Editor's Column: The Advance Turns 50-Soon! NEW WORLD OUTLOOK Why-you may be asking-is New World Outlook featuring the 50th P11blisher fhe Randolph ugent Anniversary of the Advance in the July-August issue of 1997 when the Editor Advance for Christ and His Church actually turns 50 in 1998? Alma raham A good celebration takes months of preparation. Anyone who has ever Associate Editor ' Tn planned a wedding will tell you to start at least 18 months in advance to by Christie R. House book a hall, the entertainment, and the caterer-and make sure the pastor Ari Director Prod11ction Manager is available. When we wanted to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Roger C. Sadler ancy Quigley Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference, we set out for Tulsa a year 10 Le Lnyo11t/Desig11 Desktop P11blishi11g before the event happened. Big celebrations take time. They take thought­ by Hal Sadler Eli e C. Malsd1 ful planning, especially if they are to include everyone. Ad111inistrative Assistant Cirwlation F11 lfil/111en t The 50th Anniversary of the Advance is a big celebration. It isn't just the 14 M Patricia Y. Bradley Su an Siemer $700 million that the Advance has raised for mission over the last 50 by Editorial Offices years-though that is an impressive amount of money. Everyone of the A/111a Graha111 475 Riverside Drive, Room 1470 1800 Advance projects in the Partnership in Missions catalog is a unique ew York, 10115 ministry in which people of God have come together to serve God and 1sn 212 / 70-3765 one another. Each Advance number represents a faithful community of Ph Christians at work, doing its best to live out the Gospel in a world that E-mail [email protected] needs the Good News of Christ. 23 Ci Advertising/P ro111otio11 Director We bring you a few of these individual stories in almost every issue that Ruth Kurtz New World Outlook publishes. This particular issue is chock full of 06 475 Ri verside Drive, Room 1470 New York, NY 10115 Advance stories. In the United States, we report on Tacoma Community 212 / 870-3784 House (Community Centers, #982149-3) on the west coast and McDowell 27 w Mission (#391515-5) in the eastern part of the United States. In Brazil, Published bimonthly by the Gene ral Board of by G lobal Ministries of The United Methodis t we've touched on four projects that your congregation could adopt in Churm. (ISS -0043-8812) response to the study on Brazil: Niter6i Social Action Center (#010553- Second class postage paid at New York, NY, and 4DN), People's Central Institute (#009182-4RA); and two UMCOR 30 M additional mailing office . Copyri ght © 1997 by the General Board of Global Ministries of The Advance Projects, Mechanical Cow Dourados (#714505-0), and the by United Methodist Church. o part of New World Tapepora Mission (#714520-8). There are two articles by and about United 011tlook may be reproduced in an y fo rm without written permission from the Editors. Methodist missionaries, Howard and Peggy Heiner, who have just retired, 34 R1 Printed in U.S.A. and Glenn and Darla Rowley, who have started a new assignment in by New World Outlook editorials and unsigned arti­ Senegal. Both these missionary couples have been supported by US con­ cles refl ect the views of the editors and signed gregations through the Advance. articles th e views of authors only. Bishop Marshall Meadors and his wife Hannah have written an article to 38 Tc Unsolicited manuscripts w ill be acknowledged only if used. Otherwise, the editors cannot be keep you informed about the Bishop's Initiative on Children and Poverty. by re ponsible fo r returning them. If their article moves you, you can now support the Bishop's Initiative Report change of address to : Magazine through the Advance too, #982200-8. Ci rculation, Service Center, 7820 Reading Road, CaUer o. 1800, Cincinnati, Ohio 45222-1800. Also In case you're still at a loss for how to celebrate Advance's golden DEF send old address, enclosing if possible address label. All ow at least 30 days noti ce. POSTMAS­ anniversary, pull out the four-page section in the middle of the magazine TER: Send address change directly to New World and pass it around to the various committees of the church. We present a Outlook, Se rvice Center, 7820 Reading Road , 2 Et Ca ll er No. 1800, Cincinnati, O hio 45222-1800. dozen ways to celebrate the Advance. Pick one for each month-or just Su bscriptio ns in the United Sta tes a nd pick one. If you want to support the Advance in a general kind of way, Possessions: One year $12.00 (combination with Res pon se, $20.00). Single copies $2.50. Two years avoid all the number confusion and give a gift to the Advance SOth 21 C1 $20.00 (combina ti on with Response, $36.00) . All Anniversary Celebration, #500000-7. fo reign countries: One yea r $17.00 (combination Tl $25.00) . Get your party hats ready, dip into the fruit punch, and raise a toast to 50 years of the Advance. Happy Anniversary. Cover Photo: Toge Fujihira. Photo from United Methodist Archives, Madison, NJ, World 011tlook files. Children from the daycare center help earn other put on thei r sho at Scott's Run Settlement House in Osage, West Virginia, 1972. Scott's Run is -Christie R. House one of the community centers that benefits from the Advance special fo r community centers.

Photo/ Art credits: p. 46

2 NEW WORLD OUTLOOK JULY-AUGUST 1997

-~- - ~ - --- - . , . . . ~ . ' '.... . ' " . " . . . ' New Series Vol. LVII No. 6 ew World Outlook ~~e~ri~;~~~NoA I' ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~JUL~Y--A-uc_u_sT_1_9-97~~~~~~~~~~i/ he 50th Anniversary of the Advance for Christ and His Church

ver t The Advance At 50 2 to ;tor by Christie R. House the ear 10 Love Shines Out in West Virginia fht· by William MacDougall

~~e 14 Ministry to Children in Church Neighborhoods ~, by Marion Way and Christie R. House 1ue ~d 18 The Mission of Tapepora Revisited : Mato Grosso do Sol , Brazil of Photo Essay by Christie R. House at

at 23 Celebrate! The 50th Anniversary of the Advance for Christ and His Church of Designed by Barbara Ball

/ry' ell 'l.7 Witnessing With UMCOR in a Muslim Nation lil, by Fred Lamar in ~e 30 Meeting Jesus in the Here and Now ~: by Hannah C. Meadors and Marshall L. Meadors, Jr. [ 34 Reflecting on a Life of Service : A Conversation with Howard and Peggy Heiner by John W Peterson

38 Tacoma's Open Door: A United Methodist Legacy to Immigrants and Refugees by Patricia A. Schug DEPARTMENTS

Editor's Column

21 Cole 's Column: They Went the Final Mile

22 Mission Memo

42 Mission Stories: Glenn and Darla Rowley

44 Mission Education

NEW WORLD OUTLOOK JULY-AUGUST 1997 3 THE ADVANCE AT 50 by Christie R. House

The achievements of the Church members did launch Crusade for Christ cannot a crusade. Over the quadren­ be summarized adequately. nium, as the war ended and The Church sought $25 mil­ reports of Europe's devastation lion for relief, reconstruc­ were brought home, The tion, and service to a post­ Methodist Church collected an war world. The people unprecedented $27 million to contributed $27,011,243. aid in emergency relief and (From Bishop G. Bromley reconstruction. The church Over its 51). O xnam's Address, 1948 received the e millions over Above: Mfi General Conference in and above the regular appor­ Below:Mfi Boston) friend in KA tionments, the World Ser ice Opposite'I dollars (apportioned at slightly 111trod11ced It was an awakening. In less than $24 million), and the "Adm nee" the aftermath of World War cost of maintaining churches in II, the United States as a the United States. Never before nation raised a collective had so much money been col­ sigh of relief as daily life lected in such a hort time for resumed. Church leaders such specific cau e . and parishioners alike But fundrai ing wa not the decided that something had to be only records that The Methodist done about the millions of people Church broke at that time. In 1944, left destitute and mission institu­ according to Bishop Oxnam, tions left shattered by the war. 578,317 new member were Even during the war, at the 1944 received into Methodi t churche General Conference, the leaders of on profe sion of faitl1, and another The Methodist Church had the 485,417 were received by tran fer. foresight to plan for emergency This was the large t number of relief and reconstruction efforts. people to be recei ed b an "We were but 41 days from the church in any imilar peri din the Normandy Invasion and the hi tory of the Unit d tate . storming of the Fortress Europe; Th Methodi t hurch awakened the chu1 376 days from German capitula­ the world were to be killed, great World. ii tion; and exactly 475 days from centers of production de troyed, far excee< Japanese surrender," said Bishop historic structures bla t d into , sors, it w Oxnam in 1948. "Before the pas­ debri , millions mad h m - that the sage of these 475 day , t n of le .... In uch an hour. .. the Churd1 Wan t to thousands of the finest you th of was wnmon d to cru ad ." 1 find a wa

4 Methodists may achieve a deeper understanding of and commitment to Our Faith, Our Church, Our I Ministry, and Our Mission." The i second was a world-wide ,1I Advance in which Methodists may I share in a ministry of relief and in carrying the Gospel of Christ to the peoples of the earth." (Journal of the 1948 General Conference) The second part of the emphasis included a recommendation to increase World Service apportion­ ments by another third. Then, in addition to World Service, the General Conference asked the Methodist constituency to raise "by purely voluntary methods, a Special Fund, which shall be called the Advance Fund." The Advance contributions were to be raised through two channels. Advance Special projects, brought to the attention of annual conferences Over its 50-year history, the Advance has been used to support many missionaries. and local churches, carried a guar­ Above: Missionary Maria Wolcott feeds a child in Pueblo Nuevo, Peru, in 1968. antee that 100 percent of the funds Below: Missionary child, Chris Monroe (daughter of Ronald and Sharon Monroe) with a friend in Kamina, Zaire, 1978. collected would go specifically to Opposite, p. 4: Through nationwide denominational comm unications, the Advance was those projects. The second channel introduced to small towns like this one in 1955. The Woman 's Division launched its own was the Week of Dedication offer­ "Advance" in the 1948-52 quadrennium. ing. This voluntary cash offering, to be received annually from every congregation, provided a channel of undesigna ted giving for the growing church. Each conference was to assign an Advance Committee to promote the entire "Plan for Christ and His Church" movement. Yet, even before the General Conference met in 1948, staff mem­ bers of the Board of Missions were using the term "Advance" in a broad sense to signify a new po t­ war mission philosophy. Dr. Ralph I E. Diffendorfer, executive secretar I I I of the Division of Foreign I Missions, and Dr. Earl Brown, I the church could build a new The Advance Gets a Name executive ecretary of the Di i ion world. Since the Crusade for Christ The 1948 General Conference put of Home Mi sions and Church far exceeded the hopes of its spon­ together a four-year plan called Extension, coauthored an article in sors, it was natural and inevitable "The Quadrennial Plan for Christ a 1948 World Outlook entitled : that the 1948 Conference would and His Church." It had two objec­ "Advance in Home and Foreign want to maintain that fervor and tives. One was "a teaching and Mission ." find a way to institutionalize it. preaching endeavor in which "After a period of w1prec dented

NEW WORLD OUTLOOK JULY-AUGUST 1997 5 March 1948 World Outlook. The division's Advance goals were to make every woman in a Methodist church a member of either the Woman's Society of Christian Service or the Wesleyan Service Guild; to have every Methodist woman study, build, give, and pray for a world Christian commu­ nity; to send out 1000 new mission­ aries and deaconesses during the quadrennium; and to increase giv­ ous denominational mission ing to the Woman's Division by boards have set their hands to this one-third. and are ready to present to Soon after General Conference American Protestantism the most passed the "Quadrennial Plan for far-reaching plan of world evange­ Christ and His Church" in 1948, lism," he wrote. In a series of the "Quadrennial Plan" part of the regional meetings, designed to title was dropped. Activity cen­ reach "multiplied thousands of tered on the second objective of the people," 18 different denomina­ plan: "The Advance for Christ and tions met simultaneously to pre­ His Church." The mission agency sent their own advance programs saw beyond the pressing needs of to their own constituencies. one quadrennium, envisioning an Although foreign missions and the Advance that would continue. consequences of destructive forces were emphasized, home missions The Advance Surges Forward were also mentioned. As the denomination's relief The Woman' s Division of agency, the Methodist Committee Christian Service adopted the term on Relief (MCOR) had much to do "Advance" for its own special pro­ in 1948. Advance funding enabled gram. "In some places, without an MCOR to send food, clothing, and advance, the Christian community medicine to 32 different countries. 0 built up by decades of service and It fed 12,000 children each week. sacrifices will die of exhaustion," Much of the work centered in the commented Mrs. J.D. Bragg, chair Displaced Persons (DP) camps of of the Woman's Division in the Europe, providing food, services, medicines, and assistance in re et­ The Su urban 1 tling refugees in the United States. l:ftwee MCOR also provided direct assis­ tance to thousands of pa tor who ThE were on the brink of tarvation in churc war-torn countrie . " In China, iona where the terrible infla ti on h a pens< made it impo sible for thou and listic of Chinese preacher to make end the ;I m eet, MCOR p end be tween prog $30,000 and $40,000 each m nth to Afric; keep them aliv ," wrote Bi hop Ame Ti tu Lowe, e cu ti director of Advz MCOR. He al o n t d upport of fund· Riccardo "Papa" Santi, with children of Casa Materna in Naples, Italy, 1958. p a tors in India, Paki tan, r­ and An Adva nce project then and now. many, and Poland. Unite

6 NEW WORLD OUTLOOK JULY-AUGU T 1997

- . '' ' . -·l . ·..,. .. . "' . . the Week of Dedication brought in $2.5 million. World Service came in at $27 million. These were the fig­ i I! ures presented at General Con­ I' ference in April, so the final 1952 ! figures were probably higher. The 1952 General Conference voted to continue the Advance, at least through the 1956 quadren­ nium. They added a recommenda­ tion that 10 percent of funds raised by conference-initiated specials be sent to the Division of National Missions to assist weaker churches in other conferences. They also voted to continue MCOR, but they thought best to include a proviso that said the Council of Bishops, in conjunction with the General Commission on World Service and Finance and the Mission Board, could disband MCOR if they no longer saw a need for its services. By 1956, General Conference began to look at the Advance as a continuing source of funding and made certain provisions to regulate the way in which the money was collected and designated. The structure they devised is similar to that used today. From the begin­ ning, annual conferences were the main avenue of education about the Advance. Early on, conferences designated projects within their regions for conference funds in addition to the national and inter­ The Superior Area Community Action Program in Cleveland, Ohio, was an ecumenical urban ministry supported by Methodists in 1968. It attempted to build interracial bridges national projects that were ear­ between the Hough and Norwood neighborhoods of Cleveland. marked for funds. The 1956 General Conference formalized the The building and construction of Although financial officers did way in which local churches col­ churches, schools, parsonages, mis­ not receive as much as they had lected the funds. Donations were to sionary residences, hospitals, dis­ hoped with this second asking, go to the local church treasurer, pensaries, and social and evange­ they certainly received enough to who would then remit the money listic centers were another part of keep the fund going into the next to the conference treasurer, the Advance. Overseas building quadrennium. "It is inconceivable who would send it on to programs covered projects in that Methodism will relinquish the the national church Africa, Asia, and Central and South advantages gained through the office. The World America. Another portion of the Crusade and the Advance," wrote Division, the Nation­ Advance and Week of Dedication Advance executive director E. al Division, and funds went to building churches Harold Mohn in the 1952 report to MCOR continued to and community centers in the General Conference. The Advance designa t projects for United States: received about $10.5 million, while the national church.

