Zimbabwe hosts Social Principles training

By the Rev. Clayton Childers*

HARARE, Zimbabwe (UMNS) - Facing desperate social conditions, 121 United Methodist church leaders in Zimbabwe studied the church's Social Principles as an instrument for change in a nation burdened with systemic economic, medical and political challenges.

"Overwhelming social conditions in Zimbabwe have forced the church to reevaluate how we do our mission and ministry from top to bottom," said Bishop Eben Nhiwatiwa, leader of the denomination's Zimbabwe area. "We can't continue in the old model."

The Social Principles of The United Methodist Church speak to human issues in the contemporary world based on biblical and theological study.

In Zimbabwe, the human issues include 80 percent unemployment and skyrocketing inflation. A confusing "para-economy," or street economy, pays 3,000 Zimbabwe dollars for every one U.S. dollar while the official exchange rate used at hotels and banks is 250 Zimbabwe dollars to every one U.S. dollar.

One in four Zimbabweans have AIDS or test positive for HIV, while the health care system is overwhelmed by a large number of medical professionals who have left the country because of horrendous working conditions.

Meanwhile, the African nation is struggling to repay a massive debt on International Monetary Fund loans. Many people identify "good governance" as the major challenge facing Zimbabwe today. Frustration is rampant and the administration of President Robert Mugabe recently began forbidding political demonstrations in areas around Harare.

Training and dialogue on the Social Principles was provided during two three-day sessions in February near Harare and also near Mutare. The event was facilitated by the United Methodist Board of Church and Society, which is planning similar training events on the Social Principles this year in Angola, Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

During the Zimbabwe consultation, participants discussed the rich Christian tradition of social engagement demonstrated in the Bible by Moses, Esther, Nathan and the prophets. Also addressed was the liberating ministry of Jesus Christ for marginalized people and the church's rich history of reaching out to embrace the least, the last and the lost.

Exercises allowed participants to share personal opinions about a number of the Social Principles, which have been established by the General Conference, the denomination's top lawmaking body.

Even in the midst of tremendous national challenges, the United Methodist Church in Zimbabwe is thriving. A visit to Streamview United Methodist Church, a rudimentary wooden structure, found 1,200 dedicated worshippers and hundreds of children, with membership growing and vibrant worship services.

"The United Methodist Church is well known in Zimbabwe for Africa University and its many other educational institutions, community clinics, children's homes and ministries of emergency assistance," said the Rev. Lloyd Nyarota, who helped lead the training sessions.

"Still we must move on to imagine responses that carry us from ministries of mercy to ministries of justice; we must move on to address the root causes of our problems," said Nyarota, coordinator of special projects for the Zimbabwe area.

"We also must engage the government and do this at all levels," said Gabriel S. Manyangadze of the Zimbabwe Council of Churches.

"As church leaders you need to get to know your government officials. If you work with youth, find out who in the government also works with youth. Go see them. Talk to them about what you see as the greatest needs in your community. See if there are ways you can collaborate," she said.

Participants pledged to pray for Zimbabwe, lead dialogues on the Social Principles in their home communities and work through their local churches to make a difference.

*Childers is director of conference relations, United Methodist Board of Church and Society, Washington.

2007 Easter Message from the Rev. R. Randy Day, general secretary of the General Board of Global Ministries

Resurrection 2007: A Letter to United Methodists

Dear Brothers and Sisters:

Do you ever stop to wonder why our Christian celebration of the Resurrection of Christ is accompanied each spring by colored eggs, bunny rabbits, baby chicks, and pounds of chocolate? I will admit that I do, and I don’t always feel charitable about these cultural trappings. An easy reaction is to blame commercial interests, but Wal-Mart, Macy’s, and Hallmark aren’t really responsible.

The “Easter-ization” of the central festival of Christianity began centuries ago as the church expanded to include various tribes and nations. Somewhere I read that it was easier for people to accept a new religion than to give up old holiday customs; the Nativity and Crucifixion/Resurrection came to overlap older Roman and northern European festivals. We inherited yule logs and Santa Clause in winter and eggs and rabbits in spring, along with the name “Easter” itself, picked up from a fertility cult especially popular in medieval Germanic lands but also quite ancient.

