5 Reasons to Sign Up for Young People in Mission

Young People in Mission June 28-July 2, 2015 Lake Junaluska, North Carolina Registration Open Until Mid-June! Young People in Mission is a camp experience held  at beautiful Lake Junaluska that provides hands-on mission opportunities for youth and young adults. Our hope is that this event serves as a launch to empower them to serve with new eyes and a heart for Christ. Each year, young people serve with local mission projects, worship together, fellowship and grow with family groups, dive into Bible studies, and learn from featured speakers and the City of Opportunity. Here are 5 reasons to sign up your youth or young adult ministry TODAY!

1. YPIM is produced every year not by us here at UMVIM, but by 7 students from around the Jurisdiction. These students are YPIM veterans; they understand the way this event has impacted their lives in tremendous ways and work together all year to bring the same experience to your students. What better way for the participants to be ministered to than by their own peers? Click here to learn more about these dynamic young leaders!

2. This event is geared towards the Next Generation of the United Methodist Church. We utilize the connectional nature of our denomination and connect your students to leaders, projects, and Boards and Agencies within the UMC. We offer dozens of workshops for your students to choose from, and the City of Opportunity allows participants to connect further with the intention of engaging them in projects and initiatives that are of interest to them. It is also a fun time of fellowship, featuring as many sno-cones and rounds of dodgeball you could want! Click here to learn more about these connectional opportunities!

3. UMVIM emphasizes the importance of connecting with sustainable mission projects, and continuing a holistic relationship with them that is giving of energy, resources, prayer, and people. And this wouldn't be a mission camp if we didn't let everyone get their hands dirty, after all. There will be two days where participants can plug into local service projects and show Christian Love in Action! Click here to see some of the ways previous campers have served the local community!

4. This event gives participants the opportunity to worship and learn as a group in morning and evening sessions, as well as connect with each other on a closer level in Family Groups. Each student will be assigned to a Family Group with others their own age and gender that will be led by an adult participant, allowing a safe place to share whatever is on their hearts. Click here for more information on the amazing speakers we have lined up for this year!

5. If any of your students feel led to work with YPIM on a deeper level, we hope that they will apply for a position on the 2016 Design Team. It's an incredible way for them to develop their leadership skills and connect with peers from all over the Southeast. More information about the selection process will be available at the event. Click here to learn more about what a great opportunity this is for your students!

So are you ready to sign up?! We hope so, because we'd love to see you and your entire student ministry at Lake J this summer.  Signing up couldn't be easier. Just click here to go to our Cost and Registration page and you'll see everything you need to know.  If you have questions about any part of YPIM or how to register, all you have to do is call or email us.  PS: Like everyone else, we appreciate a good t-shirt. Every participant will get this YPIM tee so that we can continue to share that we are all UNIQUE...yet UNITED!  Photos courtesy of Jack Hinnen, Allen B., and Olivia S.

Jamie & Lisa Williams: Educating and Empowering the People of Belize

In 2015, we will be highlighting UMC missionaries who have been commissioned from the Southeastern Jurisdiction to serve around the world. Many of these missionaries accept volunteers to help with the important and necessary ministries they have established or are in partnership with. Contact UMVIM, SEJ for more information on how to serve!

Meet Lisa and Jamie Williams of the Kentucky Conference. Their story began as college freshman, when they knew on their first date that they were called to be in international mission service together. Their vision was cultivated over the years by prayer, dreaming, and preparation, and they are now serving in Belize as commissioned United Methodist missionaries.   The Williams began serving as short-term UMVIM team leaders while Jamie was serving as an elder in the Kentucky Conference. When their youngest child went to college, they became Individual Volunteers through UMVIM for a year and a half. "We appreciate the care of Mrs. Paulette West and Mrs. Una Jones, along with many others, who made sure we had successful training and ministry. It helped us to discern our calling into what became a full-time mission appointment with Global Ministries," recalls Lisa.

