An event held in November 2023 was the final of several consultations in 2023 hosted by the General Board of Global Ministries, The United Methodist Church’s mission and development agency, as opportunities to deeply listen to and learn from its mission partners. The first consultation was held in April in Mozambique with African partners; a second was held early in August in Atlanta to reexamine practices of missionary sending; and a third was held later in August in Seoul, South Korea, with the Korean Methodist Church.
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Faithful Methodists from many levels of the church attended the consultation, from bishops and directors of connectional ministries to racial ethnic ministry leaders and volunteers in mission coordinators. Participants engaged in sessions designed to not only capture the current realties of mission practice in the U.S. but to facilitate a collaborative process of discerning what partnership in mission should look like moving forward.
In his opening remarks, Global Ministries’ General Secretary Roland Fernandes expressed excitement and hope for the future of mission.
Methodist mission in the U.S. has a vibrant history. Camp meetings, circuit riders, missionary families, and deaconesses and home missioners all helped to propel the movement of Methodism forward.
And yet, amid the stories of transformation are also stories of harm. Colonialist and racist ideals have influenced the church’s practice of mission…and still do in many places. Consultation participants deeply wrestled with the question of how to better incorporate values of anti-racism and decolonization into mission at both the local and global levels of the church.
One way the church moves past its colonialist history of mission as flowing “from the West to the rest” is by commissioning missionaries from the U.S. to serve in the U.S. – as Church and Community Workers (CCW’s), young adult Global Mission Fellow US-2s (GMFs) and some Mission Volunteers – living and serving in community, helping to identify and alleviate issues of injustice alongside their neighbors.
Another major topic of discussion was how to shift from a transactional to a relational model of mission. How can the church’s expression of mission be centered in mutuality and relationship instead of revolving around the exchange of values and goods?
An asset-based approach to communities was discussed as a way forward, a concept that invites the church to see gifts and abundance over need and deficit. In service with others, this demands a posture of humility and acknowledgement of equality as well as a belief that mission is and should be mutually edifying and enriching.
Global Ministries’ work in disaster response, migration, agriculture and global health, among other areas, relies heavily on the gifts, expertise and knowledge of its partners.
As Global Ministries redefines its mission footprint in the U.S., it is focused on models of ministry that begin with mutuality and a greater understanding of local contexts, as well as moving from siloed mission programming to a more strategic and coordinated approach.
Areas of growth noted by participants included better means of communication and transparent sharing of information, increased awareness of mission activity across U.S. conferences and in global regions, and closer collaboration to avoid duplication of efforts.
excerpt from story by Sara Logeman, senior manager of content and marketing, Global Ministries and UMCOR.
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.
