Sudan Project serves as model for denomination

The Rev. Mike Slaughter speaks to members of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries about the Sudan Project, a partnership of Ginghamsburg (United Methodist) Church and the United Methodist Committee on Relief. A UMNS photo by Cassandra Heller.

A UMNS Report
By Linda Bloom*

Ginghamsburg Church did not seem to be a promising assignment when the Rev. Mike Slaughter was sent there 29 years ago.

He was the first full-time pastor for the small United Methodist congregation in Tipp City, Ohio, since its founding in 1864. As part of the "rust belt," the Miami Valley area surrounding the church was losing both jobs and population.

But Slaughter stayed and the church grew--so much so that it has attained "mega-church" status, with multiple buildings and ministries on two campuses serving about 4,500 people weekly. Membership stands at 1,300.

Ginghamsburg's ministries now extend far beyond Ohio. Through its Sudan Project, undertaken in partnership with the United Methodist Committee on Relief, "we are reaching or touching a quarter million people in Darfur," Slaughter said.

Slaughter spoke about that project--which has raised $3 million in three years--during the spring meeting of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, UMCOR's parent agency, March 10-13 in Stamford, Conn.

Christmas miracle offering
He sees the project as a model for The United Methodist Church. His Christmas fundraising message is a simple one: "It's Jesus' birthday, not your birthday."

Since Christmas 2004, Slaughter has asked parishioners to make a monetary donation for Sudan mission work equal to what they spend on family Christmas presents. The effort has become known as the "miracle offering."

The project has been particularly effective because it gives local church members a sense of ownership. "When we're focusing on one major mission initiative, it will have an incredible impact and ownership in our people's lives," Slaughter said.

The $317,000 raised during the 2004 Advent season helped start a sustainable agricultural project in South Darfur, an area with less conflict than West Darfur and home to many internally displaced persons. The investment in that project "is now feeding 65,000 people with no additional funds," he said.

The initial project-promoting small-scale farming and other agricultural work, along with the distribution of non-food items-focused on about 250 families in the Ed Al Fursan community south of Nyala, the capital of South Darfur. UMCOR also has assisted in managing the El Ferdous IDP camp.

During Advent 2005 and 2006, the miracle offerings raised more than $1.5 million, about $80,000 of which was donated by partner churches, schools and businesses. A five-year child development program was begun in 2005 and a four-year water project in 2006.

The results include the construction of 90 schools and the training of 200 teachers serving 11,000 students, and the establishment of 10 water yards, providing 22,000 people and their livestock with water.

Each year, the miracle offering has expanded to include donations from other churches, many of them small congregations. Of the $1,145,649 raised during the 2007 Advent season, more than $200,000 came from other partners, including 17 United Methodist churches from nine states. For example, Urbana (Ohio) United Methodist Church, a congregation of around 200, has contributed $56,000 over a 12-month period.

"People want to contribute to something that has significance," Slaughter told UMCOR's board of directors.

Sharing concern Slaughter has addressed churches and schools across the United States about the situation in Darfur which, he noted, has been labeled by the United Nations as "the worst humanitarian crisis in the world today." Since 2003, more than 200,000 people in Sudan have been killed and 2.2 million displaced from their homes, according to U.N. statistics.

Despite a 2006 peace agreement, a rebel offensive occurred recently in West Darfur, with responding government and militia attacks. All sides have committed killings and human rights abuses, including destruction of property and forced displacement, according to a March 10 statement by Sima Samar, the Special Rapporteur of the U.N. Human Rights Council after a 13-day visit to Sudan.

During a March 11 briefing to the U.N. Security Council, the assistant secretary-general for peacekeeping operations said that a peacekeeping operation cannot by itself bring security to Darfur and that the parties in conflict must be pressured to negotiate a peace, according to a U.N. news release. UNAMID, a hybrid African Union-U.N. force, is patrolling Darfur.

Because the work of the Sudan Project is centered in South Darfur, much of the conflict has been avoided, but progress was impeded at the end of 2007. "We've had, this fall, some security frustrations that have held up some of our water project," Slaughter said. Since the beginning of 2008, work has resumed on the project, located in Adilla.

