Mission Volunteer Opportunities

If you are being called to serve in mission service beyond a week or ten days, the Mission Volunteer Program sponsored by Global Ministries provides opportunities for individuals and couples to serve from two months to two years in a variety of ministries around the world. Here are some examples:

In Honduras there are ministries that need volunteers to serve as youth leaders, to coordinate team projects, and to minister to children with disabilities.

In Africa, a volunteer is needed at the Malawi United Methodist Church Conference Offices. The position is for an international financial management consultant. This is a partnership with the Church of the Resurrection. The main responsibility is to develop and implement a financial accounting management system.

Our missionary in Chile is seeking a volunteer to serve as a gardener and groundskeeper.

The McCurdey School in Espanola, New Mexico has ongoing needs for directors.

In Haiti there is a need for a couple to serve as volunteers-in-mission team coordinators.

To respond to these volunteer requests and others, become a Mission Volunteer. Apply now at www.missionvolunteers.org in time for our October 21-24 training event. For more information, please contact Malcolm Frazier at mfrazier@umcmission.org or call 212 870-3659.

{Guest Blogger} Introducing Moyo

By Ben Rawlins, Moyo Staff 

When it comes to spirituality and justice, many Christians view these two parts of life and faith as opposed. I’m a contemplative, one person claims. Another says, I’m an activist. But why must we view these two beautiful and necessary aspects of the Christian life as antithetical?

At Moyo, we’re trying to re-imagine the Christian call to spirituality and justice, following in the footsteps of organizations like UMVIM that believe in strong theological thinking as the cornerstone of mission work. Moyo is an interactive website that provides experiences for visitors to confront issues of global importance, engage these issues spiritually, and discover ways to act on them in the world. Through the experience on the website, visitors can begin to integrate the “being” and “doing” of life.

 

On the website, a visitor engages with the issues through a Guided Path. The Guided Path starts with an Encounter, allowing the visitor to learn more about the issue. Then, the visitor moves to a Reflection, which provides a reflective type of experience. Lastly, the visitor moves to an Action. The Action shows different ways of engaging the issue in the world. The Guided Path offers experiences with a variety of creative content – videos, photographs, prose, and poetry. The website also has The Feed, which is a blog-like feature. On The Feed, we’ll offer diverse perspectives on current events and global issues. All together, these experiences are a tool for visitors to see contemplation and action in new ways and engage in the world with spiritually infused, justice-oriented action.

Without a doubt, UMVIM’s mission aligns with the experiences that Moyo provides. Like UMVIM, we want to see “Christian love in action” and start conversations that move people of faith to combine their spirituality with justice action. 

Our website has just recently become live, and we’re launching our first two topics: Water &Restoration of Life and Disaster & Human Dignity. Both of these topics reflect work that UMVIM does all over the world. On Moyo, we feature UMVIM on an Action as a suggested way to volunteer for disaster relief. 

How can you become involved? First, we would love for you to visit the website – feel free to send feedback to us or share with people who you believe might be interested in the mission of Moyo. We’re also looking for contributors to submit creative content to the website! Please share your voice and experiences to Moyo. You can check out our Submission Website for more information on how to do so or you can email the Moyo Team.

As stated above, Moyo is a tool that can provide new ways of thinking about spirituality and justice. We are so grateful that we can partner with groups like UMVIM who complement our mission in such important ways. Moyo is a community – we’re glad you can be a part of it. 

Questions? Contact Jenn Bryant (jbryant@umcdiscipleship.org) or Ben Rawlins (brawlins@umcdiscipleship.org)

{Mission Highlight} A Summer of Justice

by: Malinda Nichols

Earlier this summer we gave you a quick introduction to Laura Kigweba, the 2014 Summer Intern here at United Methodist Volunteers in Mission, Southeastern Jurisdiction. A couple weeks ago, Laura packed up her bags and returned to Washington, DC for her last year of seminary, taking with her a new perspective on justice, service and the city of Birmingham. Here's a more in-depth look at this precocious young woman and the experiences she had this summer:

A Little Bit of Background...

