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United Methodist Women of The Eastern Pennsylvania Conference |
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United Methodist Women's mission education programs equip members for mission involvement through:
- study and exposure to new information that expands concepts of mission;
- interaction with people from diverse communities;
- prayer and reflection; and
- opportunities to participate in mission activities.
United Methodist Women's mission eduction programs include:
Mission studies and Schools of Christian Mission -- Each year selected themes related to spiritual growth topic, a geographic area, and a current issue are the focus of study in United Methodist Women Schools of Christian Missions around the country. The schools, a program started in the mid-1930s, are organized by United Methodist Women leaders in each regional conference of the United Methodist Church.
School of Christian Mission 2009
Together at the Table
Dates: July 23-25, 2009
Thursday - Saturday
West Lawn United Methodist Church
15 Woodside Avenue
West Lawn, PA
SPIRITUAL GROWTH STUDY Food and Faith
For generations the table has been an important symbol for the gathered community. It is around the table that food is shared, discussions are held, decisions are made, crafts are created and board games are played.
As Christians, we are reminded of the significance of the table in Jesus’ life and ministry.
All along his journey, Jesus shared meals in the home of friends. In the temple, he overturned the tables of injustice. On the eve of his death, around the table with his disciples, he broke bread and set forth a means of grace for all who would believe.
Yet, when we gather at the table, there are contradictions. At the table, there is feast and there is famine. At the table, treaties are made and treaties are broken. At the table, hospitality is offered and hospitality is denied. At the table we gather to celebrate and we gather to grieve. At the table there is peace and there is conflict. At the table, there is hope and there is doubt.
Our human frailties and the realities of the world in which we live too often divide and exclude people at our tables. The Christ we follow calls us to a higher standard of living and loving as together we work for peace and justice for all of creation.
As the Psalmist says “Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations . Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.” (Psalm 90:1-2)
Though we are many, we are bound by a living God who goes before us and embraces all. In the sacred circle of life, enfolding the world and all that dwells therein, all are together at the table of God’s love.
ISSUE STUDY
Giving Our Hearts Away: Native American Survival by Thom White Wolf Fassett with Study Guide by Brenda Connelly - 2008 and 2009 Mission Study Theme
Nowhere else in the theology and praxis of mission has there been more change in what was formally called “home mission” than the ways in which The United Methodist Church relates to Native American peoples. From a history of collaboration with war on native peoples and the attempt to eliminate native religion and culture, The United Methodist Church has moved to a spirit that strives for understanding and acceptance.
The purposes of this study are to learn about the inter-relatedness between the indigenous peoples and their land, to identify selected key issues affecting the Native Americans in the United States and to examine the root causes of these issues, to understand and appreciate the “Give Away” culture of the Native Americans in the areas of spirituality, ecology, language, story-telling, food, and to lead the participants to act as responsible US citizens and Christians in accompaniment and solidarity with Native Americans.
Some important issues to be discussed include: Myths concerning Native Americans, sovereignty issues and definition of tribe, economic development and gaming, unemployment and alcoholism, the place of the church in Native American spirituality.
Rev. Thomas Fassett begins our study book for 2008-9 “The title of this [study] was inspired by a communication written by Ferdinand Columbus to his sovereigns on one of his four voyages to the “new world.” He wrote that the Natives were a kind, gentle and generous people who would give him their hearts if he asked them to do so. (1) At first it wasn’t their hearts he asked for but their gold. But before Columbus concluded his excursions into the Americas, he set into motion such depravations as would astound modern readers of history by demanding both gold and the hearts and lives of the indigenous peoples. This process continues even in our own times as military forces, sophisticated weaponry and legal actions take the very hearts of Native peoples by claiming their land–the very center of Native spiritual reality.”
The study will search for appropriate ways for United Methodists to be engaged in mission with Native Americans. What are contemporary needs and how best can those needs be met? How do we cooperate with tribal structures and be sensitive to cultural issues?
1. Although commonly used by Indian authors and others, this reference can be found in: Benjamin Keen (translator), The Life of Christopher Columbus by his Son Ferdinand (Greenwood Press, NY 1978).
GEOGRAPHIC STUDY
The Beauty and Courage of Sudan: Why a Dream of Peace Is Possible
Mission Study, 2009-2010
For most of the past twenty years the country of Sudan has been plagued with severe drought. Desertification is apparent in the west, where thorn bushes dominate the savanna landscape of South Darfur and are killing out the native acacia trees. The shortages of food due to drought have sometimes reached famine proportions. Climate change in Sudan is not just a looming crisis; it is the reality on the ground. And then there are the wars of Sudan: unremitting, for nearly all its history.
Yet at Sudan’s core is beauty. Polish journalist Ryszard Kapuscinski captured it well: “More than anything one is struck by the light.” Aside from the landscape’s beauty, there is an interior beauty: The spirit of courage. A richness of tradition, antiquity, cultures, and natural resources. Human interchange and endurance in all its mystery. The Mission Study for 2009-2010, The Beauty and Courage of Sudan: Why a Dream of Peace Is Possible, written by Linda Beher, with study guide by Maxine West, offers an extended portrait of Sudan. Explored are an overview of history that began in Bible times; the country’s main ethnicities, religions and languages; touch points and possible causes for the wars; the way Sudanese women are contributing to the peace process and to the culture as a whole; a critique of the severe impact of colonialism and current challenges; and some ways in which people of faith can embrace and affirm the Sudanese people. Sudan is “other” in ways that disconcert Westerners who struggle to understand. The theologian Sally McFague encouraged us to view differences with others with a “loving eye” rather than the “arrogant eye” sometimes brought to such discourse. Using our loving eye in this study, we can see that Sudan and its people embody and inspirit many of the issues of the 21st Century continent of Africa. Their beauty and courage promise the hope that eventually they will realize the dream of peace.