NEW WORLD OUTLOOK JULY-AUGUST 1997 7 The 1956 recommendation stated nating their gifts for specific pro­ that conferences could also desig­ jects and missionaries that nate conference Advance Specials appealed to them) and what mis­ as part of the asking. sion-board staff members wanted (undesigna ted gifts to channel to Advance Project of the Month projects, programs, and missionar­ In the mid-1960s, the Board of ies that were most in need) has not Missions in New York and the been resolved in the 30 years since Commission on Promotion and these di cussions began. People Cultivation in Evanston, Illinois, like to feel personally involved in began the "Project of the Month" the missions they support. Social campaign. Each month, World trends in the 1990s indicate waning Outlook published a page on spe­ support for hierarchical institutions cific projects and askings, with a but plenty of support for programs paragraph about what the money that involve individuals in mean­ would buy. As the months pro­ ingful experiences. The Advance, gressed, World Outlook kept a run­ connecting missionaries to congre­ ning tally of projects that still need­ gations and connecting specific ed funding, emphasizing them projects to local churches, fits the each month until they were fully current trend exactly. funded. The Project of the Month, The Advance persists-now a 50- which later became the Advance year-old institution. The projects Project of the Month, lasted into depicted on these pages represent the 1970s. many, many more-thousands of A new United Methodist Church in Dilolo, In 1968, the Evangelical United community centers, missions, hos­ Shaba Province, Zaire, 1978 . Brethren (EUB) Church united pitals, missionaries, and programs with The Methodist Church to cre­ made possible by this second-mile $700 million to ensure that the ate The United Methodist Church giving. Since 1948, the Advance has work of Christ and His Church (UMC). A blending of every insti­ generated gifts totaling more than continues. 0 tution of each church occurred. The EUB Church had a second­ mile-giving structure that was sim­ ilar to the Methodist Advance. Both denomina hons discovered that the missionary-support fund, / in which individual churches sponsored specific missionaries, stea dily grew throughout the 1960s. Missionaries sent letters to their donor churches and visited the congregations when they returned to the United States­ forging a personal link in the mis­ sion. Today, the United Methodist Covenant Relationship program incorporates this form of designat­ ed giving.

Advance Support Continues In 1969, discussion focused on how the Advance n eeded to change. Methodist Com mittee on Relief (MCOR) used Advance funds for Angel's Haven, nn orphanage in Seoul, Korea. Some of Koren 's 70,000 "orplums" in 1965 ilnd families tilnt The tension between what local chose to admit them to clwrc/1-spo1rored orp'1a11nges rather thnn wntc/1i11 tile/II die nt church memb rs wanted (desig- home of starvation .

8 EW WORLD UTLOOK JULY- VGU T 1997

-

' • • ' • • • • •• ' ~It .. • • , ' ' • ' ... • • • • • • Left: A worker for CASA, an UMCOR "food for work" development project in Ramniwaspura, India. This particular group built a well for the co111mu11ihJ in 1985.

Below: "Sunday School in a migrant camp" was a World Outlook photo used for the United Methodist Women 's World Day of Prayer in 1960. Both the Advan ce and United Methodist Women support migra nt work­ er ministries in the United States through different channels of giving.

!ht 1rch

IiI I

NEW WORLD OUTLOOK JULY-AUGUST 1997 9 chanC sion, bers. and ,~ fue p As task.

,,,. . -·-

a frac nizati Love S~ivies DI.At ivi West Virgiviia dreds by William MacDougall makE man1 force! homE M axine Rose and her five children, Cooperative Parish, a group of only 8 percent of the US total. wind ages 10 to 16, urgently needed help United Methodist churches in The United Methodist Church paint to rehabilitate their trailer home, McDowell County. The parish was has spent more than $1.3 million reflec nestled among the green-forested responding to the need for help since 1986 to combat hunger and "Peo mountains of southern West with housing and other matters poverty in Appalachia through the hard­ Virginia . But they didn't have among the population of one of the United Methodist Appalachian other money for major repairs. most beautiful-and one of the Development Committee and the obser "So I called Jim Nance at the poorest-areas of Appalachia. Commission on Religion in McDowell Mission," recalls Rose, Methodism has a significant pres­ Appalachia. 1 "and he said they would help. And en ce in the 399 counties of Before coming to McDowell The From they did. A bunch of people from Appalachia, a mountainous region Mission, Jim Nance had retired the mission put in pipes and fixed stretching from southern New from a management position with Missi the flooring. They just about rebuilt York to northern Mississippi. General Motors. He and Suzann llllte{ the whole place. They were great." United Methodists represent 1.9 were settling into a comfortable sumr James Nance and his wife, million of a total Appalachian pop­ existence in Florida. "But there was ing 0 Suzann, came to the newly found­ ulation of 20.5 million. That is something missing," he says. So he mate ed McDowell Mission in Gary, nearly 22 percent of the nationwide volunteered for a Christian work reca11 West Virginia, in 1991. The mission total of United Methodists, though project in West Virginia. "I knew plus was s tarted by the Welch Area Appalachia's entire population is God was calling me, so when the there

10 NEW WORLD OUTLOOK JULY-AUGUST 1997

1 '• '- o l • ! , , , • ~" _,.,. • rr 11 H I • • < t ~' °' ~ .,. ' " " > : " ''- > ' t ' • • • ' ,, I ,I I

I ch.an e came t work with the mis­ hav come from throughout the mouth that gets people here." The ion, I jumped at it," he remem­ United States and from as far away results are impressive. In 1996 I ber . He wa hired as th fir t­ as Japan and the Netherlands. alone, volunteers and staff com­ and, so far, the only-director of Mo t are of high-school and college pleted 52 projects-mostly house the project. age, but others are older-one was repairs-in 19 communities in As uch, h faced a daunting 86. Their ranks have included McDowell County. ta k. The McDowell Mission car­ United Methodists, Presbyterians, James and Tracey Fruia and their rie out activitie over several Baptists, and many others. From daughter Brandy, age 5, live in a counti s of outhern We t Vir­ time to time, United Methodist 75-year-old house near Gary that ginia-revamping houses, provid­ clergy have taken part in the mis­ was rehabilitated by mission vol­ ing goods such as clothing and sion's work projects. West Virginia unteers. Tracey says tha t other blankets to ictims of fires, and Bishop S. Clifton Ives led one such groups in the area also h elp to operating a thrift store. In addition, group. upgrade houses, but "young fami­ a new youth center has been estab­ Volunteer groups also bring in lies were left out before. Our house lished, and a headquarters with n eeded revenue. The mission had no bathroom, and I called Jim offices, apartments, meeting charges them $100 a week. Part of to see what the mission could do. room , and a chapel was dedicated that money covers their lodging­ An elderly group came out, and last September. mostly on floors in their own sleep­ they worked and worked. Our The need for such work has ing bags. But the rest is used to house is so much better now. We grown over the past several help finance the repairs and emer­ made good friends with the group decades as the coal-dependent gency supplies for local people. members, and I still see some of economy of the region declined. "The volunteers love being here," them." From a peak population of 110,000 says Nance, "and many want to In late fall, winter, and early in the 1950s, McDowell County come back again and again. They sp ring, most of the work is h an­ decreased in numb ers to fewer say that, by helping others, they dled by the mission's paid staff of than 30,000 at present. The coun­ get far more out of the experience six, with eight part-timers. One of ty' coal-mining force was about than they put into it." N an ce the p ermanent group is Douglas 10,000 a half century ago but fell to admits he doesn't know how most Cole, 27, the mission's construction a fraction of that after the mecha­ volunteers learned about the mis­ coordinator. Like many volunteers, nization of the mines. Today, hun­ sion. "There were some stories in he heard about the mission from a dreds of families are struggling to newspapers," he notes, ''but most- friend. Cole, his wife, Holly, and m ake an a d equate living, an d 1y it ju s t seem s to b e word of their two-year-old son, Jonathan, many young people h ave been forced to move to other areas. Yet homes in most towns along the winding river bottoms are brightly painted and lawns well-tended, n reflecting a pride in community. d "People here are intelligent and hard-working, and they help each n other when somebody is in need," observes Nance.

The Work of Volunteers I I From the beginning, the McDowell I I a Mission has relied heavily on vol­ I unteers. They come mostly during summer to do such work as repair­ ing older houses and transporting materials. "The first year," Nance recalls, "there were 271 volunteers plus Suzann and me." In 1996, James Nance, director of McDowell Mission. Opposite, p. 10: Volunteers renovate the there were 1poo volunteers. They "clubhouse," McDowell Mission headquarters in Gary, West Virginia.

NEW WORLD OUTLOOK JULY-AUGUST 1997 11 "The kids," says Thomp - mission provides donated clothing son, " do all sorts of to area residents at little or no cost. things-from games, to The facility is housed in an aban­ painting, to homework. doned United Methodist church in Sometimes they just talk to the village of Wilcoe. me and each other about what is on their minds." From Clubhouse to Mission Some of the young peo­ Nance is especially proud of the ple come from one-parent headquarters building in Gary, homes or from families which years ago was a clubhouse where both parents are for coal miners. "Our first office," either out of work or earn­ he says, "was in the basement of ing the minimum wage. the Gary United Methodist The you th often do their Church. But we soon outgrew that homework under Thomp­ and I started looking around. I son's supervision and found this big old building-the encouragement. She was old clubhouse. It was in such bad trained in music therapy, shape that they were trying to con­ with experience in hospi­ demn it." It contained a number of tals and hospices. apartments and other rooms on Michael Taylor, Judy Matheny, and Katie "Sometimes," she says, "I three floors. Nance was convinced L. Jon es, Welch Cooperative Parish, First get discouraged and I think, 'God, that it could be converted to the UMC in Welch, West Virginia . why am I doing this?' Then some­ mission's use. So he put in a bid for thing good happens to one of the it-$56-and won. While some were living in their hometown of kids, and I know why I am here." people in the community shook Prineville, Oregon. They had no Thompson notes that some of the their heads, the mission team thoughts of moving. best moments are when a child began their painstaking work of "Jim's nephew goes to my home who was previously failing in cleaning out the clubhouse and fix­ church in Oregon, and he put a school rushes in and says, "I got an ing it up. bug in my ear," says Cole. "I flew A!" "We're seeing more and more Now the former clubhouse con­ to West Virginia to see what was A's these days," she notes proudly. tains offices, meeting rooms, a few going on, and I decided to come "It's good that these kids are learn­ small apartments for staff, and a here. I felt it was God's will for us ing to improve as part of a dormitory for volunteers. Nance to be here." His skills as a carpen­ Christian community." has his eye on other buildings for ter have come in handy at the mis­ Another important part of the the growing enterprise-especially sion. "We have to work with a lot mission's work is helping people a warehouse for building materials of buildings," observes Cole, "and whose homes are destroyed by fire. and housing supplies. to me, they're a big disaster area. This happens often, especially in Gary's Mayor Henry S. Paul, who There's a lot of work to be done." winter, in old frame houses with is a United Methodist, has watched faulty wiring where warmth is sup­ in amazement as the mission has Seeing More A:s plied by portable heaters that go progressed. "They have done an Another permanent s taffer at awry. Sometimes families lose all awful lot," he says. "They did a lot McDowell Mission is Heather their possessions in such disasters. of good in Gary, especially at first, Thompson-originally from Royal To help furnish at least basic neces­ although they have spread out all fames Nanc Oak, Michigan- who runs the new sities for the victims, the mission over the county since then. They Henry S. Pa youth center. Located in a neat maintains a small warehouse of have improved a lot of people's two-story building at the bottom of items such as blankets, children's lives." McDowell a hill, the facility is a beehive of clothes, toothbrushes, and tooth­ Nance admits that one of his ~r indirect11 activity nearly every afternoon paste. Many of the materials are biggest frustrations is that he and mg the Wes after school. Some children are donated by people and businesses the staff are often overextended. United Mel reading while others are busy at both in the area and from as far "There is too much to do," he es, and vo computers donated by various away as Ohio and Georgia. admits. "You just have to learn to supports individuals and organizations. A thrift store maintained by the focus on one thing at a time and Advance S Gary, #3915j

12 NEW WORLD OUTLOOK JULY-AUGUST 1997

•• 10, l • •• .. • • • ~" .... ~ -.,. .... l • • • • ~ • ' .... ~ .. ' .. .. •• : .. ' • ' • • • • • • • ' • • • ! I I

rracey Fruia, Maxine Rose, James Fruia, and Suzann Nance unload a truck at the thrift store.

