While we were in New York, we visitied the United Methodist Womens General Board of Global Ministries in New York City (www.new.gbgm-umc.org/umw). The entire program and organization of United Methodist Women focuses on mission. Their mission initiatives include:
- Providing opportunities to grow spiritually
- Equipping women & girls to be leaders
- Providing transformative educational experiences
- Organizing for growth & flexibility
- Working for justice through service and advocacy
Focus on Women, Children & Youth
From its beginning, United Methodist Women has focused on ministries with women, children, and youth.
Women
Women have been empowered by leadership education opportunities, mission education, the Reading Program, tools for advocacy and more. These opportunities allow women to act and to empower women in the United States and abroad.
United Methodist Women also support programs and projects aimed at improving the special needs of women because of their refugee statuses, their immigration statuses, situations in which they are abused, their high illiteracy rate in some countries, their economic dependence, their educational disparities, and much more.
Children
A special emphasis of United Methodist Women is children, because women care for children. If children are raised with safety, security, food, shelter, education, and basic human rights, these children will grow to be loving and secure adults. United Methodist Women believe deeply in responding to Jesus' mandate to "care for the least of these."
Children often do not have a voice in this world, so United Methodist Women cares for them and advocates on their behalf. United Methodist Women commits to children globally through community centers, educational opportunities for refugee children, homes for street children, advocacy against sexual exploitation and child labor, educational institutions and much more.
Youth
United Methodist Women work with youth organizations globally and with programs and projects that support and empower youth. United Methodist Women also enables youth to be in mission by support of the US-2 program, the mission intern program and the Global Justice Volunteers program
A special emphasis of the organization has been to involve young women in all the ministries and leadership of United Methodist Women. A teen and college/university women consultative group helps direct the program of United Methodist Women to be more inclusive of younger women.
We also visitied the General Board of Global Ministries (www.umcmission.org).
About Global Ministries
Purpose, Vision, and Goals
The General Board of Global Ministries is the global mission agency of The United Methodist Church, its annual conferences, missionary conferences, and local congregations.
Purpose: Connecting the Church in mission
Vision: The General Board of Global Ministries equips and transforms people and places for God's mission around the world.
Four Mission Goals:
- Make disciples of Jesus Christ;
- Strengthen, develop, and renew Christian congregations and communities;
- Alleviate human suffering;
- Seek justice, freedom, and peace.
Connecting the Church in Mission
A major responsibility of Global Ministries is to connect the various parts of the Church as United Methodists engage in global mission. The aim of Global Ministries is to be a biblically rooted, historically informed, and organizationally flexible means of spreading the good news.
Theology of Mission
The Mission Theology statement guides Global Ministries’ participation in the Missio Dei. The statement frames Global Ministries’ role within the denominational mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. The transforming power belongs to God, and Global Ministries is in mission to witness to what God has done and is doing, and to learn from what God is doing in every land where disciples gather in the name of Jesus Christ. Read the Theology of Mission - See more at:
http://www.umcmission.org/Learn-About-Us/About-Global-Ministries#sthash.aCOamAm1.dpuf