Christian leaders showed creativity in the cultural absorption process, and I like the image of the church being able to appreciate and use common goods and worldly symbols. That says something about the universal nature of God’s grace; after all, the water of baptism and the bread and drink of Holy Communion are common elements of life. The eggs and bunnies of Easter were interpreted in Christian circles as representing new life, rebirth, resurrection. Okay, I can accept that, to some degree, a limited degree, but I wonder whether live baby chicks colored green or baskets of red eggs and marshmallow-filed chocolate rabbits serve much gospel purpose in 2007.

No, I think there are better symbols of Christian new life than chicks and bunnies; better than lilies, dogwood, and tulips, as beautiful as those are. I am thinking more of life renewed by the power of God’s love, that same love that triumphed over death on the cross, a love that cannot be killed by any human force.

I am thinking about the more abundant life of the spirit that comes through our new congregations in Mongolia, Cameroon, Honduras, and El Paso; about the lives given futures by anti-malaria ministries; about talents assisted to flower through educational programs and scholarships; about the renewed prospects that come to towns in Sumatra and Mississippi after natural disasters; about the lives sustained and nourished by refugee and agriculture ministries in Sudan. I am thinking about movement from the shadows of darkness into God’s dawn, a light that not even the darkness of death can extinguish.

The culture at large will retain the Easter of bunnies delivering eggs, but can we shift the emphasis among ourselves, church members? Can we:

+Give a gift to feed a hungry child each time we eat a chocolate,
+Donate to foster agriculture in a poor country whenever we see a baby chick,
+Re-use last year's Easter basket as an offering plate for starting a new congregation,
+Buy a lily and make a pledge to support a missionary, and
+Dye an egg and visit the lonely and the homeless?

We have a vigorous faith—strong, resolute, and life-giving. Can we lay aside the soft and sentimental nature symbols of Easter, symbols we barely understand, in favor of vital Christian hope and the promise of life renewed by God’s vibrant love?

I think we can; I think we must. We can because we are not alone on the road that leads onward from Holy Week, the road that moves into the world from the Sunday of Resurrection. Jesus is with us, as he was with disciples on the walk from Jerusalem to the town of Emmaus, and Jesus will be with us wherever our roads go. We must because we have a task, one handed to the church following Resurrection Day:

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them…and, remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age. Matthew 28:19a, 20b

Peace and grace,

R. Randy DayGeneral SecretaryGeneral Board of Global Ministries

Social Creed gets European flavor

By Karl Anders Ellingsen*

OSLO, Norway (UMNS) - A task force working on a new version of The United Methodist Social Creed is heading to Africa and the Philippines after meeting with church members from across Europe.

Seventeen United Methodists from several regional conferences in Europe gathered in Oslo in early March for consultations on a proposed new version of the creed that will be presented to the 2008 General Conference, the denomination's top lawmaking body.

The original creed was written in 1908 and began as a short declaration calling for "equal rights and complete justice for all men in all stations of life" and addressing other predominantly work-related issues. The creed was rewritten in 1972 and ends with: "We believe in the present and final triumph of God's Word in human affairs and gladly accept our commission to manifest the life of the gospel in the world."

"The current creed doesn't roll off the tongue," said Jim Winkler, top executive with the United Methodist Board of Church and Society.

As the Social Creed's 100th anniversary approaches, the denomination's social advocacy agency is reminding members that the creed and its successor, the Social Principles, have played a prophetic role in advocating for social change, such as the abolition of child labor.

The board has prepared a new draft that it is taking to consultations with United Methodists in Europe, Asia and Africa. Following the Oslo event, the Social Creed Task Force will take the draft to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in May and then to the Philippines, said the Rev. Neal Christie, a board executive.

Global perspective
The Social Creed Task Force formed by the board includes clergy, lay, liturgical and theological scholars and composers. Bishop Jane Allen Middleton, a member of the United Methodist Board of Church and Society, led the discussions in Oslo.

"It was an amazing experience, in that we were people from eight nations, from different theological perspectives, from various settings of ministry and with obvious differences in languages," Middleton said.

"To be given the opportunity to discuss the Social Creed from a European perspective was both useful and interesting," said Bishop Øystein Olsen, episcopal leader for the Nordic and Baltic Area. "I was inspired by the level of enthusiasm and the knowledge among the participants, and look forward to seeing a global perspective in the final draft."

"Words in worship matter, and the process by which we produce a new Social Creed for use by the whole church deserves our patient and diligent attention," Christie said.

