wfn.org | New York and Vermont become mission ground for Mozambique

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

June 5, 1998      Contact: Linda Green*(615)742-5470*Nashville, Tenn.
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By United Methodist News Service

A team of  "missionaries" from Mozambique is visiting United Methodist
congregations in New York and Vermont, spreading the word about the
church's volunteer work in the African country.
 
An 11-member team of clergy and lay people arrived in the Troy Annual
(regional) Conference May 25 on a Volunteers In Mission quest to visit
churches in the Northeast. During their trip, which lasts through June
15, they are telling about their faith and how the church in Africa has
been strengthened, as well as sharing "gifts from Mozambique."  

Since 1980, when Mozambique's first mission station was established in
the Inhambane Province, missionaries from the United States have
regularly visited the African country "to help, to teach, to give," said
United Methodist Bishop Joao Somane Machado of Mozambique. "But it has
been all (in) one direction."

Now, mission is moving in two directions, he said. "We are financially
poor, but we have much to give."

Machado described this faith-sharing excursion to New York and Vermont
as "turning a page in the history of the church." 

The idea for the trip grew out of dialogues during 1993 and 1995 visits
to Mozambique by Troy conference Volunteers In Mission teams. The team
members discovered an "extraordinary faith" among the people of the
African nation. The group decided that the best gift the people there
could give would be to visit New York and Vermont and share aspects of
their faith, said the Rev. Bill Barney, pastor of Christ United
Methodist Church, Glens Falls, N.Y.

The intent of the Mozambicans' trip to the Troy conference is "for them
to witness their faith, their hope and the struggles they face in the
poorest country in the world," Barney said.

The 324 churches in the conference raised $40,000 to cover the cost of
the visit.

The delegates from Mozambique attended the May 28-31 annual conference
session and will spend two weeks visiting local churches, where they
will participate in worship services, programs and dinners, and describe
the church's work in their country.

During the annual conference session in Poultney, Vt., the African
representatives shared their gifts of music, dance and testimony. They
told of how Mozambique had been ravaged by a 17-year civil war following
the defeat of the nation's Portuguese rulers in 1975. Team members spoke
of children killed or maimed by the land mines that still cover the
countryside. Despite the poverty, turmoil and upheaval, the delegates
reported a strong spirit of God among the people.

The conference's invitation to Mozambique signifies "that we all have
gifts to share with one another," Machado said. The United Methodist
Church there is flourishing, while the church in the United States in
declining, he said. "We can bring you what we have, we can share our
faith." 

The Rev. Jamisee Taimo, one of the Mozambican visitors, agreed.

"This is not an American Methodist Church and a Mozambique Methodist
Church. We are the UNITED Methodist Church," he said in a presentation
to the delegates at the annual conference.

Brenda Arley wants conference members to get the message that the United
Methodist Church is connected. Arley is chairwoman of the planning team
that arranged for the delegates' arrival.

"We hope this visit helps the conference realize that we have brothers
and sisters of the United Methodist Church in Mozambique."

# # #

*Information for this story was adapted from a release submitted by
Holly E. Nye, media editor for the Troy Conference.

United Methodist News Service
(615)742-5470
Releases and photos also available at
http://www.umc.org/umns/