A Moment for Mission
“A voice is crying out: ‘Clear the Lord’s way in the desert! Make a level highway in the wilderness for our God! Every valley will be raised up, and every mountain and hill will be flattened.’” —Isaiah 40:3-4, CEB
Every day, we celebrate the life-changing work of the General Board of Global Ministries. Today, we are highlighting the Global Mission Fellows program.
Global Mission Fellows are young adults, aged 20-30, who are committed to serving in social justice ministries for two years. They enter new communities to understand their challenges and assets through relationships and with the long-term goal to overcome systemic oppression. Fellows partner with community organizations internationally and in the U.S. to address a variety of issues, including migration/immigration, education, public health and poverty.
Through our World Service Fund support of Global Ministries, we help to make a path for God and God’s people through missionaries, evangelism and church revitalization, humanitarian relief and recovery and global health.
Children’s Message
(lay out a long strip of brown cloth in the shape of a winding road) Today, we’re going on an exciting journey to the desert and the wilderness. In Isaiah, we hear a voice crying out, “Clear the Lord’s way in the desert! Make a level highway in the wilderness for our God!”
Today, some of those voices are wonderful young adults called Global Mission Fellows, who travel to faraway places around the world to help others. They want to make a special path for God’s love to reach people in need. They work with local communities to address important issues like migration, education, health and poverty.
A young man named Trobby is a Global Mission Fellow from Zambia who is serving in Sierra Leone. He helps people with agriculture projects to provide food security.
Trobby and his friends taught people in Sierra Leone how to grow delicious and healthy vegetables. They visited two communities far away to share their knowledge about crops. Trobby learned about their culture and helped them learn new ways to grow food. He shared seeds so that they can try growing onions, carrots, tomatoes, peppers and okra.
Like Trobby and the Global Mission Fellows, we can make our hearts like a smooth highway for God’s love to travel through. When we show love, help others and care for those in need, we are clearing the path for God’s love to reach everyone.
Let’s think about how we can serve in our own community by showing love and helping others, just like Jesus taught us to do. Remember, even small acts of kindness can make a big difference in someone’s life.
Offertory Prayer
Justice-loving God, thank you for your love and goodness. Help us to clear a path for your grace to shine through in our hearts. Thank you for the Global Mission Fellows, who are making the world a better place through your love. Amen.
Newsletter Nugget
“I was hungry and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you gave me clothes to wear. I was sick and you took care of me. I was in prison and you visited me.” —Matthew 25:35-36, CEB
The Global Mission Fellows program, part of the General Board of Global Ministries, provides opportunities for young adults, ages 20-30, to live and work in new communities around the world. Trobby Kandala, a Global Mission Fellow from Zambia, works with the Village to Village Federation in Sierra Leone as an environmental advocate. He participates with local communities on different agriculture projects with the goal of providing food security and a balanced diet to those he serves. He shares his experience from a training session he led:
In preparation for the (rainy) season, we developed training on nutrition and vegetable gardening. We visited two communities that are located approximately 150 miles from the town where I live, but it took us two days to cover the three communities we targeted.
It was really an amazing experience. I learned quite a few things about the culture of this area of Sierra Leone because I conducted the training in a way that almost everyone was able to participate, giving them opportunities to share their knowledge about the crops we were discussing.
Our training covered methods of growing, organic production and post-harvest handling of crops. We explained the different food classes. We also described the nutrients found in different vegetables and how they help the body. We distributed a few seeds for the participants to try out right after the training, including onion, carrot, tomato, pepper and okra. We will revisit the communities to check on people’s progress with their crops.
Read the full account: https://umcmission.org/reflection-and-devotional/raising-nutritional-levels-in-sierra-leone-through-proactive-training/.
Through our World Service Fund support of Global Ministries, we help to make a path for God and God’s people through missionaries, evangelism and church revitalization, humanitarian relief and recovery and global health.