UM News Weekly Digest - Friday, 2 August 2019 of The United Methodist Church in Nashville, Tennessee, United States
UM News Weekly Digest - Friday, 2 August 2019 of The United Methodist Church in Nashville, Tennessee, United States
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United Methodist News Service <newsdesk@umcom.org>
UM News Weekly Digest
Friday, 2 August 2019
Top viewed stories from July 26-August 1. See all United Methodist News Service stories atwww.umnews.org.
NEWS AND FEATURESLeaders look at options for denomination's future NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UM News) — At a meeting called by Sierra Leone Bishop John K. Yambasu, central conference bishops and church leaders with different viewpoints on the issue of ministry with LGBTQ people discussed finding a new way forward through consensus. Yambasu and others, however, expressed fears that a split is coming. Kathy L. Gilbert reports. Read story
Church leaders look at options for future of denomination
Bishop John Yambasu speaks during the opening session of the 2019 United Methodist General Conference in St. Louis in February. Yambasu, leader of the Sierra Leone Conference, called a July meeting on behalf of United Methodists outside the U.S. to explore possible separation over the church’s policies regarding LGBTQ persons. File photo by Paul Jeffrey, UM News.
“Every United Methodist now knows our denomination is heading for a separation,” Sierra Leone Bishop John K. Yambasu said in an address to a diverse group of church leaders meeting in Chicago.
But the bishop also called on the group attending the July 19 meeting to find a new way forward through consensus. He was speaking to a group with a wide range of viewpoints about the denomination’s inclusion of LGBTQ persons during a meeting that he termed “a call to action.”
Yambasu called the meeting on behalf of the central conferences — United Methodist regions in Africa, Europe, and the Philippines. Bishop Christian Alsted, Nordic and Baltic Episcopal Area, and Bishop Mande Muyombo, North Katanga Episcopal Area, attended the meeting. The meeting came at the conclusion of the executive committee of the Council of Bishops meeting.
In addition to the three bishops, five church leaders who represented each of three viewpoints on the inclusion of LGBTQ people in the mission and ministry of The United Methodist Church attended. There were five centrists, five progressives and five conservatives at the meeting.
The Book of Discipline, the United Methodist policy book, says that the practice of homosexuality “is incompatible with Christian teaching,” and bars “self-avowed practicing homosexuals” from ordination. Meeting in a called session this year, General Conference delegates passed legislation that retains church bans on ordaining gay clergy or holding same-sex marriages, while also strengthening enforcement measures for violating those bans. Resistance to that measure has been strong in many churches and regional or annual conferences.
In his opening address, Yambasu said it was his “burning desire” to work with all sides of the debate to ensure there is no further damage to the whole church.
Bishop Kenneth H. Carter Jr., president of the Council of Bishops, said bishops are involved in many conversations across the church but “we want to be clear that the complexities of our polity do not authorize anyone to negotiate separation.”
Carter told United Methodist News that “more conversation is better than less and may lead us to new forms of unity, giving birth to new expressions of Methodism that will multiply the Wesleyan witness in as many ways as possible.”
Alsted said from a European United Methodist perspective, a division would most likely have “devastating consequences.”
Europe has more than 60,000 members in over 30 countries, he said.
“The sad reality is that most things in the worldwide United Methodist Church are discussed and decided in the U.S. and the rest of the world is expected to follow,” he told United Methodist News.
“In all plans after the called session I have seen so far, the central conferences are treated as an appendix to the church. The message that is conveyed is: We solve things in the U.S., and the rest of the world will need to figure out where they wish to belong or how they will organize.”
Both Yambasu and Alsted said they were hopeful having all the different viewpoints represented and in the same room would lead to a consensus plan and avoid another battle on the floor of the 2020 General Conference.
Bishop Christian Alsted preaches during morning worship at the 2016 United Methodist General Conference in Portland, Ore. Alsted, leader of the Nordic and Baltic Area, said that from a European United Methodist perspective, a division of the church would most likely have “devastating consequences.” File photo by Maile Bradfield, UM News.
A second, smaller group will meet Aug. 16-17 in Washington. The meeting in July was closed, and members all agreed not to discuss any of the details. The second meeting will also be closed, Yambasu said.
Petitions to the 2020 General Conference are due Sept. 18 to the Commission on General Conference. Yambasu said the meetings were scheduled to allow time to process any petitions that emerge from the conversations and meet that petition deadline.
While they could not discuss the details, church leaders said they did appreciate the opportunity to talk to each other. Centrists included the Revs. Adam Hamilton, Tom Berlin, Mark Holland, Junius Dotson and Jasmine Smothers.
Conservatives attending were the Revs. Maxie Dunnam, Rob Renfroe and Keith Boyette, as well as Mark Tooley and Patricia L. Miller.
Randall Miller, Jan Lawrence, Karen Prudente and the Revs. Ginger Gaines-Cirelli and Kimberly Scott represented the progressive viewpoint.
“We had a frank conversation and good airing of several proposals for moving past what some members of the group identified as ‘irreconcilable differences,’” said Randall Miller, a jurisdictional conference delegate from the California-Nevada Conference. “I will continue to work with this group in faith, but so far we seem very far away from reaching an agreement.”
Hamilton, pastor of the Church of the Resurrection, said it was helpful to meet “face to face” with people and hear their stories.
“Not surprisingly, the central conference bishops, conservatives, centrists and progressives present agree on most of the things that make us United Methodists. But we have a fundamental disagreement over how we read scripture regarding same-sex marriage and how God would have us minister with LGBTQ persons, particularly around marriage and ordination,” he said.
Boyette, president of the Wesleyan Covenant Association, said he was grateful to have the opportunity to have frank conversations about the current context of The United Methodist Church.
“I am grateful that those conversations will continue, and I am hopeful that they will be productive in providing some resolution for the ongoing conflict,” he said.
Berlin told United Methodist News, “I was pleased that the meeting was called by central conference bishops who understand that the impact of the 2019 General Conference, which passed the Traditional Plan, will impact the global UMC connection and is not only of deep interest to members of the UMC in the United States.”
Tooley said he has opposed division and for 30 years has worked for a “vision of denominational revival.”
“I now admit division is inevitable,” he said. “It will happen of itself, chaotically. Or it will happen through negotiation and some leadership. The latter seems preferable.”
Holland said he is committed to finding an amicable path forward for separation.
“My observation is that the ‘Renewal and Reform’ group very much wants to split the church and divide up the assets. The progressives, centrists, and central conferences want to stay together. There is no reason to divide the global church to cater to a minority of churches and individuals in the United States. We need to find a way to allow those who do not want to be United Methodist to leave amicably without burning down the whole church to do so.”
The smaller group meeting in August will include Lawrence, Boyette, Berlin, Dotson, Yambasu, Alsted, Patricia Miller and Randall Miller.
Yambasu, quoting Isaiah 1:18, said the conversation was not about who is right and who is wrong.
“This consultation is a call to action. It is an invitation for all sides of the debate to ‘come and reason together.’”
Gilbert is a news writer for United Methodist News Service. Contact her at (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umnews.org. To read more United Methodist news, subscribe to the free Daily or Weekly Digests.Two mission initiatives to join Côte d'IvoireDAKAR, Senegal (UM News) — A delegation from the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries met with two mission initiatives — in Senegal and Cameroon — and announced these initiatives will become districts attached to the Côte d'Ivoire Conference. Isaac Broune reports. Read story
Two mission initiatives to join Côte d’Ivoire
by Isaac Broune DAKAR, Senegal (UM News)
Maimouna Diaby, 18, learns to sew in a class at Canaan United Methodist Church in Mbour, Senegal. The church is part of two mission initiatives in Senegal and Cameroon that will join the Côte d’Ivoire Conference. Photo by Isaac Broune, UM News.
A delegation from the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries met with two mission initiatives — in Senegal and Cameroon — and announced these initiatives will become districts attached to the Côte d'Ivoire Conference.
The conference is awaiting the memorandum of understanding from Global Ministries before approving the two new districts. That memorandum will be signed in 2020.
With the addition of Senegal and Cameroon, the Côte d'Ivoire Conference will have 27 districts.
The strategy for the transition was approved during a meeting held before a June visit to the mission initiatives, attended by the Global Ministries delegation, Côte d'Ivoire Area Bishop Benjamin Boni and conference cabinet members.
The delegation was made up of Yollande Yambo, Africa representative; Ebenezer Dorairaj, senior manager of operations and finance; Nyamah Dunbar, Global Ministries’ area executive for the East Africa episcopal area and West Africa Central Conference; and Ndzulo Tueche, General Council on Finance and Administration, the connectional relations manager for central conferences.
During a closing worship service in Cameroon, the Rev. Philippe Adjobi noted that is “an honor for Côte d'Ivoire Annual Conference to welcome these two mission initiatives." He spoke on behalf of Boni, who attended the trip to Senegal but was unable to be in Cameroon.
While Adjobi said he was not surprised by the arrival of Senegal, which is a West African country like Côte d’Ivoire, he was especially honored by the inclusion of Cameroon, which would typically fall under the supervision of the Congo. The Council of Bishops made the decision to appoint Boni to oversee the two mission initiatives, Yambo explained.
Côte d'Ivoire Area Bishop Benjamin Boni congratulates Ndeye Diouf on her retirement during the closing session of the annual assembly of West African United Methodist mission initiatives in Dakar, Senegal. Photo by Isaac Broune, UM News.
The Senegal Mission Initiative was established in May 1995 in a country that is 84% Muslim. The mission has 1,119 members spread over 21 parishes and preaching posts. Nine ordained pastors and 31 lay preachers oversee the spiritual life of the people. Its major ministries include evangelization, Christian education, health, prison ministry, literacy, agriculture and women’s activities.
While membership in the Senegal mission dropped 3.44% in 2017-2018, the mission saw a big increase of 10.79% in 2018-2019, according to reports that were read during the annual meeting.
“After a rocky process, the designation of Senegal as a district becomes the light at the end of the tunnel,” Yambo said. She said the mission has experienced stability and growth recently.
The Rev. Jean-Pierre Ndour talked about the sewing project his local church in Mbour is using to help women acquire new skills to start small businesses later.
“In Senegal, you cannot do evangelism without projects,” he said.
Ndour was appointed the new superintendent of the Senegal Mission Initiative during the annual meeting. He said his focus would be on strengthening the current assets and focusing on evangelization and project implementation.
“Soon, we will brainstorm with the mission initiative to see what are other ways and avenues through which we can be able to support them,” Yambo promised.
The decision for the Cameroon initiative to join the Côte d’Ivoire Conference followed a petition made by a delegation from the district of Haut-Nyong, Eastern Cameroon, and was met with a thunder of applause.
Once the mission director, the Rev. Andrew Ekoka Molindo, visits the area and submits his report, the church membership will have an additional 1,400 members and assets like two hectares of cocoa farms and one palm oil plantation.
United Methodist volunteers built local temples in Cameroon. While some are struggling to resolve land issues or pay monthly rent, individuals donate fully developed churches. To date, there are 12 temples with 629 members.
The Rev. Andrew Ekoka Molindo is director of United Methodist mission initiatives in Senegal and Cameroon, which include two hectares of cocoa farms and a palm oil plantation. Photo by Isaac Broune, UM News.
The church is making efforts, but still needs evangelism trainings and resources. Despite its small membership, the Cameroon Mission Initiative is sending missionaries to other regions of the world through the Global Mission Fellows program. Lisette Che, the national youth coordinator, will be the third missionary to be sent out.
“We are proud of what is happening because the youth of Cameroon are doing great things,” Yambo said.
Adjobi said that it was a sign that United Methodists in Cameroon are taking ownership of the missionary work.
“You have reached a status that makes you responsible of your future,” he said.
The Rev. Bernard Mbehna, mission administrator, reacted by saying: "The child is now next to a father. Every time we are with Côte d'Ivoire, we always learn something new.” He referred to times they spent with Côte d’Ivoire pastors attending seminary at the University of Yaounde.
Mbehna recalled meeting with the late Ivorian pastor Isaac Agré when they were theology students. Mbehna said he and other students were considering leaving the ministry to work in private business.
“With God, you cannot disconnect,” Agré told him one day. Mbehna said this piece of advice kept him on the ordination path.
The Rev. Ebenezer Dorairaj invited members of the Cameroon Mission Initiative to abide by their theme for the year. “To move forward, you must be transparent in sharing information and managing your finances,” he urged them.
Dorairaj promised that Global Ministries will continue to support projects as much as possible, “but it is up to Cameroon to finance their own growth,” he said. “As a pastor, I advise you to spend time in prayer and evangelization.”
The Cameroon Mission Initiative has been operational for 20 years. They expressed the need to have a nursery school, a youth center and vocational training centers to turn away from the past and look into the future with hope.
“For all the efforts made by GBGM so far, we have no right to disappoint them,” Adjobi told the leaders of the two new districts. He made the promise, on behalf of the bishop, that Côte d'Ivoire would conduct annual evaluations for them to move from the district status to provisional annual conferences and then ordinary conferences.
According to the Book of Discipline, he said, “You need to have at least 15,000 members and 15 ordained pastors to become an annual conference.”
Broune is the French News Director for UM News.
News media contact: Vicki Brown at (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org. To read more United Methodist news, subscribe to the free Daily or Weekly Digests.Scholars gather to champion LGBTQ inclusion DALLAS (UM News) — About 60 United Methodist scholars who support LGBTQ inclusion will gather for a livestreamed discussion of Scripture, Wesleyan values and the denomination's future. Heather Hahn writes about what is planned for the Aug. 7-8 meeting. Read story
Scholars gather to champion LGBTQ inclusion
By Heather Hahn
UM News
A definition of the initials LGBTQ adapted from dictionary.com. Graphic by Laurens Glass, UM News.
At this event, the resistance to the Traditional Plan comes with doctorates.
About 60 United Methodists scholars plan to meet at Lovers Lane United Methodist Church in Dallas for a gathering they hope will bring biblical, theological and historical heft to arguments for the full inclusion of LGBTQ individuals in the life of the church.
They also hope to help inform conversations about the future of The United Methodist Church.
The event, called the Post-Way-Forward Gathering of UM Scholars, will include 34 presentations that will be livestreamed starting at 8:30 a.m. CDT Aug. 7 and 8:15 a.m. Aug. 8. After the gathering, the event organizers plan to upload the presentations to YouTube.
The Rev. O. Wesley Allen Jr. Photo courtesy of SMU Perkins School of Theology.
“The idea is that we’re not just gathering to talk to ourselves. We’re not just livestreaming so people can overhear,” said the Rev. O. Wesley Allen Jr., co-convener of the gathering. “We’ve asked presenters to speak to the wider church.”
Allen, the Lois Craddock Perkins professor of homiletics at Southern Methodist University’s Perkins School of Theology, said each presentation would be about 15 minutes long. He envisions Sunday school classes and other church groups using the presentations. He also could see congregations inviting participating scholars to speak.
The event, which is independent of Perkins, is receiving financial support from Lovers Lane and other local churches.
Traditionalist groups, Allen said, have done a good job of incorporating scholars into their conversations. For example, Allen’s colleague — the Rev. William J. Abraham, Albert Cook Outler professor of Wesley studies — has spoken at a Wesleyan Covenant Association gathering. The association’s leadership council includes the Rev. Joy M. Moore, an associate professor at Luther Seminary, and the Rev. David F. Watson, a dean at United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio.
Allen wants the August gathering to add scholarly voices to the centrist and progressive side of the conversation about the church after General Conference 2019. He said dialogue with more traditionalist scholars might come later.
In February, the denomination’s multinational lawmaking body adopted the Traditional Plan by a vote of 438-384. The legislation retains the church stance that the practice of homosexuality is “incompatible with Christian teaching” and strengthens enforcement of church bans on same-sex weddings and “self-avowed practicing” gay clergy.