Contributions to the Sudan Project can be made to Advance No. 184385MG. Checks can be dropped in church collection plates or mailed directly to UMCOR at P.O. Box 9068, New York, NY 10087-9068. To make a credit card donation, call (800) 554-8583 or donate online through http://secure.gbgm-umc.org/donations/umcor/donate.cfm?code=184385&id=3018444&CFID=1736337&CFTOKEN=23850443.

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

Board commissions missionaries, deaconesses

Twenty-two new missionaries, 12 deaconesses and two home missioners are commissioned by the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries. UMNS photos by Cassandra Heller.

By Mary Beth Coudal*

STAMFORD, Conn. (UMNS) - Twenty-two new United Methodist missionaries were commissioned March 11 to serve in churches, hospitals and community centers.

During its spring meeting, the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries also commissioned 12 deaconesses and two home missioners.

The new missionaries are lawyers, doctors, pastors and agriculturalists. They come from places as diverse as Brazil, the Philippines, Mexico, Zimbabwe, Missouri and Michigan. They fall into several categories of mission service and form the largest group of United Methodist missionaries commissioned at the same time in the last four years.

Five of those commissioned are global health missionaries assigned to sub-Saharan Africa. The number of global health missionaries now stands at 11, all assigned within the last two years.

The global health missionaries are:

.Jeremias Alfiado França from Inhambane, Mozambique, the director of health ministries at Chicuque Rural Hospital, a United Methodist health facility.
.Cláudia Peres Costa Maia from Belo Horizonte, Brazil, a community health worker at the Center of Hope Malaria & Community Health Project in Mozambique, and her husband, Dr. Eduardo Reis Maia, a surgeon and physician assigned to medical care at Chicuque Rural Hospital.
.Dr. Tendai Paul Manyeza of Zimbabwe, the medical superintendent and physician at Old Mutare Hospital, Zimbabwe.
.Victor D. Taryor of Liberia, hospital administrator for Ganta (Liberia) United Methodist Hospital.

Other missionaries commissioned for international service are:

.Kennedy Cruz, from the Evangelical Baptist Church in Laguna, Philippines, development and agriculture specialist in Phsa Deum Thikav, Cambodia.
.Dieudonné Karihano, a native of Burundi, agricultural coordinator for the United Methodist Cambine Mission Center in Mozambique.
.The Rev. Arthur Keith, a clergyman from Wells, Minn., pastor at the International Church of Lund, Sweden.
.Michael Keyse of Berea, Ohio, Volunteers in Mission coordinator in La Paz, Bolivia.
.Finda Quiwa of Sierra Leone, based there as a regional missionary working with youth and young adults in a large area of Africa.
.Guillermo Berman Ramirez, a native of Mexico, continuing as volunteer coordinator for the Mexican Methodist Border Mission.
.The Rev. Dong Min Seo of South Korea, working alongside his wife, Hyeyun Seo, in the Tsaiz United Methodist Church, in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

The National Plan for Hispanic and Latino Ministries missionaries are:

.Sonya Marie Luna of Ypsilanti, Mich., coordinator of Hispanic/Latino Ministries for the Detroit Annual (regional) Conference.
.The Rev. Lourdes Teixeira Magalhães, a native of Sao Paulo, Brazil, pastor in the Greater New Jersey Conference.

Church and Community Workers are:

.The Rev. Donald Edwards, serving as an immigration attorney for Justice for Our Neighbors in New York.
.Joanne Finley, executive director of the North Rampart Community Center in New Orleans, also commissioned to the office of deaconess.
.Mary Gladstone, development director for the Deaf Shalom Zone Inc., in Baltimore.
.Andrew Highland, executive director of Looking Glass Community Services, Laingsburg, Mich.
.Alexander Oatley, director of community development for the Joy-Southfield Community Development Corp. in Detroit.
.Susan Reed, an attorney with Justice for Our Neighbors in Grand Rapids, Mich.
.Janet Allyne Solomon, serving with the Lower Delta Paris Community Outreach Ministry in the Arkansas Annual Conference.

The office of deaconess in Methodism goes back to the late 19th century. The home missioner position, created by the 2004 General Conference, provides an opportunity for men to take part in the diaconal movement. Deaconesses and home missioners create a community of service and mutual support.

