African United Methodists and the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries remain committed to collaborating on mission work and the shared goal of helping the church in Africa become self-sustaining, the agency’s top executive said during its first board meetings outside the U.S.
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“African partners are very interested in developing new and strengthening partnerships that recognize and utilize African assets, build capacity and develop leadership within African conferences and move the church in Africa towards greater self-sustenance … based on mutual respect and accountability,” said Roland Fernandes, who leads Global Ministries and the United Methodist Committee on Relief.
The agency’s board gathered April 20-22 in Maputo, Mozambique for its spring meeting. It was the first time the board has met outside the U.S.
In a related move during meeting, the board approved $5 million in funding for the Yambasu Agriculture Initiative, continuing to prioritize the effort to improve food security and strengthen farm communities across Africa. The initiative is named for the late Bishop John K. Yambasu of Sierra Leone, who was a key player in the effort. Yambasu died in a car accident in 2020.
Three days before the board meetings, the Africa Partners Mission Consultation gave members of the executive committee an opportunity to see missions work up close. It was the first in a series of gatherings planned over the next year to discern how God is leading United Methodists in mission. The full board later saw presentations of United Methodist-supported projects.
Holding the meetings outside the U.S. was significant, Fernandes said.
“Meeting in Mozambique dramatizes for me the need and the possibility of building broad community and collaboration within the church — to foster within the church a sense of global community and coming together in the name and spirit of Jesus Christ. Diversifying the location where the directors of this United Methodist agency convene is our testimony to the unity of the United Methodist community in faith and mission.”
Global Ministries collected “immense” data during the Africa Partners Mission Consultation, Fernandes said. He promised a summary of the results to African partners in 90 days for their review.
“We have hardly touched the surface,” he said. “Now that the consultation is done, we need to analyze the information … and figure out how we carry the work of the consultation forward so that it will have a meaningful impact.”
Even before the data is analyzed, there is a victory in the “humble leader” approach of the communication between U.S. and African participants, said Bishop Hee-Soo Jung, president of the Global Ministries board.
“The humble leader is a leader who actively lives within the reality of togetherness with the sense of empathetic unity,” Jung said. “So, it’s a tremendous, empathetic unity that we found and we celebrate.
“Hopefully God will, through the Holy Spirit, continue to strengthen our humble collaboration and the equity-related relationship in mission in Africa.”
excerpt from a story by Jim Patterson, UMNS reporter, Nashville, Tennessee
The World Service Fund provides basic financial support to program-related general agencies, which are especially important to the common vision, mission, and ministry of The United Methodist Church. Through World Service funding, agencies support annual conferences and local congregations in living out God’s mission for the worldwide Church. General agencies also provide essential services and ministries beyond the scope of individual local congregations and annual conferences through services and ministries that are highly focused, flexible, and capable of rapid response.
