wfn.org | Rest of world knows terror too well, mission chief says

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Oct. 26, 2001     News media contact: Linda Bloom7(212) 870-38037New York
10-21-71B{494}

NOTE: For related coverage of the United Methodist Board of Global
Ministries' meeting, see UMNS story #493. 

STAMFORD, Conn. (UMNS) - While the horrifying terrorist attacks of Sept. 11
were unprecedented for the United States, the fear and panic they induced
are well known in other parts of the world.

The Rev. Randolph Nugent, chief executive of the United Methodist Board of
Global Ministries, shared that message as he described the experiences that
come with mission work around the world.

"We have seen refugees fleeing for their very lives by the tens of thousands
the world over," Nugent told board directors during their Oct. 22-25 annual
meeting. "We have seen them jammed, stuffed and packed into refugee camps at
national borders which make the emergency shelter facilities hastily
provided for displaced persons from lower Manhattan look like the New York
Plaza Hotel."

Although it was shocking to all that thousands of bodies lay beneath the
rubble of the World Trade Center, "...we have seen corpses stacked in such
numbers before, and we have experienced the odor of death in mission in
Rwanda and Congo and other places torn by civil strife," he added.

Random car searches, restricted access to public places and the demand for
photo identification have been common since Sept. 11. "Such constricted
scrutiny is a brand-new experience for most persons in the United States,"
Nugent said. "But we have been through it all before in mission, in Eastern
Europe before the collapse of the Berlin Wall, in South Africa before the
demolition of apartheid, in Palestine past and present."

As Americans have lost their "protected condition of isolated innocence,"
they have become a little closer to others in the human family who never had
such protection, according to Nugent.

A lesson to be learned from such tragedy is that deeds of "unbelievable love
and compassion" can occur in its midst. "These acts of caring and of loving
should be understood as signs to the Christian community, signs about the
places in which the teachings take hold," Nugent said. He considers those
acts to be the result "of the long and constant teaching which commands us
to love our neighbor, to care for the stranger, and to assist those in
need."

He added that he was not referring to firefighters and other rescue workers
constantly called to a life of service, but of "ordinary people who live
everyday lives." In tragic situations anywhere, the constant presence of God
can be found. "Where but in mission do people learn to give themselves away
for others?" Nugent asked.

"I would suggest that what we can learn is that faith does matter, and that
teachings, education and example have made a difference," he declared.

Promoting dialogue among faith groups is another way to make a difference.
Nugent called for "immediate attention" to places where United Methodist or
Methodist churches live in close, daily proximity with Islam, particularly
where Christians have done little to make contact with their Islamic
neighbors.

"The opportunities are rich for dialogue - although one should not suggest
that such dialogue would be welcomed or easy to bring about," he said. Some
churches, in countries such as the Philippines, Nigeria, Russia, Democratic
Republic of Congo, Tanzania and Sierra Leone, have made such contact and
could provide assistance, he added.

He noted that interfaith dialogue traditionally has taken place with the
Orthodox, Roman Catholics and Jewish groups. "The movement into significant
dialogue with Islam shifts the locale for mission to a center where there
has not been major attention, as well as into cultures about which very
little is known and into different racial and societal circumstances and
frameworks. But we cannot fail or hesitate to move into these directions."

By engaging people of other faiths and learning from that contact, Nugent
said, United Methodists can "become a greater strength for peace and
stability in a very insecure world."

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United Methodist News Service
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