New Beginnings

I've never had a blog before, but I decided to start one in order to keep everyone updated with my activities and whereabouts. I accepted an offer from the General Board of Global Ministries, a part of The United Methodist Church, to be a part of their 3 year mission intern program. 18 months will be spent in another country and 18 months will be spent in America.

I received confirmation today that I will be serving my international portion in South Africa with The Methodist Church of Southern Africa! They are bringing me on to develop a model regarding the protection of children. The problem presented to me was that of a migrating population. Many people are moving to South Africa to find work and that raises problems if something happens to the parents. If for some reason the parents of a migrating family die, then the children are left vulnerable to human trafficking. The proposed plan is to somehow have the local churches track who is in their area. If churches are more present in the life of the community, then they can better protect the people around them. I can’t wait to talk more about this issue with my future colleagues and see how I can help them to bring their plans to life.

When creating this blog, I chose to entitle it “Missio Dei: Where Worlds Collide.” Missio Dei or “God’s Mission” is one of grace and love. God is already working in the world to spread these qualities. Over these three years (and over the rest of my lifetime) I will be humbly participating in this mission that is already in progress. When including “Where Worlds Collide” in the title, I was thinking about the many barriers that separate us today as a global community, such as race, religion, gender, socio-economic status, politics, and education. I believe that the acceptance of differences will get us all much further towards accomplishing mission Dei. Through doing this program, I will be entering into relationships with many people who are, on the outside, very different from myself. My hope is that these differences can be lifted up and diversity celebrated. I want to share my experiences with you all, so that your eyes may be opened up, alongside mine, on this journey.