move on to the next project when that is done. We see a lot of heart­ Welch Area Cooperative Parish break, but we also see a lot of hope. That makes it all worthwhile."O "So much is dying out around here," tions to large, well-filled churches. Taylor observes Katie l. Jones of Coolwood, soys that parish meetings hove been espe­ West Virginia. "But the parish hos given us cially valuable in providing a sense of hope. " Christion community to young people oth­ 'I Jones is speaking about the Welch Area erwise isolated in rural areas. The parish Cooperative Parish in southern West is also proud that it parented the growing Virginia . Founded in 1968, it hos brought McDowell Mission. Both organizations vision and excitement to on area of shore a number of directors and often Appalachia long burdened by poverty assist each other. and decline. Another parish activity is a fund that The parish , which consists of l 0 rnokes smoll loons-otten of about $50- charges of 21 churches with about 500 to people facing emergencies and need­ members, is centered in Welch , the coun­ ing to pay for such items as gasoline and ty seat of McDowell County. The organi­ electricity. Startup funds were provided by zation includes eight full-time and two port­ organizations such as the parish, local time pastors. Jones is secretory of the churches, and the West Virginia parish council and attends Mt. Zion Conference of The United Methodist United Methodist Church in Coolwood. Church. Dr. Judy C. Matheny, a Church Michael Taylor, pastor of the Welch and Community Worker with the General United Methodist Church and parish coor­ Boord of Globol Ministries, was instrumen­ dinator, soys the group provides on impor­ tal in starting the Loon Fund and now tant sense of community to diverse congre­ administers it. As a deaconess and a rural fames Nance with Gary's mayor, gations that range from large to small and chaplain , she is assigned to serve the Henry S. Paul. from thriving to poor. "The parish," he Welch Area Cooperative Parish, the I I soys, "brings us all together." Through its Bluewell-Keystone Cooperative Parish , McDowell Mission is supported directly joint revivals, music festivals, and youth and the McDowell Mission . I I or indirectly by various groups, includ­ activities, it connects church members from Katie Jones soys that the parish is at its ing the West Virginia Conference of The all walks of life. The group sponsors activi­ best during revivals. "It's a happy time," United Methodist Church, local church­ ties every few weeks, their locations vary­ she affirms . "When people ore together ing from church to church . like that, you find they hove a real free­ es, and volunteers. The denomination Countywide get-togethers ore consid­ dom to speak about the spirit of God ." supports the project as a General ered important in linking tiny congrego- Advance Special: McDowell Mission, Gary, #391515-5 . .

NEW WORLD OUTLOOK JULY-AUGUST 1997 13 MINISTRY TO CHILDREN IN Tl

,, CHURCH NEIGHBORHOODS I 1'

The AMAS program of tire Metlwdi t Clrnrclr of Brazil are grassroot project that pring up at local Metlzodi t clwrclze- to mini ter to the need of children and other in tire church nei hborhood. AMAS tand for Metl10d,_-t A ociation for Social Action. While each local AMAS i independent, nil follow General Conference guideline for co11111n1111ty senii e. AMA programs meet a vital need or daycare, pre chool, and elemrntan; education where city and tate govemment Jail -!rort. ome o tlrerr work i funded throu Ir local 1111111ic1pal pro­ gram , but tire other part 1111rt come rom ea h individual church invoh•ed. A - 1111111icipa fi111dm decrea e each year, lo al c/111rclte.' an· ling to keep the proc ram -altl'e. iter6i City i :eparated from Rio de Janeiro by Gitnnabara Bay. In 19 1, a 11111e-1111lc bnd >c ww built across the bay, 111ak111g 1ter6i mon acces 'ible to the 111illio11s o people who lil'c i11 a11d travel thro11 :rh Rio. Mano11 Way, a U111tcd arr Metl10d1st 111i.sio11an; i11 Brn:1l or 3 year::-, tells the story o Cleo111ce . H l'rY a11d tltt AMA iter61 proc ram. T/11::. -.for11 .;hoic. lwu• AMA proc"'rnms typ1cnlly dei•clop a-. 11 respo11se o ethod1st co11 "'l'C'a/1011.; to God'- ' ' call. TltL•::.c 1111ddle-cla::.::. con •re •at101i.;. 111 ' ' Brn:1l, like 111a11y U111tcd .\1ctl10di::.t co11:rc:a t1011::,. 111 tltc U111ted fate. sflu '•le to 11111i11· '' 111111 tltcir c/111rchcs Yet, somc/w,c tltt'Y 111d Ilic rc::,.ourcc::- to rcaclt 0111a11d1111-.,ca tit,· lltt'd-. t od'::. people 1ar1011-. rnrratil'c ; ... i111t'hpt•r-.t·d it it11 dc-.u 1pfHHI" Ill 111 It t111 l 1111d p/1e1fth (,

Vo11che, Isa/le/, 1111d their c/1ildn•11- the 11011::-e fi11111Jy of l'lllml J111rch's Homt' \1 ~· 1/l'nll l1y ' " \\orld utlo " for Boys. 17.;..;f>t111le cd1tor ltnsfit' R Hc111 c'

14 [\. \. RID TL f....I l't- \ ,L._,T ll)<.l/ Thi project started with the So many children came, the building of the bridge from Rio church could hardly handle the across the bay to Niter6i. The number. Although the church has a bridge ended right in front of large sanctuary, its Sunday-school Central Methodist Church (Igreja facilities are small. Children who Metodista Central de Niter6i). had never been to church before­ Central is a traditional church and most of whom couldn' t read or one of our oldest congregations. write-were mixed in with chil­ The bridge changed the neighbor­ dren from the middle-class congre­ hood quite a bit. Some homes were gation. The teachers could not han­ torn down to make way for the dle the situation. bridge approaches. Behind the At first, there was quite a bit of church, the construction workers opposition from the church people. filled in the marshy area to make a Some members thought: 'Tm not parking lot for construction trucks going to let my child go to Sunday and building materials. school with those grubby kids." David Ponciano (left), Gary Zumwalt Almost overnight, after the con­ So Cleonice gathered a group of (center), and Marion Way (right) were struction team left, about 200 volunteers to form a Sunday after­ members of the Caxias team, 1969. homeless families descended on noon school for the kids of the this parking lot and put up little neighborhood. It included reli­ their water from a hose attached to the shacks. Cleonice Q. H. Nery, a gious teaching, recreation, and mimicipal pipe that carries water to schoolteacher in Niter6i and a something for them to eat-usual­ the rest of the city. Municipal water member of Central Methodist, ly a thick soup. The volunteer throughout Brazil is not safe to drink, decided with her family and a few group really prayed and worked but it's all they have. Needless to say, friends that the church should do on what to do. When everyone their toilet was the ditch. something with all these new was at a loss, Cleonice said: "Well, The volunteers went out into the neighbors. Central was then going the Lord will find a way for us." neighborhood to meet with moth­ through a charismatic phase. The Inside the fence, we found a short ers of the children to give them members held praise services and yard-bordered by cast-off brick and some basic and practical health liked to lift up their arms. Cleonice homemade mortar walls--and a small, education. Then they began a sur­ felt they had to use that charismatic one-room shack. The room was divided vey to disco\ er why the children energy for evangelization. "It's into a sleeping area (a mattress), a weren't going to school when there wonderful to be here in the church, cooking area (a charcoal stove), and a were public schools nearby. lifting our arms to God," she told living area. The floor was hard dirt. The trouble was, the public them. "But we have to take these On the wall of the shack was a beauti­ school requires that students must same arms and go out into the ful painting of women dancing. have a uniform and shoes. Some of community and serve the people Cleonice put her arm around Angela, a the neighborhood kids didn't even during the week." The members single mother with three children. have a birth certificate. One group started a vacation Bible school. A of women from the church started lot of the kids came. Then they Most of the neighborhood kids sewing uniforms for the children. invited the kids to Sunday school. had skin disease and lice. One of Another group collected shoes. the first things the volunteers had Cleonice took me to one of the Others worked on getting the chil­ to do was to give them baths. makeshift shacks just a few blocks from dren ready for school by gathering People who had been living under the church. We had to cross an open the proper documentation for the bridge and on the street had drainage ditch to get there- walking them. very little sense of hygiene. They over a couple of rickety boards posi­ Then they found out that the had no water. tioned about 10 feet above the running public school was severely ov r­ water. Little children run across these They still have no water. Angela's crowded. The government didn't boards. A row of tall boards concealed three children poked their lrends in really care whether the kids went the row of shacks on the other side of th rough the hole in the boards and to school or not. Having n e er the ditch . We entered through a hole in watched us with curiosity. They had attended school before, they the boards. been outside at the end of the street became discipline problems and washing the family's dishes. They get lagged far behind other children

NEW WORLD OUTLOOK JULY-AUGUST 1997 15 The home for the boys stood in stark T/ie contrast to the shacks we had just vis­ 1I11stitl ited. The mother (Isabel) and the /anein father (Vouche) were both home that Metlw1 day with their own three children. Tucker Most of the boys had gone to school. 1ocial . Though the rooms were sparsely fur­ grams, nished, they were neat and clean. The town) kitchen had an oven, a stove, and a C.Zhind sink with running water. There were the 1111 bunk beds and a bathroom. The large center': yard was torn up that day with con­ Pon struction work- more improvements. the Ca Recently, the congregation has of Ri c rented a third house for some of 1965 a Cleonice Q. H. Nery (left) with Angela . the older boys. The program has outl yi been going on for 12 years, so the Bo arc their age. There wasn't much afternoon. The teachers' salaries older boys outgrow it. But they still Me th1 incentive for them to remain in came from the municipal funds, need a place to live while they York1 school. but the other workers were paid work and study at night for high term 1 by AMAS. Some workers volun­ school. So about 10 of them live States Back at Central Church, we saw teered their time. together and share expenses. A Brazil classrooms. Most schools in Brazil retired man from the church serves you ti meet for half-day sessions. Half the They discovered that some of the kids were street children and oth­ as their house father. workE children from the municipality attend ers were virtually so, with one par­ Now the church is concentrating in the morning and the other half in on a charismatic outreach to the afternoon. ent missing and another incapaci­ tated in some way. A home for young people involved with drugs If the volunteers were going to boys grew out of the church mem­ and prostitution. Some attend ser­ work with kids to get them to bers' desire to help the homeless vices at the church. They are school, then they had to help them children who were attending their touched and want to start a new with their homework. All could school. The pastor had lived in an life. One of the hardest things for not be helped in an afternoon ses­ apartment that was part of the any church is to follow through sion, so some came in the morning. church building. The church with individuals who have had an Before long, we had tutoring, bought a house for him so that the emotional religious conversion. So homework help, religious educa­ AMAS program could use the Cleonice puts them to work in the tion, and recreation five days a rooms in the church. Then the AMAS program. In a whole differ­ week. Then the kids would take a church members rented an apart­ ent atmosphere, they have a chance bath, put on their uniforms, have ment for the pastor and began to at breaking old habits. lunch, and go to school. use the parsonage a a home for 12 Now look at the Methodist con­ Unfortunately, the church was to 15 boys at a time. The municipal nection. The pastor at Central using one method to teach and the judge in Niter6i has sent a number Methodist during all this outreach school was using another. Cleonice of children to live in the home and activity was David Ponciano. As a rallied some of the people in the participate in the program. child, he had come from the interi­ church who had influence in the Now the church has bought or of Brazil to one of Rio's favelas, city and the school system. They another house and has a program as many poor rural families do. He were able to get four public-school for girls who are homeless or in worked in a small store, but he teachers to teach first and second abusive situations. Each of the started attending a Methodi t graders at the church in the after­ church homes is headed by a hus­ church. The church granted him a noon. Cleonice coordinated the band-and-wife team. The mother is scholarship to study at People's program as a volunteer. The third an employee of the church, while Central Institute (ICP). He fini hed and fourth graders continued the father usually has a full-time high school there at night and went going to the public school in the job elsewhere. on to seminary.

16 NEW WORLD OUTLOOK JULY-AUGUST 1997 Tile People's Ce11tral Institute On that sa me Caxias team were Anita as a missionan; in Brazil since (I11stituto Ce11trnl do Pavo) in Rio de S11snn Morrison , now serving as bish­ 1962. He began his missionary service fa11eiro was founded in 1906 by a op of th e Albany Area, and Paulo in 1951 in Angola as part of the A-3 Methodist missionary, Dr. Hugh C. Lockmann, the current bishop of the team s sent to serve three years in Tucker. It wns tile first institute for First Region of the Methodist Church Africa by the Board of Missions of The social service in Brazil, nnd its pro­ of Brazil, Rio de Janeiro . Methodist Church. Anita grew up in grams nre still going. Afavela (shanty­ Bra zil , where her paren ts were Little by little, Ponciano and town) llns grown up on til e ridge Methodist missionaries. Cleonice's group worked with the behind the center, so there is no end to members of the congregation. The tlze number of children who need the church as a whole went from oppo­ center's services. sition to acceptance. Now the All funds given to Niteroi Ponciano was also a member of whole congregation is involved in Social Action Center, Advance the Caxias team. Caxias is a suburb the AMAS ministry and in the chil­ #010553-4DN, will go to the of Rio. ICP had branched out by dren's lives. The present pastor is Central Methodist Church in 1965 and was running programs in the Rev. Odilon de Oliveira. Niteroi for the AMAS program. outlying areas. In the 1960s, the The church tithes 10 percent of all People's Central Institute is Board of Missions for The its income for the AMAS program. also an Advance Special, Methodist Church back in New The program is also an Advance #009182-4RA. York was teaming up young, short­ Special, but it received only $3452 term missionaries from the United of a $35,000 asking in 1996. States with young people from the Nevertheless, as Cleonice says: Brazilian Methodist Church. The "The Lord will find a way for us. "O Below: Angela 's children wash their fami­ youths initiated projects and ly's dishes with a hose from the municipal worked on them together. water pipe at the end of the street. Marion Way has served with his wife C£" -L he ~iMion o Ta11epor ~alo firoMo do ol, Brazil

In our May-June 1997 issue, we published two articles that told how the Brazilian Methodist ChUtth accompanies indigenous South Americans in Brazil. The article by Paul Jeffrey, "Taking the Side of Brazil's Indigenous People," infonned us of how the Kafowa-Guarani people must fight to keep what little land they have left--the key to their survival into the twenty-first century. 'W'e have ll!Veral reasons for revis­ i,. the I