"The Social Creed Task Force was eager to hear what this Social Creed draft might look like and sound like through the many eyes and ears of our European sisters and brothers," he added.
The Rev. Knut Refsdal, assistant to Bishop Olsen, was pleased with the result.

"It was a good consultation," he said. He found it inspiring that the church is willing to invest resources to involve the different parts of the global church, he said.

"It is a good experience to meet so many different people with a heart for the same issues," said the Rev. Hilde Marie Øgreid, one of two representatives of the Northern Europe Central Conference.

"We all want a new Social Creed that expresses the theology and social interest of the church. To meet so much knowledge and hear so many relevant contributions has been excellent."

Issues and context
The participants in Oslo were dedicated to their charge, Middleton said. "They are passionate about The United Methodist Church's position on these matters. When we make statements about social issues, we will do so in awareness of the context which the whole church lives in," she said.

The March 5-6 consultation included five representatives from the board in the United States, along with four from Germany, one from Switzerland, one from Austria, two from Russia, one from Denmark and three from Norway.

Ethnicity, nationality, social, political and economic challenges, gender and age, were some of the issues that influenced the conversation in Europe.

"When the Social Creed is presented to the General Conference in Fort Worth in 2008, the product will look and sound different than when we began," Christie said. "And as a church, we will be better because of the time taken to consult and conference together across the connection."

*Ellingsen is editor for the Norway Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church.

Campaign planned for Global Education Fund

By Vicki Brown*

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) - A marketing and fundraising campaign kicks off this year for a global fund to help Methodist schools around the world develop stronger and more effective leaders.

The drive includes a goal of raising $1.5 million in 2007 and putting structures in place in Africa and Latin America for the Methodist Global Education Fund for Leadership Development, an initiative of the United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry.

Planned as a four-year, $4 million program, the fund will underwrite the costs of technical assistance, improving and strengthening schools, on-site mentoring for professional development and scholarship support for leadership development.

There are 775 Methodist educational institutions in 69 countries, including 110 United Methodist-related academic institutions and 13 United Methodist seminaries in the United States.

The global fund was launched as an unfunded mandate by the 2004 General Conference, the denomination's top legislative body. For 2007, the board budgeted $300,000 for structuring, marketing, fundraising and programming for the initiative. Plans include a direct mailing to church leaders, advertising, a Web site and articles aimed at increasing awareness.

Global education initiatives
The governing members of the United Methodist Board of Higher Education were briefed about the campaign during the board's March 8-10 meeting.

Ken Yamada, special assistant to agency chief the Rev. Jerome King Del Pino, said the fund joins Africa University, the International Association of Methodist Schools, Colleges, and Universities and other global education initiatives in breaking new ground to prepare leaders for the church and the world.

"Africa University is ready to move up to the second phase to expand into west, central and east Africa. Africa University was always designed to serve all the people of Africa," Yamada said.

As the first step, Africa University is providing technical assistance for the Mozambique Distance Learning project, expected to be fully operational this June. The project is a joint effort of the board, the Methodist University of São Paulo, Brazil, Africa University and the Mozambique Annual Conference.

"We hope to create a model in Mozambique for the rest of Africa," Yamada said.

Board member Kalamba Ka-Banze Monga, who is academic general secretary of higher education of the North Katanga Conference in the Congo, questioned why the project was being done in Mozambique rather than the Congo. Zimbabwe and the Congo originally were considered as sites for Africa University but, due to the unstable conditions in Congo at the time, Zimbabwe was chosen.

Now that Congo is stable and ready to receive higher education offerings from the Board of Higher Education and Ministry and Africa University, Bishop Ntambo Nkulu Ntanda, resident bishop of the North Kantanga Area, has invited officials from both entities to visit Congo in April to assess how to move forward there.

Developing Christian leaders
The Global Education Fund is part of the board's global focus that includes developing Christian leaders around the world.

The fund will cover the costs of providing technical assistance to Methodist-affiliated schools, colleges, universities and theological schools working to design leadership development programs to address local needs for clergy or lay leaders. Each of five regions - Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the United States - will raise or pool money and disburse the funds to approved sites and programs.

Through the Methodist Scholars program of the fund, an institution can request that an outstanding Methodist leader be placed at the institution for six to 24 months to serve as a faculty member, chaplain or administrative leader. The fund also includes scholarship assistance.

