News Roundup Links - April 3, 2023

The following are summaries of and links to significant stories related to mission and the worldwide United Methodist Church from the past month.

Connectional Table, Standing Conference on Central Conference Matters support regionalization: Both the Connectional Table and the Standing Conference on Central Conference Matters met at the end of February, and both groups lent their support to efforts to promote greater regionalization in the church. The two groups will work with each other and members of the Christmas Covenant to develop a consensus approach to regionalization legislation at General Conference in 2024: https://www.umnews.org/en/news/international-group-pursues-regionalization https://www.umnews.org/en/news/group-plans-for-budget-cuts-regionalization

Northern Europe and Eurasia Central Conference approves Russia, Estonia leaving The United Methodist Church, denies local standards on sexuality: At a special session on March 18, the Northern Europe and Eurasia Central Conference approved plans for the Eurasia Episcopal Area and the Estonia District of the Estonia Annual Conference to leave the UMC. Estonia will depart through a specially negotiated process this summer. The Eurasia Episcopal Area is following a process laid out by the Book of Discipline which will be complete in 2025. At the same time, the central conference voted down a proposal that would let annual conferences set their own standards on same-sex marriage and ordination, which was strongly supported by the conference’s Norwegian and Danish members. https://www.umnews.org/en/news/eurasia-and-estonia-begin-exit-from-church https://www.metodistkirken.no/ekstraordiner-sentralkonferanse-avholdt

A portrait of Methodism in Kyrgyzstan: Despite the decision by the Eurasia Episcopal Area to leave The United Methodist Church (see above), UMNews has published several news stories and a photo essay about the church in Kyrgyzstan. The pieces are a good portrait (literally and figuratively) of Methodism as it exists in many contexts: small and marginalized, but committed to evangelism and benefitting the community. https://www.umnews.org/en/news/young-people-drive-church-growth-in-kyrgyzstan https://www.umnews.org/en/news/students-find-home-unity-at-bishkek-church https://www.umnews.org/en/news/dream-brought-comfort-amid-warning-of-invasion https://express.adobe.com/page/Q4IivpJ9M9yjk/

Bishop Mande Muyombo discusses the future of the UMC in Africa: In an episode of the “Pod Have Mercy” podcast, Revs. John Stephens and Matt Russell of Chapelwood UMC, Houston, interviewed Bishop Mande Muyombo of the North Katanga Episcopal Area in an insightful conversation about the state and future of the UMC in Africa.

Standing Committee on Central Conference Matters discusses new African bishops: At their meeting in February, the Standing Committee on Central Conference Matters discussed plans to add five new bishops for Africa. That plan, in the works since 2016, is facing financial challenges. No decisions have yet been made on how to proceed. https://www.umnews.org/en/news/challenges-face-plan-to-add-5-african-bishops

Leaders in the Philippines push back against disaffiliation: After a conflict in St. John United Methodist Church, Quezon City, in January, Filipino/a bishops published a letter clarifying that disaffiliation was not an option in the central conferences under UMC church law. https://um-insight.net/in-the-church/umc-future/new-developments-shape-umc-unity-in-the-philippines/

New leaders selected for German, Norwegian United Methodist mission boards: Bishop Harald Rückert has selected Rev. Olav Schmidt as the new leader of EmK WeltMission, as Schmidt’s predecessor, Rev. Frank Aichele, returns to parish ministry. https://www.emk.de/meldung/von-berlin-ueber-malawi-nach-wuppertal In Norway, Anne Ng Foster has been selected as the new head of Misjonselskapet, replacing Øyvind Aske, who is retiring. https://www.metodistkirken.no/ny-internasjonal-leder-er-ansatt

UMCOR and EmK WeltMission respond to typhoon in Malawi and Mozambique: Both Methodist mission agencies have provided support to those impacted by the powerful Hurricane Freddy. https://umcmission.org/umcor-international-latest-responses/ https://www.emk.de/meldung/freddy-bricht-alle-rekorde-und-verwuestet-malawi

