E-News September 2008

"Please pray for us!"

Girl with facial burns The Methodist Church is calling for urgent prayer for thousands of persecuted Christians in India as violence flares across the state of Orissa.

The British Methodist Church offered its support to The Church of North India (CNI) earlier this month as more than 50,000 people were left homeless and many killed in attacks following the worst anti-Christian violence India has seen since independence 60 years ago.

“Fear of attack has taken every Christian into its grip and our people are living in the most persecuting time of their lives. Will you join us in prayer for our brethren in Orissa? Kindly uphold the people of Orissa in your prayers, that God grants them strength to bear the losses and also to be witness of his love in these trying times.”
The Revd Dr Enos Das Pradhan from The Church of North India (CNI)

Steve Pearce, Partnership Coordinator for Asia and the Pacific, was keen to pass on CNI’s request. “To use religion as a justification for attacking individuals or groups is abhorrent and yet we are seeing widespread community violence,” he said. “We have heard of horrific attacks on homes, places of worship and individuals. Many of us were moved this week by a press photo of a young girl whose face had been burnt because she was a Christian. We ask the Indian Government to act for peace, to act for the vulnerable and quickly to undermine the culture of intolerance and violence while there is time.”

For more information click here.

New year: new changes

September sees the start of the reconfigured Connexional Team serving the Methodist Church. There is a new General Secretary: The Revd Dr Martyn Atkins and three new strategic leaders: The Revd Dr Mark Wakelin (Secretary for Internal Relationships), Ms Christine Elliot telephone t (Secretary for External Relationships) and Mr John Ellis (Secretary for Connexional Team Operations).

One of the immediate changes you will notice about the reconfigured Team is when phoning Methodist Church House. Most of the calls will be answered by a member of the Help Desk who will try and assist you with your enquiry. Alternatively they will forward your call to a member of staff who will be able to answer your query.

To contact the Help Desk phone 020 7486 5502 or email helpdesk@methodistchurch.org.uk.

Harvest - MRDF's emergency update on Ethiopia

Reclaim Harvest, the Methodist Relief and Development Fund's resource pack for churches, features work in Ethiopia.

The failure of the May rains has put Ethiopia in the headlines this summer: people have been forced to eat the grain they would normally plant and malnutrition, especially among children, has increased sharply.

MRDF has responded to literally help to reclaim some of this year's harvest.

Find out how you can help by reclaiming Harvest with MRDF in your church.

Could God be calling you to serve overseas?

The Methodist Church in Britain has several programmes to send adults to work in other parts of the World Church in response to requests from partner Churches:

Mission partner?

At the moment we are seeking a Methodist minister to serve as a mission partner at the large and growing Methodist International Church in Hong Kong to start in (or before) September 2009.
Closing date for applications is 22 September; interview day in London on 3 October.
Details from Jane Cullen tel: 020 7467 5154.

EEP?

The Experience Exchange Programme offers the opportunity for individuals to spend between six and twelve months living and working alongside people in another part of the world, learning from a new culture and experiencing the Church there. The programme is run jointly with USPG: Anglicans in World Mission. Previous volunteers have taught in schools, helped on agricultural, health and building projects and with children and youth work.

For more information, click here.

Get Fair

Get Fair, a coalition of over 50 children’s and older people’s organisations, refugee and disabled groups, housing groups, community and faith groups (including the Methodist Church) was launched on 11 September.

Niall Cooper, coordinator of the Get Fair campaign said, “Why is it that in the fifth richest country in the world, poverty continues to blight the lives of far too many people? Why is it that too many have failed to share in our increased prosperity as a nation? Ultimately what is lacking is the popular pressure and political will to bring change about.”

Get Fair calls for an end to poverty in the UK, and campaigns for a just and fair society. This means positively changing people’s attitudes by helping them better understand the causes of poverty and what it means to be poor.

www.getfair.org.uk