Tiie baby cradled in a home-made hammock in Bororo (opposite, p.18} has soy milk from the mechanical cow in Bororo, while the children below, in Campestre, have Jew sources of protein available to them. Their mother (pictured) liad to say goodbye to them for an indefinite period while she toolc tl1eir youngest sister, an infant, to a clinic, miles away. The baby had been running a fever for 8 days. Since they have no means of transportation other tllan walking, they pick up rides as they can. Below, clockwise from left: typical scenes in Campestre. The houses are made from grass, trees, and plastic, while some houses in Bororo were built from milled lumber. Grandparents in the Kaiwa-Guarani culture may be in their 30s a:nd 40s. Few live beyond their 50s. The children in Campestre, though loved, shaw the signs of malnutrition. Their community is on the brink of starvation. We also wanted to inform our readers that the Guarani are once again under siege in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul. According to CIMI-the Indigenous Missionary Council in Brazil- this year the Guarani people of Sucuriy were evicted from their ancestral land. Sucuriy is a little north and east of where we visited. The land was legally demarcated through Brazilian courts as Guarani ances­ tral land in 1996. However, Sabastiao Alves Marcondes-a rancher who has been steadily moving into the land-refused to leave. In fact, accompanied by Sucuriy's mayor and an armed group of ranchers, he evicted the Guarani. Then, on March 3, 1997, a Campo Grande judge issued a rul­ ing that guaranteed the Sucuriy community's right to its land. After that ruling, the Guarani returned. But a judge in Sao Paulo, They Went the Final Mile by Charles Cole

Would you be willing to die for just a few miles from one of the your faith? Huaorani villages. When the mis­ The Advance for Christ and His sionaries attempted to speak to Church asks us to go the second Huaorani women on one side of mile in giving for mission. What the river, five Huaorani warriors about those who went the final attacked and killed them. mile-who became martyrs to their Many years later, one of the faith? Huaorani who had by then Martyr means "witness." We become a Christian, r membered usually think of martyrs as the words of one of the missionar­ Christians thrown to the lions. Yet ies as the attack was under way, David Barrett and Todd M . "We just came to meet you. We Johnson, in Our World and How to aren't going to hurt you. Why are Reach It, estimate that 26,625,000 you killing us?" Christians have died for their faith Martyrs also have a strange abili­ in this century. ty to find joy in the midst of suffer­ Most contemporary martyrs did ing. Etty Hillesum, a Dutch Jew, not intend to become martyrs. cent of the annual productivity. But worked as a typist for the Jewish They were simply loving God and he had returned to his native Spain Council in Nazi-occupied their neighbor and as a result to visit his 93-year-old father when Amsterdam in 1942. She began found themselves in harm's way. hostilities broke out in the civil war reading the Gospel of Matthew, St. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, for example, in El Salvador. Augustine, and Tolstoy. She also came to New York to study in 1939. Ellacuria flew immediately back began to pray. A writer, she record­ He could have stayed in the United to El Salvador to be with his fellow ed some of her feelings in her States for the duration of the war. priests. Less than a week later, a diaries. She was sent to a Jewish Yet he chose to return to Germany death squad broke into the univer­ camp at Westerbork before being because he believed he would oth­ sity at lAM and shot and killed sent to a death camp. erwise lose the right to participate Ellacuria, five other priests, and Even among the suffering prison­ in rebuilding after the war. He was two women who were temporarily ers she continued to find grace in arrested for his involvement in the staying at the university. the midst of evil: "Whenever I resistance to Hitler. In 1945, just Another common trait of contem­ showed myself ready to bear it, the before Germany surrendered, porary martyrs is their love for hard was directly transformed into Bonhoeffer was executed at their enemies. In 1956, five young the beautiful. And the beautiful Flossenburg prison. North Americans went to Ecuador was sometimes much harder to Bonhoeffer wrote: "The church with their families to preach to the bear, so overpowering did it has an unconditional obligation to Huaorani, a small group of indige­ seem." She wondered: "How is it the victims of any ordering of soci­ nous people who were threatened that my spirit, far from being ety, even if they do not belong to by oil drilling near their homes. oppressed, seemed to grow lighter the Christian community." The five young men-Jim Elliott, and brighter there?" Iganicio Ellacuria was the rector Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed Finally, Etty Hillesum was (president) of Central American McCully, and Peter Fleming­ ordered to board one of those University in San Salvador, El made contract with the Huaorani trains whose passengers ne er Salvador. He had been active with by flying overhead, dropping gifts, returned to the land of the living. other Roman Catholics in speaking and speaking to them over a loud­ But as she left she wrote a po tcard of the "preferential option for the speaker in their native language. and thrust it through a hole in the poor" in a country where 8 percent One day they landed their airplane side of th car. It read: of the population controlled 50 per- on a sandbar in the Curaray River "We have left the camp inging."

NEW WORLD OUTLOOK JULY-AUGUST 1997 21 MISSION MEMO Missionaries Commissioned Ten candidates were commissioned Affirmative Action Policy to con­ in promotional and information for missionary service in April at form to GBGM's new structure. video for "Living the Life! the Global Gathering ill in Kansas The Women's Division endorsed Congregations Answering Christ's City, Missouri. Jane Ayers, of the the Strawberry Campaign of the Call to be Advocates." Nancy Baltimore/Washington Conference, United Farm Workers, supported Carter won two awards of merit will serve in Bosnia; In Ki Lee and the US poultry plant workers, and for the General Board of Global Mi Rang Kang of the Western New endorsed an anti-sweatshop cam­ Ministries' Website and the York Conference have been paign of the Walt Disney Company Computerized AIDS Ministries assigned to Moscow, Russia; Workers that seeks justice in the (CAM) Website. Nancy's work can Miguel Aragon Mariena, sponsored workplace. The Disney Company be seen on the web at by the Baltimore /Washington has been accused of using sweat­ http:/ /gbgm-umc.org and http:/ I Conference, will serve in shop labor in the Caribbean to pro­ hwbbs.gbgm-umc.org. Jeneane's Nicaragua, where his wife Nan duce items that are sold for high videos are available through McCurdy has been serving; John profits at Disney amusement parks. Ecufilm 1-800-251-4091 (Living the ACor and Purnavati Rathod of the Life) and GBGM electronic media ere I Northern Illinois Conference will Upper Midwest Hoods 212-870-3780 (Harvest of Hope). anc serve in the Philippines; Michael There is now an Advance number H celebrat and Teresa Rose Rynkiewich of the for funds earmarked to help flood South Indiana Conference have victims of the Dakotas and DEATHS ArDelia M. Robinson, Annivers been assigned to Papua New Minnesota-#901670-1. As flood retired Women's Division mission­ each me Guinea; and Lydia Cincore waters receded, UMCOR opened a ary and deaconess with 32 years of your mi~ Templeton and Joseph Osborne new 13,500 square foot warehouse service in India and the United terrific x Templeton of the California/Pacific and office facility in Minneapolis. States, died January 18, Conference, who served a short­ Once again, we remind readers 1997 ... Wallace Henk, retired World ALTE term assignment with the that the first items needed in flood Division missionary with 19 years Invite me Children's Village in Goma, Zaire, disasters are cleaning supplies: dis­ of service in Zaire, died January 23, tive givin have been commissioned to full­ infectants, household cleaners, 1997 ... Lili Schwab, retired dea­ Insteadc time service with their assignment buckets, mops, shovels, brooms, coness with 38 years of service in birthday yet to be determined. rakes, rubber boots, and gloves­ the United States, died January 26, not clothing. To keep updated on 1997 at the age of 100 ... Margaret D. AdvanCE The Semi-Annual Meeting UMCOR recovery needs in the McLaughlin, retired deaconess In conjunction with the Global region and disasters that may be with 38 years of service in the Gathering, the directors of the taking place after this issue goes to United States, died February 27, General Board of Global Ministries press, call 1-800-918-3100, the 1997, at the age of 96 ... Edith H. met for the Semi-Annual Meeting UMCOR depot. Depot staff mem­ Parks ... retired Women's Division April 4-13 in Kansas City, Miss­ bers can tell you what is needed at missionary with 38 years of service ouri. They approved the 1998 allo­ the time that you call. in Zimbabwe, died March 9, 1997, cation of World Service funds to the at the age of 86 ... Mabel V. Clark, GBGM along with the distribution RPRCAwards retired deaconess with 39 years of of the Program Development fund The Religious Public Relations service in the United States, died and a total of $7,956,403 for mission Council honored the work of two March 19, 1997 ...Robert J. Martin, programs and projects. They also people connected to the GBGM retired World Division missionary adopted a resolution to transfer recently in the annual DeRose with 11 years of service in Brazil, GBGM properties in Puerto Rico to Hinkhouse Awards. Jeneane Jones, died March 26, 1997 ... Marietta the Iglesia Metodis ta de Puerto former staff member of the GBGM, Shickell, a home missionary in the Rico and granted a 20-year no-rent won best in class in non-broadcast Red Bird Missionary Conference, lease to the Alaska Children's audio and video for "The People of was just completing her 35th year Services in Anchorage. The direc­ Rwanda and Burundi: A Harvest of of mission service when she died, tors also adopted a revised Hope" and an award of excellence April 6, 1997.

22 NEW WORLD OUTLOOK JULY-AUGUST 1997 A Condensed Guide

ere are a dozen ways you H and your church could celebrate the Advance's SOth Anniversary in 1998-one for each month. Start planning w ith your mi~sion committee for a terrific year.

ALTERNATE GIFTS ' I Invite members to practice alterna­ tive giving through the Advance. Instead of traditional Christmas or recipient's particular interest. Cards birthday presents, give to an BIKEATHON are avai lable to announce such Advance project that reflects the Recruit volunteers, perhaps youth gifts. or young adults, to ride 50 miles or •Alternatives for Missionary 50 kilometers (31 miles), Outreach (Brazil) #011585-2RA collecting 50-cent pledges for each mile completed. Give the money raised to a transportation min istry of the Advance. • Bicycles for United Methodist Pastors (Uganda) #01 1902-SRC

NEW WORLD OUTL OK JULY-A UGU T 1997 23 MISSIONARY SUPPORT MAP) Establish a covenant relationship ra at with a missionary through the cut av Advance. Call the Mission- Each v ary Support Office (212-870-3797) the WC for information. Arrange a confer­ Unitec ence call with "your" missionary or ~elief 1 ask him or her to send a video or • DiSa! audio tape to share w ith the con­ States gregation. •Disa • National Missionaries, Basic (Int en Support, #982597-0 • International Missionaries, Basic MISSI( Support, #000779-6HZ Askp duce I Memt trff G cr ah Three generations of Afglinn refugees at Sharnsabnd cnmp, Irnn . Advar •Agaj Projec BLANKET SUNDAY MAGIC PENNIES Ask everyone to bring a favorite Ask individuals and families blanket to church . Talk about how to donate rolls of pennies important blankets are to refugees (50 pennies per roll ) to an - for warmth, shelter, comfort, Advance ministry. Aim toward a and protection. Support refugee goal such as $50.00 (100 rolls), ministries through the Advance. $100, and so on. •Global Refugee Response • Financial Assistance for #982540-1 Theological Students (Japan) #011744-1RA

Above: Mission11ries Bo1111i-Bel/e and Alfred Pickard, Benjnmin and Raleigh.

EW WORLD UTL K JUL - G T1997

- - ' ' . .. ' .. . ,. . - . . I MAP YOUR COURSE I For a bulletin board d isplay, cut a world map into 50 pieces. i Each week add one piece to put I I the world back together, just as the I' United Methodist Committee on Relief does through the Advance. •Disaster Response (United States) #9016 70-1 • Disaster Response (International) #982450-8

MISSION MARKET Ask people with extra garden pro­ duce to bring it to the church . Members and friends take what they can use and leave a donation for a hunger-related ministry of the Advance. •Agape Food Production Project (Zaire) #012777-0RA

. -~ .· ...... BUDDY-UP MONTH ~, ~ ~~ ·~ - •• ~ . ._.: .• • Ir ... ~ .• Assign prayer partners for a ... month to covenant to pray for - II·-- ~.!f f'f--- Advance projects. Explain that a - - -- priority is Parish Partners, through -~ - which congregations form partner­ ,I\ ,, ships with churches in the Alaska ~~· .I>-M ·-*, Missionary, Oklahoma Indian -~ ,, Missionary, and Rio Grande confer­ ..,.,. ~ '· ences and in the Methodist \ : ' ....., Church of Puerto Rico. l •Alaska Missionary Participan ts at the OIMC 150th Conference #931027-4 Anniversary Celebration . •Methodist Church of Puerto Rico #352696-6 •Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference #583634-4 •Rio Grande Conference #531733-1 ' f'/ PAPER CHAIN u• ''" .J¥I" efore a worship seNice, cut colored paper into 1-by-6 inch strips, one for each participant. On each strip, print the name of a different Advance pro­ ject. Insert the strips into the Sunday bulletins. At a special time Contribute a small alternative gi ft in SUPER SANDWICHES during the service, invite individu­ each child 's name to a children's Ask the youth to be in charge als to read aloud the names of ministry related to the Advance. of a submarine-sandwich delivery their projects and to join Briefly describe the project and seNice during a weekend when a their links (with cel lophane tell why you chose it to represent a sports championship is being tape) into a long chain . particu lar child: "Taylor, since you televised. Donate the proceeds to What a great way to show are in ki ndergarten, I have a gi ft in an Advance hunger project. that each Advance gift your honor for a kindergarten in • Farm Technology Training spreads the Gospel Mexico." (Philippines) #01244 7-0ET message and contributes to a larger whole! •Mamie Baird Kindergarten (Mexico) #012227-6BN • Bible Teaching to Village Lea~ers (Pakistan) PITCH A TENT #011768-0RA Pitch a tent outside the church or inside the narthex. Serve light TELL ME THE STORIES OF JESUS refreshments and distribute Use children 's time during worshi p resources about Advance to share the story of the Advance. projects that provide camp­ ing and retreat experiences. • Camp Ministries (Puerto Rico ) #352692-2 and #352140-6

