wfn.org | UMNS# 04588-Fuller, Habitat receive Methodist Peace Award

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Fuller, Habitat receive Methodist Peace Award 

Dec. 13, 2004	 News media contact:   Linda  Bloom * (646) 3693759*  New
York {04588}

NOTE: Related materials are available online at http://umns.umc.org.

By Alice M. Smith*

ATLANTA (UMNS) -- The man, Millard Fuller, and the organization he founded,
Habitat for Humanity International -- which will build its 200,000th house
next year for a low-income family -- were honored Dec. 8 with the 2004 World
Methodist Peace Award.

Presented by the World Methodist Council to Fuller and Rey Ramsey of
Washington, president of Habitat's international board of directors, the
award recognizes contributions to peace, reconciliation and justice. Glenn
Memorial United Methodist Church on the campus of Emory University hosted the
ceremony.

The Rev. George Freeman, the council's executive secretary, called the peace
award "the highest honor the people called Methodist bestow on anybody." The
World Methodist Council, headquartered at Lake Junaluska, N.C., represents 76
different denominations in the Methodist/Wesleyan tradition, with 40 million
members and a constituency of 75 million.

In 1987, when former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, an active supporter of
Habitat, received the World Methodist Peace Award, Millard and Linda Fuller
were in the audience. The Carters live in Plains, Ga., which is a short
distance from Habitat's international headquarters in Americus.

Representatives of both the World Methodist Council and Habitat attended the
ceremony.  International guests included His Eminence Sunday Mbang of
Nigeria, chairperson of the council's executive committee; the Rev. Brian
Fletcher, president of the Methodist Church in Ireland, which nominated
Fuller and Habitat for the award; and Peter Faquarson, director of the
Habitat program in Northern Ireland.

Accepting the award, Fuller said no other honor has been "more meaningful"
since it is a peace award and comes from Methodists, who are involved in
larger numbers in Habitat than any other faith group or denomination.

Fuller said the Habitat vision is rooted in "peacemaking," which also
emphasizes racial reconciliation, generosity and sharing.  "From the very
beginning," he said, "I have wanted to bring the various Christian
denominations together to work and to build, side-by-side, with love and
peace in our hearts."

While Habitat is "non-denominational" and "non-doctrinal," it is "openly and
unashamedly a Christian organization," Fuller said, although people of other
faiths are involved both in the building and receiving of Habitat homes.

The goal of the 29-year-old organization is to eliminate poverty housing and
homelessness in the world.  Habitat has made a dent in the problem with
activity in 100 countries, and in all states and 1,700 cities in the United
States.  

In August 2005, Habitat projects it will build its 200,000th house for its
millionth person. It will have taken nearly 30 years to reach that milestone,
but Fuller projects housing for the next one million will be completed in six
years.

Although charitable in nature, Habitat is not a "give-away" program. Families
who receive the homes both pay a mortgage and spend hours building their
homes.	The mortgages are interest-free to keep monthly payments low.  Income
from payments made by the families is used to build new Habitat homes.

Thousands and thousands of volunteers work side-by-side with potential
homeowners in the construction of quality-built, modest homes.	Businesses
donate supplies, lowering the cost of building even more.

Fuller said he considers all of Habitat's work a peace-making endeavor as it
provides decent and affordable housing to deserving people and also builds
bridges between people of differing faiths, such as Protestants and Catholics
in Northern Ireland and Christians and Muslims in the southern Filipino
province of Mindanao.  "Walls of suspicion and hostility are coming down as
walls for houses go up," he added.

In his expression of thanks to Methodists, Fuller included his appreciation
for stands for peace, opposition to the death penalty and understanding that
"faith alone, without works, is dead."

He quoted extensively from John Wesley and also noted the United Methodist
Social Principles' stance that war is "incompatible" with the teachings of
Jesus. He made his opposition to the Iraqi war clear and said peacemaking is
often seen as "weak and ineffective" but countered that "reconciliation,
faith and gentleness have more staying power than brute force."

"It ain't easy," Fuller said, "but it is the way of Jesus.  It is the way of
the cross. And ultimately it is the best way."
	
The award was presented as management changes are taking place in the Habitat
organization.	Fuller, 69, continues in the role as founder and president
but not as CEO, a position now being filled on an interim basis by Paul
Leonard. Fuller plans to continue in his role as the organization's most
visible spokesperson. 

*Smith is editor of the Wesleyan Christian Advocate, the newspaper of the
Georgia United Methodists.

News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or
newsdesk@umcom.org.

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United Methodist News Service