However, since its passage, the plan has faced resistance, both in the U.S. and in Western Europe, from United Methodists who see the measures as discriminatory against LGBTQ churchgoers.
The Rev. Ted Campbell Photo courtesy of Post-Way-Forward Gathering of UM Scholars website.
The Rev. Ted A. Campbell, Allen’s fellow co-convener, said the scholars coming to Dallas have varied ideas about what should come next. Campbell, professor of church history at Perkins School of Theology, has been part of some conversations about the denomination’s future.
While event organizers hope the scholars gathered will release a joint statement after the event, Campbell doesn’t expect the group to specify a proposal for going forward. However, he does expect a rejection of the Traditional Plan.
“We know there are congregations in the middle,” Campbell said. “I am defining middle very specifically. That means a congregation that values its identity over any exclusive view on the sexuality issues. We have something to say to them.”
Among the topics the scholars plan to explore is biblical authority — often at the center of church debates about the status of LGBTQ individuals.
The Rev. Sarah Heaner Lancaster Photo courtesy of Methodist Theological School in Ohio.
The Rev. Sarah Heaner Lancaster, a member of the event’s steering committee, will deliver a presentation titled “Not Giving up the Authority of Scripture.” She hopes to challenge some presuppositions.
“Over time, I have heard accusations that progressives do not accept the authority of Scripture because progressives ‘dismiss’ parts of Scripture,” said Lancaster, the professor in the Werner chair of theology at Methodist Theological School of Ohio.
“I want to suggest that there are different ways of thinking about authority, so the question is not just do you accept Scripture’s authority or not, but rather what kind of authority does Scripture have?”
Traditionally, the Methodist movement has not treated the Bible as authoritative on matters of science, history or medicine, Campbell said. Instead, he noted, the denomination’s doctrinal statements in the Articles of Religion and Confession of Faith both say the Bible is “authoritative for what we need to know for our salvation.”
“We feel people need to hear this side of the story,” he said.
The presenters will represent varied academic disciplines including the Bible, history, ethics and pastoral theology.
Rolf R. Nolasco Jr. Photo courtesy of Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary.
Rolf R. Nolasco Jr., professor of pastoral theology at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary and a psychotherapist, said his hope is the diverse disciplinary voices will add depth to church conversations.
Nolasco, one of the steering committee members, identifies as a queer person of color and has a book titled “God’s Beloved Queer” coming out this fall.
“The denomination, as a whole, is hurting,” he said. “But I’d like to think that we now have been given an opportunity, regardless of how painful this process is for everyone, to imagine a church that is yet to be born, not out of human machinations but of the infusion of the Holy Spirit.”
Hahn is a multimedia news reporter for UM News. Contact her at (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umnews.org. To read more United Methodist news, subscribe to the free Daily or Weekly Digests.Church leaders affirm BaltimoreNASHVILLE, Tenn. (UM News) — United Methodist Bishop LaTrelle Miller Easterling and the Rev. Wanda Bynum Duckett defended their beloved city of Baltimore in the wake of disparaging tweets from President Donald Trump. Kathy L. Gilbert reports. Read story
Church leaders affirm Baltimore after tweets
By Kathy L. Gilbert UM News
United Methodist Bishops Bruce R. Ough and LaTrelle Easterling stand in solidarity during the national rally to end racism, a Drumbeat for Justice Silent Walk from the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial to the National Mall on April 4, 2018. Bishop Easterling is among church leaders in Baltimore urging United Methodists to resist “reactionary responses” to President Donald Trump’s tweets disparaging the city. File photo by Kathy L. Gilbert, UMNS.
Church leaders in Baltimore are urging United Methodists to resist “reactionary responses” to President Donald Trump’s disparaging tweets about their beloved city.
“Prophetically choose: Community over Chaos (Jeremiah 29:7); Courage over Cowardice (2 Timothy 1:7) and Calling over Conflict (Luke 4:18),” said the bishop and Baltimore District superintendent in an emailed newsletter posted July 30.
Baltimore-Washington Conference Bishop LaTrelle Miller Easterling, and the Rev. Wanda Bynum Duckett, superintendent, Baltimore Metropolitan District, stepped back from what they called the president’s “disparaging and one-side characterization” of their annual conference to speak with peace, pride and respect of their home.
“As is our biblical mandate, we pray for President Trump and all of our elected officials,” write the two leaders. “However, we are convinced that we must not rest in a place of offense—or even defense—over the comments made by the president about Baltimore.”
The Rev. Wanda Bynum Duckett, superintendent, Baltimore Metropolitan District. Photo courtesy of the Baltimore-Washington Conference.
Trump tweeted that Baltimore was a “disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess” and he lashed out against U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland.
The remarks are “a strategic diversion from a plethora of critical conversations around race and class disparities in this country, and an unfair attack on a public servant who has the character, track record, and integrity to lead locally and nationally,” the statement from the Baltimore-Washington Conference said.
Bishop Ernest S. Lyght, retired, and Bishop Kenneth H. Carter, president of the United Methodist Council of Bishops and leader of the Florida Conference, also defended Cummings and Baltimore in Facebook posts.
“The presidential comments about an honorable congressman and a major northeastern city are rooted in a cynical desire to divide us along racial lines. They use a role granted for the purpose of serving an entire people for white privilege,” wrote Carter. “If you are a white person reading this and you find it troubling, I ask you not to write me, but to contact a friend who is black and ask them, ‘What did you hear in this?’”
Carter also said it would be easier to be silent but “silence can contribute to the harm.”
Lyght wrote, “Baltimore, in spite of its foibles . . . has a special place in my life.” He said he, his father and three siblings all received an excellent education from Morgan State University and he cited Johns Hopkins Hospital as a leading medical institution in the heart of Baltimore that played a major role in his quest for good health.
“No city, town, village or region in the United States is void of economic and social problems,” Lyght wrote. “Federal, state and local governments working together can bring about positive change for the good of the people. The POTUS is in a key position to lead all government entities in a cooperative effort for the betterment of our communities and neighborhoods.”
Baltimore is not a city to pity, but one to celebrate, wrote Duckett and Easterling.
“As followers of a Christ who spoke truth to power and held both religious and political leaders accountable for the care for all God's people, we likewise must speak out against injustice in all of its forms. This is the prophetic work to which we are all called, regardless of personal or political leanings. And, we must work to ensure a brighter future for all of God's people. We hope you will join us.”
Hospital changes debt-collection policies MEMPHIS, Tenn. (UM News) — A United Methodist-affiliated hospital system is changing its policies after making headlines for suing its own employees for unpaid medical bills. The church connection contributed to the change. Heather Hahn reports. Read story
Hospital changes debt-collection policies
By Heather Hahn UM News
Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare in Memphis, Tenn., announced it would raise its minimum wage and increase eligibility for its financial assistance. Calls to follow the United Methodist Social Principles played a role in the decision, hospital leaders said. UM News file photo.
A United Methodist-affiliated hospital system is making changes after making headlines for suing its own employees for unpaid medical bills.
Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare in Memphis, Tennessee, announced July 30 it would raise its minimum wage to $15 an hour over the next 17 months and no longer sue its employees or garnish their wages for unpaid medical bills.
The nonprofit health system also said it is revising its financial assistance policies so that it will:
No longer pursue legal action against any patient making up to 250% of the federal poverty guideline — regardless of that patient’s insurance status.
No longer accept court-ordered interest on medical debt nor collect court-allowed attorney fees and court costs from any patient.
Under the new policy, uninsured patients also will be eligible for financial assistance if their income is up to 250% of the federal poverty level — up from the current threshold of 125%. The new financial assistance policies take effect in August.
“Today’s announcement marks the renewal of our commitment to do our part to address poverty in our community,” said Michael Ugwueke, chief executive officer and president, during a conference call.
With the wider eligibility, he said, a family of three making up to $53,000 could receive assistance. That means more than half of the Memphis population would be eligible for the health system’s financial help, Ugwueke added.
Earlier this month, the hospital system said it was suspending legal actions against former patients who still owe medical bills as it evaluated its financial assistance policies.
During the review process, hospital leaders held more than 20 listening sessions with employees and patients to learn how they could do more for the economic well-being of the people they serve.
Methodist Le Bonheur engaged a third party to review how the hospital system’s billing and collection practices compare to other similarly sized, urban, mission-drive health care organizations.
The hospital system also received pressure from United Methodists.
Among the church members publicly calling for change was Bishop Bill McAlilly, who leads the Tennessee and Memphis conferences and serves on Le Bonheur’s board.
In a blog post, the bishop wrote that he urged “the leadership of the hospital to ensure that policies and procedures are aligned with the Social Principles of The United Methodist Church and our Wesleyan Heritage.”
Such calls have an effect, Ugwueke acknowledged during the conference call.
“Our vision and mission calls for us to follow the Social Principles of The United Methodist Church, so that has a significant impact on everything that we do,” he said.
The Social Principles, while not church law, represent the denomination’s “prayerful and thoughtful effort” to speak to contemporary issues such as climate change, immigration and trade from a biblical and theological perspective.
Changes to Methodist Le Bonheur’s wages will take place over time. The health system said it would raise its minimum pay from $10.08 to $15 an hour by January 2021. Effective in September this year, minimum pay will increase to $13.50 an hour.
The minimum-wage increase will cost the health system an additional $14 million, said Carol Ross-Sprang, chief human resources officer. About 17% of Methodist Le Bonheur’s more than 11,000 employees currently make below $15 an hour.
The hospital system also committed to create more opportunities for interested employees to gain skills, experience and education to advance to higher-paying positions.
Chuck Lane, Methodist Le Bonheur’s chief financial officer, said even with the new policies, the hospital also would make every effort to work with patients on payment — bringing collection in house.
“We certainly recognize that some insured patients have high co-pays and deductibles that result in a burden,” he said. “Our commitment is to work directly with those patients in need of financial relief to establish affordable payment plans they can manage.”
McAlilly, who has been associated with the hospital system for more than 30 years, applauded the health care system’s long legacy of healing ministry and its work to address concerns around medical debt.
He noted that Methodist Le Bonheur’s roots stretch back more than 100 years to Methodist layman John H. Sherard Sr., who had a vision for a hospital in the city of Memphis that would offer quality care for people from all walks of life.
“We give thanks that excellent care is accessible for all persons as MLH has provided care across the years,” McAlilly said. “The presence of Methodist Le Bonheur Health Systems in the city of Memphis is a gift.”
Bishop Gary Mueller, who leads neighboring Arkansas Conference and serves on the hospital system’s board, shared that sentiment.
“I am very grateful that the Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare system has taken the opportunity to re-evaluate the collection practices as part of its ongoing commitment to faithfully carrying out its mission and the Social Principles of The United Methodist Church,” he said.
Ugwueke said the hospital system is taking on important step to uplift workers, patients and its wider community.
“Through this process,” he said, “we were humbled to learn that while there is so much good happening across our health system each day, we can, and must, do better.”
Cameroon churches affected by military conflict YAOUNDE, Cameroon (UM News) — A long-running military conflict in southwestern Cameroon disrupted what should have been a celebration for the United Methodist Cameroon Mission Initiative. However, United Methodists are keeping the flame of faith and brotherly love alive for all those in the affected areas. Isaac Broune reports. Read story
Mary Eben recounts the eight months she spent hiding in a forest following violence between rebel forces and the Cameroonian government. Her church, Jerusalem United Methodist Church in Duala, Cameroon, has assisted her throughout her ordeal. Photo by Isaac Broune, UM News.
A long-running military conflict in southwestern Cameroon disrupted what should have been a celebration for the United Methodist Cameroon Mission Initiative. However, United Methodists are keeping the flame of faith and brotherly love alive for all those in the affected areas.
Because of the crisis, several churches in the southwest were unable to send their representatives to the annual meeting attended by the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries and Côte d’Ivoire Conference representatives June 18-23 to evaluate the Cameroon Mission Initiative, as it will soon be a district of the Côte d’Ivoire Conference.
“The biggest challenge we are facing this year is the crisis in the English-speaking area, which makes impossible the organization of meetings and activities in the southwestern circuit of Fako-Meme," Lisette Che, Cameroon Mission Initiative youth coordinator, read from her report to the gathering.
Lisette Che gives a report on the United Methodist Cameroon Mission Initiative. She serves as youth coordinator for the program. Photo by Isaac Broune, UM News.
Conflicts between the French-speaking Cameroonian government and Anglophone rebel forces have been going on for the past three years. Consequently, many lives were lost, villages were burned down, and thousands of people fled to neighboring Nigeria and government-controlled cities.
Mary Eben, a member of Jerusalem United Methodist Church of Douala, is living proof of what victims of the crisis are experiencing. On April 23, 2018, around 1 a.m., people dressed in military uniforms set fire to houses located in Eben’s village of Mamfe. She fled and took refuge in the forest, where she spent eight months.
For the past six months, Jerusalem United Methodist Church has assisted her. The church has already helped with her safe delivery of twin daughters five months ago. Today, the church sponsors her for the pastry classes she is taking and offers her money to live on.
The effects of the crisis are fresh in the victims’ minds.
Pastor Emmanuel Kekia Nkongho, 62, a retired chief-sergeant from the gendarmerie, managed to attend the meeting. He still remembers being attacked by Ambazonian secessionist fighters, known as “Amba boys,” last May when he was the pastor of three United Methodist churches in Sumbe, Akiriba and Defang.
“They took me for a traitor. I was beaten, beaten, beaten and beaten. I sustained wounds on my left eye and other parts of my body. My son, who works in Douala, had to send money,” he recalled.
Pastor Emmanuel Kekia Nkongho recalls being attacked by rebel fighters when he was leader of three United Methodist churches in Sumbe, Akiriba and Defang, Cameroon. Photo by Isaac Broune, UM News.
Upon his return, the Amba boys allowed him to reopen his churches, but told him not to mention the political situation in any of his sermons. According to the pastor, nine out of 12 churches in the area are closed. He said he is praying for a “United Cameroon.”
Synthia Ashu, a 30-year-old student at University of Buea, also attended the meeting. Ashu recalled having to flee the area in October 2018. On her way, she noticed how desolate some of the neighborhoods were. “Before you know it, you have tears in your eyes. If you do not shed a tear when you see these bodies, you are not human,” she said.
While escaping from the region, Ashu agreed to go with her neighbors, who begged her to get them out of this dangerous area.
“They knew I have family in Douala, which is a safe town,” she said. She accommodated 15 people in the family’s three-bedroom house.
Members of the children’s choir from Blessing United Methodist Church in Yaounde, Cameroon, welcome visitors to the Cameroon Mission Initiative meeting. From left are: Nahomie Diffo, Geneviève Nzie, Larissa Nzie and Falone Diffo. Photo by Isaac Broune, UM News.
Despite the danger, the church was present in places where the government could not be to assist the displaced.
With a group of women, Ashu went to the Mbanlangi forest, in the district of Mbonge, near Kumba, to look for church members who could no longer attend prayer meetings and provide them with necessities. The women were dressed in United Methodist church uniforms to be easily identified and be allowed to move freely in the area.
Beatrice Diffang, president of the United Methodist women of Douala, was among this group of women who visited the refugees. She described these visits done “under crossfires” as risky. The refugees told the women they were the only persons who have visited them in the Mbanlangi forest.
“No church can flourish if 50% of its members are isolated,” Diffang said. She hosted 12 people in her house in Douala.
The Rev. Rosalie Nzie of Blessing United Methodist Church in Yaounde helps lead worship. Photo by Isaac Broune, UM News.
Friday, June 21, was a day of national mourning decreed by the government of Cameroon. Hence, participants of the Cameroon Mission Initiative meeting observed a minute of silence during the morning devotion led by the Rev. Julienne Carmel of Blessing United Methodist Church in Yaounde. She asked to pray for the soldiers who died during the crisis — “our sons and brothers who descended into the pit during the national crisis,” she said.
