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By Linda Bloom*
6:00 P.M. ET Oct. 13, 2011
| NEW YORK (UMNS)
Thomas Kemper speaks during the Oct. 11 service to commission
10 new missionaries. UMNS photos by Cassandra Zampini.
View in Photo Gallery
When the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries started work in
Russia 20 years ago, the primary goal was to deliver food to the Moscow
area.
But a changing political climate also led to the opportunity to
re-establish Methodism in the former Soviet Union, and the agency wasn’t
the only denominational entity interested in church growth in the
region.
Under the board’s sponsorship, the Russia Initiative,
which also includes Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus, has created a
thriving partnership among the denomination’s annual (regional)
conferences, congregations and institutions.
Now, as the Board of Global Ministries
continues to redefine its role as the denomination’s mission leader and
a 21st century missionary-sending agency, the Russia Initiative
provides one possible “roadmap” to change, says Thomas Kemper, the
board’s top executive.
The initiative’s model of retaining cultural identification and
fostering financial self-reliance should be studied, Kemper told
directors during his report at the board’s Oct. 10-12 annual meeting.
How to engage effectively in global mission is a constant topic of
discussion by both the Board of Global Ministries and the denomination
at large. Most of the 10 new missionaries commissioned during this
week’s meeting will engage in new or expanding mission activities,
Kemper said.
A new strategic plan for mission focuses on everything from
streamlining the agency’s operations to tailoring missionary placements
to reflect new global realities to expanding mission partnerships.
The Rev. Dick McClain, president of The Mission Society, addresses the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries.
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Connection with Mission Society
Such partnerships even include other mission agencies that might
have been considered competitors in the past. To illustrate that point,
Kemper invited the Rev. Dick McClain, president of The Mission Society, to preach during the board’s Oct. 11 worship service.
Incorporated in 1984 as the Mission Society for United Methodists,
the organization set itself up as a secondary agency to send
missionaries outside the United States. Kemper acknowledged the tense
relations between the two organizations in the past.
“We are trying to lay aside animosities from 20, 30 years ago,
recognizing that the society … proceeds in its work as a general
missionary-sending organization, but not one constituted or operated in
opposition to the General Board of Global Ministries,” Kemper told
directors.
In fact, both Kemper, a member of the Germany Annual Conference with
extensive mission experience, and McClain, who first joined The
Mission Society in 1986 as its first director of missionary personnel,
spoke of the friendship that has developed between them over the last
18 months.
Cooperation can benefit both agencies, Kemper said. “We know that
openness between the two agencies helps both to deal with real issues
that arise in mission areas where we each have personnel or may plan to
have personnel,” he explained.
In his sermon, McClain offered board directors and staff a welcome
from the society’s 200 missionaries in 37 countries and 33 staff in its
Norcross, Ga., offices. “Every member of our community rejoices that
I’m here today,” he added.
The new realities of the mission field are not just global but also
local, McClain pointed out. For example, 35 percent of the residents in
a community near the society offices are recent immigrants and 85
percent are Muslims.
Such diverse communities offer “amazing opportunities and
significant challenges to churches all over America,” McClain said.
“While the content of the gospel has not changed, the context in which
we proclaim it has changed dramatically, almost overnight.”
Research trends
Dana Robert, a Boston University School of Theology professor, and David Scott, a doctoral student there, offered a taste of their research into that new context during an Oct. 10 presentation to board directors.
Eurasia Area Bishop Hans Växby (back, right) preaches
during the commissioning service for new missionaries.
View in Photo Gallery
As it was a century ago, Christianity remains the world’s largest
religion, but the population it encompasses has changed. “We are a
truly multicultural faith today, with roughly one-fourth to one-fifth of
Christianity represented on different continents,” Robert explained.
The configuration of Christianity also has shifted. In 1900,
one-third of all Christians were Protestants, but today, she reported,
“that percentage is less than one-fourth.” Instead, indigenous churches
and new denominations are experiencing rapid growth that “may not have
any relationship to something like the Methodist church.”
United Methodist membership has declined in the West and experienced growth in Africa and Asia.
However, the global growth rate isn’t as strong as some independent or
related churches. “Worldwide, UMC growth is lagging behind sister
denominations,” Scott said.
Directors were invited to ponder possible explanations for such
trends, including the idea that United Methodists are stuck in a North
American, mid-20th century denominational model.
Robert had just attended a meeting of what she called "a 21st century effort at ecumenism," the Global Christian Forum
in Indonesia, where religious groups that don’t usually connect listen
to each other’s stories. “There’s a tremendous sense of hope welling up
from recognizing what we have in common with Christians from other
communions,” she said.
Missionary presence
Kemper said the Board of Global Ministries is indebted to the
insights of scholars such as Robert and Scott as it continues to
organize the church’s global witness — in new mission arenas, such as
Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Mongolia — and in established ventures,
such as the Russia Initiative.
Dana Robert, Boston University School of Theology
professor, shares mission research with directors of
the Board of Global Ministries.
View in Photo Gallery
Missionaries themselves are more diverse than ever, representing a
variety of cultures and nations and fulfilling assignments virtually
across the globe.
Those commissioned this week
include a missionary pilot and air-safety administrator from the
Democratic Republic of Congo, a Korean-American couple assigned to the
United Methodist mission center in Kazakhstan, an Oklahoma pastor
headed to Jerusalem and an attorney working with immigrants in Iowa.
One of the board’s strategic goals is to increase young adult
participation in mission. Twenty-five new young adult missionaries were
commissioned Aug. 18 for two- to three-year terms.
Another 17 summer interns served at mission sites in the United
States. Eleven young people served as Global Justice Volunteers this
year in Kenya, and 15 are scheduled to serve in the Philippines.
But mission awareness must start at a much earlier age, Kemper
acknowledged, so the board is “developing educational resources to help
children understand and appreciate mission.”
*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service multimedia reporter based in New York. Follow her at http://twitter.com/umcscribe.
News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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