mos t chur For the unabridged "A Guide to the 50th Anniversary of the hoo Advance for Christ and His Church" with 38 more helpful sugges­ team tions on how to celebrate, order the complete packet from: Service chur Center, 7820 Reading Road, Caller No. 1800, Cincinnati, OH 45222- proj 1800. 1(800)305-9857, Stock #5369 dow tea Kindergarten students in Vieques, Puerto Rico. Witn and Af servi 1996 tea m UMCOR in a Muslim Nation by Fred Lamar For the past three summers, the Summer Companies program, hours buying soda pop, sitting, Indiana's United Methodist cam­ two college chaplains, a lawyer, a talking, and crying with the chil­ pus ministers have been reinvent­ counselor, and a nurse. In spite of dren about a war that they-and ing a 50-year-old program. In the the atrocities inflicted on the chil­ we-could not understand. 1940s ahd 1950s, we called the idea dren by the war, we found our In our own group reflections, we Caravans. The new name is Summer time in Bosnia to be a peaceful tried to deal with the rape and Companies. The groups look the respite after working in US cities. slaughter of innocent people by same-two male and two female Travnik is a Muslim enclave, and "Christian" armies. We asked what college students formed into a most of the 1600 refugee children we as Christians had to offer a team to work with young people at the UMCOR Youth House were Muslim tow n that had been in church programs for one or two Muslims. Their ranks were aug­ destroyed in the name of Jesus weeks. But there the similarities mented by small groups of Christ. We raised these questions end. The Caravan groups worked Croatian Roman Catholic and with Dr. Randolph Nugent, mostly with teenagers in large Serbian Orthodox children-all General Secretary of the United churches in suburban neighbor­ victims of the war and all equally Methodist General Board of Global hoods. A Summer Companies in need of love. We challenged our Ministries, when he visited our team works in inner-city mission group to practice a ministry of center. Dr. Nugent replied: "Don't churches, with children in "the "hanging out." While other you know you are on God's cutting projects," and in areas of run­ UMCOR volunteers and staff edge in the mission field?" down, dilapidated housing. These rebuilt homes and public build­ Then we learned that UMCOR is teams work with children who ings, we blew bubbles, played bas­ engaged in similar relief projects in witness daily drive-by shootings ketball, helped in English classes, new Muslim nations that stretch and drug deals on the comer. and sat and talked with the chil­ from Bosnia to Kazakhstan. In all After 10 weeks of training and dren. We walked downtown to see these lands, United Methodists service in Indiana's inner cities in the spot where grandmama was offer a labor of love and service as 1996, the Summer Companies buying bread when the big bomb they make visible the love of Jesus team concluded its program by fell-after which "we never saw Christ. working at the Youth House in her again." We sat on the seesaw With these thoughts on our Travnik, Bosnia, operated by and heard again and again about minds, we accepted an invitation to UMCOR-the United Methodist Nikki, who was sitting in the same worship at the magnificent central Committee on Relief. Our group place when a sniper 's bullet mosque in Travnik. Obedient to consisted of seven students from pierced her skull. We spent many Muslim custom, we washed our

N EW WORLD OUTLOOK JULY-AUGUST 1997 27

·;. . . . . ,, .. ~ . . ' . . . . . hands and faces and removed our Muslim leaders, having faced four neighbor in the program. The pro­ shoes before entering the church. years of killing by Christians gram is to continue until all the We were met at the door by two (Serbian Orthodox and Croatian families have strong, healthy farm men who asked if we were Muslim Catholic) were surprised by our animals. or Christian. We identified our­ answer. Besides the Travnik projects, selves as Christian. The women They asked if we were with the UMCOR is working throughout were invited to go upstairs with United Methodists at the UMCOR Bosnia, employing 200 professional our two female translators, both Youth House. We said that we relief workers and many hundreds Muslims. The men went to the were. They said they did not know of skilled laborers, most of whom main floor of the mosque and sat what Methodists were, but they are Bosnian. In fact, the United in a small gallery in the back. wanted to know because they had Nations High Commissioner for Muslim men entered and formed seen so much good from United Refugees (UNHCR) has entrusted themselves into straight lines fac­ Methodists since the war. UMCOR with $40 million to ing Mecca. At the command of the rebuild water and sewer systems in imam (prayer leader), they knelt, UMCOR in Bosnia Croatia, Bosnia, and Serbia. stood, bent their bodies, and held I later learned that UMCOR is a UMCOR also administers millions their hands to their ears as they lis­ magic word in Bosnia. Not only of dollars in other contracts for its tened to the Koran and offered does UMCOR offer a program for home rebuilding, agricultural, and youth programs. The high teachers from the Medrassa were amazed to see so much good coming from Christ­ ians. They had thought Christians were generous only with artillery and grenades. They wanted to know more about Methodism. So we agreed to meet Saturday at the mosque to discuss Islam and Christianity-United Methodism in particular. Kids Putting Beliefs Into Practice toget The Muslims asked us what United Methodists believed in and if we were really Christians. (Remember, Christianity symbol­ Previous, p. 27: Spires of Mu slim mosques dot the landscape ofTravnik, Bosnia. was Above: A chess tournament at the UMCOR Youth House. ized to them the destruction of their homes and death of their fam­ ofJe ilies.) We explained that we wor­ ~ their prayers to Allah. 1600 children in Travnik who are shiped the same God as other thee The two men who greeted us at victims of the war, but UMCOR's Christians and that we believed Qu1 the entrance to the mosque met us engineers employ 70 local men to Jesus Christ had come into the itior again as we were leaving. They rebuild houses in the Travnik area. world to call us to love and help all app identified themselves as high In addition, United Methodist agri­ our brothers and sisters. initi teachers of the Medrassa (the con­ culturists work with local farmers The Muslims were surprised. We the servative Islamic high school in to restore the orchards and repopu­ were presenting a form of Met Travnik). The term "high teacher" late the land with sheep, goats, and Christianity that was unknown to first is reserved for a person of special cows. For the latter project, they them. They knew well the local belc holiness and know ledge of the have adopted the Heifer Inter­ form of "convert-or-die" Christ­ w~ Koran. The high teachers asked national model of giving families ianity. They were also familiar with and why Christians would attend a pregnant animals. The families Americans who come to Bosnia to ablt Muslim service. We told them that must then give the first female off­ save Muslim souls for Jesus but we came to learn and to pray. The spring of the UMCOR animal to a who do not show the concern for

28 NEW WORLD OUTLOOK JULY-AUGUST 1997 name because they were pie who have been raped and regular at prayer and at slaughtered in our Lord's name? feeding the hungry, We decided that it meant hammers teaching poor children, and nails, shovels and sweat, and visiting the prisons, and love and time to listen to the little caring for the sick. children. What did Randy Nugent (Wouldn't it be wonder­ mean when he called us "God's ful if these were still the cutting edge in the mission field"? universal marks of Maybe he meant that Christians Methodi m?) must learn to live like Christ before The Muslim teachers they can preach Christ. were impressed. The dis­ United Methodists working with ciplines of prayer and UMCOR help in many ways: alms (good works for the rebuilding war-torn cities, teaching poor) a re uni versa 1 public health, loving war-ravaged requirements of Islam. children, installing water systems, We left the meeting with and rebuilding schools and homes. the promise that the con­ Most of all, they help by living out servative teachers of the God's love every day. In doing this, local Muslim community they become new missionaries. As would meet us at the in · the story of Philip and UMCOR Youth House Nathaniel, people may not believe for a further discussion us when we tell them we have of Christianity. This was found the Messiah. But they do to be the first visit of the believe when we say with all our conservative Islamic heart and aU our lives: "Come and community to the Unit­ see." Gohn 1:43-46) 0 ed Methodist Youth House. Fred Lamar is the university chaplain Kids anywhere just want to have ft111 - Love and Time to Listen at DePauw University in Greencastle, togetiler. In further conversations, we were Indiana. to learn that United Methodists are one of the few Christian groups to work and witness in the new daily bread or physical health that Muslim nation of southern was so much a part of the ministry Europe and Asia. The local people of Jesus. are afraid of Christianity because When they asked us about our they have suffered so much in the theology, we discussed the Wesley name of Christ. But they welcome Quadrilateral of Scripture, Trad­ people who are organized (have a ition, Reason, and Experience. This method), believe in justice, and appealed to them. We added a def­ want to help the poor. They also inition of Methodism that stressed welcome help for the Muslim the discipline or method of early nations themselves as they emerge Methodism. We explained that the from decades of religious repres­ first Methodists were expected to sion under Communism and try to belong to classes where they met build their own identities. weekly for Bible study and prayer We continued our team reflec­ and where they were held account­ tions-praying, reading the Bible, able for doing good works on a and asking the same question: regular basis. We explained that What does it mean to live for Summer Companies members and youth from the early Methodists were given their Christ and like Christ with a peo- Travnik UMCOR Youth House.

NEW WORLD OUTLOOK JULY-AUGUST 1997 29 Children of the world are at dren began to cry and risk. Many of us have seen scream. The guide ex­ firsthand the faces of chil­ plained: "The people in the dren in poverty. Their bodies car were getting rid of their are hungry. Their mental garbage. The child may sur­ development is impaired. vive. The baby will die." They look at the world with eyes of fear. Shattered Trust The terrors that threaten At Al Arub Refugee Camp and kill children are not of near Bethlehem, children their own making. Children bear the marks of growing are victims of the passion, up in oppression. Some can­ neglect, and abuse of their not or will not look a visitor parents. They are the victims in the eye. Hollow promises of the consumerism, materi­ of adults outside the camp alism, injustice, and indiffer­ have shattered their trust in ence of the peoples of the all adults. A young lad cow­ earth. ered in the comer of a hut as The dark side of human - visitors walked by on the kind's inhumanity to narrow, broken street. A sim­ children is well known. ple, untreated injury to his Every day, 35,000 children cheek had become inflamed. no e under the age of five die The infection had spread to with from malnutrition and his eyes, threatening his ish h poverty-related conditions sight. He has no access to in com (World Vision). There are at medical help. for ba least 100 million children who live conscripted children into armed But some children in the camp Hope, or work on the streets of the forces (Save the Children, 1994). eagerly await a smiling face, an world's cities (UNICEF, 1994). Most Between 100 million and 200 mil­ outstretched hand. Laughter is just DreaJJ of these children are victims of lion children are involved in child a smile away and the joy of child­ Alfor family disintegration and abandon­ labor (UN Children's Fund). hood survives in the midst of Al the ment. They confront daily the dan­ More compelling than the statis­ oppression. Palestinian children in grade gers of life in a hostile environ­ tics are the stories. daycare are nurtured by caring ond ment. There are at least 10 million adults. They are fed, loved, and atten children currently suffering sexual Pushing Children Out challenged to learn. exploitation and the oppression of A couple attending the World becau fa the1 forced prostitution (World Vision, Methodist Conference in Rio de A Drug Baby crops UNICEF). Janeiro took a walking tour of the Little Marcus is three days old. He During the period 1984-1994, city. They saw a car stop at the is a drug baby. His mother, a single ing i ~ more than 1.5 million children were curb. Two children were pushed European American, used drugs sleep ~ killed in wars; over 4 million were out. One was about five years old, during her pregnancy and tested eith disabled, maimed, blinded, or the other 18 months. Someone HIV positive. The hospital will Write brain-damaged by war; and 12 mil­ reached from the car to hand each keep Marcus until he stabilizes, he ha lion lost their homes as the result of a sucker. The car door slammed when his mother, 17 years old, wiU bed 0 war. During this time, 35 nations and the car drove away. The chil- assume responsibility. They have GBHt Shoes That Match blood. Wa sh yourselves; make your­ Laquitia, an African American, is selves clean; remove the evil of your five years old. She cares for her doings from before my eyes; cease to do younger sister, almost four, while evil, learn to do good; seek justice, res­ her mother works. Struggling to cue the oppressed, defend the orphan, get off welfare, their mother earns plead for the widow. (Isaiah 1:12b-17). the minimum wage. She doesn't make enough money for both rent Jesus warned of the consequences and childcare. Sometimes there is to anyone who harms children: It not enough for food. The children would be better for you if a great mill­ do not have adequate medical and stone were fa stened around your neck dental care. Laquitia has two shoes and you were drowned in the depth of that do not match. Laquitia hopes the sea. (Matthew 18:6b) to have "a new pair of shoes that look alike."

To Grow Up Carlos, age nine, a refugee from Cuba, sits on the fl oor of h is grandmother's apartment in the housing project. He likes school, reads well, and draws pic tures. His native language is Spanish, but he speaks English fluently. Last week, his best friend was killed in a drive-by shooting. Carlos' hope A school child in Bath, Jamaica (opposite p. is "to grow up to be 21."(The Gift of 30) and a UM Army volu nteer in Tomball, Texas. (Above) Hope, GBHEM, p. 29) These statistics and stories are a judgment on the nation s of the no extended family and will live world. They compel us to respond with friends. She would like to fin­ with a sense of urgency. The bibli­ ish high school but she has no cal call for justice and compassion income. Childcare is not available is God's expectation that people of for babies with AIDS. (The Gift of faith will respond boldly to these Hope, GBHEM, p. 28.) overwhelming catastrophes.

Dreaming of a Bed Weighing the Consequences Alfonso is Mexican American. The Bible is clear. God is furious Although he is enrolled in first about what is happening to chil­ grade, he will not be ready for sec­ dren. God warns: Trample my courts ond grade next year. He has no more; bringing offerings is futile; attended five different schools incense is an abomination to me. New because he moves with his mother, moon and sabbath and calling of con ­ father, and two sisters wherever vocation-I cannot endure solemn crops need harvesting. When hous­ assemblies with iniquity. Your new ing is not available, the family moons and your appointed festivals sleeps in their old station wagon. my sou l hates; they have become a Neither parent can speak, read, or burden to me, I am weary of bearing write English. When asked what them. Wh en you stretch out yo ur he hoped for, Alfonso replied: "A hands, I will hide my eyes from you; bed of my own." (The Gift of Hope, even though you make many prayers, I GBHEM, p. 28) will not listen; your hands are fu ll of The Initiative calls for a new way of thinking and acting by the church. Anything less than a radi­ cal reshaping of the church will be an unfaithful response to God's call. The hope is that the Initiative will draw together and focus all personnel and resources of the church to respond to the hurts and hopes of children and the poor. A way to begin is for every coun­ cil, board, commission, conference, district, and congregation of The United Methodist Church to base every decision on the question: "How will this affect children and the impoverished?" To put it another way: "What would Jesus have us do for children and the poor?"

