{#GivingTuesday 2016} UMVIM, SEJ Board Member

This year, the UMVIM, SEJ Staff and Board has come together and pledged $12,000 of funds that will be matched, dollar for dollar, for every generous donation that is given on November 29: #GivingTuesday 2016. We believe our mission is big, and we also believe that we can't send trained, equipped volunteers into the field to show Christian Love in Action without the support of our community. 

This year, learn more from those who have personally experienced the impact of all UMVIM has to offer. Jane Dunn, UMVIM, SEJ Board of Directors Medical Chair was asked to share what UMVIM means to her. 

What challenges do volunteers have serving in Panama?

Coming from a culture with material wealth and many education opportunities, it is often a challenge for UMVIM Volunteers to listen and learn from those living in poor societies.  One such place exists in the jungle society of the primitive Ngabe people of Panama.

What differences do you see in teams whose leaders have been trained by UMVIM, SEJ?

As a trained UMVIM Team Leader that had been taught about cultural diversity and collaboration and returning to Panama for several consecutive years to partner with the Ngabe people, my first inclination was to decide on OUR plan for them and only provide short-term clinic services.  We soon learned through the input of our missionary host, Rev. Rhett Thompson, and local leaders that a partnership where Ngabe goals and needs were identified worked best. 

Share a brief story about the impact of volunteers

A three-part health promoter curriculum was developed to address issues of sanitation, disease transmission and maternal/sexual health.  Students volunteered or were selected by their communities to pariticipate.  Most of the students had marginal reading skills from either zero to up to 3^rd grade level.  None had successfully completed a formal education program until they “graduated” from this 3 week course.

Through the formation of friendships and collaboration, over 22 Ngabe students have completed the course, of which over half continue to serve in their communities.  One trained health promoter who was explaining the program to visitors said, “Most people in our country just think we are dirty and ignorant, but…you (UMVIM Team) believed in us!”   What a blessing for our UMVIM group to be partners in a successful program that has blossomed under the direction of our Panama brothers and sisters.  God is Good…. All the Time!

On November 29: #GivingTuesday 2016, donations will be matched, dollar for dollar, up to $12,000. Please give generously to Advance #901875.

Why Should You Invest in UMVIM Leader Training?

What is your first reaction when you see TV news footage of communities in need in the US or around the world? Unfortunately, you see this quite often. You want to help. Before you gather your clothing donations, rush to someone's aid, or try to engage others in responding, the first step is to learn how to help. That starts with training, and training is a major part of what UMVIM, SEJ offers to you. Whether you are leading a team on a short-term mission journey, or are part of a long-term recovery team after a disaster, UMVIM, SEJ offers training that ensures you--and your faith community--are prepared to help intentionally and effectively. Why support UMVIM training? Training helps disaster survivors and vulnerable communities. Ignoring training doesn't just leave the volunteer ill-equipped; even the most well-meaning people can cause harm if they don't know how to respond in the proper way. UMVIM, SEJ training is a national model of excellence. We have trained thousands of short-term mission team leaders on how to effectively lead their teams in the field. We developed our UMVIM Team Leader training classesand wrote the UMVIM Team Leader Handbook based on our 40+ years of experience in the short-term mission field. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and the countless tornadoes and many hurricanes that our region is vulnerable to, we have been able to sharpen our best practices in the aftermath of disaster. We may have more disasters, but we have more knowledge as well.

The best ideas are exchanged. UMVIM training allows a free exchange of ideas from one conference to another. Our workshops provide fellowship and a rich learning experience. The results are clear: better coordination and enhanced skills for responders. If you can't attend training at this time in your life, won't you help someone who can? UMVIM needs your presence, your prayers, and your funding support to help sustain and update its vibrant training programs. Your contribution to UMVIM training will ultimately have a ripple effect that allow thousands of people in need get the best kind of help from our volunteers. Please help ensure our training goes on for years to come. Please give generously to Advance number 901875 at www.umcmission.org/give or mail your check to: UMVIM, SEJ, 100 Centerview Drive, Suite 210, Birmingham, AL 35216. Thank you for your continued prayers and generosity!  Grace and peace, Paulette West UMVIM, SEJ Executive Director

{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)

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.

{Invest} Volunteers: The Backbone of Vital Ministries

A group of a dozen volunteers had spent four days painting a house in an urban area of Birmingham, Alabama. At the end of their stay, they realized they were not quite finished.
 

"It wasn't necessary that they finish," explained Danny Jones, Director for Volunteer Recruitment at Urban Ministry. "It's not like it wasn't going to get done."

