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Global Mission Office

<typohead type="2">Glenn Barclay returns </typohead>

How wonderful it was to see Glenn safely back in New Zealand after 5 months in Ramallah as our Global Missioner on the EAPPI programme. We will be planning a ‘road show’ so that Glenn is able to tell her story and the story of the Holy Land. Details to follow and you can read more on their website http://www.eappi.org/eappiweb.nsf/index.htm

<typohead type="2">Global Cent$</typohead>

This month sees the re-launching of the mission box scheme which will now be known as Global Cent$. The idea is a simple one. The box is placed on the kitchen bench and collects all your loose change. It can be placed on the dinner table (do families still sit at a table to eat dinner?) and a contribution is made by the person saying grace. Maybe a special blessing will prompt a bigger gift. However you use it, it will hopefully serve as a constant reminder of the plight of the impoverished in the world and as a fund raiser to help us meet their needs in some significant way.

Our hope is that this is a practical way for parishes to encourage their members to be involved in Global Mission. Boxes are available from Lori Hill at globalmissiongazette(at)xtra.co.nz or the GMO.

<typohead type="2">People Link</typohead>

We are always looking for people who are willing to fill specific short term positions overseas. Some examples:

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Volunteer service for a year at an AIDS orphanage in Zambia (all expenses paid)

English teaching in Thailand (all expenses covered)

Administrator in New Caledonia (Partly sponsored French fluency a prerequisite)

Tutor in Boat building in Vanuatu (package to be determined)

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<typohead type="2">Quik Gifts</typohead>

"Quik Gifts” are a quick way for you and/or your parish to make an immediate impact. Never more than NZ$5000 with no long term commitment.

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Help Friends of Jagadhri meet their target to sponsor the building of a second flat to accommodate the Nursing Tutors. The first is nearing completion thanks to the generosity of Presbyterians all over NZ

Lecturer Project to Talua Ministry Training Centre – Vanuatu. Sponsor a one month Lectureship programme ($1500)

Purchase new resources and books for the Onesua High School library in Vanuatu. (from NZ$100.00 per book)

Navota Truck appeal – nearly there

Sponsor an Indonesian Doctoral student to attend an International Conference in Adelaide in 2004 - $1000

Pay towards the cost of the Global Mission Gazette ($1 per copy)

Disaster Relief Trust – Help sent to India, Nuie, Vanuatu and Madagascar this year. Your donation today enables us to respond when disaster strikes tomorrow – any size donations received

Support the next Christian World Service Appeal

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<typohead type="2">Link Gifts</typohead>

‘Link Gifts’ are smaller gifts made over a longer term thus linking you as a friend of a community/ project. Why don’t you consider supporting:

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The Prison Ministry in Thailand run by Kathryn McDaniel (Thailand Trust)

Bush Missioner Programme in Vanuatu. Link yourself with an island community

Project Officer Trust (Vanuatu) – commit yourself to a monthly donation and share in Roy Pearson’s work and progress

Support our Peace Project in the Holy Land. An ongoing financial commitment is required to sustain our work into the future

Support an AIDS Initiative Programme in East London, South Africa ($250/month)

Become the Global Mission contact person in your parish. Start a Mission Focus group. Distribute the Gazettes. Highlight the need

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Web Links – view the world from your seat.

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Very creative – an online volunteer service utilising your computing skill for good.
http://www.onlinevolunteering.org/

The truth on what is happening in Iraq. Everyday stories posted from inside.
http://www.wildfirejo.org.uk/

Good article on faith at work in the workplace
http://www.bruderhof.com/articles/Faith-At-Work.htm?source=BruderhofUpdate

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<typohead type="2">Medical File</typohead>

Malaria - The Independent reported that malarial experts have accused the WHO and UN Global Fund for contributing to the rise in the death rate from malaria by promoting useless drugs. The Global Fund spent US$41.4m on chloroquine and sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine in 2003 which are useless due to growing drug resistance. US$18.3m was spent on effective artemesinin-based therapies. The WHO Roll Back Malaria programme admitted mistakes had been made and blamed the governments of the countries where they operate for refusing the more expensive drugs. Over one million people die each year from malaria, mostly children.

Polio - The Guardian reports that an outbreak of polio in Botswana has confirmed that the disease has vaulted across Africa since some states in northern Nigeria suspended vaccinations. The strain of the Polio virus found in Botswana which also withers limbs, paralyses and kills is the same strain as found in northern Nigeria. Muslim clerics banned vaccinations amid fears that the prevention campaign was a Western plot to sterilise Muslims or infect them with HIV. Some states have reinstated the vaccination programme after 400 cases were confirmed in Nigeria in six months.

HIV/AIDS - Catch up on the latest http://wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/mission/hiv-aids-e.html

Pacific churches have had to face up to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. WCC member churches came together last month with experts in the field to formulate a common strategy and action plan to counter the growing impact of HIV/AIDS. The aim was to equip church and community leaders to take a competent lead and to prevent those afflicted by the disease being marginalised by their community.

<typohead type="2">Christian complicity</typohead>

One decade after it occurred, the general secretary of the WCC, Rev Dr Samuel Kobia has called on the churches to confess their collective failure to address the Rwandan genocide when it erupted. Kobia stated "We must confess that we failed to address the genocide when it took place (and) we could have used the moral authority of the church and spoken out strongly, but we did not" Noting that 95% of Rwandans are Christians, the fact that the genocide "was carried out by them" raises a critical question: "Is our Christianity deep enough, or is it just skin deep in Africa?" It was the horror of this conflict that Christian World Service attributes as one of their primary motivators in the last decade. What is the message of transformation and hope that the memory of this conflict can inspire in our Church today?