Implementing the Initiative 'ons o A first step in the implementation ociety of the Initiative was a Hearing held or the during the fall 1996 session of the orld · Council of Bishops. This was a A Muslim refugee in Ostra Luka, Bosnia. time for the bishops to listen to children, the poor, the disabled, and the abused and to their care­ The Bishops' Initiative The primary goal of the Bishops' givers. It was a time to hear what The Episcopal Initiative on Initiative is evangelization. It is the God is saying to the church. Children and Poverty flows from proclamation in word and deed of the The next step is for similar the biblical witness and the crisis Gospel of God's redeeming, reconcil­ Hearings to be held in each episco­ among children. Each child is cre­ ing, and transforming grace in Jesus pal area and then in districts, sub­ ated in the image of God and is of Christ to and with the children and districts, and congregations. sacred worth. Each child is one for those oppressed by poverty. To reach Children and the impoverished whom Christ died. In each child this goal, nothing less than the reshap­ need the church to proclaim the we meet Christ. ing of The United Methodist Church good news of God's redeeming The Council of Bishops, in ses­ in response to the God who is among love in Jesus Christ. Even more, the sion April 19-May 5, 1995, adopted the 'least of these' is required. church needs children and the a resolution that included the fol­ The Initiative is not a program poor. The weak, the vulnerable, the lowing: "The God of the Exodus and cannot be confined to a time poor are a means of grace. As we and of Jesus Christ identifies with period. The aim is not to produce a minister "to the least of these," we the least, the defenseless, and the study document and conclude minister to Christ. Where the most vulnerable. God hears their with a grand celebration. Instead, church loses its life for the sake of cries, knows their suffering, and the Initiative offers a vision to Christ and the Gospel, the church seeks to deliver them. God's suffer­ unite, challenge, energize, and comes alive with joy and hope. ing and redemptive presence inspire the Church. It is an unfold­ Someone asked us if we really among the most vulnerable of ing process that grows from faith, believe this. Our reply was: "We God's children summons the compassion, and justice. It cele­ not only believe it, we have seen church to join the divine initiative brates and builds on the ministries it." In our beloved Mississippi, of liberation, reconciliation, and of local congregations, community congregations are withering on the salvation." agencies, and general boards. vine because they will not open their hearts and their doors to the wwai church is called by God to respond unchurched, the poor, and all the >y the to the spiritual starvati on of the a radj. children of their communities. At world. The dilemma of children Will be the same time, congregations that and the poor is deeper than human God', have been on the verge of death pride and greed. Demonic forces­ are now alive again with the joy of tiatiw the princip alities and powers of the risen Christ because they seek rus all this world-are at work against the and welcome everyone, especially weak and the vulnerable. ~the the children. In an address to the Council of Ill) and Bishops, Dr. Ted Jennings offered rr. What We Can Do this prophetic, hopeful challenge: l,coun­ What can United Methodists do to rrence "Whe ther we turn again to the respond to the needs of children God who heard the cry of the vio­ and the impoverished? lated and the humiliated, whether ff!:: First, on the global level, become we imitate the Chris t who lives knowledgeable about the Conven­ and dies among the impoverished ~ and tion on the Rights of the Child. Jim and m arginalized , w hether we ut it Grant, executiv e director of turn wh oleheartedly to children Jesus UNICEF, wrote: "In essence, the and the poor- upon this depends d the Convention turns the basic needs whether or not we have a message of children-all children-into that can address a perishing world rights and spells out the obliga­ with the good news of the coming tions of the state, the family, and of the reign of justice and generosi­ atio society to respect and fulfill them. ty and joy." held For the first time in history, the At stake are both the lives of the f th world is in the process of agreeing weak and the vulnerable and the Bishop Marshall L. (Jack) Meadors is as on minimum standards for nurtur­ life of the church. Church renewal the chair of the Episcopal In itia tive on n to ing the young." depends on nothing less than an Children and Poverty and presides bled Second, on the local level, annual encounter with the living Christ. over the Mississ ippi Conference. care­ conferences and congregations can In children and the poor, we meet Hannah Meadors is an educator in the what help reduce the problems of people Jesus in the h ere and now. And Mississippi aren. who are hurting and hopeless. then we are reborn. 0 ilar Putting Children and Their Families isco­ , First by Laura Dean Ford Friedrich, sub· published by the General Board of Global Ministries, is an excellent planning handbook for sm all groups and congregations. Third, use technology to tell our stories, request assistance, and respond to others. Our connection I th can be strengthened by worldwide w communication on the Internet. 'w Fourth, establish regular personal th contacts with poor children and eo their families. Listen to them. The purpose is not to teach them. The purpose is to learn from them. If all) we genuinely care about the weak 'W and vulnerable and listen to them, ee our lives and our churches will be changed forever. Finally, and most important, the A kindeignrten student at the Agape Center, an Amity project in Guangzhou, Chinn. SERVICE RECORD:

H OWARD AND P EGGY H EINER

1969 T RAINING

by John W. Peterson 1970-1973 BOLIVIA - THREE

MILITARY COUPS Peggy and Howard Heiner recently ple with no hope in their faces. You retired after serving as United see that much less in the poor in Methodist missionaries for 23 years. the countries where we have been. 1973-1976 EL V ERGE L, CHILE During their mission career, they They are not disappointed ove served in Bolivia, Chile, Nicaragua, and over again because they don' D EATH OF A LLENDE AND Somalia, and the United States. Before aspire to the same excessive stan­

1 PINOCHET S M ILITARY their missionary service, Howard dard of living that people are worked as an industrial forester and taught to value in this country. REVOLUTION Peggy as a nurse. The Heiners have Peterson: But our popular culture four children, the eldest of whom, is becoming so pervasive through­ Daniel, serves as a missionary in out the world, surely even the L EAVE OF ABSENCE Nicaragua. poorest country isn't immune to i Peterson: Having lived 23 years influence. in developing countries, how have Howard: That's one of the rea 1981-1982 SOMALIA - Au you weathered your transition to sons why the poor of the Thir MATAN R EFUGEE C AMP life in the United States? World are growing increasing! Peggy: Each time we've come dissatisfied. Movies, television, an home, it's been a shock. We' re cheap transportation are raising th 1983-1990 MANAGUA, always measuring the prosperity level of expectation everywhere. of the United States against the This places missionaries in the NICA RA GUA - C ONTRA - poverty of the people with whom unenviable position of having to SANDINISTA WARS we worked. say to those they have been sent to In Chile, I worked as a rural help: "Look, you need to reconsid­ nurse. Often I'd visit families er what you expect and desire." It's 1991 -1996 P EACE WITH whose homes had dirt floors. In very difficult-almost as difficult their pantries would be a sack of as telling Americans that the life JUSTICE - W ASHINGTON, DC rice, a sack of flour, and beans. they are living is unsustainable. And yet, if they knew I was com­ Peggy: Material affluence can cre­ ing, they would always serve cof­ ate an unhappy existence. Because fee and, if they could, give me an of Americans' individualism, fami­ egg or two. If they couldn't afford ly life is suffering. Often each child an egg, they would give flowers. has a room-perhaps even a bath­ People aren't eager to hear the room. Children aren't taught to p, cost the rest of the world must pay share, not even with their own crif for North America's affluence. brothers and sisters. In icaragua, arr: Instead we are told we need even it's very common for two or three ix more. If you have one family car, children to share a room. In the p01 surely your high schooler also rural areas, the entire family would qui needs a car. That attitude really put sleep in the same room. us in culture shock. Howard: That's not to ay their 1: While we lived in Washington, way of life is paradi e. There are 30 Th DC, at times I would help in a million treet kid in Brazil, and ,the The Heiners in 1969 soup kitchen. I saw so many peo- they are living in hell. I be]

34 NEW WORLD OUTLOOK JULY-AUGU T 1997 I I Peggy: No, we don' t want to ou . Well, they were very serious. nous Christian leaders in Chile. romanticize poverty. Chri t speaks They shot a young boy who had Many were forced to seek refuge in I of the abw1dant life. I truly believe gone across the street to his grand­ Argentina and Mexico. It was the that when w met for Bible study parents to study and was returning first time we had experienced peo­ in the narrow living rooms of poor I after the curfew. They killed him. ple's being persecuted and arrested I I people, ometimes sitting on the I remember attending a meeting for their faith . I floor and sometimes on chairs at the home of one of the church­ Peggy: The courage shown by the j, brought in from the neighbors, we women. As a nurse, I was con­ people in the face of danger really were haring an abundant life. cerned about the health of the chil­ strengthened my faith. We would Peter on: In the course of your dren-many of whom had respira­ be in a church meeting and a slip I career, you e perienced a number tory diseases such as tuberculosis. I of paper would p ass amon g us !1 of critically important moments in had just started m y talk when, telling of a family that was being I p ersecuted. Quietly, the people assumed the task of getting them food and money. It was a risk, but people did it nonetheless. We'd been in Bolivia three months when the first of three mili­ tary coups began. I was working at a clinic when a family brought in their mother with a head wound. They told u s that p eople were throwing stones in the plaza. As we finished cleaning the wound, gunfire broke out and everyone rushed home. That was General Banzar's coup. We witnessed street fighting in which 1200 people were killed over an 18-hour period. The most important thing we did was just to stay there and support the church. Howard: We served under Bishop Mortimer Arias and came to understand why members of the Methodist Church took great per­ A military parade in Cochabamba, Bolivia, 1970. sonal risks to set in place a more just society. A wealthy upper class Latin American history, such as the through the window, I saw soldiers oppressed the multitude of poor Contra war in Nicaragua and the surrounding the house. They people who worked long, difficult overthrow of the Allende govern­ began pounding on the front and days for a fraction of what they ment in Chile. Did you seek out the back doors. When we let them in, deserved to earn. Missionaries met hot spots? they trained their machine guns on with the US ambassador to protest Peggy: No, but in several cases, a us. Luckily, I had my charts and the arrests of Bolivian Methodists. crisis occurred shortly after we medical books and was able to We discovered what it was like to arrived. We'd been in Chile only show them the purpose of our help move pastors from prison to six weeks when Pinochet came to meeting. They then searched us the airport to asylum in other power. The situation deteriorated and told us that we had to have countries. quickly. The military regime written permission from the police Peterson: You also spent a few announced the new rules over the to hold any future meetings. years in Africa. What was that like? radio, including a 7:00 P.M. curfew. Howard: At the time, the whole Peggy: We were assigned to the The Chileans were so proud of Methodist Church was under sus­ Ali Matan Refugee Camp in their democracy, no one could picion throughout Latin America. It Somalia. The refugees were from believe the authorities were seri- was very dangerous for the indige- the Somalia-Ethiopia war. I was the

NEW WORLD OUTLOOK JULY-AUGUST 1997 35 medical coordinator and Howie was the field officer for the camp. It is hard to describe the harsh con­ ditions of an African refugee camp. We deeply sympathiz with the refugees and workers in Zaire as they now struggle to reduce the death toll. Howard: At Ali Matan, I began a forestry project to determine which specie of trees could w ithstand the conditions of the desert. I was d eeply con cerned ab o ut the refu gees' stripping northern Africa of vegeta tion. Refu gee wom en raised seedlings to provid e fire­ Sandinista government of Nica­ Nicaraguans sang to us. wood and offer sh ad from the ragua was considered Communist, Delegations returned and called 100-degree heat. too closely aligned with Cuba and for peace and an end to support of ete Peterson: Wha t did you do in the fo rmer Soviet Union. So a war the US proxy army (the Contras). ite d Nicaragua? was initiated using forces called Our faith was deepened and our dw How ard: For seven years we the Contras. commitment to peace with justice fa: worked with the Evangelical Peggy: To clarify what was really firmly es tablished during those Committee for Aid to Develop ­ h appening, both Protestant and tragic years. m ent (CEPAD), a church council Catholic religious groups in vited Peterson: And what was your last that offers communities p astoral US citizens to come to Nicaragua. assignment like? education and developmental Thousands of Christians respond­ Howard: In January 1991, we t,w trainin g. The Cold War s truggle ed. Often we worshiped with the were assigned to Washington, DC, vorl centered in Central America dur­ Nicaraguan people. Once, in north­ to work on global issues with two arne in g this p eriod , as the Reagan ern Ocotal, we sat in the dirt road church agencies-the general nari Adminis tration p oured military on stools brought from fa milies' boards of Global Ministries and ldre arms into the region to defeat pop­ h om es. We san g " We Shall Church and Society. I became ular movements of the p oor. The O vercom e" and lis tened as the involved in international discus­ sions related to environmental issues as part of the Joint Program in Environment and Forestry. The end of the Cold War allowed many of the true global challenges to emerge: overpopulation, biodiver­ sity destruction, deforestation, cli­ mate change as related to the pol- 1u ti on of the atmosphere and oceans, and the los of fresh water in many regions. The Earth Summit addressed these concerns in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in June 1992. I worked on the Earth Summit Global Forestry Agreement and other document w ith nongovernmental agencie (NGO ). Since the Earth Summit, I have traveled throughout Latin America, Africa, and Asia to seek Children in Nicaragua coop era tion among Chris tian ,

