wfn.org | UMNS# 05022-Methodists across Europe respond to tsunami

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Methodists across Europe respond to tsunami

Jan. 11, 2005	 News media contact:   Tim  Tanton * (615) 7425470*
Nashville {05022}

NOTE: A photograph of Selvie Selvaretnam is available at
http://umns.umc.org.

A UMNS Feature
By Kathleen LaCamera*

Horrified by what they saw and heard of the destruction wrought by
deadly tsunamis in South Asia, Methodists across Europe have lined up to
help in whatever way they can.

A congregation in the north of England is filling and shipping plastic
crates called "aquaboxes" that contain water purification and filter
equipment. An elderly Irish Methodist couple donated their government
winter fuel subsidy to those they believe have more need of the money.

Lithuanian United Methodists collected a special offering that will go
to the United Methodist Committee on Relief's tsunami response.
Slovakian United Methodists are collecting donations for the entire
month of January. And in the Czech Republic, where United Methodists
remember the devastating effects of recent floods in their own country,
congregations have organized a national appeal.

The story is similar in Switzerland, Germany and other parts of Europe.

In a joint statement, the president and vice president of the British
Methodist Church called on members to respond to the tragedy "with the
fullest possible expression of our common humanity." President Will
Morrey told United Methodist News Service that Methodists should use
grass-roots networks in Southeast Asia, such as women's groups, to offer
emotional and spiritual support alongside practical help.

British Methodist minister Rosemary Nunn was in Venezuela for her son's
wedding the day after Christmas when the tsunamis struck. Upon returning
to her parish in Manchester, England, she suggested a collection be
taken. To her delight, she discovered the church treasurer already had
sent almost $1,000 to the relief effort and was organizing another
collection for the following week.

The Methodist Relief and Development Fund has been overwhelmed by the
generosity of many people, said representative Sarah Hagger. The fund is
working with global Action by Churches Together International to get aid
where it is needed most in India, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. UMCOR is also
a member of ACT.

Many European Methodist churches with special links to Sri Lanka -
including congregations in Germany, Switzerland, Ireland and Britain -
have given aid directly to Sri Lankan Methodist organizations.
Acknowledging that his country has been ravaged by 20 years of civil
war, the president of the Sri Lankan Methodist Church called the
additional damage and loss caused by the tsunami "unthinkable."
Sri Lankan Methodist layworker Selvie Selvaretnam is serving a
three-year term in Wales as a World Church Development worker. She
reported that her adult son living on Sri Lanka's south coast saved
himself from the waves by clinging to a tree.

Since news of the tsunami first reached her in Wales, local people have
been "really wonderful," she said. "I didn't expect such a very personal
interest in Sri Lanka from locals."

Molly Jenkins, a member of the Jersey Marine Methodist Church, where
Selvaretnam works, said her "heart went out to Selvie" when she heard
about the tsunami. Within a short time, two girls had started a
collection for Sri Lanka.

"We're only a small village, with 150 houses, one post office, one
hotel, one church and a school," Jenkins said. "One local man gave my
husband £50 straight off for the collection."

The Rev. John Kennedy, a former British Methodist missionary to Sri
Lanka, said that in the ravaged east coast region of Sri Lanka,
Methodists are a strong presence. Along a remote part of the coastline,
people live on a strip of land with the sea on one side and a lagoon on
the other.

"They would have had no place to run. Every village would have suffered
Methodist deaths and will have Methodists survivors who will be
motivated to be a resource and help to others," Kennedy said.

By New Year's Eve, Sri Lankan Methodists already had sent 10 truckloads
of essential items for distribution to local people, irrespective of
faith, race or political affiliation. European Methodists, who are
concerned about the fair distribution of aid in Sri Lanka, hope the
disaster will bring people together.

"In all the horror, there are glimpses of hope," observed British
Methodism's president and vice president in their joint statement. "In
Sri Lanka, we hear of remarkable local acts of courage and generosity as
Sinhalese and Tamil, Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim and Christian come together
in common need and support."

French and Swiss Methodists, who have no international relief channels
of their own, have donated special collections to UMCOR. United
Methodists throughout Switzerland also joined with representatives of
other faiths for a Swiss National Collecting Day. A national memorial
service was held for disaster victims, and 130 million Swiss francs
($110 million) was collected in donations.

Even in areas where European Methodists are hard-pressed by economic and
political difficulties, people have been keen to join in the relief
effort.

In Belfast, Northern Ireland regulars at the East Belfast Mission's day
center are dropping coins into a tsunami relief bucket. Elderly church
members ask "Meals on Wheels" volunteers to deliver their relief
donations to the church. Teenagers, benefiting from a United Methodist
funded Advance Special project, inquire if they can organize a
fund-raising event. In Macedonia, where the unemployment rate is between
40 and 80 percent, Methodists are committed to being part of the global
relief effort.

In the Ukraine the political landscape remains uncertain, and salaries
average about $100 a month. Still United Methodist leaders there hope to
consider the possibility of a collection for the tsunami relief effort
later this year. Ukrainian Methodist churches have only just finished
collecting a special offering to benefit victims of last fall's Beslan
tragedy, in which terrorists took over a Russian school.

During a recent sermon at the Styal Methodist Church in Cheshire,
England, the Rev. Charles New pointed to the unprecedented public
response to the disaster as "evidence of the image of God on humankind."

"I cannot be indifferent to what has happened because God is not
indifferent," New said. "... This outpouring of love that we are
witnessing right round the world is a fundamental human instinct that
allows us to see, for a brief moment, just how we have been created to
be."

Donations to UMCOR's "South Asia Emergency" relief efforts can be placed
in local church offering plates or sent directly to UMCOR, 475 Riverside
Drive, Room 330, New York, NY 10115. Designate checks for UMCOR Advance
#274305 and "South Asia Emergency." Online donations can be made at
www.methodistrelief.org. Those making credit-card donations can call
(800) 554-8583.

*LaCamera is a United Methodist News Service correspondent based in
England.

News media contact: Tim Tanton, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or
newsdesk@umcom.org.

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United Methodist News Service