wfn.org | United Methodist missionaries return to Liberia

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

Nov. 21, 2003 News media contact: Linda Bloom7(212)870-38037New York E-mail:
newsdesk@umcom.org7 ALL-AA-AF-RM-I{CUL009}

NOTE: This story is part of a weeklong Close Up series on how the United
Methodist Church is helping Liberia recover from war. Photographs, video
reports and other features are available.

By Elliott Wright*

NEW YORK (UMNS) - United Methodist missionaries evacuated from war-torn
Liberia in June are returning to the West African country.

The process is expected to be complete in early December, according to the
Rev. R. Randy Day, chief executive of the United Methodist Board of Global
Ministries. 

Bishop John Innis of Monrovia said he was "so thankful because the return of
the missionaries is a sign of hope for the people of Liberia." Innis leads
the country's 168,300 United Methodists. 
	
Fourteen expatriates in United Methodist mission service, mostly from other
African nations, were evacuated from Liberia as civil war spread in the early
summer. They took up posts in adjoining countries, such as Sierra Leone,
Ghana and Guinea, many working with refugees or medical mission programs.
	
Henry R.N. Jusu, the area financial executive, was the first missionary to
return to Monrovia in early November. He reported that people were able to
move freely in the capital city but that many were seeking assistance and
that mission facilities needed extensive cleaning.

Relief specialists with the United Methodist Committee on Relief also have
returned to Liberia. On Nov. 10, relief agency workers near Monrovia began
distributing a railcar's worth of health kits, layettes and used clothing.
The shipment - assembled by volunteers at the agency's Sager-Brown Depot in
Louisiana - responded to a call for basic necessities. 

The agency is cooperating with the United Nations World Food Program to
distribute food to displaced persons camps in the capital region. In a third
project, workers are cleaning latrines in refugee camps.   

Innis expressed the deep appreciation of United Methodists in Liberia for the
prayers of the global church during the military conflict and for the
material assistance through the United Methodist Committee on Relief. 

"The relief efforts of UMCOR are very redemptive," said the bishop, who was
in the United States for a meeting of the denomination's Council of Bishops
and planned to return to Monrovia on Nov. 30. 

Missionaries in Liberia can be supported through the Advance for missionaries
outside the United States (No. 00779Z) or directly through the board's
Covenant Relationship Program.	Congregations or individuals wanting to
support particular missionaries may contact the mission support office at
covenant@gbgm-umc.org.
	
Gifts to the Liberian Emergency funds should be made to UMCOR Advance No.
150300 and sent to 475 Riverside Drive, Room 330, New York, NY 10115. 
Credit-card donations may be made by calling (800)554-8583.

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*Wright is the information officer for the United Methodist Board of Global
Ministries.

 
 

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