To contribute to the fund, write in the check memo line "Methodist Global Education Fund for Leadership Development, World Services Special Gift Number 05-06-04" and give to a United Methodist church treasurer or mail directly to the General Council on Finance & Administration, The United Methodist Church, 1 Music Circle North, PO Box 340029, Nashville, TN 37203-0029.

For more information, contact Ken Yamada at 615-340-7398 or kyamada@gbhem.org.

*Brown is an associate editor and writer in the Office of Interpretation, General Board of Higher Education and Ministry.

Methodism has history in Latin America, Caribbean

By Linda Bloom*

PANAMA CITY, Panama (UMNS) – The first Methodist congregation established outside of England and Ireland was in the Caribbean and its members were slaves.

Nathaniel Gilbert, a lawyer influenced by Methodism founder John Wesley, brought his witness to the island of Antigua, where the congregation was born in 1759.

During the next century, Methodists from the United States, embracing the American spirit of “manifest destiny,” spread their own missions in various parts of South and Central America.

The history of Methodism in Latin America and the Caribbean was among topics discussed during a March 1-4 consultation of churches from that region and The United Methodist Church.

Robert Harman, a retired staff executive of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, presented a comprehensive chronology of the “expansionist plans” of Methodist evangelism, beginning with a call for a missionary survey of South America in 1832.

Difficult mission field
Eventually, mission work was established, beginning in the 1830s in Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay, by the predecessor bodies of The United Methodist Church – the Methodist Episcopal Church, Methodist Episcopal Church South and Evangelical United Brethren Church.

But obstacles, most notably the prevailing Roman Catholic culture, made Latin America more difficult as a mission field.

“They (missionaries) relied heavily upon the English language in their offerings of worship and educational opportunities and failed to penetrate deeply held indigenous values,” Harman writes. “Their efforts did not experience overwhelming results but barely established a toehold in the countries where they poured out their hearts and labor.”

The 1892 General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church called for the establishment of a South America Conference, which covered the districts of Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil, Chile and Peru (including Bolivia). Four years later, more than half the total membership – 1,100 members – lived in Argentina.

The mission focus on Central America began after Benito Juarez established a republic in Mexico in 1857, receiving the backing of the United States. “Religious freedom from dogmatic authority of the Roman Catholic Church was widely welcomed and Protestants from the north began to focus their missionary efforts on Mexico,” according to Harman.

Early in 1885, the Mexico Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church was organized. But despite assurances of religious freedom, the Catholic Church often prevailed locally. “Since there were few places without a Roman Catholic presence, Protestantism was interpreted as a force for proselytism within the faith. This reduced the appeal.”

The 1920 Methodist Episcopal General Conference reorganized mission relationships in South America, Central America and Mexico into the Central Conference of Latin America. Included were Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Peru, Panama, Costa Rica and Mexico. The two Episcopal areas were based in Buenos Aires and Mexico City.

Road to autonomy
The road to autonomy began in 1930 when Brazil, part of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and Mexico, which had mission work from both denominations, became autonomous churches.

In 1939, the Methodist Episcopal Church, Methodist Episcopal Church South and Methodist Protestant Church united to form the Methodist Church. The 1944 Methodist General Conference established a Commission on the Structure of Methodism Overseas to administer worldwide mission.

In the decades that followed, social and political changes in Latin America led Methodists there to conclude that “the effectiveness of their witness may be compromised by their historical and organic relationship to American Methodism,” Harman reports. The churches also wanted a structure more relevant to the cultures of their own countries.

During the 1960s, the Methodist overseas commission, known as COSMOS, took a look at how to repair or replace the central conference system. It asked the Latin American conference to consider four structural options: a perfected central conference structure, autonomy for individual churches, an international church with regional general conferences and a World Conference of Methodist churches consisting of autonomous regional churches.

The commission’s recommendations to the 1968 General Conference, which also united the Methodist and Evangelical United Brethren churches, called for the granting of requests for autonomy, which then occurred in 28 of the 54 countries where United Methodist work had been established.

Maintaining ties
Bishop Sante Uberto Barbieri of Buenos Aires spoke to the requests for Latin American autonomy by endorsing a world Methodist conference of regional bodies “so that all the churches therein involved could learn from each other on an equal basis and … belong to a larger fellowship in pursuit of the final aim of coming to be one flock under the leadership of the one Pastor.”

But the recommendation from COSMOS that would also grant regional autonomy to the U.S. church and create a new worldwide structure for Methodist conferences and churches never came to fruition. The newly formed Council of Evangelical Churches of Latin America and the Caribbean (CIEMAL) did provide a way for those churches and The United Methodist Church to continue collaborating.