Jamie, or "PJ" as the kids call him, (short for Pastor Jamie), is the "presbyter" of the Corozal Methodist Circuit. He has three churches, and serves as chaplain for two primary schools with more than 700 children in attendance! His hope and prayer is to train new clergy and lay preachers within the Corozal Circuit, as there are very few new people coming into the ministry in Belize.Lisa is a veterinarian by trade, but staying true to her call to missions, she is now the UMVIM Team Coordinator for Belize. Her role is to work with and get to know the needs of the locals, and then place teams into the types of service where they can be best utilized. She also meets with local village children to have Sunday School on Saturday mornings, and facilitates a weekly women's Bible Study.

Education for All

The Williams' biggest project, which began in the spring of 2012, is the building of a new high school in the capital city of Belmopan. Belize has a very young population, yet only enough schools to accommodate about half of its youth.
 

The Belmopan Methodist High School has received over 40 UMVIM teams since breaking ground, and half of the project is already completed. There are 180 freshman and sophomores in attendance at this time! The student body will expand each year as the building continues in the construction process, eventually encompassing all senior high grade levels. 

"Worth Every Hard Moment"

The Williams are constantly faced with a lack of resources, and understandably, it can sometimes feel overwhelming. "The joy of seeing children being educated and learn about Jesus, watching UMVIM teams make a real difference and observing their experiences, along with parishioners so happy to receive even the smallest token of pastoral care...it makes the uncertainties of mission service worth every hard moment," say the Williams. 

Will You Answer the Call? Do you feel called to lead an UMVIM team to Belize to serve alongside the Williams? They have many congregations and schools that need resources, workers, and people to love them! You can learn more about the Williams by visiting their website and blog, where you will also find information on how to connect with them in UMVIM service. To learn more about what it means to be involved in healthy, covenant relationships with long-term efforts, please reach out to our office. UMVIM, SEJ harnesses the strong connectional nature of the United Methodist Church, connects teams to sustainable mission opportunities, provides in-depth leader training, and offers supplemental health insurance to short-term missioners. Photos: Courtesy of Jamie and Lisa Williams

Why We Train Short-Term Mission Team Leaders

Every day, UMVIM helps to expand the work of missionaries across the world. Have you considered being part of a trained UMVIM team, or have you been praying about how to empower our ministry that exists to empower you? Read on to learn more about why we connect and equip the dozens of short-term volunteers who depart each week to serve with UMC missionaries and their vital ministries across the country and the world.

UMVIM Prays and Surrounds Missionaries With God's Love

Before the devastation of the Ebola crisis, missionaries Nancy and Kip Robinson were serving the people of Sierra Leone. Nancy trained pastors, evangelists and lay leaders, while Kip oversaw the numerous building efforts of the Sierra Leone Annual Conference, including wells, schools, and hospitals. Though stateside for the time being, the Robinsons will return to Sierra Leone, where people will need medical professionals, teachers will need salaries, and the children orphaned by Ebola will need families. Can you provide funds to help train team leaders to serve alongside the Robinsons?

UMVIM Teams Help Missionaries With Crucial Repairs and Rebuilds 

In Chile, missionary John Elmore works at the El Vergel Agricultural School, a Methodist boarding school that teaches horticulture and animal husbandry to the local youth. Thanks to UMVIM teams, John will be able to install new heating systems and accomplish general upkeep. Additionally, John is in charge of rebuilding Angol Methodist Church, which was badly damaged in a 2010 earthquake that devastated this beautiful country. Can your church send a team to help repair the school and the church?

UMVIM Helps Missionaries Reach More People 

In Panama, with the assistance of two nurses who shared their knowledge of community-based health, missionary Rhett Thompson was able to implement a curriculum that has trained more than two dozen indigenous Ngabe about key public health practices such as first aid, sanitation, disease prevention and sexual and reproductive health. Many of the graduates from this program, in turn, teach these essential skills in their own communities. What can you share to help keep public health education in Panama moving forward? 

