This translation is not completely accurate as it was automatically generated by a computer.
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By Linda Bloom*
3:00 P.M. EST April 15, 2011
The Rev. Joseph Bishman rides his motorcycle on the now paved Ho Chi
Minh trail in the central area of Vietnam. A UMNS photo courtesy of
Joseph Bishman.
View in Photo Gallery
STAMFORD, Conn. (UMNS) — The Rev. Joseph Bishman loves motorcycles so
much that he’s ridden nationally on behalf of Harley-Davidson.
So it seemed only natural for the United Methodist West Ohio Annual
(regional) Conference to ask the 62-year-old Shawnee district
superintendent to hold a motorcycle ride for Vietnam mission work.
What was unexpected was what happened next. His district of mostly
small, rural churches on the edge of Appalachia has pulled together to
raise nearly $650,000 so far for the conference’s support of Vietnam
churches through the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries.
The district has held three “Rally in the Valley” events for Vietnam,
with a fourth one approaching in May. Key to their fundraising success
has been Bishman’s decision to treat the 159 churches in his district —
which spans nine counties and 4,700 square miles — as one large
congregation.
Or, as he characterizes it, “If we’re going to move a mountain, what
would happen if we put all our shovels together on one single
initiative?”
Bishman shared his strategies with Global Ministries’ directors on April
12 during the board’s spring meeting in Stamford. West Ohio Bishop
Bruce Ough, who also serves as the board’s president, introduced him as a
spiritual, visionary, passionate teacher in his region. “There’s one
word that describes Joseph: leader,” Ough said.
Becoming a missional priority
Vietnam
is part of the Southeast Asia Mission Initiative. It is one of the
mission initiatives launched in recent years in countries where United
Methodist work did not previously exist or was disrupted in the past by
political factors.
The work of the initiatives involves evangelism, social ministries and
church growth — including a commitment made in 2009 by the Board of
Global Ministries to develop 400 new congregations outside the United
States over a four-year period. About 280 congregations already can be counted toward that goal.
The Rev. Joseph Bishman speaks April 12, during the United Methodist
Board of Global Ministries meeting. Photo courtesy of Cassandra Zampini.
View in Photo Gallery
In a live webcast on the initiatives following Bishman’s presentation,
board directors spoke via Skype with a district superintendent from
Bulgaria, learned how the church in Cameroon uses play dates for
children to grow membership and talked with church members in Senegal
and Thailand about the difficulties in evangelizing in countries with
non-Christian majorities.
Back in the Shawnee Valley, the missional connection with Vietnam has
helped some in West Ohio — including Bishman himself — deal with the
brokenness caused by the dispute over a long-ended but still unpopular
war.
“We’ve really not known what to do about Vietnam for our own healing,”
he told United Methodist News Service. “This has given a unique platform
for many of our veterans to go back.”
Some have returned on the motorcycle rides, carrying Bibles instead of
weapons. The most recent ride, involving a mission team from the Shawnee
Valley District and Grove City United Methodist Church, occurred from
late February to early March.
“I’ve put 36 new motorcycles in the hands of our pastors in Vietnam just through the motorcycle ride itself,” Bishman said.
Beyond motorcycles, the connection with Vietnam has helped bring the
district together in a unique way. “What the Vietnam church has given us
is an inspirational challenge which is unimaginable,” he said.
Becoming self-sufficient
The partnership in Vietnam is not based on dependency, Bishman pointed
out. Both Vietnamese leaders and denominational supporters immediately
began developing a plan for self-sufficiency, with the goal that every
church pay its own pastor’s salary and that members look to their
“responsibility to the rest of the world as well.”
Ough, who was recently named by the denomination’s Council of Bishops to
provide episcopal oversight to the Southeast Asia Mission Initiative,
will travel to Vietnam with a small delegation during Holy Week to
preside over the church’s annual meeting. The church in Vietnam
currently has about 12,000 participants in 200 congregations.
Map shows some of the United Methodist congregations in Vietnam. A
web-only map courtesy of The West Ohio Conference of the United
Methodist Church.
He expects the meeting to be “a great celebration” of 300 to 400 pastors
and lay leaders, where decisions will be made related to issues such as
stewardship education and new-church starts. He also will commission
new lay leaders.
The West Ohio Conference
also will present $12,000 worth of seed corn to the Vietnamese church
next week. “They will double or triple it, and next October they will
bring the harvest in,” Bishman said.
When the Vietnamese take their first national offering this year, they
will donate one-third of the total to new church development, one-third
to Wesley Theological College in Ho Chi Minh City and one-third to
mission work in Laos, he added.
The church also continues to work toward official recognition by the
Vietnamese government. A year ago, the new United Methodist Mission
Center was dedicated in Ho Chi Minh City, one of the steps deemed
necessary to achieve that end. Another requirement is a constitution and
bylaws. “We have a draft of a constitution done,” Ough said. “It is now
being translated into English so it can be reviewed by legal counsel.”
The bishop expects that Vietnamese United Methodists will have an
organizing conference a year from now to approve the constitution and
elect their own leaders.
“It’s a very exciting time for Vietnam,” Ough said. “We’re running to keep up with what God is doing there.”
Donations to the Vietnam mission Advance project can be made here.
*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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