Africa Upper Room responds to continent's resource needs
8/26/2003 News media contact: Linda Green · (615) 742-5470 · Nashville, Tenn Two related reports, UMNS stories #418 and #419, are available. By Linda Green* NASHVILLE,
Tenn. (UMNS) - A new Upper Room ministry aims at nothing less than
helping every African spend time with God daily, and organizers are
pleased with its success so far.
The Upper Room, in partnership
with the Methodist Church of South Africa, launched Africa Upper Room
Ministries in early 2002 to provide resources to individuals,
congregations and denominations.
Based at Anathoth House outside
Johannesburg, South Africa, the project "has much to provide Africa,"
said Ross Oliviet, general secretary of the Methodist Church of Southern
Africa. "It is a substance that can lead to transformation."
Anathoth
House has become a hub for coordinating resources for the continent, he
told the United Methodist Board of Discipleship Aug. 23.
"God is
working miracles in Africa, and we are being used as one of the
vehicles for these miracles," said Roland Rink, the Africa coordinator
for Africa Upper Room Ministries, in a report he sent to the meeting.
Africa Upper Room aims to give every African "the opportunity to spend time with God each day," he said.
"The
whole idea behind Africa Upper Room is to work with the churches in
Africa to make available resources for the spiritual life of the people
on the continent and to help people be open to God's transforming
power," said the Rev. Stephen Bryant, publisher and world editor of
Upper Room Ministries, a unit of the United Methodist Board of
Discipleship in Nashville.
"We are not there just to be helpful
and provide stuff, but to listen," he said. "We believe God has
something to say to us and to the world through the faith stories of the
people of Africa. We are there enabling their faith stories to be
heard."
Oliviet told the board members that Africa Upper Room
Ministries focuses on increasing the spirituality, vitality, morality
and dignity of Africans. It publishes editions of The Upper Room
devotional guide in English, Portuguese, French and Xhosa, the tongue of
Southern Africa's largest group of indigenous people. It is expanding
its reach into Mozambique, Angola, Nigeria, Egypt and the Democratic
Republic of the Congo.
Africa Upper Room will be introduced at
the Nov. 21-27 meeting of the All Africa Conference of Churches in
Cameroon, Oliviet said. If successful, he said, it would extend the
Upper Room's reach to 139 Christian churches in 37 African countries.
The devotional is also sent as far afield as Kuwait in the Middle East.
Other
countries of interest include Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Kenya, Rink
said. "The devotional is a valuable tool in the life of Christians in
Africa," he said.
Said Oliviet: "We sense that we are entering a new era and are on the cusp of an exciting time."
# # #
*Green is United Methodist News Service's Nashville, Tenn., news director.
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