The actions of the church during this crisis should go further, according to Um. During the morning devotion, she recalled her maternal pain as she witnessed the death of the country's children, before placing the church in front of her responsibility. “We have a duty in the face of history to help Cameroon in an intercommunity dialogue,” she said.
The Rev. Phillipe Adjobi, on behalf of Bishop Benjamin Boni, assured Cameroon's mission of the support of the annual conference of Côte d'Ivoire in this initiative.
“We are in solidarity with you, and we do not stop praying for you because, without peace, we cannot serve God serenely,” he said concerning the nearby crisis and also the fight against the Boko Haram terrorist group in the north of Cameroon.
Sarah Ambadiang sings during worship at Blessing United Methodist Church, where she serves as a lay preacher and parish secretary. She is national president of the Cameroon United Methodist Women’s Association. Photo by Isaac Broune, UM News.
Broune directs French news for UM News and is based in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire.
New Charlottesville church draws suspicionsCHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (UM News) — Mission Charlottesville, planted as a nondenominational church, has stirred up some bad feelings from United Methodist pastors in the area who consider it an attempt to undermine their churches and the denomination. Jim Patterson has the story. Read story
New Charlottesville church draws suspicions
Adds that research first published on Hacking Christianity blogBy Jim PattersonUMNews
This is Burley Middle School in Charlottesville, Va., where the nondenominational church Mission Charlottesville meets on Sundays. UM News photo.
Three United Methodist pastors view a nondenominational new church start as an effort by traditionalist organizations to challenge the denomination — a claim members of those organizations deny.
The Virginia Conference interim bishop and the Charlottesville District superintendent said any concern is overblown.
Mission Charlottesville defines itself on its website as “a missional church, obedient to God’s command to take the good news of Jesus Christ to others. We do this through what we say and how we live.” The pastor declined to talk to UM News for the story.
But pastors of three nearby churches say the new church, which is a member of the Wesleyan Covenant Association, aims to undermine the ministry of The United Methodist Church.
“Is it a direct attempt to compete with The United Methodist Church? Yeah,” said the Rev. Phil Woodson, associate pastor at First United Methodist Church. Woodson researched the new church’s connections with the Wesleyan Covenant Association, a group that formed in 2016 to encourage the denomination to hold the line on restrictions related to homosexuality.
The Rev. Isaac Collins, lead pastor of Wesley Memorial United Methodist Church, said that Mission Charlottesville is an “obvious” church plant by the Wesleyan Covenant Association and Evangelical Fellowship of Virginia, “and anyone who says otherwise is trying to cover up their involvement.”
The Rev. Robert Lewis, pastor of Hinton Avenue United Methodist Church, said he is not threatened by Mission Charlottesville but is “very annoyed.”
“It’s been incredibly out in the open and completely unashamed of undermining the ministry of The United Methodist Church,” Lewis said.
The new church meets in a school building less than 5 miles from four United Methodist churches: Aldersgate, Wesley Memorial, Hinton Avenue and First United Methodist.
While the Evangelical Fellowship collected money for Mission Charlottesville, the president of the Wesleyan Covenant Association said neither the national nor state group has been involved in any activities to help Mission Charlottesville.
“Neither the WCA or the Virginia WCA has provided any funding for Mission Charlottesville at any time,” the Rev. Keith Boyette said in a letter to the Rev. Gary Heaton of First United Methodist Church in Charlottesville. Boyette made the letter available to United Methodist News in response to questions posed in an email.
Likewise, the Rev. H.O. Tom Thomas Jr., president of the executive committee of the Evangelical Fellowship’s board of directors, said the group has never started churches.
The fellowship is a nonprofit corporation “whose purpose is to unite clergy and lay persons in the Virginia Annual Conference to advance biblical Christianity in the Wesleyan tradition,” he wrote in a website post.
Woodson cites online information and Mission Charlottesville’s printed handouts, which he said reveal connections “provided by and through the Wesleyan Covenant Association” and the financial assistance provided by the Evangelical Fellowship. He also cited leadership overlap between the two organizations and ties to the pastor of Mission Charlottesville as well as “vocal support” for the church plant online.
The Evangelical Fellowship lists among its objectives “to encourage the preaching and teaching of the orthodox Christian faith openly and aggressively.”
The Virginia Conference’s interim bishop and the superintendent for the Charlottesville District said any threat to the United Methodist denomination is overblown.
“This is not a church plant by the WCA,” Bishop Peter G. Weaver said. “We are a denomination that does recognize and believe that God is working through other denominations, other congregations. … I pray that God will use them to reach some people that the United Methodist church down the street won’t be able to reach — for Christ.”
Mission Charlottesville began worshipping at Burley Middle School in December 2018. Its pastor is an ex-United Methodist.
“If everybody is all concerned about the unity of the church and the well-being of The United Methodist Church … why are we allowing these alternative organizations to explicitly use their connections within the denomination to hurt the denomination?” Woodson said.
Collins is doubtful Mission Charlottesville will succeed.
“As the only reconciling United Methodist Church in town, Wesley proclaims God’s unapologetic love for queer people,” Collins said. Reconciling churches make a point of welcoming worshippers of all sexual orientations and gender identities.
The pastor of Mission Charlottesville is the Rev. David V. Ford, who served in the South Georgia and Virginia conferences of The United Methodist Church from 1985 to 2016. He retired in good standing and surrendered his credentials in May 2018.
Ford is a member of the WCA and has been on board of the Evangelical Fellowship “for decades,” Thomas said. In a video titled “Attack from Without and from Within,” posted to the church’s Facebook page last year, Ford appears to criticize The United Methodist Church on sexuality and other issues.
“Are there attacks from without and from within today in the church against the teaching of Jesus Christ and the Holy Scriptures? You betcha,” Ford said, going on to list several complaints including sexuality, a divisive issue in The United Methodist Church for decades. “What about when bishops, elders, deacons and seminary professors teach contrary to the revealed will of God in the creation and the Holy Scripture regarding marriage and human sexuality?”
Ford declined an interview request from United Methodist News. To join the WCA, he had to pay a membership fee and sign statements committing himself to biblical authority, faith and moral principles.
The Rev. Chip Geissler, lead pastor of Aldersgate United Methodist Church, one of four United Methodist churches near where Mission Charlottesville meets, said he has known Ford for more than 20 years and has “experienced David to be a person of high integrity and sincere passion for ministry.”
“I believe his desire has always been to be part of Jesus' work of ‘seeking and saving the lost,’ not of attracting disgruntled Christians. I don't believe David would stoop so low as to try to attract believers away from other churches.”
The Evangelical Fellowship, which shares some board members with the Wesleyan Covenant Association of Virginia, has collected funds for Mission Charlottesville, confirmed the Rev. Danny J. Kesner, superintendent of the Charlottesville District.
“It was on the Mission Charlottesville website for the members to write their checks to Evangelical Fellowship of Virginia until Mission Charlottesville received their 501(c)(3) status,” Kesner said.
Woodson and others thought it was inappropriate for United Methodist clergy who are members of the Evangelical Fellowship to be part of an organization acting as a financial conduit for a non-United Methodist church plant competing with nearby United Methodist churches.
Bishop Sharma D. Lewis, resident bishop of the Richmond episcopal area who is currently on medical leave, contacted Mission Charlottesville, said Weaver, the interim bishop.
“As soon as Bishop Lewis raised that question of the impropriety, the Evangelical Fellowship (of Virginia) … the next day stopped that arrangement,” Weaver said, saying the group was “totally cooperative.”
Kesner said he had no concerns about the new church once the fund collection issue and another about the Mission Charlottesville logo looking too much like the United Methodist cross and flame were settled.
Lewis said that the issue of money collection for Mission Charlottesville is not as clear-cut as church officials present it.
“It’s been very much a case of things being edited, taken down and put back up again,” he said. “It was initially said that (Mission Charlottesville) was the first of a network of churches.”
On the list of six objectives posted on the Evangelical Fellowship of Virginia website is No. 2, which reads in part: “To be a positive force within the Virginia Conference of The United Methodist Church.”
The nine-member council of the Wesleyan Covenant Association of Virginia and 13-member board of director’s executive committee 2018-2019 of the Evangelical Fellowship share four members in common, including Boyette, a non-voting ex-officio member of the fellowship. On a larger list of 39 Evangelical Fellowship leaders for the years 2019-2021, all but two of the Wesleyan Covenant Association of Virginia’s committee are listed.
Woodson and Lewis see the leadership overlap as a problem. Lewis questioned “… the underhandedness of planning and plotting all of this while claiming to be in conversation with the rest of us.”
Boyette said neither group has done anything wrong since both are independent 501(c)(3) organizations. “Neither is a subsidiary of the other. Members of one are not necessarily members of the other,” he said.
The Evangelical Fellowship hosted a banquet at the June 20-22 Virginia Annual Conference in Roanoke, Virginia. It was not an official conference event, but was on the conference list of banquets. The Rev. David F. Watson, academic dean at United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio, spoke about the future of Methodism.
Watson said that Christianity and the Methodist movement are healthy and will stretch on far into the future.
“The lifespan of The United Methodist Church may be considerably shorter than that,” Watson said.
Patterson is a UM News reporter in Nashville, Tennessee. Contact him at 615-742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org. To read more United Methodist news, subscribe to the free Daily or Weekly Digests. Court docket reflects busy conference seasonEVANSTON, Ill. (UM News) — The docket for the United Methodist Judicial Council’s Oct. 29-Nov. 1 meeting includes reviews of 11 decisions of law made by nine bishops during annual conference sessions. The 18-item docket also includes four requests from annual conferences and two requests for declaratory decisions from the denomination’s Council of Bishops related to specific parts of the Traditional Plan adopted by the 2019 General Conference. Linda Bloom reports.Read story
Court docket reflects busy conference season
By Linda Bloom UMNS
Bishop LaTrelle Easterling, left, greets the Rev. Joey Heath-Mason immediately after ordaining him as a full elder. Photo by Alison Burdett, Baltimore-Washington Conference.
Reaction by United Methodist regional bodies in the U.S. — as well as the Council of Bishops — to the Traditional Plan adopted by the 2019 General Conference dominates the fall agenda of the denomination’s top court.
The Judicial Council has an 18-item docket to consider when it meets Oct. 29-Nov. 1 in Evanston, Illinois. Aug. 19 is the deadline to submit briefs and make requests for oral hearings.
Two items are from the United Methodist Council of Bishops regarding questions about legislation passed at the 2019 General Conference in St. Louis.
The bishops are asking for a declaratory decision on “the constitutionality, meaning, application and effect of certain petitions adopted as the Traditional Plan,” specifically asking five questions about the effects of the plan “that need to be addressed for the benefit of The United Methodist Church.”
The bishops also requested a ruling from the Judicial Council about the effective date of a new paragraph in the Book of Discipline about the disaffiliation of local churches over issues related to human sexuality.
Eleven of the docket items are automatic reviews by the church court of decisions of law made by nine bishops during the 2019 annual conference season. Most of those also relate to the Traditional Plan. In addition, there are four requests for a decision by the top court directly from annual conference voters.
One bishop’s ruling is connected to a recent Judicial Council decision on her previous decision about the eligibility of two clergy candidates in the Baltimore-Washington Conference married to persons of the same gender.
The top court said Bishop LaTrelle Easterling overstepped her authority during the 2018 conference session by ruling that two individuals married to people of the same gender but approved by the conference's Board of Ordained Ministry were not eligible for ordination and commissioning.
In Decision 1368, the Judicial Council reversed part of her decision “since it violated the separation of powers by intruding on the responsibilities and rights of the clergy session.”
During the 2019 conference session, the Rev. Robert Barnes questioned the clergy session’s voting process to approve the commissioning and ordination of the same two candidates affected by Easterling’s previous decision.
The bishop ruled that the clergy elections on May 29 were properly handled. Two days later, Easterling commissioned Tara Cressler “TC” Morrow as a provisional deacon and ordained the Rev. Joey Heath-Mason as a full elder. Both Morrow and Heath-Mason are in same-sex marriages.
Several bishops ruled out of order resolutions that sought to withhold funds from the complaint process for clergy accused of violating church restrictions related to homosexuality.
A resolution of nonconformity with General Conference approved June 15 by the California-Pacific Conference was ruled “unconstitutional, null and void” by Bishop Grant Hagiya because it denies clergy the right to trial and appeal.
Bishop Laurie Haller ruled that an Iowa Conference resolution expressing disapproval with the Traditional Plan cannot prioritize in a way that eliminates funds for fair process proceedings.
Bishop Karen Oliveto found three of eight action items on a Mountain Sky Conference petition called “All are Welcomed” to be “contrary to the Book of Discipline and out of order.” Those items include “refusing to comply with the strict requirements of the Traditional Plan,” not enforcing punitive and exclusionary policies” against gays and lesbians and their supporters and taking no disciplinary action against clergy who conduct same-sex unions.”
A New England Conference resolution setting a procedure for local churches considering disaffiliation from The United Methodist Church was upheld by Bishop Sudarshana Devadhar.
Bishop William T. McAlilly found a request for a decision of law about a resolution on inclusion in the Tennessee Conference to be moot and hypothetical.
Several rulings focused on the aspirational, non-binding nature of a resolution.
The Eastern Pennsylvania Conference, however, asked Judicial Council to decide whether the conference’s resolution considering itself to be a One Church Conference in spirit would be considered aspirational or legal.
The Alaska Conference wants to know whether the option of withdrawing from the denomination as an annual or missionary conference is provided for in the 2016 Book of Discipline or by previous Judicial Council decisions.
During the Alaska Annual Conference May 30-June 1, delegates discussed the conference’s call, gifts and mission; the realities it faces as a missionary conference and the “next expression” of Alaska Methodism. Conference voters considered two possible alternatives — become a mission district of another conference or withdraw from the denomination.
The Alaska Conference affirmed the four commitments from the UMC Next meeting at the Kansas City area United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in May, which includes a rejection of the Traditional Plan.
In other docket items, the Western Pennsylvania Conference asked for a declaratory decision on the principle of legality related to a conference’s administrative matters, the Desert Southwest Conference is asking Judicial Council to rule on possible violations of the separation of powers found in church law and Erik Seise is asking the court for a review of his administrative appeal.
Bloom is the assistant news editor for United Methodist News and is based in New York.
Follow her at https://twitter.com/umcscribe or contact her at 615-742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org. To read more United Methodist news, subscribe to the free daily or weekly digests. Liberian United Methodists protest ritualistic killingsMONROVIA, Liberia (UM News) — The United Methodist Church in Liberia organized a street protest calling on the government to investigate and end ritualistic killings of children. E Julu Swen has the story. Read story
Liberian United Methodists protest ritualistic killings
By E Julu Swen Monrovia, Liberia (UM News)
Protesters hold placards protesting violence against women and children. They are standing outside The United Methodist Church Central Office in Monrovia, Liberia. Photo by E Julu Swen, UM News.
About 100 protesters took to the streets outside the president of Liberia’s office to condemn ritualistic killings of two young boys in Kingsville.
The Human Rights Department of The United Methodist Church led the demonstration against all forms of human rights violations and also said police need to complete the investigation into the death of a high school girl.
A 9-year-old boy, Elijah Porluma, and 10-year-old Thomas Kollie were both killed and their bodies mutilated, possibly for use in witchcraft or voodoo rituals, Jefferson Knight told United Methodist News. Odell Sherman, the high school student, was found at a compound belonging to a United Methodist clergyman, according to police.
“We are tired and wearied of the raping, killing, brutalization of children and women and the poor and corrupt justice system,” said Jefferson Knight, head of the church’s Human Rights Office.
He said the church condemns such barbaric acts against God’s children and called on Liberian President George M. Weah, who is a United Methodist, to lead the government to protect the lives of the Liberian people.
Gathered before the United Methodist Church in Liberia central office, the placard-carrying protesters chanted: “We want justice and stop killing our girls and children.”
