wfn.org | Africa trip gives agency team better global perspective

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Aug. 8, 2002  News media contact: Tim Tanton7(615)742-54707Nashville, Tenn.
10-31-71BP{351}

NOTE: A photograph is available with this report.

By United Methodist News Service

Members of the United Methodist General Council on Ministries' executive
team have a better understanding of the church's global work after visiting
three African countries this summer.

The council's servant leadership team visited church ministries and leaders
in Angola, Mozambique and Zimbabwe before meeting July 22-26 in Harare,
Zimbabwe's capital. The team serves as the executive committee of the
council, which coordinates the work of the United Methodist Church's program
agencies.

"It was a bold step for you to be in Zimbabwe at such a challenging time,"
Bishop Christopher Jokomo, leader of the church's Zimbabwe Area, told the
team. The country is struggling with the AIDS pandemic and famine, as well
as tensions over land redistribution, among other problems.

The team's July 16-27 trip to Africa was a response to invitations from the
local bishops as well as to the 2000 General Conference mandate to
"strengthen our global connection and ecumenical relationships." The General
Council on Ministries wanted to be sure it is addressing the needs of the
full church as it explores issues for the future.

Council members from Africa had been encouraging such a trip for some time.
"We had not held an executive committee or full council meeting on the
continent of Africa ever," said Don Hayashi, a staff executive with the
council in Dayton, Ohio. "The feeling was if we were really taking seriously
the global relationships, we needed to listen to our central conference
members, who said, 'You cannot comprehend the ministries that we are engaged
in unless you come and see for yourself.'" 

Upon arriving on the continent, the 22-member group - consisting of 11 team
members plus staff and spouses - divided into three smaller groups, which
visited different countries. Afterward, the full group reconvened in Harare
for their business meeting. They discussed their experiences and how the
council can help represent the global nature and needs of the church. They
also visited United Methodist-related Africa University, which is
celebrating its 10th anniversary.

The team's visits and meeting in Africa represented "a profound affirmation
of the church in each location," said Bishop Edward Paup, president of the
council and leader of the church's Portland (Ore.) Area. "We had not
anticipated how meaningful the council's presence would be. The church in
these three countries is more confident and secure about its value in the
whole church of Jesus Christ because GCOM took them seriously enough to hold
a meeting outside the United States."

Jokomo's assistant, the Rev. Gladman Kapfumvuti, urged council members to
"go and tell the story of what you have seen here. Tell others that the
church in Africa is alive and that Jesus Christ lives." 

By visiting church ministries in the three African countries, the visitors
saw how United Methodists are addressing such concerns as AIDS, land mines,
poverty, infant mortality and the plight of orphans, as well as promoting
education and developing leaders. 

The team members met with bishops and leaders in each conference, including
Jokomo in Zimbabwe, Bishop Joao Somane Machado in Mozambique and Bishop
Gaspar Joao Domingos in the church's West Angola Area. Each bishop urged the
team members to tell the story about the church's work in Africa and in
their conferences.

The context for ministry in Africa is totally different from that of the
United States, Hayashi said. He cited the poverty, lack of basic resources -
such as plumbing, electricity, medical supplies, public transportation - and
other large-scale problems that the team observed. For example, the
administrator of Chicuque Rural Hospital in Mozambique told council members
that 36 percent of his admissions are active AIDS-carrying patients, and
Jokomo reported that one in five adult males in Zimbabwe is HIV-positive. 

In the face of such hardships, the church's ministries are growing, and the
council members found strong faith among the people, Hayashi said. In
Maputo, Mozambique, 43 people - most of them adults - attend a Bible school
five nights a week for two hours a night, to learn about Scriptures and how
to be good church leaders, teachers and preachers. The group is in a
three-year program to become certified church workers, joining 110 others
who have already graduated. Without public transportation or streetlights,
the students arrive for class on foot and carrying flashlights, Hayashi
said.

While visiting each country, the council members observed the work of Africa
University graduates, who are dealing with many of the critical problems
their people face. During a visit to the school itself, team members spoke
with current students, faculty and staff. 

"After our visit to Africa University and all we saw firsthand of what God
has and is doing, we became the shaken and the moved," said Bishop Rhymes
Moncure of the denomination's Nebraska Area. "GCOM has gone on record. We
will make personal as well as corporate commitments to tell the story to the
church about Africa University."

Paup expressed thanks to God for the school's ministry in Africa. "Surely by
God's grace, the 880 graduates and student body from 23 countries are making
a difference."

Paup and Moncure team-preached in the campus' Kwang Lim Chapel. Side by side
in the pulpit, both bishops recalled how the denomination's top lawmaking
body, General Conference, voted in 1988 to establish Africa University. 

"This was one of those times we United Methodists got it right," Moncure
said. "The impact this is and will continue to have on the church is one of
lasting profundity. It demonstrates what we can do by dreaming together and
working to make it happen."

"We are definitely educating future leaders for the continent of Africa, and
the GCOM members were able to see that for themselves," said James Salley,
the university's associate vice chancellor for institutional advancement.
"The agency now has a clear picture of how Africa University fits into the
whole global scheme of the United Methodist Church."

When the full General Council on Ministries meets in October, the servant
leadership team will ask it to issue a proclamation of celebration and
thanksgiving for the 10th anniversary and all that Africa University has
done. The school will hold its official celebrations Nov. 15-17, and United
Methodists throughout the connection are being encouraged to celebrate with
their own events. More information is available at www.umc.org.

During its business meeting, the team affirmed a committee proposal that one
joint training event be held for annual conference leaders in the 2005-08
quadrennium. Historically, the church has had five such events - one in each
U.S. jurisdiction. The committee will proceed with planning for one event.

The team also approved allocating $5.5 million in ethnic local church
concerns funds to the four program agencies - the Board of Discipleship,
Board of Church and Society, Board of Global Ministries and Board of Higher
Education and Ministry - for distribution in the form of grants in 2005-08.
The money will be allocated to each agency by a set formula, and the overall
amount is the same as that for the 2001-04 period. The agencies will include
the allocations in their proposed budgets to General Conference.
# # #
*Information for this story was contributed by Andra Stevens, the 10th
anniversary celebrations coordinator for Africa University; David Manyonga,
program assistant in the Africa University Information Office; and Cecelia
Long, a staff executive with the General Council on Ministries.

*************************************
United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org