These are just four missionaries who have dedicated their lives to UMC ministries across the world, and we are proud to have UMVIM teams serving alongside them. Want one more suggestion for contributing? Sign up for UMVIM Team Leader Training so that you are ready to go. The needs are there. Please help the ministry of UMVIM and the communities we serve.
  

With your gift to support UMVIM, SEJ, you empower thousands of volunteers and help to transform lives through God's love and grace.   

Please consider generously giving to Advance #901875 by clicking here, or mailing a check to 100 Centerview Drive, Suite 210, Birmingham, AL 35216.

Thank you for the continued prayers and support that keep our ministry strong.

Grace and peace,

Paulette West

Executive Director

Don't Try to Change Lives

By Gabe Barrett, Executive Director of M25 Mission Camps

When I was living in Los Angeles, there was a moment when my entire perspective on missions changed. I was working in a homeless shelter, and I had been to Skid Row which is basically the mecca of homelessness in our country. I had met people in heartbreaking situations. I had smelled the rundown hotels and sidewalks where they slept. I had seen people passed out in the gutter. I had heard story after gut wrenching story of pain and loss and brokenness.

And I've got to be honest, the weight of those burdens was killing me.

A friend took me up to a high hill close to his house, and we looked out over the city. I could see the Hollywood sign. I could see the ocean and the beaches. I could see the airplanes as they circled the area and came in to land. I could see Santa Monica to Inglewood to Compton to Long Beach to everything in between. And I thought about how many millions and millions of people were in just the area I could see.

I wondered how many of them were struggling with some terrible situation. I wondered how many of them were hurting. I wondered how many of them were broken. I wondered how many of them were in desperate need of Jesus. And then I wondered how someone like me could ever hope to make an impact. Even if I spent the rest of my life devoted to the city, how many people would I ever be able to talk to? How many lives could I change compared to how many were in dire need?

I remember feeling very. very. small.

But then it happened. As I looked out over the city of Angels, a quiet voice sounded in the back of my head. 

"Just change a day," it said. "I'll change lives. You just change someone's day."

My burden was immediately lifted. It wasn't up to me to change someone's life. 

That's God's business. 

He was calling me to change a person's day. To make them laugh. To encourage them. To inspire them. And to do everything in my power to help make today better than the yesterday. God would take care of the rest. And it occurred to me that if enough people changed enough days, some absolutely amazing things would happen.

So, when M25 Mission Camp was founded and I was made the director, we started on a journey to change as many days as possible in the city of Atlanta. Whether we’re at a shelter, soup kitchen, or under a bridge, we just try to make somebody’s day a little better.

A while back, I was with a group of high school students downtown. We were making pancakes and inviting all of our residentially challenged friends in to join us for brunch. 

A tall, older man named Clark came in, and two of the students found out it was his birthday. So they ran into the kitchen, made a big stack of pancakes, and scrounged around for some birthday candles. The students lit the candles and brought the pancakes out to Clark. There were about seventy people in the room, and everyone stopped and sang "happy birthday."

Tears streamed down Clark's face. He blew out the candles and everyone clapped. 

A while later, when Clark got up to leave, I stopped him at the door and asked him how old he was that day. He said 60. 

Then I asked, "When's the last time someone sang you happy birthday?” 

He thought for a little bit and said, "I think I was 15 the last time someone did that for me."

45 years.

It had been 45 years since someone had said, "Clark, it's your day. And since it's your day, we're gonna light some candles and sing you happy birthday."

45 years.

Did those birthday pancakes change Clark's life? Probably not. Did they change Clark's day?

Absolutely.

And it all started with two high school students seeing an opportunity to love someone. That’s what M25 Mission Camp is all about.

M25 is a mission-based camp program for youth and young adults based in Atlanta, GA. At the core of M25 is realizing that service is not about pity or obligation. It’s about compassion, love, and pursuing Jesus. Check out their website for more information on camps, as well as short-term staff opportunities. 

Photos courtesy of M25.