Knight told United Methodist News that the July 2 protest was prompted by the slow pace of the Justice Ministry in proceeding with the investigations.
“We want the government to act fast, knowing that justice delayed is justice denied,” he said.
Knight said the church calls on the Christian community and the general public to peacefully stage protest rallies in various part of Monrovia to ask that government officials ensure the perpetrators of the killings are brought to justice.
In addition to citing the deaths of the two boys, Knight said those responsible for the gang-rape and murder of Odell Sherman must be brought to justice.
Sherman was found in the Rev. Emmanuel Giddings’ compound in the Dwazon community in May. According to reports and other sources, the United Methodist clergyman indicated that when he found Sherman, he took her to the hospital. She was pronounced dead after a few minutes. Giddings denied any involvement in her death and has not been arrested. Some members of her family and the community are not satisfied with the investigation.
Giddings told United Methodist News she was not found in the compound that he lives in, but a compound he owns that is still under construction.
“I was called in because I owned the facility, I therefore decided to take her to the hospital,” he said. Giddings said he, too, wants the government to speed up the investigation so that his name and the names of others connected to this incident will be cleared and those responsible will be brought to justice.
Giddings said the Liberia National Police told him that he was not a suspect in the case, a claim confirmed by a police spokesperson, H. Moses Carter.
A statement from Liberian Bishop Samuel J Quire’s office said church officials are praying for a speedy resolution to the investigation.
"As a church, we are in prayers with the Rev. Giddings, the students' community to which the late Odell Sherman belongs, and her family," the statement said. “The mysterious death of the late Odell Sharman in May 2019 needs to be speedily investigated and the findings reported to the family and the Liberian people.”
A two-page protest statement from the church Human Rights Office demanded action from national leaders, the government and other stakeholders. “Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly,” the statement said, quoting Leviticus 19:15.
Carter denied that police are moving too slowly.
“We don't want to arrest the wrong people and imprison them," he said. He said government law officials are working to ensure that the police proceed judiciously in investigating these human rights violations. "Let the protesters know that what is not rightly done, is not done at all," he said.
Carter said the government is now waiting for Sherman’s family to bring a pathologist who will examine the body for onward adjudication of the case.
The protest was organized by the church’s Human Rights Department through The Public Witnessing Platform. The platform is an advocacy and education program that mobilizes churchgoers and the general public to address justice issues such as rape, ritualistic killings, and sexual gender-based violence in Liberian society, Knight said.
Through dialogues, peaceful protests, and direct engagements with government officials and other international partners, the church advocates to ensure that human rights violations are addressed through the justice system.
Swen is a communicator in Liberia.
News media contact: Vicki Brown at (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org. To read more United Methodist news, subscribe to the free Daily or Weekly Digests.Texas conferences Clergy: Let chaplains accompany condemned inmates AUSTIN, Texas — United Methodist clergy of Texas, including Bishops Michael McKee and Scott Jones, are among those signing an interfaith statement protesting Texas’ decision not to let chaplains accompany inmates into the state’s execution chamber. Read announcement
Chaplains From Execution Chamber
Chaplain Richard Lopez has witnessed many condemned prisoners eat their last meal and has given comfort. (Houston Chronicle)
Brothers and Sisters in the North Texas Conference,
The right of a condemned person to the comfort of clergy – and the rights of clergy to comfort the condemned – are among the longest-standing and most well-recognized forms of religious exercise known to civilization. And yet, here in the state of Texas, these rights are at risk.
In April 2019, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) changed its execution procedures and now bars any and all clergy/spiritual advisors from the execution chamber. This action stemmed from a request from a prisoner named Patrick Murphy, who asked for a Buddhist priest to be with him in his final moments as he was to be executed. The TDCJ initially denied his request, but the Supreme Court upheld his request on the grounds of the Free Exercise Clause. In response, the TDJC has decided to deny the religious freedoms of inmates of all faiths.
Please take a look at the attached document from the Texas Coalition Against the Death Penalty and the link to an interfaith statement. I have added my name, and I would encourage you to consider doing the same. The more and varied voices, the louder will be the rising chorus of justice.
Filipino cooperative models faith in actionSAN ISIDRO, Philippines (UM News) — Since 2002, the Wesley Savings and Multipurpose Cooperative has transformed lives and livelihoods in the Philippines. The cooperative has provided tools for economic self-sufficiency, while growing from 30 to 1,500 members. Gladys P. Mangiduyos has the story. Read story
Filipino cooperative models faith in action
By Gladys P. Mangiduyos UM News
Staff members and management of the Wesley Savings and Multipurpose Cooperative hold hands in prayer during a meeting at their office in San Isidro, Philippines. The cooperative’s purpose is “to alleviate poverty and enhance the dignity and quality of life of people,” said the Rev. Ferdinand J. Valdez, top executive of the cooperative. Photo courtesy of the Rev. Ferdinand J. Valdez.
Since 2002, the Wesley Savings and Multipurpose Cooperative has transformed lives and livelihoods in the Philippines.
Established by the United Methodist Church of San Isidro in the Isabela Province, the cooperative has grown from 30 to 1,500 regular members. An additional 500 younger members form a group of children and youth savers. Beginning with the equivalent of $235 U.S. in seed money, the cooperative today has more than $1.1 million U.S. in total assets.
The cooperative’s purpose is “to alleviate poverty and enhance the dignity and quality of life of people,” said the Rev. Ferdinand J. Valdez, top executive of the cooperative.
One individual who has benefited is Margarita Mindaros. A street food vendor in Isabela Province for 11 years, Mindaros bicycled around to sell fish balls. Today, as a co-op member, she can send her children to school. Wesley also provided capital for her small business.
Wesley Savings has shown that it is possible for a credit cooperative to prosper without charging excessive interest rates. The cooperative strives to improve socioeconomic well-being; increase income and employment by maximizing the use of available resources; encourage thrift, savings and sound use of credit; and participate in environmental management and protection.
“The cooperative is providing loans to members for productive, providential, church and other ministry related loans, salary loans, emergency loans and others.” said Valdez.
The cooperative spearheaded an initiative to improve food production and food security. Purchasing approximately 27 acres of farmland, Wesley launched a farm integrated with a school to serve as a model for empowering communities.
The cooperative offers savings and time deposits as well as loans for productive and providential purposes. Productive loans are for agriculture, aquaculture, livelihood projects, micro and medium businesses, and investments. Providential loans cover such categories as education, health, housing repair and construction, and vehicle maintenance.
Rodolfo Dela Cruz of Rizal West United Methodist Church attributes the cooperative’s growth to its commitment to its mission.
“The Methodist Church is managing the Wesley Cooperative very well,” he said. “Compared to other buying stations in the province, Wesley Cooperative has very low interest rates. Plus, they have a program for the youth which plays a big role in keeping these young people from engaging in activities that might make them wander from the right path.”
Kier C. Ocampo, Baguio Area communications coordinator, noted that as of 2017, annual conferences had started 10 cooperatives in his area. One is GEMS E Network credit cooperative, where Ocampo serves as assistant manager.
“God has blessed GEMS E Network in so many ways,” Ocampo said. “I believe it is now making an impact by being a channel of blessings to our dear brothers and sisters in Christ in Isabela. With GEMS E Network, our fellow Filipinos are able to support the financial needs of their families by availing loans with low interest rates.”
Valdez said it is “a privilege to be an instrument of God’s grace to our communities.
“Witnessing our members’ children finish college [and] seeing our members with improved living conditions, we are somehow convinced that Wesley Cooperative has been a channel," Valdez said.
Co-op member Mindaros expressed gratitude to the church.
“Thank you to all the United Methodists around the world for helping me and my family. May God continue to bless you.”
Mangiduyos is a communicator from the Philippines.
News media contact: Vicki Brown, news editor, newsdesk@umcom.org or 615-742-5470. To read more United Methodist news, subscribe to the free Daily or Weekly Digests.
New 2019 annual conference reports posted NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UM News) — United Methodist News is posting annual conference reports. New reports this week are East Congo, Middle Philippines and North Texas. Read reports
Board of Church and Society Middle Eastern Caucus works to relieve traumaWASHINGTON — Migrants have told workers with The Middle Eastern United Methodist Caucus that they have found "real hope" listening to the message of the Gospel. The Rev. Zaki Labib Zaki, founder and president of the caucus, reflects on its work with displaced people. Read interviewFAITH IN ACTION
Church and Society Ethnic Local Church Grant Supports Middle East Migrants
This is an interview with Rev. Dr. Zaki Labib Zaki, founder and president of the Middle Eastern United Methodist Caucus. The caucus received an Ethnic Local Church grant to support their work with migrants, especially focusing on survivors of trauma.
What are the root causes of migration that the Middle East Caucus is addressing?
Ongoing wars and escalating conflicts in Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Venezuela, South Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea, and Ethiopia continue to produce an average of 37,000 newly displaced persons [mostly children and women] every day, according to a recent BBC World report.
70.8 million people have been forcibly displaced and are on the move in our world today according to the latest data from the United Nations. This is 2.3 million more people than 2018 and, sadly, every researched forecast predicts that this number will continue to increase.
The Middle Eastern United Methodist Caucus, organized in November 2015 and recognized by the 2016 General Conference, was formed with a mandate to develop missional and advocacy responses to this massive movement of people. It specifically functions within the region of the Middle East, and from that region to the rest of the world.
Did you partner with other United Methodists to respond to this crisis?
Thanks to an ELC grant from Church & Society, the caucus began two pilot projects to incorporate a counseling, and trauma healing component in its ongoing work with refugees.
An increasingly important ministry for the caucus is trauma counseling. Understandably, large numbers of refugees—especially children, youth, and women—are traumatized as a result of forced relocation. Serving refugees across the globe through our Global Connect journeys and medical mission trips has exposed us to this most urgent need.
The ELC grant provided an opportunity for United Methodist congregations to support this effort. The congregation of Indo-Pak United Methodist Church in Chicago was the first to extend support by praying for the leaders of the caucus and making a generous donation to support this ministry.
Likewise, the missions committee of First Korean UMC in Wheeling, Ill., following a presentation by the caucus on one of its medical mission trips to serve traumatized and displaced Christian communities in Egypt, decided to send a generous donation to support the work of the caucus.
How did you achieve your goals?
Because of the extensive nature of the caucus’s outreach to refugees in Greece, the ELC grant was primarily used to support two of our medical mission trips to Athens.
At the time, I led a team to Athens composed of 20 medical doctors, nurses, a dentist, a chiropractor, a psychiatrist, a full-time chaplain, two pastoral counselors, a Christian musician and singer, and three college students. The team visited several refugee camps as well as large abandoned buildings used by refugees for shelter.
One of the refugee camps we visited and supported is administered by the American Red Cross and exclusively houses unaccompanied minors from Syria, Iraq, and Pakistan.
For seven days, the team held daily, free medical clinics from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Our psychiatrist, chaplain, and two pastoral counselors tended to many refugees who asked to be seen or exhibited signs of trauma.
Our team offered over 500 free clinic and counseling hours, dispensed free medicine, and distributed winter wear. A large crowd of refugees assembled at the end of each day, and our team organized evening gatherings where the team would lead worship in Arabic, English, Hindi, and Urdu to reach a diverse crowd of refugees from Syria, Iraq, Egypt, North Africa, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh.
A community meal and time of fellowship followed, and we visited, and often prayed, with lots of refugees.
More than one person told us they found “real hope” while listening to the message of the Gospel. They told us it was that message that saved their life while on the verge of committing suicide on the same day they first met us as we walked into the abandoned building which hundreds of refugees lived in and called home.
Other refugees told us that the gatherings and community meals nurtured, not just their hungry bodies, but also their souls and made them feel “human again” for the first time since they were forced to flee from their homes and become refugees.
What are the next steps?
Building on the momentum of the medical mission trip, the caucus organized another follow-up medical mission trip to Athens and is currently working on recruiting and training trauma counselors who are refugees to serve within their own communities.
We are very grateful for the ELC grant from Church & Society. It opened a vital door of ministry that will greatly impact our ministry with refugees in many places and for many years to come.
The caucus’s conviction remains that now is certainly a violent and chaotic moment in human history, but it is also one of the greatest missional moments embodying unprecedented opportunities to be in mission with marginalized and forcibly displaced communities on the move across the globe. We can seize this missional moment and find faithful ways to be in ministry with immigrants and refugees on the move from the region of the Middle East who are settling in our own backyards, towns, and cities.
Our Wesleyan heritage invites and compels us to offer Christ to our world today in new and multifaceted ways as we engage in ministry with, and through, those who are on the move.
Rev. Dr. Zaki Labib Zaki was born in Sudan to a family of Egyptian missionaries and educators. In the 1980s, Zaki worked for the United Nations and several other NGOs to serve refugees in Sudan and across the Middle East. From 2012 to 2018, Zaki served as District Superintendent of the Chicago Northwestern District of the Northern Illinois Conference. Zaki currently serves as Senior Pastor of Roselle United Methodist Church in Roselle, Ill.
To learn more about the work of the Middle Eastern United Methodist Caucus, contact Zaki by phone at 773-497-4141 or by e-mail at zLzaki@msn.com.
Commission on Archives and History Meet Brother Van, Montana missionaryFORT BENTON, Mont. — William Wesley Van Ordsel, a Methodist missionary, arrived in Montana on June 30, 1872. The only building open to him was the saloon, where he preached and earned the nickname Brother Van. Archives and History has more on the preacher who set the tone for Methodism in Big Sky Country.Read story and watch video
Meet Brother Van
FEATURED MEET BROTHER VAN
Methodist “Great Heart” to Big Sky Country
Originally from Gettysburg Pennsylvania, William Wesley Van Ordsel came to Fort Benton, Montana in 1872. And as it is often said, “the rest is history.” Arriving on June 30, he preached that afternoon in the
only building open to him, a local saloon. There he received the nickname that stuck – “Brother Van.” The name stayed with him for the rest of his life. For 47 years, Brother Van set the tone for Methodism in Montana. He held services almost every day and traveled by horseback 15,000 mile a year. One historian observed , “For a small Methodist constituency in Montana to maintain a college, a hospital, a children’s home and a school during frontier days was all but impossible and yet Brother Van through faith, persistence, and sacrifice somehow managed to convince people it could be done.”
He was loved by the Native Americans of Montana who gave him the name “Great Heart.” They took him on his first buffalo hunt in 1873, an event enshrined by cowboy artist Charles Russell affectionately recalling in a letter the first time he met Brother Van. Russell wrote in rough prose: I have met you many times since that, Brother Van, sometimes in lonely places, but you were never lonesum or alone, for a man with seared handsand feet stood beside you and near him is no hate, so all you met loved you.”
As a Presiding Elder, Brother Van always credited the growth on his district to the pastors and the people. He reported to the annual conference : “You brethren of the ministry and the laity, with your wives, are the victors. You have been the instruments under God to bring about results.”
As a boy, Brother Van was in the crowd to hear Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and he frequently repeated Lincoln’s phrase “under God.” He was elected a delegate to General Conference six times.
Brother Van loved to sing a hymn by W. A. Spencer called “Harvest Time,” a favorite of Montana Methodists to this day:
The seed I have scattered in springtime with weeping And watered with tears and joy from on high Another may shout when the harvesters’ reaping Shall gather my grain in the sweet by and by.
Over and over, yea deeper and deeper, My heart is pierced through with life’s sorrowing cry, But the tears of the sower and the song of the reaper Shall mingle together in joy by and by.
Adapted from For All the Saints: A Calendar of Commemorations by Heather Jocelyn Cranson, Ed. Order of Saint Luke Publications, 2013.
