wfn.org | Young Methodist leader dedicated to working for church

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Oct. 3, 2002  News media contact: Kathy Gilbert7(615)742-54707Nashville,
Tenn.	10-32-71BP{450}

NOTE: This is a sidebar to UMNS story #449. Photographs are available. 

A UMNS Feature
By Kathy L. Gilbert*

In a strong, clear voice, Fabiola Grandsn delivered her report to the World
Methodist Council's executive committee. She received a standing ovation
from a roomful of Methodist leaders, most of them old enough to be her
parents or even grandparents. 

You would never guess she is uneasy about serving in leadership roles. 

"Every time God opens a door for me, I think I am not the right person for
the job," she says, laughing. But she doesn't let her unease keep her from
serving.

Grandsn is the chairperson of the World Methodist Council Youth Committee,
and from 2000 to 2001 she was national president of the Methodist Youth in
Chile. In 2003, she will be the coordinator of the Methodist Youth in Latin
American and the Caribbean for "Youth in Mission" from Chile. 

A 24- year-old accounting graduate, she has dedicated herself to working for
and with the church. 

"I was brought up in a Methodist family, my father is a pastor," she
explains. "My earliest memories are playing the guitar in church when I was
5 years old and sitting on the front pew of church."

Her father, Bishop Pedro Grandsn of Chile, has been a big influence on her
life. "I have always been his right hand. I have learned a lot about life
from his witness."

She is passionate about working for the church and for her country. She
thinks the church has been growing but still has a long way to go.

"The church needs to include all people. We don't want to discriminate, but
we do," she says. She feels the church needs to pay more attention to social
issues

"We have to have the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other," she
says. "This system (the church) is not perfect for little countries or
little churches. In Latin America, some churches are growing a lot,
especially in evangelism. Here (at the World Methodist Council), they don't
know what is happening there."

In a perfect world, the church would be more dynamic and more open to
globalization, she says.

"We have to have the opportunity to share, but sometimes we don't know about
it because of the language problem. We have to feel our mission in our heart
all the time."

# # #

*Gilbert is a news writer for United Methodist News Service.

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United Methodist News Service
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