Typically, volunteers on a mission trip work for several days or a week, then the next crew of volunteers takes over the job. But this particular group took extra joy in seeing their project from start to finish. "They got up at 6:30 in the morning on day they were supposed to leave in order to finish that house," said Jones.
 

Volunteering not only helps someone else, it also deepens that person's relationship with God. "I think when folks come and put their hands and feet, and sweat and labor, into their faith, that it just takes on a new meaning and a new perspective," added Jones.

Answering the Call

Volunteer training is an integral part of UMVIM because it is a key way to prepare yourself to answer the call when others are in need. In April of this year, tornadoes struck throughout North Carolina, killing one person and injuring 27 others. More than 327 homes were damaged or destroyed across four counties.
 

For many years, Ann Huffman has coordinated disaster response volunteers for the North Carolina Conference. In the wake of the tornadoes, she marveled at how quickly trained volunteer teams were able to help tornado survivors. "We had an Early Response Team that had just received training about two or three weeks before the tornadoes," she said. "They were responding within their own communities. The timing was absolutely perfect."

From City to Country
Whether volunteers are in the city, at a disaster site, or in a rural setting, they have a tremendous impact on the lives of others.
 

Rebecca Dean, who helps coordinate volunteers for Alabama Rural Ministry, says young people in particular are personally impacted by their own experience as volunteers. "I can honestly say that our ministry would not be possible without the vigor, love or joy that volunteers, especially youth, bring to rural Alabama," she said. "These young people come with such an eagerness to serve and love on families and children whom they have never met."

Did you know December 2nd is this year's National Day of Giving? Click here to learn more about #GivingTuesday, and follow us across our social media channels and blogall month long for our ongoing #GivingTuesday campaign, where we are sharing the story of our ministry through our volunteers. 

Beginning at midnight on December 2, 2014, GBGM is matching the first $1 million in donations made through the Advance, up to $2,500 per donor. Your generous donation will help support our ministry of empowering and equipping volunteers for the short-term mission field.

Words: Susan Kim | Photos: UMVIM, SEJ and ARM

Volunteer Training: It Matters to Disaster Survivors

A survivor of the catastrophic 2010 earthquake in Haiti was visiting the Dominican Republic. He was greeted by some young missionaries and accompanied by a friend, Rev. Michael Dunbar, pastor at New Covenant United Methodist Church in Douglasville, Georgia.

"The missionaries were putting together bags of beans and rice to donate to the Haitian earthquake survivors," recalled Dunbar. As a devotion, they began discussing a verse from Matthew 25:40: "The King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.'"

This particular verse has a timeless message that has moved many people over thousands of years. But for the Haitian man, having recently experienced the trauma of a disaster, the verse became a source of personal stress.
The man sharply questioned the group: "Who are you to call my people 'the least?'"
The missionaries certainly did not intend for their devotion to cause offense. And, in the end, the group prayed together in a spirit of love and friendship.

But the moment illustrated an important message for Rev. Dunbar, who has volunteered at disaster sites many times. "We enter into that post-disaster arena thinking that these people are 'the least.' They are not. Ultimately, we are not going to simply fix a house. We're going to walk alongside a person."

Learning to Walk Again
Walking alongside a disaster survivor is not one-hundred percent intuitive. It takes training. It takes learning from the experience of other volunteers and from the honest feedback of disaster survivors themselves.

United Methodist Volunteers In Mission (UMVIM), through trainings offered via Disaster Academies and other outlets, has helped thousands of volunteers learn how to respond safely and with sensitivity. A crucial aspect of UMVIM's training philosophy is to train long-term recovery volunteer leaders who can then train others. After a large disaster strikes and swift action is necessary, UMVIM assists by deploying trained early response teams into the affected area as quickly as possible.

How Can YOU Help?
First, connect with a training opportunity. The Southeastern Jurisdiction is especially vulnerable to hurricanes and tornadoes. Get trained now, before a storm strikes. Please visit our Disaster Response page for more information, or reach out to your Conference UMVIM Coordinator

Second, please donate to help support training that makes a world of difference to disaster survivors everywhere. With your help, we can all learn to walk beside each other with hope and love. Please prayerfully consider a donation to Advance #901875, or by mailing a check to:UMVIM SEJ, 100 Centerview Drive, Suite210, Birmingham, AL 35216. 

As always, your gift and faithfulness to build God's Kingdom is greatly appreciated by countless people.

Thank you for your generosity and continued prayers.

Grace and peace,

Paulette S. West
Executive Director
UMVIM, SEJ