Iowa Conference Churches reach out to bikersCHARITON, Iowa — United Methodist churches in Iowa were ready to help when riders in an annual seven-day bicycle ride passed through their towns. It was the 47th Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa. Watch video at Chariton First United MethodistWatch video at Holy Grounds Coffee Shop
South Carolina Conference Fine arts camp fuses faith, creativity FORT MILL, S.C. — For the fourth year running, St. John's United Methodist Church hosted dozens of kids at its fine arts camp that fuses creativity and Jesus. The children had the chance to explore visual art, photography, theater, chorus, instrumental music and creative writing — all while learning that they each have gifts, and how they can use their gifts to worship God. Jessica Brodie reports. Read story
St. John’s fine arts camp fuses faith, creativity
Photo by Jessica Brodie
By Jessica Brodie
FORT MILL—For the fourth year running, dozens of kids had the chance to participate in a fine arts camp that fuses creativity and Jesus in one.
Held the week of July 8, local elementary and middle school students headed to St. John’s United Methodist Church for hands-on exploration of the arts. Kids had the chance to choose two tracks among these six: visual art, photography, theater, chorus, instrumental music and creative writing.
The Rev. Karen Radcliffe, St. John’s pastor, helped found the camp when she came to the church several years ago. The area hosts a few other fine arts camps, but none in a church setting and none at what she considers a reasonable cost. St. John’s charges $75 for the week, which includes lunch each day. Others cost upwards of $500.
“Arts and music is such an integral part of who we are as Christians, and to be able to combine all of that in one is amazing,” Radcliffe said. “Plus, students who are exposed early to music and arts tend to do better in learning than students who are not.”
Mallory Capps, St. John’s director of children and youth, said their emphasis is on making the arts accessible, on showing kids they each have gifts from God that they can use to worship Him and shine His light on earth.
“Our creativity is part of how we make an offering to god on whatever capacity that looks like,” Capps said. “I always tell them I’m not the best singer, but you don’t have to be the most magnificent to use your gifts for God.”
As Radcliffe said, “You don’t have to be a Mozart to be a musician.”
In the visual arts class, the students spent the week delving into modern art. One day, they studied mosaics and then made some of their own. The next day, they did an acrylic on canvas in the style of the Bauhaus movement of modern art. Another day they focused on Lichtenstein and pop art, another was a self-portrait in the style of Andy Warhol. The day the Advocate visited, they did glass art, painting in their own style and patterns with inspiration from famous glass sculptor Dale Chihuly.
Some of the kids love art, while some are just enjoying an artistic reprieve during summer break, said visual arts teacher Elizabeth Majors. “They all bring different skills to the table,” Majors said. This was her first year at camp for Trinity Seres, a rising seventh grader, and she was loving her experience. She chose the visual art and creative writing tracks.
“It’s really fun!” she said as she painted a glass vase. “I feel like they should charge more.”
Radcliffe and Capps said they began each day with singing, teaching the Doxology and other traditional church songs, such as “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” and “O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing.”
Capps said she enjoys helping the kids understand that words written hundreds of years ago still resonate today.
“The man who wrote ‘It is Well with My Soul’ lost all his children, and yet he was able to write that in his grief,” Capps said. “It’s good to show them our art and music is such a big part of who we are as a culture.”
Board of Global Ministries Responding to Ebola in East CongoATLANTA — Within 24 hours of the World Health Organization's announcement of a confirmed case of Ebola in Goma, the network of United Methodist health facilities in the East Congo region, supported by the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, was "well-positioned to mitigate the spread of this killer disease," said Dr. Graciela Salvador-Davila, director of Global Health for the mission agency. Read storyresponse to Ebola in East Congo
By Tatenda Mujeni, Megan Klingler, and Dr. Graciela Salvador-Davila
ATLANTA
Health-care providers attend Ebola prevention training in the East Congo Episcopal Area in 2018. Photo: Damas Lushima, East Congo Episcopal Area Health Board
On July 18, the World Health Organization announced a confirmed case of Ebola in Goma, an eastern border city of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Goma, with over 1 million inhabitants, is located on Rwanda’s western border and has high commercial activity, resulting in a porous border that facilitates continual crossings.
“A confirmed Ebola fatality in Goma City represents a major challenge for the East Congo health system. It is a perfect medium for the eastward spread of Ebola,” says Dr. Graciela Salvador-Davila, director, Global Health, and technical advisor for Health Systems.
This most recent outbreak of Ebola in the DRC was first identified in August 2018 in the North Kivu province. This outbreak caused great alarm when the disease began spreading to the cities of Kindu and Kisangani, which have linkages to the larger commercial cities of Goma and Bukavu. Unlike previous Ebola outbreaks in the DRC that were contained to remote areas, the spread to urban centers, particularly the port city of Goma, has the potential to be catastrophic.
Support the work of Global Health and its partners.
Dr. Salvador Davila adds, “The Global Ministries-supported network of UMC health facilities in the East Congo region are well-positioned to mitigate the spread of this killer disease.” Within 24 hours of the WHO’s announcement, Dr. Damas Lushima, the East Congo health board coordinator, received from Global Health a protocol developed in 2015 by the WHO, the African Union, the Liberian government and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on actions to be taken to reduce exposure to the Ebola virus. It also contained practical recommendations to screen, isolate and refer potential Ebola cases.
Combatting Ebola through training
Although such protocols are imperative, they are ineffective without a high level of trust in community leaders. Patients and family members must feel free to report signs and symptoms to health providers without concern for judgment or retaliation. In many instances, transporting patients outside their community was not welcomed. Rooted in their local communities, United Methodist health facilities are aware of these and other barriers. The UMC doctors, nurses and staff strive to make themselves approachable and are prepared to offer guidance and support to families in need.
On July 22, 2019, Global Health launched a refresher training for East Congo health staff aimed at standardizing Ebola knowledge among facility and community-based providers. It included identification of Ebola signs and symptoms, patient referral, potential patient isolation sites and infection-prevention practices. Freshly trained staff are now disseminating this information among colleagues and community members; in doing so, the Ebola circle of knowledge is expanding daily.
Partnerships make a difference
UMC clergy, church leaders and medical professionals are agents of change, with cultural experience and medical knowledge gained over many years of engagement with their communities. UMC pastors played a pivotal role in modifying burial behavior and rituals during Sierra Leone’s 2014-2015 epidemic. This allowed mourners the opportunity to grieve appropriately without fear of further spreading the disease. These actions contributed to saving lives. Fortunately, the clergy of the East Congo Episcopal Area are trusted at the community, government and medical facility levels. These strong relationships ensure that community and health professionals will be assisted in educating and advocating for measures that will promote health and safety during this most recent outbreak.
Global Ministries and the East Congo Health Office have been proactive in their approach to the Ebola outbreak in the DRC. The East Congo Episcopal Area received two grants from the Global Health unit in the last year, specifically to address Ebola community education and prevention.
Ebola prevention kits being distributed in the East Congo Episcopal Area in 2018. Photo: Damas Lushima, East Congo Episcopal Area Health Board
Global Ministries, through its Global Health unit, has responded to previous Ebola outbreaks. In 2018, a grant was awarded to the East Congo Episcopal Area to increase awareness of the disease in the community and in health facilities in Kindu and Kisangani. The grant made it possible for leaders to communicate risk factors to limit the spread of the disease. Messaging included instruction on enhancing and reinforcing hygiene and handwashing practices delivered through a Short Messaging System (mass text messaging) and radio broadcasts and through hygiene trainings conducted in local churches, health facilities and schools.
Despite these and other efforts, Ebola continued to spread. Evidence of the disease in Beni, a city neighboring the larger cities of Goma and Bukavu, caused alarm and led the East Congo Episcopal Area to request an additional grant to support further education and prevention measures. The grant expanded the reach of the conference’s efforts to the surrounding cities of Goma, Bukavu, Uvira, Rutshuru, Kiwanja and Bunyakiri. In addition to trainings and widespread educational appeals, the East Congo Episcopal Area Health Board also provided handwashing stations at local schools, churches and health facilities.
“We have churches, orphanages, schools and health facilities in Goma. Many UMC agencies and members are at risk,” said Dr. Lushima in a conference call on July 18, 2019. “The General Board of Global Ministries and the East Congo Episcopal Area are ready and willing to offer their best efforts and practices to address the needs of their brothers and sisters. All agree that the loss of one life is one too many.”
Tatenda Mujeni, MPH, is the program manager for Imagine No Malaria with Global Health. Megan Klingler, MPH, BSN, RN, is the primary healthcare specialist with Global Health. Dr. Graciela Salvador-Davila, MD, MS, MPH, is the director of Global Health and a technical advisor for Health Systems.
United Methodists from Majengo United Methodist Church in Goma, Congo, wash their hands before a briefing and day of prayer with the Goma District superintendent. Photo by Philippe Kituka Lolonga, UM News.
During his sermon at Majengo United Methodist Church on July 18, the Rev. Omole Owandjakoy, district superintendent of Goma, called on all households to avoid contact with anyone who is ill and to be diligent in washing their hands and observing other good hygiene practices.
He reported to the congregation about the first confirmed case of Ebola in Goma. The city of almost 2 million people is considered the gateway to the rest of the Democratic Republic of Congo and the world. More than 15,000 people cross the border from Goma to Rwanda every day.
Despite the efforts of The United Methodist Church to raise awareness about Ebola, the outbreak of the hemorrhagic fever has continued for nearly a year and has killed more than 1,700 people. According to the World Health Organization, roughly 2,500 documented cases have been reported, and this outbreak is the second worst on record. Beni is still the epicenter of the outbreak.
The worst Ebola outbreak took place between December 2013 and April 2016, and killed 11,310, mostly in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.
In Goma, at the Methodist Health Center in Majengo, several activities are already underway, including community-based surveillance with a triage area built by the Salvation Army Church of the Church of Christ in Congo / North Kivu.
Nurses were trained and are able to sort out suspected cases and then get patients transferred to the Ebola Treatment Center in Munigi, said Emery Lohandjola, nurse officer of the Goma Methodist Health Center.
Lohandjola said the case in Goma was quickly detected and isolated. The patient, a sick pastor who later died, arrived in Goma by bus from Butembo on July 16.
Messages have been broadcast on Goma’s national radio station for the past four months.
A patient goes through a triage zone at Goma Methodist Health Center that involves hand-washing and temperature check. Photo by Philippe Kituka Lolonga, UM News.
Young United Methodists in Goma have volunteered to educate the public on how to fight this disease.
Moise Mwango, president of the Youth in Kivu, is ready to raise awareness for people to get vaccinated and observe the basic hygienic conditions. He said Goma and Bukavu are two big cities of the Congo and “we cannot accept that the contamination of this virus continues because only Kivu Lake separate these two cities.”
The United Methodist Women of Goma pledged to raise awareness after a briefing and prayer day with the Goma District superintendent and the Rev. Amsini Omande Valentin of the Majengo United Methodist Church.
United Methodist women pledged to raise awareness of hygienic conditions and hand-washing in the Majendo neighborhood, including spreading the following messages:
Wash your hands regularly.
Keep a disinfectant gel with you and use it to protect yourself.
Chlorinate your water to 0.05% or soap it to kill the virus on your hands.
Avoid shaking hands and even kissing.
The women are determined to raise awareness in households, offices and elsewhere, said Okako Olela, president of United Methodist Women in Kivu.
Dr. Damas Lushima, general coordinator of health in East Congo, is worried about this spread of Ebola virus and promised to continue lobbying for major actions to raise awareness about prevention in the cities of Goma, Bukavu, Rutshuru, Uvira, Bunyakiri, Kisangani, Kindu and Uvira.
Bishop Gabriel Unda, leader of the Eastern Congo Episcopal Area, also called for action after learning of the confirmed case in Goma.
"I call for a general mobilization to block the road to this contamination of this deadly virus," Unda said.
Kituka Lolonga is the Kivu Conference communicator.
Board of Church and Society United Methodists deliver messages to CongressWASHINGTON — United Methodists from 14 states sent letters and drawings to members of the U.S. Congress urging an end to child detention and calling on them to unite immigrant children with their families and prevent other detention centers from opening. Church and Society started the letter-writing campaign. Read storyFAITH IN ACTION
United Methodists deliver messages to Congress
United Methodists from 14 states sent Church and Society letters and drawing to hand deliver to members of the U.S. Congress. United Methodists from the Washington, D.C., area hand delivered those notes Thursday.
Approximately 30 United Methodists from the Baltimore-Washington and Virginia annual conferences joined Church and Society Thursday, July 25, to deliver nearly 450 handwritten letters and drawings to members of the U.S. Congress.
The letters, written and drawn by United Methodists of all ages from 14 annual conferences, urge the members of Congress to put an end to child detention, unite immigrant children with their families and prevent other detention centers from opening.
Prior to delivery, a blessing of the letters was held in the Simpson Memorial Chapel of the United Methodist Building.
Bishop LaTrelle Miller Easterling, leader of the Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference, invoked Exodus 9:1 and Matthew 25:35 as she led the group in blessing and praying over the letters. Participants then departed to deliver the letters to members’ offices.
Church and Society invited United Methodists to send emails or write handwritten letters to both President Donald Trump and their members of Congress throughout June and July. Letters could be sent directly or sent to Church and Society for hand delivery.
The delivery of letters came on a crucial date, as July 25 was one of the last days members of Congress were in Washington, D.C., before returning home for the August Recess. Each August, members of Congress spend time in their home districts, meeting with constituents.
Rebecca Cole, director of grassroots organizing for Church and Society, urged United Methodists to meet with their members during the August Recess. “This is a time for United Methodists to hold this administration accountable for its abusive practices,” she said. “We must demand a meaningful humanitarian response that addresses the root causes of displacement and offers U.S. protection to those seeking safety.”
Cole offered two resources for United Methodists who wanted to engage their members of Congress.
She suggested that United Methodists should look to the United Methodist Social Principles for inspiration. The Social Principles, adopted by the General Conference of The United Methodist Church, are the official position of the denomination on several topics of social concern. Paragraph 162.H states, “We oppose immigration policies that separate family members from each other or that include detention of families with children, and we call on local churches to be in ministry with immigrant families.” (Social Principles, ¶162.H)
Cole then offered “Creating Change Together,” a faith-based, civic engagement toolkit created by Church and Society, which includes a how-to section on scheduling and planning meetings with decision makers. “Creating Change Together” can be found on Church and Society’s website at www.umcjustice.org/toolkit.
Indiana Conference Tenderloin earnings go to missionsWABASH, Ind. — The Tenderloin Trailer is a more than two-decade institution at the Wabash County Fair. Run by Richvalley United Methodist Church, receipts go to support missions work. Leintz Belony has the story. Read story
How Richvalley UMC is impacting the world one tenderloin at a time
Local fairs are known for impacting their local communities, but how about the world beyond? For over 20 years, Richvalley UMC, located near Wabash, Indiana, has used the proceeds from its tenderloin booth at the Wabash County Fair to help strengthen missions that impact communities around the world.
The tenderloin trailer had humble beginnings. “We started in a tiny little trailer,” said Vickie Thrush, Richvalley UMC member, and tenderloin volunteer, “There was hardly room for all of us to stand in there, and we had to bread the tenderloins somewhere else.”
Through consistent upgrades over the years, the church is now able to serve tenderloins from a larger trailer, in which thousands of pounds of pork tenderloins are hand-breaded, deep-fried, and prepared for sale each year. Customers have the option of purchasing fries and a drink and enjoying their meal in a shaded picnic area next to the trailer.
Proceeds from tenderloin booth sales have gone to support United Methodist institutions such as Africa University, Red Bird Mission Henderson Settlement, Midwest Mission Distribution Center, Helping Hands, FISH Food Pantry, and many other missions and organizations across the U.S. and around the world (see list below). Richvalley UMC even supports a missionary couple currently serving in Africa.
Randy Thrush claimed, “I think this week we’re going to gross around $35,000. We have a lot of expenses in that. But it’s likely $10-15,000 will go to missions.”
The church raises the bulk of its earnings during the week of the annual county fair. At the end of the year, the mission evangelism committee allocates the funds to different missions and needs that have been shared with a member of the church or directly with the committee.