36 N EW WORLD UTL K JULY- U U T 1997 environmentalist , governm nt about our visit to a Latin Am rican Howard: That's true. officials, and bu iness leaders. univer ity last fa ll . The director- a Peggy: In Bolivia, a young girl Pegg : I have had the privilege of really fin man- had gon e to a named Nancy helped us in the dor­ working in th Peace with Justice Methodist school. The university mitory. It's cold there, and her fam­ Program. It wa an important ta k itself is o poor, yet he didn't apol­ ily was very poor. For Christmas to conclud my missionary year . ogize. Instead, he talked with pride we wanted to get them shoes. So I In m pilgrimage with Je us, I wit­ about their program and the asked Nancy to draw around the nessed the hard road of disciple- opportunities they offered s tu­ feet of her brothers and sisters. She hip, the tolerance and patience of d nts. I find this very encouraging. didn't realize the reason. Then my the poor-as shared at a G ua t­ Howard: It is a sign of indepen­ children and I went downtown, emalan Symposium on Human dence, a sign of maturity. We have bought the shoes, and wrapped Rights-and the never-ending a need to work closely with the them. On Christmas Eve, we took truggle for p ace-as described by new lead ership because now we the presents to their little house. witnesses and members of the n eed their insights in our society. Not wanting to make a fuss, we Salvadoran Truth Commission and This is the mission field her in the simply left them. Our family had by Nicaraguan and Guatemalan United States. How are we going just gotten b ack from our friend . to make the transition from an Christmas services when there was Peter on: Mos t middle-class unsustainable society to a sustain­ a knock a t the door. There stood United Methodists wouldn't able society? How are we going to Nancy, her mother, and all her little under tand why you uprooted be Christ's examples of love and brothers and sisters. They had your family and took them into sit­ m ercy in our society? We now brought us fruit and a dozen special uation that were not only uncom­ require the wisdom of indigenous cellophane ornaments tha t must fortable but dangerous. church leaders as we seek to dis- have taken them hours to make. Peggy: We had a strong commit- cern the role of the church in our Giving us these precious gifts, they ment to Christ and felt called. At own transformation. said: "You shared with us and we fir t, we were just going overseas Peterson: Would it be fair to say want to share with you."O to work for a short time. We never that you becam e missionaries to dreamed we'd be accepted as mis­ bring hope to these people, and John Peterson is a United Methodist sionaries. After all, we had four instead, they are the one w ho pa stor in the Pacific-Northwes t children. But someone submitted have given you hope? Annual Conference. our names to the General Board of Global Ministries and we said yes when they called us. Peterson: Having talked of the past, let's tum to the future. What is your vision for the mission v1ork of The United Methodist Church as we enter a new millennium? Howard: Mission in the twenty- p first century has to examine the a injustices inherent within the Western model of development. It is not sustainable. The poor are get- ss ting poorer and the rich are getting richer. The question is: "How will Christian missionaries struggle with this unjust reality?" Peterson: After 23 years in the mission field, do you find any hope? Peggy: I find hope in the e Christian leadership in the coun­ tries where we served. I think A workteam in Chile

NEW WORLD OUTLOOK JULY-AUGUST 1997 37 .. , ~oma's Open Door: ~~~~~~~~~~ A United Methodist Legacy to Immigrants and Refugees

by Patricia A. Schug

In an era of anti-immigration legis­ ty centers that receive funding from Promoting Self-Sufficiency lation in the United States, it's the General Board of Global Situated in a residential section of refreshing to know that some doors Ministries (GBGM). Over the years, Tacoma's economically depressed remain open to newcomers. To the its services have changed to meet Hilltop neighborhood, TCH aims immigrants and refugees who find the needs of different incoming to foster friendship and under­ their way to the Pacific Northwest, populations. But the agency has standing between people of Tacoma Community House in never wavered in its mission to diverse cultures and races. The Tacoma, Washington, is a welcom­ keep the welcoming doors open to Tacoma Community House staff ing beacon in the darkness. newcomers. does this through programs that Founded in 1907 by the Methodist "As a National Mission Insti­ promote self-sufficiency: literacy Board of Home Missions and tution with the General Board of training, English as a Second Church Extension, Tacoma Global Ministries, TCH serves peo­ Language (ESL) classes, bilingual Community House (TCH) stands ple of all faiths. We take seriously outreach services, and job-place­ as a 90-year testament to the faith our responsibility to uphold the ment aid for immigrants, who and vision of those who first started tradition, history, and values of the today are mainly Russian and the agency to serve Italian and church in service to others," said Vietnamese. "Our purpose at Scandinavian immigrants. The Don Engquist Rennegarbe, the Tacoma Community House is to agency is now one of 70 communi- agency's executive director. help adults and families achieve a

38 NEW WORLD OUTLOOK JULY-AUGUST 1997 le environment in this munity H o use was given an sional organization." " said Rennegarbe. Outstanding Adult Education and Not only i TCH a significant cy's English instruction Literacy Program Award by the US presence in the Hilltop neighbor­ igrants their first firm Secretary of Education. At TCH, hood, said Alger, but through four in their new land. Each undereduca ted adults receive sa te llite sites th e agency has k quarter at TCH, more basic training in reading, writing, become well-known in other students study ESL. The and math-either through specific Tacoma communities as well. emphasizes "survival" preparation for the GED (a high­ Tacoma Community House's "out­ or vocational English. It school equivalen cy exam) or in stations" meet the particular needs public-transportation pro­ one-on-one tutoring, computer­ of each community in which the and effective communica­ assisted learning, and classroom program resides. s to use with a child's instruction. The agency received In the Salishan community of Language instruction is 20 computers from va rious com­ Tacoma, for example, the Refugee y integrated with social munity organizations in 1995 and and Immigrant's Women's Project enable immigrants and is now able to offer individualized (RIWP) is designed to enable par­ to participate in their new tutorials in English through spe­ ticipants to break out of their isola­ "ty in productive, mean­ cially designed software. tion an d become involved in ys. Participants also learn enriching community life. Women nity responsibility by A Significant Presence come with their children to learn g town-council meetings "Tacoma Community House does basic English skills and socializa- · g about their rights in led States. an extension of the study of vocational English, coun­ help refugees and other unity residents develop tional interests and skills. rtillisP\Eld to foster independence -.-rma111ce the work force, TCH's ent services help clients bs and enter training pro­ 'We plan to place 150 peo­ jobs this year, mostly with s slightly above minimum " said Barry Kruse, manager refugee program. Jobs are in a variety of industries: rocessing, clothing produc­ ight manufacturing and y, even temporary jobs in ·ng industry in Alaska. Don Engquist Rennega rbe outside Tacoma Comm~nity Hous~ in Tacoma, Washington . Opposite, p. 38: Missionary Julie Potts tutors Lat Saeteurn in math at TCH. ve an 80- to 90-percen t rate in these job place­ within the first 90 days," its fundamental program well," tion in a supportive community of said David Alger, executive direc­ their neighborhood peers. The pro­ tor of the Associated Ministries of gram offers parenting education Pierce County in Tacoma. "The and family concerns as part of the agency is known as one of the curriculum. It also includes such ucation. This program, finest nonprofit ins titutions in basics as how to use a library and es both immigrants and Tacoma-not just for its program­ how to get involved in the Parent­ n-born residents, has ming but for quality management Teacher Association and with the Widespread recognition. and staff, clear accounting systems, school board. Recently, a busload 1992, Tacoma Com- and simply for running a profes- of women from RIWP traveled to

NEW WORLD OUTLOOK JULY-AUGUST 1997 39 C01 at the hotel to emphasize both por English and the Total Quality ssfu Management principles specific to nne the employees' work there. This ghl ] program is being used as a model at Marriott's corporate headquar­ ters for other Marriott sites across the country. While TCH is truly a community agency, perhaps its most visible; link to Tacoma is the Language... Bank and the services it provides t courts, police, hospitals, and other: agencies. TCH employs 127 inter preters who speak 27 different lan­ guages and work on a contractual basis, translating documents or working in face-to-face mediation. The bilingual outreach service also helps newly arrived refugees com­ plete paperwork and understand unfamiliar laws and procedures.

Funding and Advocacy From Tacoma Community House's inception 90 years ago, The United Methodist Church has maintained a role in nurturing and supporting its development. The facility, built in 1986, is owned by the Women's Division of the GBGM and provid­ ed to the agency at $1 per year rent-a gift valued at more than $130,000 each year. In addition, the GBGM contributes nearly $30,000 in yearly support. Local units of United Methodist Women and United Methodist congregations contribute another $10,000 annual­ ly. The agency will operate on a $2 million budget in 1998. TCH receives funding from more than 45 private and public con­ tracts, said Rennegarbe, yet fund­ Earling Mellum (standing) instructs A/rick Hendricks on tl1e computer. ing sources continue to dwindle. Aware of the need to be more visi­ the state capitol building in Tacoma Community House even ble in the community, Rennegarbe Olympia to take part m a two-way extends its influence into corporate and others from TCH regularly education session with their repre­ life by partnering with the Marriott undertake speaking engagements sentatives. The session allowed the Hotel in SeaTac, Washington, to with churches and other groups to women to be heard by their legisla­ provide workplace literacy for the promote the agency's work. While tors and to learn from them as hotel's mostly immigrant work­ a goal of these presentations is to well. force. The agency offers ESL classes locate financial contributions,

40 NEW WORLD OUTLOOK JULY-AUGUST 1997 ering new advocates is is part of the legacy of former new re ponsibility of the church," t, too. "I feel just as suc­ director Bob Yamashita [a Uni ted he added, "to be in ministry with t'411•1ll when I speak with groups," Methodist pastor who served 27 one another. What we're really talk­ arbe said, "if I find seven or yea rs as executive d irector and ing about is recognizing the beauty people who are excited about retired in 1995]." and dignity of people in God's eyes rk and willing to advocate and not trying to change them. We cally for our clients. lt is do this at TCH not by banners on l41•llly important for them to talk the wall but in the ways we treat their neighbors about what one another." doing at TCH." As each of the 4700 people who d, in light of welfare reform are served by Tacoma Community ti-immigration sentiment, House knows, it is the staff who clients need advocates more create the caring community. Well­ ver, Rennegarbe said. "I'd known in Tacoma for the profes­ like to see TCH do more sionalism and longevity of its acy on behalf of those we employees, TCH employs 219 indi­ as well as enabling them to viduals, mostly in contract posi­ vocates themselves," he tions, including two United ed. "We begin the process Methodist US-2s; one full-time mis­ ing them to city-council sionary, Julie Potts; and several s and by showing them AmeriCorps volunteers. These staff to register and vote. What we members' efforts are bolstered by to create through our efforts m ore than 135 volunteers who voters, new citizens." work in various areas within the Rennegarbe, a newcomer TCH structure. Barry Kruse, one of , is just beginning his sec­ the key leaders employed by the ar at the helm of Tacoma organization, has worked with unity House. But he has TCH for 20 years. "I'm at Tacoma dy become a part of the Community House because of the community, where he was feeling of community here," Kruse tly elected chair of the A Caring Community said, "and also because it's so n Services Coalition for Collaboration may be the new key rewarding to see lives transformed County in Tacoma. He for the agency. "Tacom a Com­ by the work we do." to the agency a sincere munity House does an excellent Transformation is what Tacoma to take TCH into the arena of job at networking with other orga­ Community House is all about. and collaboration. With nizations," said Cathy Brewis, Through its advocacy and targeted vement in such coalitions, advertising director for the Tacoma programs, immigrants, refugees, dy part-way there. News Trib une and former TCH and American-born residents can Ma1111a::11·rh.> spent his first year at board member. "In fac t, TCH has open the doors into their new com­ examining salary struc­ been a leader in recently p ulling munity and live fuller lives. preparing for potential together social-service agencies "Tacoma Community House is a tic changes. This year, likely to be affected by welfa re huge gift of the United Methodist lead Tacoma Community reform. TCH is also talking to busi­ Women and The United Methodist in a strategic evaluation, ness leaders about training p ro­ Church to our community," said g what the organization grams and civic responsibility for Alger. "It is a great witness to the mission of The United Methodist and what future needs it getting people into jobs and off Church." etomeet. welfare," Brewis said. always done a fine job Collaboration happens within the g," said David Alger. organization as well, said really takes the time Rennegarbe. He sees the agency Patricia A. Schug is director of com­ ugh carefully where moving toward providing better • To plan well and involve services with clients rather than to munications iii the Pacific Northwes t Annual Conference. of people in the process clients. "I think collaboration is the

NEW WORLD OUTLOOK JULY-AUG UST 1997 41 The Cornerstone: Newsletter of The Rowley Family by Darla and Glenn Rowley, missionaries in Senegal

From Dakar Chayla's Spot At last I am in one spot that I can We are here in Dakar, Senegal! call home again for a while! Dakar, After more than two years in the Senegal, is the westernmost point United States for extended study, on the African continent. It feels mission interpretation, preparation good to be back in Africa where I in language school, and a term as was born. Missionaries in Residence at the I love our house! It has a big yard General Board of Global Min­ with eucalyptus trees full of yellow istries, we are here! It is a reason weaver birds and their nests. The for celebration for us and for all of birds are very noisy but fun to you who have continued to sup­ Glenn, Darla, and Chay/a Rowley in Dakar, watch. There are also lemon and port us with your prayers and Senega l banana trees, a grape arbor, and gifts. We recommit ourselves_as_ a many other flowering shrubs. The presence and witness of Chnst m carrying massive loads on th_eir bougainvillea climbs the yard heads, women bent over, cookmg this new place. We are grateful for walls and is full of brightly colored God's call to be in mission service and cleaning and caring for chil­ flowers-hot pink, pale orange, dren-their role in life being to and for your part in fulfilling that and my favorite-bright purple. call as you support us as individ­ bear mo t of the burdens. Our house is within walking dis­ ual friends and as communities of I am beginning to expect that there tance of m y school, the Inter­ will not be solutions in the near faith. national School of Dakar (ISO for MK future to the immense economic short). I am really excited about uthe problems facing many Africans. I Getting Used to It being in first grade, but I told urse, am getting used to my own feel­ I am getting used to the new world Mommy that I was also very 'end, ings of despair as I try to make around me-Dakar, Senegal. I am scared that the teacher or the kids und getting used to the sights, sounds, sense of this. might not like me. It's hard to have arab smells, and tastes of this place. Except .... I am getting to know the to keep making new friends over Senegalese and I'm learning from arat I am getting used to the smell of and over again. e me raw sewage that seems to be grow­ them. More and more each day, we I have managed to make a few are sharing life and they are ussc ing each day in every neighb_or­ new friends this summer. There's e is i hood where I walk. I am gettmg becoming my friends, my family. I Pascal, my friend from Quebec, illlea used to the sound of children cry­ am beginning to see as they see, Canada, down the street. She ing as they lie on the sidewalk with just a little, but it is en~ugh. They speaks only French. Mommy says are my family, and, if they are their mother, begging for a few that's great for me because I need members of my family,. I can't get coins. I am getting used to the to speak French. Then there are ~y sight of children sleeping in the used to their suffering. I can't get Guinea Conakry friends, who live used to that. streets. down the street. They speak a little e rr I am getting used to the look in the I believe that a big part of what I French but mostly speak their own am doing here is to help you get to tche1 eyes of almost every young person Guinean tribal language, Pele. ow I know and learn from your African I see each day-the look of bore­ Even though we can't talk much, ads c family. When people become fami­ dom and resignation as these we play games, sing songs, and gro . youth face another day with no ly, it is easier to share in the~ suf­ have a great time together. Next adcty fering and their joy. Then, fmally, possibility of work and the frustra­ door are my Kenyan friends- ders none of us will be able to get used tion of a future that has little hope Rachel, Bobby, Karissa, and , cle. \ to the suffering of any of us. of being different from today. Vanessa. They speak English! I've I am getting used to seeing women Glenn had a sleepover with Marcy, anoth-

