wfn.org | 27 young adults take mission posts

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

Aug. 16, 2000 News media contact: Linda Bloom·(212)870-3803·New York
10-30-71B{371}

ATLANTA (UMNS) - The United Methodist Board of Global Ministries has
commissioned 27 young adults to serve as US-2s and mission interns around
the world.

The young people, who were commissioned during services on Aug. 6 and 13,
will serve in North, Central and South America, Europe, Africa and Asia.
Their assignments are as diverse as the Asia Rural Institute in Japan and a
ministry called 40 Acres and a Mule in Kansas City, Mo.

The US-2 program assigns young missionaries to leadership development
ministries within the United States for a two-year period.

The 2000-2002 class of US-2s includes William Andrews, Virginia Annual
Conference, assigned to Calexico (Calif.) Neighborhood House; Elisabeth
Baumann, Minnesota Annual Conference, to Navajo UMN, Farmington, N.M.;
Susannah Bew, Florida Annual Conference, to the Asheville (N.C.) Buncombe
Community; Bonney Elzerman, West Michigan Annual Conference, to the
Frankford Group Ministry, Philadelphia; and Carrie Finegan, Alaska
Missionary Conference, to the Hampden/Woodberry/Remington United Methodist
Parish, Baltimore.

Also, Karoline Jarr, Kansas East Annual Conference, to CUMAC/ECHO in
Paterson, N.J.; Ruth Newman, Tennessee Annual Conference, Frankford Group
Ministry; Anna Katy Robinson, South Georgia Annual Conference, to The
Shepherd's Way/Christ Church, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; and Matt Shimmin,
Illinois Great Rivers Annual Conference, to 40 Acres and a Mule in Kansas
City, Mo.

Also, Jordan Tidrick, North Georgia Annual Conference, to the Emma Norton
Residence, St. Paul, Minn.; Jenna Van Laningham, Kentucky Annual Conference,
to the Community Food Bank, Tucson, Ariz.; Montira Warran,
California-Pacific Annual Conference, to the Gum Moon Women's Residence, San
Francisco; Alison Whisnant, North Carolina Annual Conference, to the
Wilkinson Center, Dallas; and Farouk and Joanna Zaman, both of Pakistan, to
Project Transformation/Wesley Rankin Community Center, Dallas.

Mission interns are assigned to three-year terms that include 15 months of
work/study in an international setting followed by 16 months of
action/education in their own countries. The focus is on ministries of peace
with justice.  

The 2000-2003 class of mission interns includes Shelley Cavalieri, West Ohio
Annual Conference, assigned to Pellegrino della Terra, Palermo, Italy;
Theodore Crum, North Georgia Annual Conference, to Catholic Relief Services,
Jerusalem; Laurie Day, Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference, to the Forthspring
Inter-Community Group, Belfast, Northern Ireland; Briana Harris, Iowa Annual
Conference, to the Christian Commission for Development, Tegucigalpa,
Honduras; C. Michele Johns, Alabama/West Florida Annual Conference, to
Montevideo, Uruguay; Michael Mann, of an affiliate denomination in Alabama,
to the National Council of Churches in India, Nagpur; and Juvilyn Manuel,
North Central Philippines Annual Conference, assignment pending.
	
Also, Katherine Parker, California-Nevada Annual Conference, to the Asian
Rural Institute, Tochigi-ken, Japan; Andrew Payne, Southwest Texas Annual
Conference, to the Mindolo Ecumenical Foundation, Kitwe, Zambia; Melissa
Porter, Virginia Annual Conference, to Boia Frio Community Center, San
Antonio de Platina, Brazil; Rocio del Carmen Ramirez, Northern Illinois
Annual Conference, assignment pending; and Sylvia Stern, Missouri West and
Eastern Pennsylvania annual conferences, assigned to Eglise Methodists Unie
au Senegal, Dakar Fann, Senegal.

Both groups of young adults were commissioned following successful
completion of a period of preparation and training at the Mission Resource
Center, a cooperative effort of the Board of Global Ministries, United
Methodist-related Candler School of Theology at Emory University and the
Interdenominational Theological Center.  
	
The denomination's official mission agency currently supports more than
1,900 mission personnel serving in 60 countries.
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