Fuller, Habitat receive Methodist Peace Award
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A UMNS photo by Alice Smith Millard Fuller, founder of Habitat for Humanity International, was honored with the 2004 World Methodist Peace Award.
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Millard
Fuller, who founded Habitat for Humanity International, was honored
Dec. 8 with the 2004 World Methodist Peace Award. Habitat for Humanity
will build its 200,000th house next year for a low-income family. The
award recognizes contributions to peace, reconciliation and justice.
Glenn Memorial United Methodist Church on the campus of Emory University
hosted the ceremony. World Methodist Council members His Eminence
Sunday Mbang of Nigeria (left) and George Freeman (right) presented the
award to Fuller. A UMNS photo by Alice Smith. Photo number 04-580,
Accompanies UMNS#588, 12/13/04. |
Dec. 13, 2004By Alice M. Smith* ATLANTA
(UMNS) -- The man, Millard Fuller, and the organization he founded,
Habitat for Humanity International -- which will build its 200,000th
house next year for a low-income family -- were honored Dec. 8 with the
2004 World Methodist Peace Award. Presented
by the World Methodist Council to Fuller and Rey Ramsey of Washington,
president of Habitat’s international board of directors, the award
recognizes contributions to peace, reconciliation and justice. Glenn
Memorial United Methodist Church on the campus of Emory University
hosted the ceremony. The
Rev. George Freeman, the council’s executive secretary, called the
peace award "the highest honor the people called Methodist bestow on
anybody." The World Methodist Council, headquartered at Lake Junaluska,
N.C., represents 76 different denominations in the Methodist/Wesleyan
tradition, with 40 million members and a constituency of 75 million. In
1987, when former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, an active supporter of
Habitat, received the World Methodist Peace Award, Millard and Linda
Fuller were in the audience. The Carters live in Plains, Ga., which is a
short distance from Habitat's international headquarters in Americus. Representatives
of both the World Methodist Council and Habitat attended the ceremony.
International guests included His Eminence Sunday Mbang of Nigeria,
chairperson of the council’s executive committee; the Rev. Brian
Fletcher, president of the Methodist Church in Ireland, which nominated
Fuller and Habitat for the award; and Peter Faquarson, director of the
Habitat program in Northern Ireland. Accepting
the award, Fuller said no other honor has been "more meaningful" since
it is a peace award and comes from Methodists, who are involved in
larger numbers in Habitat than any other faith group or denomination. Fuller
said the Habitat vision is rooted in "peacemaking," which also
emphasizes racial reconciliation, generosity and sharing. "From the very
beginning," he said, "I have wanted to bring the various Christian
denominations together to work and to build, side-by-side, with love and
peace in our hearts." While
Habitat is "non-denominational" and "non-doctrinal," it is "openly and
unashamedly a Christian organization," Fuller said, although people of
other faiths are involved both in the building and receiving of Habitat
homes. The
goal of the 29-year-old organization is to eliminate poverty housing
and homelessness in the world. Habitat has made a dent in the problem
with activity in 100 countries, and in all states and 1,700 cities in
the United States. In
August 2005, Habitat projects it will build its 200,000th house for its
millionth person. It will have taken nearly 30 years to reach that
milestone, but Fuller projects housing for the next one million will be
completed in six years. Although
charitable in nature, Habitat is not a "give-away" program. Families
who receive the homes both pay a mortgage and spend hours building their
homes. The mortgages are interest-free to keep monthly payments low.
Income from payments made by the families is used to build new Habitat
homes. Thousands
and thousands of volunteers work side-by-side with potential homeowners
in the construction of quality-built, modest homes. Businesses donate
supplies, lowering the cost of building even more. Fuller
said he considers all of Habitat’s work a peace-making endeavor as it
provides decent and affordable housing to deserving people and also
builds bridges between people of differing faiths, such as Protestants
and Catholics in Northern Ireland and Christians and Muslims in the
southern Filipino province of Mindanao. "Walls of suspicion and
hostility are coming down as walls for houses go up," he added. In
his expression of thanks to Methodists, Fuller included his
appreciation for stands for peace, opposition to the death penalty and
understanding that "faith alone, without works, is dead." He
quoted extensively from John Wesley and also noted the United Methodist
Social Principles’ stance that war is "incompatible" with the teachings
of Jesus. He made his opposition to the Iraqi war clear and said
peacemaking is often seen as "weak and ineffective" but countered that
"reconciliation, faith and gentleness have more staying power than brute
force." "It ain’t easy," Fuller said, "but it is the way of Jesus. It is the way of the cross. And ultimately it is the best way." The
award was presented as management changes are taking place in the
Habitat organization. Fuller, 69, continues in the role as founder and
president but not as CEO, a position now being filled on an interim
basis by Paul Leonard. Fuller plans to continue in his role as the
organization’s most visible spokesperson. *Smith is editor of the Wesleyan Christian Advocate, the newspaper of the Georgia United Methodists. News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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