42 NEW WORLD OUTLOOK JULY-AUGUST 1997 the I ar CTS er MK (missionary kid) with the only, directly from the place near- percent unemployment rate in this ited a I Southern Baptist Church. And, of est us. After the meal, Mommy and country places health care-which but I I course, there's my new Senegalese Daddy went to the big tent to hear should be a basic right-in the lux- also friend, Boussou, who lives just the poems of the prophet read, ury category for the majority of or the ' around the corner. She is the local along with chants in honor of Senegalese. ard to marabout's youngest daughter Mohammed's birthday. Would your church, Sunday- 1ends r (marabouts are considered to be We go to a Senegalese Methodist school classes, or other groups be the messengers of Allah, or God). Church begun by Korean mission- interested in contributing toward nake a · Boussou speaks only Wolof, but aries in Grand Yoff, Dakar. There the purchase of these much-needed er. Th ' he is tarting school, too, so she are two preachers: one preaches in supplies? If so, please send your h Qu will learn French there. French while the other one trans- contribution to the UM-Senegal tree!. One day Boussou's family invited lates into Wolof. Mommy and I Advance Special #012121-SRA and nuny , us to come to their house to cele- have our own Sunday school at mark it for the use of health use I l brate the birth of Mohammed, the home. care/ education supplies. .ere ar ' Islamic prophet. They had a big Your little friend in e Darla :, wh tent set up outside for 1000 people. Christ-Chayla 1eak a e The marabout had 16 cows . their 1 butchered to feed all the people. I 3ge, know because I saw the steers' Appeal for Health Supplies all< heads on the ground. It was a real- There is an overwhelming need in To receive mission letters, ongs , ly gross sight! Later, Mommy and Dakar for health-care and health- contact Sharon Rubey, th er. Daddy and I ate with Boussou's education supplies. Medicine and - 159 Ralph McGill Blvd., NE, frien older si ter, Salla, and Mbaye, her health-care books are readily avail- Rm.404, ssa, uncle. We sat on the floor in one of able in the pharmacies and book- glish! e the bedrooms and ate from one stores; however, most of the people I" common bowl, with our right hand are unable to afford them. The 70

EW WORLD OUTLOOK JULY-AUGUST 1997 43 Community Centers: A History of Caring-A Future of Hope Creative Programming There are 70 community centers in the United States that care for the Each community center is an inte­ "least of these" among us. These centers were founded to serve people gral part of the town and neighbor­ whom society overlooked-or in some cases, about whom society simply hood it serves. Here are examples refused to care. of some creative, innovative, and Examples of early programs from the histories of these centers include responsive programming at sever­ ministries that welcomed Jewish refugees who had escaped Nazi death al centers. camps and with tuberculosis patients who would have otherwise been Dumas Wesley Center in Mobile, condemned to isolation and death. Ministries with young women offered Alabama, offers an independent classes in trade and survival skills, such as English language and sewing, living program and paralegal and provided them with housing and spiritual nurture. counseling for senior adults. It also Over time, the needs of a community may vary, but a community cen­ offers a sports program and a preg­ ter's commitment to caring for people remains constant. Clara Ester, pro­ nancy prevention program for gram director at Dumas Wesley Community Center in Mobile, Alabama, youth. said: "We're trying to serve what some describe as an unpopular part of The Neighborhood Center in the population. We do it by showing love and care for whole families." Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, offers [See brochure Caring Connection (#5275) available from the Service all-day, year-round child care in a Center, 1-800-305-9857.] Christian setting, dance classes, Today community centers offer a variety of programs: from literacy junior golf, Suzuki piano lessons, classes to job training, from housing and home repair to services for peo­ woodworking, and home repair ple who live in homeless shelters. Some offer day care and senior citizens seminars. care while many have after school programs for children that include Robeson County Church and tutoring and recreation. Community Center in Lumberton and Red Springs, North Carolina Gifts of Interest (two locations), has a Christmas In the United States, United Methodist community centers operate in 35 store in which families on low states. Many United Methodists may not be aware that they live within incomes can shop for gifts and 100 miles of one of these centers. Visit a center and find out about its min­ food. Through another program, istries. Support these oases of hope. Jubilee House, which is patterned after Habitat for Humanity, staff Gifts of Service and volunteers build homes for Many community centers rely on the contributions of volunteers to per­ people who would not qualify for form their ongoing "loaves and fishes act" -performing miracles on tight a conventional loan. budgets with reduced staff under stressful situations. Volunteers teach St. Mark's Community Center in courses, assist with after school programming, serve on the boards, and New Orleans, Louisiana, has a pro­ help with fundraising and publicity. Connect with a community center gram for youth-at-risk-those in near you and show that you care. danger of dropping out of school or being drawn into the world of Gifts of Money drugs and violence. One compo­ Community Centers (#982149-3) are one of the General Advance Priority nent of the program is "Jazz for Programs for the 1997-2000 Quadrennium. Gifts to a specific center or to Kids." Professional jazz musicians the general asking may be sent through your church and conference trea­ work with 65 youth at the center's surers (include the Advance number). Street Academy.

44 NEW WORLD OUTLOOK JULY-AUGUST 1997

''~•a).'\•>•.,., .,,~;l>~ ... ~:~···~VJ, • .. ,; ~' ... '"'"'' •• •• • • ;,, • ·., 0 '•' •,• • ' • • '' • ' TAB invesrment: I clt.ose ;::;a.11s -me int:erest: a.nd hailds cAarcABs. Would !JOa like t:o AB/;::; t:oo f1 The new supplement to United Methodist Development Fund accepts the 1997-98 investments from United Methodist individuals or mission study organizations, sends them an interest check twice a year, then lends that money to United "Living as Methodist churches for new construction and/ or Christians in a renovation. Violent Society". Notes may be purchased for as little as $100.00. It looks at more The Fund's sole purpose is to promote the mi s­ than two dozen sion of The United Methodist Church by providing first mortgage loans to churches. This is not an places where real offer of sale. All offerings are made only by the mission happens Offering Circular. and features many

INTEREST RATES * mission projects Flexib le 1 Ye ar Term 4 Year Term across the 6. 75% 3.50% 6.00% 7 .00% United States. Rates effecti ve 8/ 1/ 96. Call fo r current rates. Order Breaking Walls, Call or write us for the Offering Circular: Building Bridges The United Methodist Development Fund Room 320, 475 Riverside Drive, New York, NY 10115 (2646; $3.00) (212) 870-3856 or 1-800-862-8633. from SERVICE CENTER, If you 're a church, for mortgage information, call Gen ral Board (212) 870-3865 of Global Ministries, 7820 Reading Road, Cincinnati, OH 45222-1800. Call 1-800-305-9857 or FAX: 513-761-3722.

NEW WORLD OUTLOOK JULY-AU UST 1997 45 There's a lot to take in at ~ Check Our Fall 1997 Program!

Ma rtha Lund Sma ll ey Sept. 8- 10 . 1997 Robert T . Coote Oct. 27-31 How to Develop C hurch a nd M ission Archi ves. Yale Effective Communication with the Folks Back Home. D1 v111ity School archivis1 helps you identify . organize. A workshop on maintaining strong links wit.h t.he sendmg and preserve essential records. Fi ve sess ions. $75 . church. Cosponsored by Eastern Mennonite Boa rd of Missions. Ei ght sessions. $95 J ean-Paul Wiest & Cathy McDona ld Sept. 11 - 13 Doing Or a l History. Learn how to document and Stephen B. Bevans Nov . 3-7 by Mariellen Sawada preserve church and mission hi story. Five sessions. $75 lnculturation: Challenge to the Missionary's Spiritual Life and Witness. OMSC Senior Mission Scholar m (#2636; $2.75) Both workshops. Sept 8-13. $110 combined fee . Residence examines t.he personal implications fo r those engaged in cross-cultural witness. Eight sessions. S9S Ajith Fernando Sept. 15 - 19 Uniqueness of Christ a nd Reli gious Plura lism . Yout.h Kenneth E. Bailey ov . 10-14 A B"'iJ.e to H-\e olJ. for Christ director in Sri Lanka bri ngs an Asi an The New Testa ment's Seven Symbols of Leadersbi' perspective. Cosponsored by World Evangelical a nd Mission: A Middle Eastern View. Explores the -resi-A~e\\t boo~ o-P Joshl.\A Fellowship . Ei ght sessions $95 seven metaphors fo r Christian leadershi p 111 t.he Testament. Ei ght sessions. $95 .Pov yol.\th, thAt i\\dl.\J.es Gera ld H . Anderson Sept. 23- 26 O\\ T owa rd the 21 st C entury in C hristia n Mission . Peter Kuzmic Acti.vities \::>Ase~ C hristian Mission a nd the Renewal 1 OMSC's di rector surveys major issues in mi ssion on the Joshl.\A S n.Pe. Co\\i-Al\\S eve of the third millennium . Cosponsored by Christian Europe. Dr. Peter Kuzmic, OMSC Senio r Mission Re fo rmed World Missions. Lau n America Mission, Scholar in Residence. evaluates Christian mission 111 the Sl.\BBestlo\\S .Pov leMevs Lutheran Church- Missouri Synod . Mission Society fo r midst of social and political transiti on. Eight ess1ons i\\ eAch chAptev. United Method ists. and Reformed Church in America $95 Mission Services. Four morning sessions. $65 Ted Ward Shirley Torstrick & David Pollock Sept. 29- 0ct. 3 Development a nd Mission for Nurturing and Educating Transcullural Kids. forming Traditional Models. Draws les ons for Focusing on the special needs of MK 's and other Christian mi ssion from fift y years of community transcultural children. Cosponsored by Southern Bapti st development. Cosponsored by Billy Graham Center. Woman's Missionary Union and Wycliffe Bible Church of the Na za rene World Mission. Moravian Translators. Eight sessions. $95 Church World Mission. SIM lnternauonal , and World Vision Internatio nal Eight sessions. $95 Andr w F. Walls Oct. 13- 17 How World Mission is Rewriting Church History. J . Martin Bailey Prof. Andrew F Wall s . Edinburgh Uni ve rsi ty , calls fo r The Missionary J ourney on the Information Super­ a fresh approach to understandine the world church highway. Using hi -tech commurncations for the Cosponsored by Maryknoll Miss1on-lnsrnute. M ennon11~ advancement of Christ's kingdom. Cosponsored by United Church Board fo r World Mirn tri es . E1ghl Boa rd of M iss10 11 s. and Samford Un1ve rs 11 y Global Center. Eight sessions $95 sessions. $95

Zabl on thamburi Oct 20- 24 Overseas Ministries Study Center The African C hurch at the Crossroads: Mission 490 Prospect St. . ew Haven. CT 06511 Strategy, lndi genization. a nd Self-reli ance. The Tel: (203) 624-6672 Fax: (203) 865-28-7 pres id ing bishop of 1he Method1 t Chu rch 111 Kenya E-mail : [email protected] Web ite: http://www.OMSC org asses es A fn can 1mJ 1genous w1tncss Eight sessions. $95

Order from SERVICE CENTER, General Board of Global Photo/Art Credits: 4-5 (top), 8 (bottom), 9 (bot­ UNHCR/ . Hall.mann • 24 (bottom}-CourtesY Ministries, tom)-United Methodi t Archives, World Outlook Sharon Rubey, GBGM • 2S-Christie R. House • files • 5 (bottom), 8 (top) Howard Brinton, GBGM 26-PauJ Jeffrey • 27-29-Courte y Fred Lamar 7820 Reading Road, files • 6-E. P. john, GBGM fil es • 7-Horace B. and the Summer Companies • 30, 32, 33-­ Cincinnati, OH 45222-1800. ewell, Uni ted Methodist Archives, World Richard Lord • 31 (top leh}-Chri tie R. House. Call 1-800-305-9857 Outlook fi l • 9 (top)-john C. Goodwin, GBGM (bottom right) UNHCR / W. tone • 3+- 7- fi le • 10-13--Wi.lliam MacDougall • 14-20- Howard and Peggy Heiner • -40-Greg Gilbert or FAX: 513-761-3722. Chri tie R. Hou e • 21-Art by Roger Sadler • 23- • 42-Barbara Dunlap-Berg • 43-Ru sell ott 26-Dlustrations by Barbara Ball • 24 (top)-

46 EW WORLD OUTLOOK JULY- UGU T 1997 rm damage is sustained by more than 16 annual conferences ... m ore than 50 UMC properties ...more than 60,000 individual homes.

For more information call 1-800-554-8583. United Methodist Committee on Relief. General Board of Global Ministries, The United Methodist Church