"I am a vivacious, young, beautiful, African-American woman....it's true, I'm all those things!!"Laura's parents, who immigrated from Burundi, Africa, were people of faith who encouraged her to recognize that valuing the love of God was more important than identifying with a denomination. However as a young person, she connected with a United Methodist Church community and found it to be a place that she felt truly represented the love of Christ.

"I'll never forget my first youth pastor, Jason Morris, who pulled me aside at age 12 and told me 'I think you're going to be a leader one day,'" she remembers. "He led me into acknowledging that I am called to be a leader specifically in the capacity of the church. I'll never forget the opportunities and blessings that he placed into my life by walking with me and loving me."

Encouragement from her father and brother particularly guided her heart towards issues of justice, and her youth leader, Kris Konsowitz, challenged her to learn more about the United Methodist Church on the global level. When we met Laura as a Young Adult Representative on the 2013 Young People in Mission Design Team, it was clear that our internship program would be the perfect match to help her develop the strengths, passions and interests she so obviously already possessed.

Young People in Mission

"When I think about justice, I think about love, and you can't really separate the two."When the Design Team met earlier this year, they determined that "justice" would be the heart and soul of the event. The passions and personal experiences she brought to the table helped shape and mold the week at Lake Junaluksa into a time of educating and equipping this next generation of justice-seekers. She was also was able to mentor the younger members of the Design Team, and encourage them that by serving in this capacity and sharing their passion with their peers, they were showing love and justice in their own way. "When we were at Young People in Mission...that is what justice truly boiled down to. It was loving one another in a way we knew we could."

Community Church Without Walls

"How do you participate in a church that is completely untraditional, in a community where anything is expected? You accept THIS is church."As part of her domestic placement, she worked with Community Church Without Walls, a United Methodist congregation that was created to be for and among the poor of urban Birmingham. Rev. R.G. Lyons, the founding pastor of the church, served as her mentor for the summer. She describes him as someone who "seeks justice for all," and one of the most important things she observed from him was how to make the Gospel translatable to everyone, to people who are in the margins not only physically, but also spiritually.

Laura has a tendency to make friends and build relationships wherever she goes, and her weeks in the West End of Birmingham was certainly no exception. She spent her time at CCWW and its umbrella organization, Urban Ministry, connecting with the people who serve and are served there. Talking to them, understanding them, fellowshipping with them, being among them. Loving them. She was also able to go to community and church development meetings, participate in their trips to SIFAT, Serve Week* and Camp Lee**, engage in weekly Bible studies, and she even had the opportunity to preach one Sunday morning. Her intentionality and willingness to learn made her time in urban Birmingham an eye-opening, positive experience that helped guide her as a leader at Young People in Mission, but also prepared for her for the time she'd soon be spending in the Philippines. 

*Serve week, a week of service where FUMC downtown and CWW, combines youth groups and together participates in serving the Birmingham community by painting housing, building friendships at Church of the Reconciler, and reflecting in group discussion of what it means to serve in our community and world.
**Camp Lee, in Anniston Alabama, was the last camp of the Summer. CWW and FUMC Downtown joined together for the last summer retreat, to play, fellowship,have awesome dance parties and discuss how theologian and pastor John Wesley's three rules of do discuss John's Rules of Do No Harm, Do Good, and Stay in love with God, and how to apply them in the upcoming school year.

Global Young People's Convocation and Legislative Assembly

"Young people in our church care so much about the issues of the environment, of inclusivity, of what's going on in Israel-Palestine, of divestments of being a Church who really speaks truth to power, who does walk the walk and actually talk the talk, and we weren't just glossing over with 'God loves you,' but we wanted to put that love into action. And we did that at Legislative Assembly."

Laura was selected by the Jurisdiction to be a voting delegate to the Global Young People's Convocation and Legislative Assembly in Tagaytay, Philippines, and her time there served as her international placement. One of her main goals this summer was to understand and see the significance of the United Methodist connectional system. With 140 delegates from 30 countries and representatives from many of the United Methodist Boards and Agencies, she was given an incredible opportunity to see and understand our connectional system at work.