In 1976, the Methodist Church in the Caribbean and the Americas was recognized as a “Concordat Church” by The United Methodist Church, granting it representation at the denomination’s highest policy-making bodies. The same status is given to the British Methodist Church.

Later, the 1988 General Conference established a new category of relationships called “A Covenanting Church,” which would involve mutual spiritual growth, cultural attentiveness, sharing of resources and ideas for mission. “The nurturing intent of the proposal was attractive, but the effect of moving into this new or additional relationship was uncertain for those autonomous and affiliated autonomous churches with an historic tie to United Methodism,” Harman writes.

When the Methodist Church of Puerto Rico became autonomous in 1992, it also was granted a concordat relationship, assuring full participation and vote at United Methodist General Conference sessions.

In an interview, Puerto Rican Bishop Juan Vera Mendez noted that while gaining autonomy was a difficult process for many churches in Latin America and the Caribbean, his church’s experience was different.

“We have made the autonomous process with a new paradigm, a new model of cooperation and mission ties that have been a blessing for the Methodist Church of Puerto Rico and, I understand, for The United Methodist Church,” he said.

Today, Methodists and United Methodists have the opportunity to look at issues of autonomy and connectionalism with a different perspective. “Times have changed. In the past, mistakes were made,” Vera pointed out, “yet the experience we are witnessing at this gathering is very refreshing. It is something new and it launches us to new expectations. We hope for a better future.”

*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New York.

Ministry trades toys for toy guns in Iraq

A UMNS Report By Lilla Marigza*

Two small churches in rural Iowa have found a way to outsmart insurgents in Iraq, using boxes filled with soccer balls and stuffed animals to spread goodwill and save the lives of children in Fallujah.

The ministry began last year after Janet Wakehouse, a member of Turin (Iowa) United Methodist Church, heard about a sickening war tactic through her Marine son-in-law serving in Iraq. She learned how insurgents gave children realistic-looking toy guns in hopes that a U.S. soldier might mistakenly shoot a child and incite anger against the United States.

Wakehouse also read about a soldier who had traded a soccer ball for a fake assault rifle that one Iraqi boy was carrying.

Out of the two accounts, a hometown effort grew to collect safe toys to swap for the dangerous ones. Members of the Turin church and the United Methodist Church in neighboring Onawa began gathering soccer balls, backpacks, Beanie Babies and other toys for the cause.

Word spread, and one man donated 1,500 soccer balls, asking that 500 go to Baghdad, 500 to Afghanistan and 500 to Fallujah.


A young Iraqi boy happily shows off a soccer ball sent by the Turin and Onawa United Methodist churches in Iowa. A UMNS photo by Staff Sgt. Tylor Belshe.


In the end, 28 boxes were shipped before Christmas so the toys could be distributed by Wakehouse' son-in-law, Staff Sgt. Tylor Belshe, and his fellow Marines.

"People are so generous," she says. "In spite of all the bad in the world, there are wonderful people out there."

The cases of deflated soccer balls brought additional benefits, giving Iraqi children a positive activity to occupy their days. "They're not setting off roadside bombs; they are blowing up soccer balls," Wakehouse says.

The toys are a welcome treat for children who live in a war zone and face hardships and danger on a daily basis. For the girls, favorites include Barbie dolls, crayons and construction paper. "We did it to make the children happy, to help them forget some of the terrible things that have happened to them in their lives," Wakehouse adds.

The ministry has been a blessing for the two Iowa churches as well, according to the Rev. Arley Ellingson, who pastors both congregations.

"I think we are called in our role as Christians to respond to the word of Jesus Christ and to his children in any way that we can," says Ellingson. "We as a Christian people will accomplish much more if we open our eyes, see how the world is talking to us and respond as the spirit moves us, to that ministry, wherever it may be."

For Wakehouse, the calling became evident, even as she was more than 6,000 miles away from the Iraqi war. "Something within you … God says … 'You need to do something about this,'" she explains.

For her 28-year-old son-in law, the toy delivery from Iowa was a care package that he and his fellow Marines cherish, knowing that they are making a lasting impression on the children of Iraq. "He was happy, he was very happy," says Wakehouse. "It was a Christmas he will not forget."

*Marigza is a freelance producer in Nashville, Tenn.