Patty Cooper said, “We keep 20% to keep up the facilities, then we divide up the remaining 80% and give it away.”
She continued, “To be able to give that kind of money, we could never do that out of our own pockets. It’s a huge ministry opportunity for us.”
As customers approach the cash register, they were greeted by Kathy Baker who has been a member of the church for over 30 years and serves on the mission evangelism committee. Kathy shared that the church has a strong mission focus, and they feel called to give as needs arise from within the community. They recently made donations to the family of a young boy and an older church member who were battling cancer to help cover their expenses.
“It’s such a blessing to be able to do that,” she said with a smile.
“We had a guy come up the other day and said, ‘Is there any way you can feed me? I have no money.’ Our pastor happened to be around and he replied, ‘Absolutely, we’re Christians, that’s what Christians do.’ And since then we’ve continued to lift him in prayer,” said Nancy Eviston.
Due to a decreasing number of church members and volunteers to work the booth, the church has recently begun partnering with Lagro UMC to help fill some of the empty time slots.
As she served customers their drinks, Nancy stated, “This takes a lot of manpower. As our church get older, we don’t get a lot of new members, so it has become a struggle.”
“They [Lagro UMC] have more younger people and that’s what’s saved it because we don’t want to close. We love it,” she added.
Kathy said, “Members from their church come and work, and we pay their church. We give them the money, and they’re able to do what they want with it. It’s not a huge amount, but it’s a ministry to them.”
Recently, the church began a new form of missional giving to help meet the needs of people throughout the community. Members of the church were given $50 grocery gift cards and were encouraged to give them away when they come across people who are having trouble feeding themselves or their families.
“We offer them to anyone in the church,” stated Kathy. “If you want, take one, two, or five. It’s not just for our mission group.”
“If you feel led by the Spirit or know of someone who needs something, tell them ‘Bless you and here’s a $50 gift card,’” added Vickie.
The strength of Richvalley UMC’s giving ministry goes far beyond selling sandwiches at the country fair; it’s in the many ways they continue to respond to the needs of the people in their midst and strangers around the world, many of whom they may never have the opportunity to meet in person.
It’s also in the way the church seeks to do God’s work as a family and treats everyone as such.
When asked about the longevity of the tenderloin booth and why the church continues this ministry, Kathy said, “I think it’s about the involvement we all have in making this week possible. Sometimes, we grumble, but we love it. We love being around one another. It’s such a good feeling.”
Missions/Ministries supported by Richvalley UMC:
FISH Food Pantry Our Father’s Library Lighthouse Mission Helping Hands The Vances – missionaries serving Africa Midwest Mission Distribution Center Disaster Relief Redbird Mission – Henderson Settlement New Beginnings Gospel Link Africa University Gift Card Mission Outreach And many others!
Holston Conference Shades of Grace opens home for sick, homelessKINGSPORT, Tenn. — Daryl had end-stage cirrhosis. Gregg had bone cancer. Both were homeless and had nowhere to go. "Once they are discharged from the hospital, they go out into the streets to die," says the Rev. Will Shewey. Leaders at Shades of Grace United Methodist Church in Kingsport decided to act. In two weeks, they will open a residential facility for men with health issues. Annette Spence has the story.Read story
SHADES OF GRACE OPENS NEW HOME FOR THE SICK AND HOMELESS
By Annette Spence
Photo above: The Rev. Will Shewey chats with a Shades of Grace member. Photo at top of page: Shades of Grace is a storefront ministry. (More photos at bottom of page.)
KINGSPORT, Tenn. (July 24, 2019) -- Many of the people who come through Shades of Grace United Methodist Church are a combination of homeless, addicted, or mentally ill.
Some are injured or sick. Some are dying and have nowhere to go.
“We found out it’s difficult to get medical care for people without an address,” says the Rev. Will Shewey.
Shades of Grace was started by Shewey just five years ago and has grown rapidly ever since. The latest expansion for the city ministry serving the “last, least, lost and lonely" is a residential facility for homeless men with health issues.
In about two weeks, Daryl’s House will open its doors to six men who need a place to lay their heads.
“We’ve already received several calls from local hospitals,” Shewey said. “We will not have any problem finding people to live there.”
Daryl’s House is named after a Shades of Grace member diagnosed with end-stage cirrhosis a year ago. Daryl died in December 2018.
“He was one of our first members. He laid out all our tile work,” Shewey said. “He struggled with addiction, was in and out of jail a few times. But Daryl never gave up on Shades of Grace, and we never gave up on him.”
The staff and volunteers tried to help Daryl, just as they tried to help Gregg.
Gregg had bone cancer and slept in his car. He died three months ago. It was painful to watch both Daryl and Gregg suffer, Shewey said.
“There’s no place for these people to go because they’re homeless,” Shewey said. “Once they are discharged from the hospital, they go out into the streets to die.”
Shades of Grace leaders decided to do something about it. They developed “a dream and a vision” to find a place for men like Daryl and Gregg.
With the help of donations and a new partner -- A Safe Harbor Home Inc. -- Shades of Grace found a house to rent in Kingsport.
Based in Greeneville, Tennessee, A Safe Harbor Home is a nonprofit that helps homeless people with disabilities as well as families victimized by domestic abuse.
The rented house was painted and repaired. A mission team from Pleasant View United Methodist Church in Abingdon, Virginia, repaired the deck. Grand Home Furnishings donated and delivered new furniture.
Monitors have been selected to live on the premises. A medical team has been enlisted to oversee the project. Many of the medical professionals are members of First Broad Street United Methodist Church, Shewey said.
SWINGING DOORS
Daryl’s House will serve only men, yet Shades of Grace leaders are open to future ministries for homeless women with health problems.
After all, the Kingsport church has constantly added new ministries and services since it moved from Mafair United Methodist Church in October 2014 to its current storefront location at 313 East Sullivan Street.
Within the last few days, Shewey learned the recently closed “Hay House” was deeding its former women’s center to Shades of Grace. The John R. Hay House closed in June after 36 years of serving as an alternative to incarceration for men and women.
The Hay House building is located on the same city block where Shades of Grace currently leases three spaces.
“It may end up being apartments for the homeless,” Shewey said of the Hay House property. “Or this could be set up to do for women what we’re doing for men at Daryl’s House. We don’t know yet because it’s all happening so fast.”
In addition to offering Sunday worship and serving breakfast to 100 people five days a week, Shades of Grace provides clothing, home supplies, and housing assistance. The ministry offers GED classes, grief classes, Bible study, prayer, showers and foot care for people who wander the streets.
Shades of Grace has helped more than 500 people obtain identification cards, Shewey said. They provide funerals and burial for the homeless and unclaimed. The ministry opens as an overnight shelter during extreme weather. Mailboxes are offered to those without addresses.
Ninety-six people have been baptized since Shades of Grace was started, Shewey says. The ministry operates with one-full time staff; two part-time staff; 30-40 regular volunteers; and countless churches, companies, and individuals providing food, supplies, and financial donations.
Shades of Grace started in one building on East Sullivan Street but has gradually expanded into two more spaces, called “Shades 2” and “Shades 3,” as well as a small apartment for a formerly homeless person serving as a full-time volunteer.
Hay House will be the first property owned by Shades of Grace, in addition to two vans recently donated to the ministry.
“We’re not trying to be all things to all people,” Shewey said. “We are just trying to attend to the many doors that keep swinging open.”
Photos below: (1) Pleasant View team works on the deck at Daryl's House. (2) Guests drink coffee and enjoy the air conditioning on a hot day. (3) One of the three spaces leased by Shades of Grace on East Sullivan Street. (4) Shewey checks expiration dates while volunteer Jack Francisco works with donated food.
Africa University Mitigating the impact of natural disastersMUTARE, Zimbabwe — When Tropical Cyclone Idai struck the eastern coast of Africa in March, people knew it was coming but underestimated how destructive it would be. Africa University lecturer Zanelle Furusa and a group of students from the school are studying the reasons for these weather-related disasters and how to minimize the future impact. Calvin Gilbert reports. Read story
Mitigating the Impact of Natural Disasters
In the aftermath of Tropical Cyclone Idai which hit the eastern coast of Africa in March, Zanelle Furusa and students at Africa University are working to ensure a better future for the entire planet.
The winds and rain from the storm that formed in the Indian Ocean killed more than 1,200 people in Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Madagascar and Malawi. Furusa, a lecturer at United Methodist-related Africa University in Zimbabwe, was quick to visit the devastation in Kopa, a town located approximately 110 miles south of the school’s campus in Mutare.
“What was unique about the cyclone is that it hit Kopa in the night, between 9 p.m. and 12 midnight,” Furusa said during a break at the recent Creation Care Summit, a conference on climate change and environmental issues held at Scarritt Bennett Center in Nashville, Tenn.
“Before it hit, the electricity went off, so any warnings that had been given, nobody heard them. They were caught sleeping. The people were saying, ‘I found myself swept out of the house.’ They knew the cyclone was coming, but the history of the cyclones in the area was that the cyclones were never so severe.”
The scenario is similar to Hurricane Katrina which hit New Orleans and other cities along the U.S. Gulf Coast in 2005.
“Just as much as everyone knew Hurricane Katrina was coming, nobody knew it was going to be a Category 5, and they were used to just riding it out,” Furusa said. “They thought they could survive. In Kopa, they couldn’t see the dangers of the storm surge and the very high tropical storm associated with it.”
Rescue teams faced massive problems in providing initial assistance to the victims in Kopa.
“There was flooding. The bridges were torn, the roads were torn. Because of the terrain and the high rain totals, there was little that could be done immediately. These are mountains. A lot of water was flowing from below into the valley.”
As with most natural disasters, the cyclone has long term implications for a community dependent upon natural resources for its survival.
“The natural environment has been affected, so it affects their livelihoods,” she said. “Many of the things they depended on are no longer there.”
Furusa has a longstanding commitment to preserving the environment.
“I’ve always been a person who loves nature,” she said. “Geography was my favorite subject in school because it dealt with nature. I’ve always been driven toward being a watchdog or a protector of the environment. And I love that and I teach that. Not that I want protection of the environment, per se, because I still believe that people have to access the resource in the environment, so I actually say I’m a conservationist.”
Furusa and the students at Africa University are studying the reasons for these weather-related disasters and how to minimize the future impact.
“The issue of natural disasters is a global problem,” she said. “We know this is related to climate variability and climate change because there are so many more cyclones of great intensity compared to before.
“It’s an issue of the whole global community. It was Africa yesterday. It was Louisiana another year. We don’t know where the next one will hit, but there are going to be more. The water in our oceans now have more heat, and that is going to cause a lot of tropical cyclones or typhoons or hurricanes propelling toward our continents.”
Furusa’s face lights up when she talks about the students at Africa University, which attracts young people from throughout the continent.
“Young people are coming together,” she said. “They’re taking all sorts of courses that aren’t necessarily in environmental studies. It’s so wonderful to have young people on our campus who are excited. We can share our commonalities and also our areas of conflicts and try to work around that. We have different views from the different students, different disciplines, that gives us a holistic approach. It all works together at the end of the day.
“They challenge me, because of their energy, to drive me higher. I’m just there to guide them.”
How does Furusa respond to skeptics who say that climate change is not real?
“I would quote straight from the Bible and Thomas, the disciple who couldn’t believe Jesus had risen until he saw the scars on Jesus’ hands,” she said. “We have our doubting Thomases. Maybe they will believe one day when the disaster is right by their doorstep.”
Story by Calvin Gilbert, a freelancer writer and editor living in Nashville, TN.
Justice for Our Neighbors JFON helps mother free daughter from child marriageDETROIT — Migladys Bermudez, an attorney for Justice for Our Neighbors Michigan, helped an immigrant mother from Nigeria free her daughter from child marriage. "We have changed the lives of generations to come," Bermudez said. Read story
We will break these chains forever
JFON Michigan helps a mother fight to free her daughter from child marriage
The man who had bought her was a man of great importance, her father told her. A leader in theOgboni secret fraternity of Nigeria, he would do a lot to help her family. It was a good match for his daughter. Why wasn’t she happy about it?
Chichima was nine years old. Her soon-to-be husband was nearly 60.
“Let her stay in school a bit longer,” her mother pleaded. Lebechi had tried begging before, when her daughter had been forced to submit to the traditional female genital mutilation (FGM)that made her “marriageable” to Ogboni men.
Lebechi had failed then, and she failed again. She was powerless; less than nothing. And so was Chichima.
The old man died several years later. As was Ogboni custom, Chichima was then offered to his eldest son. He decided to take his father’s widow into his house.
Chichima rebelled. She was now 14 years old, but had already lost twin babies. She did not want to be married again. And she knew that the son was even worse than the father.
With her mother’s help, she tried to run away. Each time she was brought back, and each time her father grew more enraged.
“You go back and stay with your husband,” he told her. “Try this again, and I will send you back in a coffin.”
Chichima was now the property of her former stepson. For months, her new husband kept her chained to the bottom of a toilet so she couldn’t run away. He kept her there until she became pregnant.
Chichima stopped running then. She gave birth to a boy, and, a few years later, a girl. But she never gave up on the dream of freedom. Instead, she expanded that dream to include Mobo and Aretta.
“In the beginning, I couldn’t escape because of my children,” Chichima told her attorney, Migladys Bermudez of JFON Michigan.“But in the end, I had to escape for my children. “
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She would have to leave them behind, but she promised herself it would be a temporary separation. Mobo was safe in boarding school. Her daughter Aretta, so quick and clever, was still only an unimportant female. Chichima’s husband would certainly allow his mother-in-law, now widowed, to take her off his hands.
Lebechi was very worried. “There is no place safe for you in this country,” she told her daughter. “You need to go far away. As far away as possible.”
So Chichima went to Thailand, on the other side of the world. She found work. She tried to apply for asylum or some sort of legal status, but every attempt was denied.
While in Thailand, Chichima fell in love for the first time in her life. His name was Joseph; he was also a Nigerian and also fleeing Ogboni persecution. He was the opposite of her husband in every way. They had a son together and named him Samuel.
But there were still her older children, and her heart ached from their absence in her life. Chichima, in spite of her mother’s warnings, returned to Nigeria several times to see them. She was putting her life in grave danger; if she had been caught by her husband, or any of the Ogboni, they would have killed her. And she knew no one would have been able to stop them.
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Lebechi was sitting in her parlor one evening when she heard the men arrive. They didn’t even attempt to be stealthy; they slammed the car doors, stomped up the driveway and knocked sharply on her door.
“Aretta,” she called to her granddaughter, striving to keep her voice calm. “Go upstairs to the hiding place. And do not come out, no matter what. Do you hear me? No matter what.”
Lebechi hadn’t been expecting them so soon. It would be another day at least before Chichima would arrive. How long could she delay the men from their evil purpose? How would she stop them from taking Aretta?
Almost a quarter of Nigerian women have undergone female genital mutilation, which can cause excessive bleeding, health problem, fertility problems, and even death. FGM was officially banned in Nigeria in 2015, although, sadly, the practice still persists. Photo: GirlTalkHQ
Chichima, meanwhile, was still in Thailand, frantically throwing clothes into suitcases, as Joseph tried to soothe a fractious Samuel in his arms. He looked at Chichima’s distraught face with worry. She’d been like this since her mother’s call the day before.
Aretta’s father had sold her to a policeman. They were planning to have the cutting ceremony within days and then the marriage to follow.
“I didn’t think he would do it,” Chichima kept repeating. “Not so soon.”
Like her mother had been, Aretta was only nine years old.
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Chichima, Joseph and Samuel were en route to Nigeria when she got the call from her daughter. There had been a lot of shouting, Aretta told her, but, as she’d promised her grandmother, she hadn’t moved from her hiding space. And the bad men had left when she had called the police.
They found her grandmother’s twisted body at the bottom of the stairs. The policemen said she must have died from the fall.
