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Young people helping form ministries outside U.S.


Young people in Africa, the Philippines and Europe will help guide The United Methodist Church’s ministry with young people. A UMNS file photo by Mike DuBose.

By Tim Ghianni*
Sept. 28, 2009 | NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS)

Three young people from the Philippines, Africa and Europe are taking a leading role in developing the denomination’s ministry with youth outside of the United States.


Mighty Rasing, right, a young leader from the Philippines, is helping develop the denomination’s ministry with youth. A UMNS file photo by Kathy L. Gilbert.

Armindo Mapoissa, Mighty Rasing and Clara Steinert will supply on-the-ground leadership as part of a new organizational structure by the United Methodist Board of Discipleship’s Young People’s Ministries division.

Instead of running everything from Nashville, Mike Ratliff, top executive of the division, says it makes sense to use people who have a “cultural understanding” of how the young people’s ministry is working in their area.

“What we’ve done is identify leadership in the central conferences (regions outside of the U.S.) and worked with them to be our representatives. It has really linked us together with the established ministry structures in the central conferences,” he said.

This new structure began to take form in January, when Mapoissa, 34, started working for the division in Mozambique and coordinating activities throughout the continent of Africa.

Rasing, 26, began in March, working out of Quezon City, 30 miles from Manila. Steinert, 22, from Germany, began learning the ropes for her work in Europe in August.

“I think this is a great step forward for the church here in the Philippines,” says Rasing, noting that most Filipinos only were aware of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries and now they are realizing there is more to The United Methodist Church.

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“As central conference staff, and the first ones at that, I feel that we are carving an important niche in the United Methodist Board of Discipleship and the general church,” Rasing says. “I know that we are providing the important connections that would make The United Methodist Church a truly global church.”

Steinert also says it is important to raise awareness about the board’s ministry with young people.

“I think a lot of youth and young people in Europe don’t know anything about it and the work they-we are doing,” Steinert says.

Ratliff says this new venture was developed in cooperation with the Board of Global Ministries.

“By having staff people in the central conferences, we are able to more easily identify needs and respond more effectively,” Ratliff says.

Even with workers in these regions, there remain geographical and language concerns.

 
Mike Ratliff says young
people “on the ground” in
the Philippines, Africa and Europe will help lead the denomination’s ministry
with young people. A UMNS
file photo by Mike DuBose.

The Philippines is a long chain of more than 7,000 islands, Rasing notes. While sometimes it may be hard to physically contact all of the youth and young adult workers in person, he is using Facebook and a Web site to keep in contact. Up next are podcasts and video casts to reach the others.

Mapoissa’s biggest challenge is communication, since African United Methodists speak a variety of languages, including Portuguese, French and Swahili.

But he’s working from his home base in Matola, Mozambique, to get materials translated. Then, he says, “I am going to different places reaching out to different young people of different ages and people who work with the young people.”

Steinert is helping prepare for the Global Young People’s Convocation and Legislative Assembly next July in Berlin. “It is one of my goals to help for the culture exchange and the possibility to change our church,” she says.

While much remains to be done, Ratliff is confident the new structure is a step forward.

“It really is about empowering people in their cultural settings to be in ministry,” he says. “It is also about learning from each other.”

*Ghianni is a Nashville, Tenn.,-based freelance writer for the United Methodist Board of Discipleship.

News media contact: Kathy L. Gilbert, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.  

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