the Board of Global Ministries plans to place 800
Young Adult Missioners across the global church, serving two-year
assignments.  

Five hundred, drawn from all United Methodist conferences, will be
deployed to the Central Conferences outside the United States. Countries
receiving the young missionaries will include Angola, Congo, Mozambique,
Liberia, Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe in Africa; Germany, Switzerland and
France in Europe; and the Philippines in Asia.

One hundred missioners from the United States and Puerto Rico will serve
in the Central Conferences and affiliated Methodist churches. Another
100, from either the United States or Central Conferences, will have
assignments in the United States. This will replace the current US-2
program.

Fifty  missioners,  chosen from affiliated but autonomous Methodist
churches, will serve in their own countries. The countries include
Bolivia, Brazil, Peru and Cuba in Latin America and the Caribbean;
India, Japan and Korea in Asia; and Kenya in Africa.

Another 50 missioners, originating from any United Methodist conference,
will serve in new mission initiatives.

For more information about the program, contact the Board of Global
Ministries, 475 Riverside Drive, Room 320, New York, NY 10115.

# # #
United Methodist News Service
(615)742-5470
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