Photo courtesy of Glacy Macabale
Philippine Coastal Cleanup
Volunteers from the United Methodist Church cleanup in observance of World Oceans Day. The cleanup was in coordination with the Save Freedom Island Movement and other groups.
United Methodists in the United States may be familiar with the plans and priorities of their annual conference or perhaps an agency or two that they may be particularly invested in. But how can United Methodists find out what it really is that their religious compatriots around the world really care about and where they are focusing their efforts?
Here is an opportunity to do just that for the Philippines, where internal political strife combined with outside extremists and natural disasters have created one of The United Methodist Church's most challenging fields for mission and ministry.
The Philippines Central Conference has made its 2017-2020 Quadrennial Plan available through Google Docs. While few may want to read the entire 54-page program spreadsheet, this document offers good insight into the priorities of fellow United Methodists around the world.
The document details efforts that the Philippines Central Conference will make over the next four years in the following categories:
- develop[ing] vital congregations;
- developing principled Christian leaders;
- certified coaches;
- financial support to UMC theology students;
- happy, healthy, holy clergy and deaconesses;
- financial independence;
- performance evaluation system;
- ministry with the poor;
- stamp out killer diseases;
- caring for the environment;
- preparedness for catastrophes;
- and respect for human rights.
Just in the past year, Filipino United Methodists have:
- confronted their government over extrajudicial killings;
- offered refuge to starving, striking farmers seeking land reform;
- championed the rights of the Lumad people;
- offered relief and recovery to victims of hurricanes and earthquakes;
- held disaster preparedness trainings;
- and sheltered refugees from fighting between the military and Islamist extremists on the island of Mindanao.
Learning how the Philippines Central Conference plans to serve God, the church and the people over the next four years could prove instructive to other United Methodists all around the world.
Dr. David W. Scott, a United Methodist layman, serves as director of mission evangelism for the General Board of Global Ministries in Atlanta. United Methodist Insight Editor Cynthia B. Astle contributed to this article, which is expanded from an original post on the collaborative blog, UM & Global.