GCORR discusses work in central conferences: At the March board meeting of General Commission on Religion and Race, “Board members from Central Conferences shared stories about the ongoing work and challenges they are facing within their contexts, including the deeply-rooted issue of tribalism in Africa.” The GCORR Board also celebrated the formation of a Congo Central Conference Commission on Religion and Race Steering Committee and the work of the National Conference Commission on Religion and Race in the Philippines. https://www.gcorr.org/news/press-release-gcorr-board-of-directors-gathers-in-san-antonio

Africa University Board meets in Tanzania: The Africa University Board of Directors has its regular in person board meeting in March in Tanzania, a departure from its usual practice of meeting on the Africa University campus. The board meeting was a reminder of the continent-wide impact of the United Methodist institution of higher education. https://aunews.africau.edu/?p=2671

Poor Albanian farmers give back to mission: Rev. Urs Schweizer of Switzerland wrote a piece describing a mission project to provide poor, rural Albanian farmers with seed for crops. Despite their own financial challenges, the farmers choose to give back a portion of their harvest to serve the Miss Stone Center, a tangible example of “mission from the margins.” https://www.umnews.org/en/news/when-the-poor-share-what-they-have

Wings of the Morning back in the skies: The critical aviation ministry of the North Katanga Episcopal Area is back flying after repairs to its plane. Those repairs were conducted with the support of the West Ohio Annual Conference. https://www.westohioumc.org/conference/news/foundation-exceeds-wings-morning-fundraising-goal

So the seeds of change are sown

Today's post is by UM & Global blogmaster Dr. David W. Scott, Assistant Professor of Religion and Pieper Chair of Servant Leadership at Ripon College.

A while back, UMCommunications ran this story about a FrontlineSMS training with a youth group at Galilea UMC in Blantyre, Malawi.  (This blog has previously reported about the FrontlineSMS project in Malawi.)  At first, this may not seem like the makings of a significant story - just one church, only the youth group.  Yet we should pay attention to this story, for it represents how the seeds of change are sown.

We may not think that "just one church" being trained in a new technology is significant.  Sure, we may believe in the power of technology to transform the world, but partly we believe that because technology is ubiquitous.  How much can technology transform the world if it's only in one church?  Yet, as anyone familiar with tech development knows, before technology becomes ubiquitous, it must be used by product testers, have an initial roll-out, and be taken up by early adopters.  Galilea UMC isn't "just one church"; they're among the early adopters that will make it possible for this technology to be used by many churches.

We may not think something that applies "just to the youth group" is significant.  Sure, most churches want a thriving youth group, but it is often easy for us to differentiate between the work the youth group does and the "real work" of the church, work we associate with budgets and committees and the like.  Yet budgets and committees are not the real work of the church.  They exist to make real work, i.e., the application of the gospel in and to the world, possible.  The Galilea UMC youth are already running programs that carry out the work of the church.  Learning how to use FrontlineSMS is just as much preparing to do real work as is sitting in a committee, if not more so.

Indeed, our entire faith is predicated upon the belief that what a small group of mostly young people does in one particular location can transform the world.  Jesus wasn't incarnated everywhere is some sort of global roll-out of God-with-us.  He was born in one place, started his ministry in one town, and spent the entirety of his ministry in only that portion of the globe that could be reached by walking from where he started.  Moreover, Jesus was under 35 for the entirety of his ministry, if not enough to put him in the "youth group" demographic, certainly enough to qualify him as a "young adult" in the UMC.  We may presume that a number of his followers were too.  Yet, despite starting out in "just one synagogue" with "just a bunch of young adults," Jesus' ministry, life, death, and followers have transformed the world, and we proclaim that belief as the good news of the gospel still today.  The seeds of change must be sown somewhere, and a youth group in Galilea UMC, Blantyre, Malawi, is as good a place as any to do so.