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Fuller, Habitat receive Methodist Peace Award

 


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.
Dec. 13, 2004

By 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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