The new deaconesses are:

.Karen A. Caldwell, director of adult ministries of the United Methodist Church of Berea, Ohio.
.Sarah Barnes Capers, executive director of the Ruby S. Couche Big Sister Educational Action and Service Center, Jamaica, N.Y.
.Judy Davis, community outreach coordinator at Laurel Heights United Methodist Church in San Antonio.
.Joanne Finley, also commissioned as a church and community worker, executive director of the North Rampart Community Center, New Orleans.
.Nancy Garrison, executive director of the Brooks-Howell Home in Asheville, N.C.
.Doreen Grayless, director of student scholarships at Indiana University of South Bend.
.Patricia Hoerth, spiritual director and retreat leader at Turtle Rock Farm: A Center for Sustainability, Spirituality and Healing in Red Rock, Okla.
.Deborah Humphrey, program coordinator for Cookson Hills (Okla.) Center United Methodist Mission.
.Kathlyne D. Kraiza, executive director of the Sager Brown Depot, a facility of the United Methodist Committee on Relief in Baldwin, La.
.Gayle McCreery, minister of congregational care and development of the Christ United Methodist Church in Baltimore, Ohio.
.Kandi Mount, hospital chaplain at the Mercy Health Systems, Rogers, Ark.
.Jo Sheetz, education coordinator of Community Action Center in Sandy Springs, Ga.

Home missioners are:

.Haniel R. Garibay, projects coordinator for the National Association of Filipino-American United Methodists, Virginia Beach, Va.
.Matthew Morgan, project manager at The Advance for Christ and His Church at the Board of Global Ministries in New York.

A celebration of 120 years of the deaconess movement was held during the board meeting. To read an account of that event, go online to http://new.gbgm-umc.org/umw/news/news-1/honoring-120-years-of-deaconess-service/.

*Coudal is a staff writer for the Board of Global Ministries.

Elderly women in Mozambique robbed of blankets, food

Elderly women find a home at Hanhane Women's Shelter, a United Methodist-supported ministry in rural Mozambique. UMNS file photos by Mike DuBose.A UMNS

Report By Kathy L. Gilbert*

A thief stole 32 blankets and most of the food from 42 elderly women who live in reed and thatch huts at the United Methodist-supported Hanhane Women's Shelter in rural Mozambique.

"The houses they live in have no security," said Rosália Mauricio Queface, administrative secretary for the United Methodist Women's Society in Mozambique. "Many are alone. Many have disabilities. They were threatened and were afraid to ask for help."

The theft was reported in a church publication in February and points to the need for secure, permanent housing for the women, according to the shelter's supporters.

Known as "witch daughters," these women are driven from their homes and into the shelter because their families accused them of witchcraft.

"Life for them is not easy due to the many difficulties that they face such as hunger, lack of substantial permanent houses of conventional material, and hygiene products which mean suffering from epidemic diseases," Queface said.

The shelter was established in 1982 near the town of Massinga, and the women are cared for by the United Methodist Women's Society of Mozambique. "It is such a shame to see elderly women wandering around the streets," said Judite Gemo, a member of the society.

Catherine Mudime Akale, a regional missionary with the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, visited the shelter in 2003 and wrote in her report: "These are women who were accused of witchcraft, dispossessed of their property (cattle, houses, coconuts, farms) and disowned by their own biological children or other close relatives and exiled from their homes and communities after their husbands died."

Long-term needs
The theft was reported in the Mozambique Initiative News published by the United Methodist Missouri Annual (regional) Conference. The Missouri conference has a partnership with the churches in Mozambique and immediately sent $1,000 to purchase more food and blankets, Queface said.

The Women's Society wants to build permanent housing to protect the women from theft and to reduce the spread of diseases. Many of the women have asthma and arthritis and no access to medical care or drugs.

A new center would include dormitories that can house four women in each building. "This center will cost approximately $20,000, and we have a portion of that on hand," Queface said.

She called on the church to respond to a great need.

"In Psalm 71:9, an aged worshiper prays for deliverance and laments, 'Do not cast me off in the time of old age; do not forsake me when my strength is spent.' My friends, we are Christ's presence to these women who suffer from aging, ailments and poverty," Queface said. "We are the church. May we hear their cry."

To contribute through The Mozambique Initiative, write check payable to "Missouri Conference UMC," marked "Mozambique-Hanhane Women's Shelter." Mail to Missouri Conference, 3601 Amron Court, Columbia, MO 65202.

*Gilbert is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in Nashville, Tenn.