United Methodists to recruit new missionaries
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A UMNS file photo by Mel Wright Debra Price and Nancy Longstreth are commissioned as Church and Community Workers May 17, 2005.
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Debra
Price and Nancy Longstreth are commissioned as Church and Community
Workers May 17, 2005. A new recruitment effort, "The Next Missionary
May Be YOU" is being launched by the United Methodist Board of Global
Ministries in an effort fill a short fall in missionaries that resulted
from a 2002 moratorium on new missionary recruitment. The United
Methodist Church needs at least 20 new international missionaries in the
next two years. A UMNS file photo by Mel Wright. Photo #06335.
Accompanies UMNS story #201. 4/7/06 |
April 7, 2006
By Elliott Wright*
STAMFORD, Conn. (UMNS) — The United Methodist Church needs at least 20
new international missionaries over two years.
A recruitment effort—“The Next Missionary May be YOU”—was
launched during the April 3-6 spring meeting of the United Methodist Board of
Global Ministries.
“
We are extremely pleased to be able to again actively recruit missionaries for
international service,” said the Rev. R. Randy Day, chief executive of
the international mission agency.
Dramatic revenue shortfalls, primarily from a sharp drop in investment
income, resulted in a moratorium on new missionary recruitment and
assignment in
2002. International missionaries placed over the last three years have
filled emergency
needs, Day noted.
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Photo courtesy of Mozart Adevu, GBGM Mozart
Adevu is a missionary with the United Methodist Board of Global
Ministries of the United Methodist Church serving in Accra, Ghana.
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Mozart
Adevu is a missionary with the United Methodist Board of Global
Ministries of the United Methodist Church serving in Accra, Ghana, West
Africa. A new recruitment effort, "The Next Missionary May Be YOU" is
being launched by the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries in an
effort fill a short fall in missionaries that resulted from a 2002
moratorium on new missionary recruitment. The United Methodist Church
needs at least 20 new international missionaries in the next two years.
Photo courtesy of Mozart Adevu, GBGM. Photo #06336. Accompanies UMNS
story #201. 4/7/06 |
“
We are looking for missionaries in 2006 and 2007 for service in Africa, Asia,
Europe, Latin America, and Israel/Palestine,” said the Rev. Edith Gleaves,
who heads the board’s mission personnel unit. “We need missionary
pastors, educators, health and social workers, children and youth workers, administrators,
and specialists in rural and construction ministries.”
A typical missionary term is three years in length and the board provides
health benefits and educational provisions for dependent children.
The board currently provides full support for 229 missionaries; 179
in international services and 50 in the United States. Partial support
is
provided to another
120 people, mostly in the United States. These include church and
community workers, Hispanic/Latino Plan missionaries, Alaska missionaries,
and
short-term young
adult missionaries.
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A UMNS photo by Mary Beth Coudal Kevin M. Nelson (left) and Timothy P. Bodenstein are newly commissioned home missioners, a new lay office for men.
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Kevin
M. Nelson (left) and Timothy P. Bodenstein are newly commissioned home
missioners, a new lay office for men. They were commissioned April 4
during the April 3-6 meeting of the United Methodist Board of Global
Ministries. The board is launching, "The Next Missionary May Be YOU" a
new recruitment effort to fill a short fall in missionaries that
resulted from a 2002 moratorium on new missionary recruitment. The
United Methodist Church needs at least 20 new international missionaries
in the next two years. A UMNS photo by Mary Beth Coudal. Photo
#06337. Accompanies UMNS story #201. 4/7/06 |
Another 100 people are non-commissioned mission personnel, and the
agency helps to support 293 people in mission selected by partner
churches around
the world.
There are 136 deaconesses and home missioners who are commissioned
by the board but find their own places of service.
Thirteen new deaconesses and two home missioners – a new lay office for
men – were commissioned April 4 during the board meeting. They are Timothy
P. Bodenstein of Stillwater, Okla.; Linda Frank, Columbus, Ohio; Patricia Goss,
Phoenix; Rosa Linda Guadarrama, San Bernadino, Calif.; Mary Hill, Portland, Maine;
Sung Ok Lee, New York City; Evana Lewis, New York City; Gladis Lobato, New York
City; and Minnie Murrell, Pelham, Ala.
Also, Kevin M. Nelson, New York City; Rachel Patman, Wytheville,
Va.; Claris R. Skerritt, New York City; Nancy Van Antwerp,
Oklahoma City,
Okla.; Earnestine
Andrews Varnado, McComb, Miss.; and Mary Winslow, Nashville,
Tenn.
The requirements for missionary service in the United Methodist
Church can be found online at http://gbgm-umc.org/who_we_are/mp/documents.cfm.
Interested people should contact the mission personnel unit
of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries by calling
(212)870-3660,
or emailing
awilson@gbgm-umc.org.
A recruitment flyer for posting in church bulletin boards
is available for downloading at http://gbgm-umc.org/who_we_are/mp/docs/missionaryflyer.pdf.
*Wright is the information officer of the Board of Global Ministries.
Audio Interview with Randy Day
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