It's a Small World by Michele Friedner & Annelies Kusters

Author:Michele Friedner & Annelies Kusters [Friedner Michele]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Gallaudet University Press
Published: 2015-09-14T04:00:00+00:00

Deaf-Led Short-Term Missions in a Methodist Context

Methodism traces its roots back to the Anglican minister, John Wesley. After being denied a parish appointment in the Church of England, Wesley began an itinerant ministry, preaching in fields and factories in England and a brief overseas trip to the Georgia colony in what would later become the United States of America. In his journal entry dated June 11, 1739, he muses about the criticisms against his travels that took him into other Church of England parishes and declares, “I look upon all the world as my parish” (Wesley [1951] 2014, 65). The spirit of this declaration has echoed throughout the variety of Methodist denominations that have arisen since Wesley’s time, including the UMC. One result of this global understanding of the church is that the fastest growing areas of The United Methodist Church are now in sub-Saharan Africa. African delegates to our general conference, where policy and doctrinal standards are decided, constitute 30 percent of delegates at the 2016 General Conference and this number will likely be greater by the 2020 General Conference (United Methodist News Service 2013). In recognition of this demographic shift, plans are being made to potentially have the 2024 General Conference gather in a location outside of the United States for the first time in history (United Methodist Communications 2013).

The United Methodist Church and related Methodist denominations stand apart from other denominations in having a distinctive polity that allows for shared decision making on church policy and doctrinal standards through processes of Christian conferencing. In addition, UMC congregations are related through a connectional and itinerant clergy. This structural relationship means that clergypersons are appointed to serve in churches by area bishops in consultation with congregations rather than directly hired by congregations. In addition, clergypersons are occasionally moved to new churches in order to apply their specific gifts of ministry to other congregations and keep the ultimate leadership and ownership of a congregation in the domain of the laity who are members of that congregation. Sharing these distinctive ways of relating to one another allows various Methodists to bond together quickly and organize mission relationships that seek to implement this shared decision making and a balance between skilled leadership and local ownership true to our common Methodist heritage.

As inheritors of a Methodist way, Deaf people involved with various UMC congregations in the United States began to engage in short-term missions with Deaf people in other countries in the late 1990s. Facilitating these efforts was the United Methodist Congress of the Deaf (UMCD). The UMCD is a special interest caucus of The United Methodist Church where Deaf ministries communicate, coordinate, and advocate for Deaf people throughout the ministry structures of the UMC. From 1997 to 2002, prior to joining the faculty in 2008, I was the United Methodist campus minister at Gallaudet University. This made me a part of the unique international presence of Gallaudet, the only four-year liberal arts school in the world specifically designed to meet the needs of Deaf and hard of hearing students.

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