Individual Volunteer Opportunities

One of the practical ways of engaging in mission is through a short-term mission experience. If you would like to serve for a longer period, the Individual Volunteer Program sponsored by Global Ministries can help you accomplish that. The program offers opportunities for individuals and couples to serve in mission from two months to two years in a variety of placements around the world.

One placement site that is in need of a volunteer is Open Doors, Inc., a Church World Service agency that provides support for incoming refugees who were forced to leave their home countries. It is located in Sacramento, California.

Another placement site is Colegio Metodista Piracicabano in Brazil. They are seeking an English teacher for primary and secondary schools. The volunteer will assist in teaching, as well as promote and design cultural workshops. 

If you perhaps called to the Middle East, there is an urgent need at the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church in Mafraq, Jordan for volunteer school teachers. The students are children of Syrian refugees.

To learn more about these volunteer opportunities and many more, or to apply, please visit www.individualvolunteers.info. The next training will be held May 13-16, 2015 in Nashville, TN. Please contact Malcom Frazier at mfrazier@umcmission.org or call 212-870-3659.

{Mission Highlight} Rhett Thompson in Panama + the Importance of UMVIM Teams

Panama is the little Latin American country that connects North America to South America. You could just about stand in the middle with your arms reached out and touch both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Famous for its canal, sure, but ask anyone connected to United Methodist missions, and they will immediately think of Rev. Rhett Thompson. 

Rhett has been serving in Panama since 1985 as a General Board of Global Ministries missionary, and we’d love to tell you a little more about some of the incredible projects he has implemented alongside his UMVIM partners.  

Public Health Training

One of Rhett’s goals in Panama was to establish a community-based health program, but he was having a slow go of it. Two nurses from the North Central Jurisdiction answered the call to collaborate, and the three of them designed and implemented a public health curriculum that they then taught to the locals. Given the literacy limitations of those with whom they were working, they used methods such as storytelling, games, and demonstrations rather than setting a textbook in front of their students. 

More than 2 dozen indigenous Ngabe have been trained through this program, where they have learned key public health practices such as first aid, sanitation and disease prevention, and sexual and reproductive health. More than half of their graduates remain active in their communities, teaching these relatively simple but essential skills to those around them.

Bridge to Dental Health

Rhett grew up at Canterbury UMC in Birmingham, Alabama, and his stateside congregation really rallied around him and his efforts to promote dental health to the Ngabe people. Church member Dr. Kevin Alexander recalls the first time they were in the remote village of Cienaguita in 1999, saying “the kids had to swim across the river to get to us. The dental office was the porch of a 3 room house and the dental chair was an old Adirondack-type chair with flashlights held to see. We had to purify our water, or bring it ourselves.” 

Nearly 16 years later, with the support of his UMVIM teams, there is a full-fledged dental clinic with modern day equipment, rather than a porch with flashlights. There is a even a bridge in place now, so no one has to swim across the water to maintain their dental health.

A Place to Call Home
For two solid decades, Trinity UMC in Homewood, AL has been in a covenant relationship with Rhett. In 2013, they worked with him to come up with a very specific and detailed plan for 6 houses to be built over the next 3 years. But rather than parachute in with hammers and nails, Trinity’s intentionality to work long-term with Rhett, the local Ngabe community, and the Panamanian government is why this initiative has been such a success. 

All of these initiatives embody a healthy mission model: short-term teams partner with a long-term missionary who understands the locals and their needs, they empower and educate while keeping native traditions in-tact, and all parties work with the government to achieve their goals.

To learn more about what it means to be involved in healthy, covenant relationships with long-term efforts, including opportunities with Rhett Thompson, please reach out to our office. UMVIM, SEJ harnesses the strong connectional nature of the United Methodist Church, connects teams to sustainable mission opportunities, provides in-depth leader training, and offers supplemental health insurance to short-term missioners. 

Special thanks to Jane Dunn, Dr. Kevin Alexander, and Nathan Carden for their contributions to this article. 

Words: Malinda Kay Nichols | Photos: Courtesy of GBGM, Jane Dunn, and Rhett Thompson