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“Chichima’s asylum hearing took two full days,” recalls Migladys Bermudez, Chichima’s attorney, from her offices in Detroit. “We had to halt the proceedings several times, because she couldn’t stop sobbing during her testimony. Describing her mother’s death was one of those times.”
Chichima had arrived home in time to bury her mother. But her sacrifice gave Chichima the courage to finally file for a legal divorce in Nigeria.
“You are my property!” shouted her ex-husband in the courtroom, using his fists to beat her in full view of everyone present. A police report was filed, but her ex-husband spent only a few hours in jail. The judge who granted Chichima’s divorce, meanwhile, was later fired.
“You cannot overstate the control the Ogboni have over every aspect of Nigerian life,” explains Migladys. “Their power is everywhere.”
Chichima and her family fled to Lagos, the largest city in Nigeria. Hiding in a city of 21 million people shouldn’t be hard, they thought. They would be safe there.
But her ex-husband, along with several Ogboni, including the police officer who had purchased Aretta, found them. They held them at gunpoint, and then forced Joseph to watch while Chichima’s ex-husband raped her.
As a parting gift to the newly-married couple, he poured hot oil on Samuel’s face.
Samuel still has the scars, says Migladys, although he was very young, so he, thankfully, doesn’t really remember much about it. But Aretta and Mobo remember. They remember the screams, the terror, and the trip to the emergency room.
That was another time, says Migladys grimly, when Chichima had to stop testifying.
“The year I worked on this case was extremely stressful,” Migladys recalls. “I would go home every day and think, “I have to do everything I can to win this case. Because I was 100 percent certain that Chichima would be killed if she were forced to return to Nigeria.”
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When Chichima and her family arrived in the U.S. in July 2017 on temporary visas, the country was in the grip of anti-immigrant fervor. They decided to try to go to Canada and claim asylum there. They were caught at the border and sent back to Detroit.
“You have to make your asylum case wherever you land,” explains Migladys. “So for this family, it was the U.S. or back to Nigeria. And Chichima was willing to go anyplace on earth except Nigeria.”
Joseph was picked up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)and detained. Chichima and the children, meanwhile, were living a peripatetic existence in a budget hotel and falling into despair.
It was left to young Aretta to make a fateful decision. “We need to go to church,” she announced suddenly. “God will give us the answer in church.”
Chichima looked at her daughter thoughtfully. Aretta had always been wise beyond her years.
“Yes,” she agreed. “Let us go to church.”
Their first visit on that Sunday led them to a loving and supportive community and also their first benefactor…someone who knew a private immigration attorney. But this attorney’s work was limited to employment-based visas. She knew little about asylum law. So she went looking for an organization that would take Chichima’s case. She met reluctant refusal after refusal.
“This was a defensive asylum case,” explains Migladys, “meaning we are defending a client against deportation. Defensive asylum cases are difficult and time-consuming. They also involve court representation, and many legal service providers just aren’t prepared to take that on.”
Luckily, it was exactly the kind of caseJFON Michiganwould, and could, take on. With the help of the pastor from the family’s new church, they were able to obtain Joseph’s release from detention. And then Migladys got to work.
Although the stakes were terrifyingly high, Migladys concedes, the case actually went very smoothly. There was so much evidence to support Chichima’s asylum claim: a survivor of FGM, child marriage, violence and persecution from a recognized and powerful cult, fighting to save her daughter from also becoming a victim.
It was, Migladys thought, a rock-solid case for asylum. Happily, the judge agreed.
“When I am feeling down,” says Migladys. “I just think about this win. I am going to be riding this high for a very long time. Even if it never happens again, we have changed the lives of generations to come.”
Generations of girls had been forced to marry as children and against their will. They had been forced to suffer the pain and long-term misery caused by FGM. They had not been allowed to study, to make their own future, to live their own lives as human beings fully equal to their brothers.
This won’t happen to Aretta; nor to her daughters, or to her daughter’s daughters.
Lebechi died, and Chichima lived, to break those chains forever.
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Afterword.
The family still lives in Detroit and still attends the church that originally brought them to Migladys and JFON Michigan.
Chichima, who never got to finish school, is working to improve her reading and writing skills. She has also established her own office and housecleaning business.
Joseph earned his AA degree in computer science and works in the IT industry.
Mobo graduated from high school and works in a restaurant owned by a fellow member of their church.
Samuel is happy and doing well in elementary school.
Aretta’s quick mind and love of learning—qualities her natural father never recognized—have made her a star student in her new country. She skipped two grades and is now, at 14 years of age, a high school junior.
“JFON saved my life,” says Chichima, and, this time, the tears in her eyes are happy ones. “Migladys saved all our lives.”
Please join us in wishing Chichima and her family a very happy Mother’s Day!
Abebi, a victim of female genital mutilation (FGM) was a client of JFON North-Central Texas. You can read about her heroic battle to save her three daughters HERE
PRESS RELEASESCouncil of Bishops Applications open for 2 ecumenical programsWASHINGTON — The Council of Bishops invites applications for two programs designed to strengthen ecumenical and interreligious relationships. Groups within annual conferences can apply for 2020 local initiatives grants and United Methodist young adults can apply for a scholarship to attend the Ecumenical Institute in Bossey, Switzerland. The deadline to apply for both programs is Sept. 13. Read press release
ecumenical programs
EcumenicalEcumenical: Grants/Scholarships
Rachel Callender of New England Conference is the current recipient of the Council of Bishops' scholarship to attend The Ecumenical Institute at Bossey.
For immediate Release
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Council of Bishops of The United Methodist Church is inviting applications for the following programs:
2020 Local Initiatives Grants
Scholarship to Attend The Ecumenical Institute at Bossey
2020 Local Initiatives Grants The Council of Bishops is offering three (3) grants of $1,000 each to groups within annual conferences for special projects designed to strengthen ecumenical and/or interreligious relationships.
Preference will be given to groups within annual conferences elected to lead in Christian unity and interreligious relationships. Projects selected will be ecumenical and/or interreligious in both invitation and goals.
Scholarship to Attend The Ecumenical Institute at Bossey The Ecumenical Institute was founded by The World Council of Churches in Switzerland in 1946 as an “ecumenical laboratory,” bringing together students of ecumenism from across the Christian community.
The Council of Bishops is offering an annual scholarship to one student to participate in the “Complementary Certificate in Ecumenical Studies” (CC) through Bossey in conjunction with the University of Geneva. A total amount of $10,000 US will be sent to Bossey on behalf of the chosen student.
Applicants for this scholarship must be active UMC members, between the ages of 22 and 30, preparing through an approved seminary for vocational ministry in The UMC, and be accepted by Bossey into this program. Completed applications for this scholarship must be received by the Council of Bishops’ office no later than September 13, 2019. Click here for Application form for Scholarship to Attend The Ecumenical Institute at Bossey
Any questions about these programs should be directed to Rev. Dr. Jean Hawxhurst via email at jhawxhurst@umc-cob.org
### Media Contact: Rev. Dr. Maidstone Mulenga Director of Communications – Council of Bishops The United Methodist Church mmulenga@umc-cob.org 202-748-5172
UM News includes in the Daily Digest various commentaries about issues in the denomination. The opinion pieces reflect a variety of viewpoints and are the opinions of the writers, not the UM News staff. OLATHE, Kan. — The Rev. Mark Holland contends that the U.S. conferences most supportive of the Wesleyan Covenant Association-backed Traditional Plan are also among the most likely to withhold denominational apportionments — payments used to fund United Methodist ministries around the world. Read commentary
WCA Conferences Withhold Global Apportionments
Author: Rev. Dr. Mark R. Holland, Executive Director, Mainstream UMC
We already know that the churches in the United States currently fund 99.4% of the $134 million annual budget for the global church, with only 56% (and declining) of the votes at General Conference to decide how it is spent. But the official 2018 report by the General Council for Finance and Administration (GCFA) tells us some troubling things we did not know.
During the 2019 annual conference sessions in the United States 41 out of 54 annual conferences elected a majority of delegates who reject the Traditional Plan. Remarkably, The GCFA report shows that these 41 centrist/progressive annual conferences contribute a whopping 78% ($104.2 million) of the total global annual budget. The 4 annual conferences that are 50/50 or unknown regarding the delegates contribute 5% ($6.3 million). There are only ten US annual conferences that elected delegations with a majority in favor of the Traditional Plan. These ten give 17% ($22.3 million) of the global annual budget. Clearly, the lion’s share of the resources come from those who reject the Traditional Plan. Click on the link below for the full color map of the giving.
But this is not the most alarming data in the report.
The 2018 GCFA report shows that these 10 annual conferences, who are the most supportive of the Wesleyan Covenant Association (WCA), are among the worst at paying out their global apportionments. In fact, 8 of these 10 paid less than 90% of what was expected. By comparison, 8 out of 10 of the 41 centrist/progressive annual conferences paid more than 90% of what was expected. Notably, of the four conferences that are 50/50 or unknown, two paid more than 90% and two paid less. A look-back at GCFA reports to 2015 shows a troubling pattern of WCA annual conferences consistently withholding global apportionments.
Red Bird Missionary and Western Pennsylvania are the only 2 of the 10 who consistently pay 100% of their global apportionment every year. Kentucky has historically paid 100% but in 2018 dropped to 80%. For the rest of the group, underpayment is a pattern. Alabama-West Florida, Oklahoma, and South Georgia consistently pay in the mid-80th percent of what is apportioned to them. Mississippi and North Alabama consistently pay in the mid-70th percent of apportionments. This puts in perspective the seven churches that just left the Mississippi Annual Conference. There seem to be a lot of local churches in these conferences that are simply not invested in our global mission. Leaving is just the next step.
That brings us to the great state of Texas. The three annual conferences that elected moderate delegations (Central Texas, North Texas, and Rio Texas) all paid more than 90% of their apportionments in 2018. The two annual conferences that support the WCA are another story. Northwest Texas is the lowest payout conference in the entire United States, paying only 55% in 2018, a further 9% drop from the already abysmal previous three years. A clergy member from that conference boasted to me last fall that he thought “the Northwest Texas Annual Conference is the most conservative conference in the whole connection.” Well, if by “most conservative” he means withholding the most money from the global church, he is absolutely right.
The most surprising on this list is the Texas Annual Conference (Houston area) which has the third lowest payout in the whole connection. This conference has reduced its payout every year from 94% in 2015, to 87% in 2016, to 72% in 2017, to 67% in 2018. But considering the wealth of the conference, last year alone they withheld a mind-blowing $2.4 million from the global church. We should not forget this conference is the headquarters of Rob Renfroe and the Good News movement who are working in tandem with the WCA to divide the church. And, this is the home of WCA Bishop Scott Jones who just co-authored a plan for GC 2020 that calls for the dissolution of the global church.
Finally, the consistent pattern of WCA annual conferences underpaying apportionments reveals what a complete fraud the WCA “Central Conference Ministry Fund” really is. This fund was recently launched in May of 2019 and currently serves as a major publicity stunt on the front page of their website. This fund purportedly offsets the loss of funds from “moderate and progressive pastors and organizations” who have raised concerns following the Special Session in February 2019. Without a hint of irony, WCA President, Rev. Keith Boyette introduced their new fund:
“Unlike some UM leaders, the Wesleyan Covenant Association has refrained from calling on local churches to withhold apportionments and gifts as a political weapon. We do acknowledge that payment of apportionments presents an ethical dilemma for faithful United Methodists where our church’s teachings are flagrantly disregarded and remain unenforced. We have urged our members to be wise and discerning about the giving of their tithes and offerings, understanding that we each have many options available to support the Lord’s work…By giving to the Central Conference Ministry Fund, donors can be assured that the work of churches and annual and central conferences outside of the United States are not adversely impacted by the conflict in the UM Church.”
And yet, accidently, with no encouragement, 8 out of the 10 annual conferences where the WCA has the most influence, combined to withhold more than $6 million from the global church in 2018. And the WCA has the audacity to try and raise $200,000 to offset their own adverse impact on the Central Conferences—and to blame the deficit on moderates and progressives! Unbelievable.
This raises a fundamental question about funding for the four advocacy groups who call themselves the “reform and renewal coalition.” Good News, the Confessing Movement, Institute for Religion and Democracy, and the Wesleyan Covenant Association list a combined 27 staff members. Have these organizations used their significant influence in their annual conferences to promote funding the ministries of the global United Methodist Church through apportionments or to promote funding their own advocacy and infrastructure? You decide.
The GCFA reports have a story to tell. It is a story the church needs to hear.
Mainstream UMC is also working to raise $200,000. With no pretense, we simply seek to offset the influence of the 27 staff members in the other advocacy organizations leading up to GC 2020. Please tithe to your local church. We will happily accept your offerings at www.MainstreamUMC.com/donate. Thank you.
A note about the Central Conferences. GCFA does not list giving by individual conferences outside the United States, only the cumulative total. In 2018, The Central Conferences contributed a combined $788,000 to the global church, which is only a 65% payout of their total apportionment. This percentage would rank them 2nd to last in the US. And, because we do not know the breakout, we cannot see who gave what. We should remember that the delegates from outside the United States provided 60% of the votes for the Traditional Plan. Without their full-throated support, it never would have passed. Conferences in Western Europe are the only conferences outside the US that have systematically rejected the Traditional Plan.
Good News Exclusionary politics and statisticsTHE WOODLANDS, Texas — The Rev. Thomas Lambrecht writes that it is not disloyalty to the church that causes people to withhold or redirect their giving. Lambrecht, vice president of Good News, argues for a more nuanced analysis. Read commentary
Exclusionary Politics, Money, and Statistic
By Thomas Lambrecht –
It’s all about the money. That could have been the title of the latest opinion piece from Mainstream UMC. And of course, beneath the issue of dollars is the issue of power and control. The central question is whether, in the name of including LGBTQ persons in marriage and ordained ministry, the church is willing to exclude millions of United Methodists outside the U.S.
Underlying a bewildering onslaught of statistics in the Mainstream piece is this message: We moderates and progressives contribute the money that funds this denomination, so we should control the church. The subtext is that traditionalists (what the piece calls “WCA conferences” in an attempt to target the Wesleyan Covenant Association) are disloyal to The United Methodist Church because they allegedly contributed a lower percentage of apportionments and a lower total of dollars than moderate and progressive annual conferences. The implication is that these disloyal traditionalists should just leave the UM Church, since they do not want to support it financially anyway, and stop trying to force their outmoded theology on the rest of us.
The Rev. Dr. Mark Holland uses this latest blog and fundraising letter on behalf of Mainstream UMC to cast this spin on the reports of election of delegates to General Conference compared with the amount and percentage of apportionments paid by each annual conference.
Of course, the reality is more complicated and nuanced. Any serious analyst of annual conference apportionment giving would agree. There are solidly traditionalist annual conferences that pay full apportionments, including one annual conference that pays 113 percent – the highest rate of any annual conference. And there are progressive annual conferences that pay lower percentages than most. The reasons for conferences not to pay full apportionments range from not receiving those moneys from local churches to the decision not to cannibalize annual conference resources to support the general church to ideological concerns on both the progressive and traditionalist ends of the spectrum.
Contrary to Holland’s rhetorical sleights-of-hand, there is no such thing as a “WCA conference” or a “WCA bishop.” The WCA does not control annual conference finances, nor has it called for the withholding of apportionments (contrary to some progressive leaders who have called for such withholding). Giving decisions are being made by hundreds of thousands of individual United Methodists and thousands of congregations. There is no organized movement on the traditionalist side to withhold or redirect apportionments. Again, this is contrary to recent moves after St. Louis by some progressives, including at least one annual conference that makes official provision for withholding general church apportionments.
The reality of our current situation makes Holland’s flashy color-coded maps of the United States seem overblown.
Regardless of the numbers, fair-minded people should thoroughly examine the underlying presuppositions of Holland’s argument.