Laura knew that her summer would present her with challenges and a fair share of realities to process, but she was not expecting to arrive at the Convocation at the exact same time as Typhoon Rammasun. Laura and the other delegates spent much of their time dealing with the effects and aftermath of this natural disaster. Watching locals pick up the pieces of what was left of their homes while never losing the hospitality they showed the Convocation participants had a profound impact on her. There is a rawness of being in a developing country during such an event. It was an experience that she recounts with tears, and there is no doubt she left a part of her in the Philippines. If you were to ask her where she would go if she could be any place in the world right now, without any hesitation this country in Southeast Asia would be her first and only choice.

One particular day on the Convocation, before convening to discuss legislation, she had the opportunity to pray over the Assembly. Her prayer was translated into 5 language, and she able to "hear what grace and love sounded like" in French, German, Spanish, Portuguese and Russian. "I can't replicate that," she recalls. "It was a one time experience. For me to have that opportunity was pretty unique."

Click here to read the Statement of Unity that came from the GYPCLA.

Click here for more video updates from GYPCLA, and learn more about GBOD's Young People Ministries here. 

Reflection, Seminary, and Beyond

At the end of this past semester, a friend and mentor told her that she was a "woman of social justice." Going into this summer, she wasn't sure how she was going to "unpack" that label that was given to her. Ultimately, the these things she experienced this summer as part of Young People in Mission, on the streets of urban Birmingham, and in the middle of a typhoon-laden developing country, she came to understand what it means to be a person of social justice:

"To be willing to love and act on that willingness by engaging in loving every person in every moment is an act of justice. It is an action that at its root mirrors the compassion that Jesus had for every person he came across, from the righteous to the wicked. Jesus had compassion and that compassion compelled him to act in both love and justice," she reflects.

"I've been really encouraged to have my summer begin with those words from my mentor and end in my own self-reflection of 'this is what it means to do justice.' To be able to step into this internship and see justice in every way...has been an amazing opportunity and I'm truly thankful, and I can't wait to start my last year of seminary with this in mind."

This is just a snippet of Laura’s experience this summer, but there is so much more. Take a few minutes to watch the video below to hear about Laura's summer in her own words. 

Visit our website for more information on the UMVIM, SEJ Summer Internship Program.

Have You Met Laura?

If you haven't, you're missing out. Meet Laura Kigweba: 

After establishing her spiritual roots in the youth ministry at Collierville UMC in the Memphis Conference, Laura moved across the state to attend college at UT-Chattanooga. Knowing completely that her calling was to missions, she then set out for Washington, DC, where she is now working towards her Masters of Divinity at Wesley Theological Seminary.

We are so happy to have Laura Kigweba with us for UMVIM SEJ’s Summer Internship Program. Our program encompasses both domestic and international placements, as well as time here in our office. Her domestic placement has her serving with Rev. R.G. Lyons at the Community Church Without Walls, part of Urban Ministry, a mission institution of the North Alabama Conference. She was an incredibly important part of the puzzle during our recent Young People in Mission event, where she has served in years past as a member of the Design Team and recently as a young adult representative.

As we speak, Laura is representing the Southeastern Jurisdiction at the General Board of Discipleship’s Global Young People’s Convocation and Legislative Assembly in the Philippines. As you probably know, a strong typhoon hit the country just as the delegates were arriving. We are so happy to report that everyone is accounted for, safe, and they have moved to new location so that they can continue the important work they have before them. (Check out GBOD’s update to learn more about the Convocation and to watch a short video about their experience with Typhoon Rammasun.)

When Laura finishes her summer of service, we will be telling you more about what she experienced this year while in the South and in Asia, so please be on the lookout for a follow-up blog post. In the meantime, we would like to ask you to pray for Laura as she works towards completing her internship and her time in seminary. We know the Lord has incredible plans for this bright young woman, and we here at UMVIM, SEJ are honored to be a part of them.

If YOU have a heart for missions and could see yourself as a candidate for our Summer Internship Program, please visit our Internship Page and take a moment to download the application to learn a little more about the requirements. If you have any questions or would like to speak to us about this opportunity, please contact Executive Director Paulette West.