One presupposition is that those who give the money ought to call the shots. Money represents power. What makes many U.S. progressives and moderates nervous is that in the next eight to twelve years, the membership growth in Africa will be at a tipping point when it overshadows the decline in North America. At that point, the Africans may control budgetary decisions in how the church’s money is spent. This fear of losing control of the money is prompting many centrists and progressives to reconsider the value of belonging to a global church.
(In my experience, African church leaders are very grateful for the financial support for mission and ministry that U.S. churches provide. Primarily concerned with clergy training, orphanages, hospitals, and schools, they have no desire to take advantage of that support and our goodwill by demanding what we cannot provide. Their desire is to work in equal collaboration, not as junior partners in our relationship.)
Make no mistake about it, money, justice, and control should be openly discussed. These are biblical and ethical issues addressed throughout the Scriptures. However, it is ironic to hear concern about finances and power articulated at the annual conference and global levels, yet denied at the local level. For years, traditionalist church members have been repeatedly told to give their money to the church and trust the church to know how best to spend that money. Any attempt by local members to channel their giving in ways that church leaders deem “unacceptable” is frowned upon and often actively resisted. Local church members are not able to control how their money is spent. They have only one choice: give or not give (and of course the amount).
After many years of seeing their money fund causes and political stances by the church that they do not agree with, many traditionalists have chosen to redirect or to reduce their giving. Now in response to the St. Louis General Conference, many progressives are exercising the same choice to protest a stance by the global church that they disagree with.
How this plays out in the current conflict in our church is that some progressives and moderates apparently believe it is poor stewardship to give money to support parts of the church they believe are doing harm to LGBTQ people and their allies. They are exercising a choice that many traditionalists have made for years, being unwilling to support parts of the church that violate their consciences.
Holland states, “There seem to be a lot of local churches in these [more traditionalist] conferences that are simply not invested in our global mission. Leaving is just the next step.” Does that mean that progressive annual conferences and local churches currently withholding the general church apportionments are not invested in the church’s global mission? Is the Rev. Adam Hamilton not invested in the church’s global mission because his church is reportedly withholding half its multi-million-dollar apportionments until the end of the year? Are the half-dozen annual conferences that formed task forces to explore the possibility of leaving The United Methodist Church not invested in the church’s global mission?
Holland’s characterizations ring hollow when the tables are turned in his rhetorical exercise.
Good News supports the proposition that United Methodists should not be compelled to financially support ministry that violates their consciences. But Holland should not pretend that traditionalists are the only ones who do so, nor that exercising conscientious stewardship is disloyalty to the denomination that means we should forfeit our voice.
It is not disloyalty to the church that is causing people to withhold or redirect their giving. It is mistrust in the leadership of the church and the decisions made about how to spend money. UMCOR universally receives overwhelming support because it spends its money to help those in need – a cause nearly everyone agrees on. Givers want to be good stewards of the resources God has entrusted to them, and are increasingly unwilling to write “blank checks” to the church.
That leads to the second controversial presupposition in Holland’s piece: the speculative claim that progressive/moderate annual conferences fund 78 percent of the global church’s budget and his belief that progressives and moderates should therefore determine the beliefs and direction of the church.
To put it simply, that is not how The United Methodist Church works. Responsible centrist and progressive leaders know this is true. Dollars are not votes. The rich do not get to dictate to the poor. The wealthy West does not get to overrule the voices of Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe.
Holland has already made his feelings clear when he wrote about “Five Reasons to Consider a U.S. Church” that would break apart the global UM Church along national lines. His latest piece continues the same line of reasoning, using the resources of the U.S. church to discount United Methodists in other nations. In many circles, that perspective comes across as boilerplate colonialism. It is one thing for those who have resources to set a boundary on what they are able and willing to afford spending. It is another thing to use those resources to dictate how the church should operate. We rightly decry this abuse of power in local churches. Why not in our global church?
Finally, it defies logic to blame the WCA for a shortfall in current apportionments and then criticize the WCA for raising funds to help make up the shortfall. Here, Holland is confusing apples and oranges. The shortfall in general church apportionments is not a new phenomenon. Reasonable centrist and progressive leaders know that to be true. It is caused by local churches and annual conferences across the theological spectrum for a variety of reasons, and it affects the total ministry of the church.
What is new is progressive and moderate individuals and annual conferences who had previously committed to fund specific mission work in Africa and Russia suddenly pulling the funding after the 2019 General Conference explicitly in response to the church’s decision to maintain the traditional biblical stance on marriage and sexuality. It is this shortfall that the WCA Central Conference Ministry Fund is designed to help remedy. The WCA did not cause the shortfall but is doing the responsible thing by attempting to supply assistance to central conference mission work that is jeopardized by progressives and moderates exercising their conscience-driven decision.
The big picture takeaway from all of this is that we have a demonstration of the impossibility of various parts of the church living together and sharing a common mission. Many U.S. Methodists have come to the point where they can no longer financially support those parts of the church they believe cause harm to LGBTQ people and allies. At the same time, many other U.S. Methodists can no longer financially support a church structure that not only fails to defend a traditional biblical sexual ethic, but also actively supports disobedience and defiance of the church’s requirements, decided globally by the only body with the authority to speak for the whole church.
Some moderates and progressives can discount our non-U.S. members as less than equal or not worthy of full participation in the processes of the church. However, our brothers and sisters outside the U.S. bring a needed corrective to the cultural myopia that afflicts our theology and practice of ministry. And we can do the same for them. As such, central conference leaders and members are valued and equal partners in the global ministry of The United Methodist Church, regardless of how much money each of us brings to the table.
Thomas Lambrecht is a United Methodist clergyperson and the vice president of Good News.
Theological lessons from the barbecue pitSANFORD, N.C. — The Rev. Jarrod Davis is pretty sure he learned more about church in the barbecue pit than in seminary. He writes about the theological lessons of Eastern North Carolina-style whole hog barbecue. Read commentary
I’m pretty sure I learned more about church at a barbecue pit than I did at seminary.
When I was 12 years old my father, also a United Methodist minister, was appointed to Ebenezer United Methodist Church in Raleigh, NC. It was probably the best thing that happened to my family when I was growing up. To this day I still consider Ebenezer my home church, my family. And Ebenezer was known throughout the area for one thing: barbecue.
I’ve lived in eastern North Carolina my entire life. I don’t want to live anywhere else. Eastern North Carolina and its people take great pride in our barbecue. For those poor souls who may not be familiar, let me catch you up to speed. Oftentimes barbecue is defined by its sauce, and so eastern NC barbecue is, on the surface, set apart because of our vinegar sauce. This differentiates us from western NC barbecue with their ketchup sauce, or South Carolina barbecue with their mustard sauce, or Alabama with their white sauce, or Memphis with their thick, sweet sauce slathered thick on ribs. But I’m here to tell you right now: the secret ain’t in the sauce. At least, not entirely.
Real, traditional eastern North Carolina barbecue is whole hog barbecue. The entire pig, split down the middle and put up on the cooker. It takes a long time to cook a pig like that. We’re talking all day or, quite often, all night. Once the pig is cooked, the meat is pulled off the bone and chopped- preferably by hand- into small morsels. During this time all of the meat is mixed together- the shoulders and hams, the loin and belly, the dark meat and the light meat and even the good, crispy skin if you’re doing it right, all together into one glorious mound of meat before the sauce- a thin mixture of vinegar, salt, and secrets- is poured over top (just a little bit, you can add more at the table if you want). The whole thing is mixed together and served, and when it is done right, when it is done with love, you will never find better barbecue.
That kind of barbecue, that kind of goodness unleashed on the world, takes time and it takes teamwork. I have cooked many a pig in my life, but I’ve never once done it alone. It is at bare minimum a two-person job. This takes me back to Ebenezer barbecue.
Churches all across eastern NC have held barbecue fundraisers, but I don’t believe any have been on the scale of Ebenezer. The first barbecue was held in 1950’s, and by the time we came along in the mid 1990’s, Ebenezer was cooking between 80 and 100 whole hogs over two days, and selling it all in one day. We were not a big church. The average attendance might have been 100. A fundraiser of such magnitude required all hands on deck, and every year we pulled it off.
Everyone showed up. Everyone did their part. We’d get to the barbecue pit well before sunrise on Wednesday and Thursday to put the pigs on the cookers. Those who had to go to work or school would, but we’d all return in the middle of the afternoon. We’d do whatever needed to be done: pulling the pigs off the grills, carrying the tubs of meat into the chop house, chopping it, making sauce, picking out gristle, mixing the sauce with the meat, packing it into the coolers. On Friday we’d find our places reheating the barbecue on gigantic double boilers, frying hush puppies, dishing out potato salad and slaw, cutting desserts, waiting tables, packing to-go plates, driving out and making deliveries. It was three days of hard work, and everyone did their part. We all worked together, side-by-side, laughing and sweating and chatting, giving of ourselves because it was for the Church.
But it was so much more than a fundraiser. Don’t get me wrong, it brought in a lot of money and covered a lot of expenses. But I don’t think we would have kept it up, I don’t think we would have worked that hard, I don’t think we would have made that kind of effort, just for money. No, working together like that built us up as a community, as a family who knew each other and loved each other even when we were sick and tired of looking at (and sometimes smelling) each other. This is one of the things I love about whole hog barbecue: it’s a community event.
Eastern NC whole hog barbecue originally came about as a celebration, a get together of neighbors and farm hands at the end of a long, hard season. It was an event to bring in the folks you hadn’t seen in a long time and the folks you were sweating in the field with yesterday. It took all day or all night to cook, but being together with these people, learning to know and love these people better, was worth the effort.
At our church barbecue, while the pigs were cooking the old men sat around and talked. These were not divinity scholars. These were men who could not define atonement theory or soteriology. These were men who spent their whole lives working hard. They had accomplished many great things, and they had lost a great many things. They had seen war and hunger, they had seen feasting and revelry. I can’t repeat most of their stories and jokes from the pulpit. We never discussed theology other than when someone would testify, “The Lord has been good to me,” and we would all agree. Because the Lord has been good to us. These were men who would give you the shirt off their backs if you needed it, and many of them had done so numerous times. These are men who never questioned where you’ve been or what you’ve been up to or why you haven’t been in church. In order to belong, all you had to do was show up and join in. I miss those men. I miss those hard-working days.
In all likelihood, Eastern NC barbeque is the oldest style of barbecue in America. If you trace it through the last few centuries you will find its history on the farms and tobacco markets of my home state… and you’ll also find its roots in the slaves ripped from their homes in Africa and taken to the Caribbean and then onto American shores, forced to labor long and hard and hot under threat of pain and death. The style of cooking whole animals long and slow over coals in the ground was taught to us by enslaved Africans. Well after the slave trade was ended and slavery itself done away with, well after barbecue came to be a staple of our cultural life and a source of pride, it was still tinged with division and segregation. The pitmasters at many well-known barbecue restaurants were not permitted inside to eat there.
It’s a funny thing that this food that I know and love so well, this food that I have such an intimate connection with, this food that my state takes so much pride in, has such a dark history. But that’s how this world is. As much as we might want strict lines and boundaries between good and bad, there’s an awful lot of gray area. A lot of good things end in tragedies, and a lot of tragedies lead to good things. It’s a mixed-up world. We laugh and we cry, we hurt others and are hurt by others, we bind up wounds yet refuse to acknowledge their presence, we yell and scream and often realize only too late we yelling and screaming into an echo chamber. How do we handle that? How do we bring about justice and righteousness in this world when we can’t even agree on what justice and righteousness are?
All I know to do is to practice the theology I learned at the barbecue pit: show up and work, all of us, together. Do your part, whatever that part is, because everyone else is depending on you. Sweat together. Talk together. Laugh together. Learn to know and love each other until doing the work together is more important than the pain in your back and feet and arms.
Then sit down together with a plate piled high from the work you all have done, and taste and see that the Lord is good.
Though the Lord might be better with just a little more of that good vinegar sauce.
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Hello everyone, my name is Veronika Santos, I'm a member of the New World Order (Illuminati), am not here to give testimonies on how I joined the brotherhood but to sincerely apologies to those that are victims to these fake agents in different part of the world using our identities for fraud. These are what they do, they will contact our agents across the globe pretending to be an applicant, after given them the procedures, terms and conditions on how to be a member of the brotherhood they will block our agents and use that same procedures to fraud you guys by broadcasting on internet things that doesn't exist in the brotherhood such as paying salaries to our members, giving dreams cars to all new members and the worth of the car, a V I P treatment in all airports in the world, one month booked appointment with top 5 world leaders and top 5 celebrities in the world ETC all these are fake. Please note this, am not disputing the fact that the illuminati brotherhood don't give benefits to their newly initiated members, We do but not as exorbitant these fake agents paint it to be but a trap to stuck and suck you guys be wise to identify these tricks. Note this, to be a member of the illuminati is free, you're not paying for so called registration/initiation fee, membership ID card fee, certificate fee ETC all these are free, you're only going to be initiated into the brotherhood by any of our initiators not agent. Another point to note is that initiation into the brotherhood doesn't involves human blood sacrifices and anyone who tells you he/she is the Grand master or gives you a contact that you have to chat with the Grand master is fake the Grand master don't chat with applicants, you can only meet with the Grand master when you are invited to the headquarter 3 months after your initiation into the brotherhood for your awarding ceremony with the twelve heads of executives for your oath. If you have been a victim please or you want to no more detail on how you can be a member of the illuminati brotherhood in your country, via whatsApp +14434187380 or via Email: templeofthebrotherhood@gmail.com This is the little help I can give, HAIL THE LIGHT.
“What was unique about the cyclone is that it hit Kopa in the night, between 9 p.m. and 12 midnight,” Furusa said during a break at the recent Creation Care Summit, a conference on climate change and environmental issues held at Scarritt Bennett Center in Nashville, Tenn.
Rescue teams faced massive problems in providing initial assistance to the victims in Kopa.
“I’ve always been a person who loves nature,” she said. “Geography was my favorite subject in school because it dealt with nature. I’ve always been driven toward being a watchdog or a protector of the environment. And I love that and I teach that. Not that I want protection of the environment, per se, because I still believe that people have to access the resource in the environment, so I actually say I’m a conservationist.”
How does Furusa respond to skeptics who say that climate change is not real?
By Thomas Lambrecht –
Hello everyone, my name is Veronika Santos, I'm a member of the New World
ReplyDeleteOrder (Illuminati), am not here to give testimonies on how I joined the
brotherhood but to sincerely apologies to those that are victims to these fake agents in different part of the world using our identities for fraud.
These are what they do, they will contact our agents across the globe pretending to be an applicant, after given them the procedures, terms and conditions on how to be a member of the brotherhood they will block our agents and use that same procedures to fraud you guys by broadcasting on internet things that doesn't exist in the brotherhood such as paying salaries to our members, giving dreams cars to all new members and the worth of the car, a V I P treatment in all airports in the world, one month booked appointment with top 5 world leaders and top 5 celebrities in the world ETC all these are fake. Please note this, am not disputing the fact that the illuminati brotherhood don't give benefits to their newly initiated members, We do but not as exorbitant these fake agents paint it to be but a trap to stuck and suck you guys be wise to identify these tricks. Note this, to be a member of the illuminati is free, you're not paying for so called registration/initiation fee, membership ID card fee, certificate fee ETC all these are free, you're only going to be initiated into the brotherhood by any of our initiators not agent.
Another point to note is that initiation into the brotherhood doesn't involves human blood sacrifices and anyone who tells you he/she is the Grand master or gives you a contact that you have to chat with the Grand master is fake the Grand master don't chat with applicants, you can only meet with the Grand master when you are invited to the headquarter 3 months after your initiation into the brotherhood for your awarding ceremony with the twelve heads of executives for your oath.
If you have been a victim please or you want to no more detail on how you can be a member of the illuminati brotherhood in your country, via whatsApp +14434187380 or via Email: templeofthebrotherhood@gmail.com
This is the little help I can give, HAIL THE LIGHT.