wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] 183 PC(USA) mission workers commissioned at New

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Note #8822 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

05392
July 25, 2005

New Wilmington, old role

183 mission workers commissioned at historic Pennsylvania conference

by Toya Richards Hill

NEW WILMINGTON, PA - Hundreds of Presbyterians with a common spirit gathered
here Sunday to commission and honor a new batch of people called to mission
work.

	The church was returning to its roots: It was the first time in
almost 50 years that Presbyterian mission workers were commissioned at the
New Wilmington Missionary Conference (NWMC), which is celebrating its 100th
anniversary during the weeklong conference.

	The conference and the commissioning are about "renewal," said Brian
Gilchrest, one of the newly commissioned missionaries, who has accepted a
three-year assignment to Ethiopia. They also are about understanding that it
takes the whole church to make mission happen, Gilchrest said.

	A total of 183 Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) mission workers and young
adult volunteers were commissioned for service in countries ranging from
Guatemala and Turkey to Sudan and Pakistan. About 30 were present at the
conference to accept their calls.

	"We're committed; we're excited," said John Ewers, a mission worker
preparing for a four-year term in Colombia with his wife, Paula Ewers. "We
just are so excited about getting to Colombia as soon as we can."

	In 2004, Ewers served as an "accompanier" in Colombia, helping to
protect church officials caught up in violence and unrest. This time, he
said, he and his wife will work as long-term pastoral accompaniers.

"I just have to believe that God is giving us the momentum ... to improve
some of the difficult problems that Colombia has," Ewers said, speaking of
the PC(USA) as a whole.

	Also recognized during the open-air commissioning service on the
campus of Westminster College were four retiring mission workers and 16
representatives of partner churches around the globe now serving in the
United States.

	"We gather from Jerusalem, Turkey, Louisville, and around the world,"
said Ronee Christy, chair of the NWMC's board of managers.

	The Rev. Donald Dawson, the NWMC director, also recognized a small
number of participants who had been commissioned at the conference long ago,
most recently in the late 1950s. The annual conference has its roots in the
United Presbyterian Church of North America, a PC(USA) predecessor
denomination.

	Normally, the mission workers would have been commissioned during the
General Assembly; but because there is no Assembly this year, the New
Wilmington conference is back in business.

	PC(USA) Moderator Rick Ufford-Chase challenged the mission workers
and all of his listeners to help create "a new revival" in the Presbyterian
Church, one that steps outside of affluence and privilege into the underside
of the global economy.

	"We must move to the margins," he said, to have experiences that are
"so far outside our own."

	Ufford-Chase pointed out that the church has changed from the days
when a central body was needed to carry out mission work. "That time has come
to an end," he said, adding that technology such as email has made
communicating overseas nearly instantaneous. 

	Now, "the responsibility is on you and your congregations," he said.
"Mission from here on out will be personal and up-close."

	As several staff from PC(USA)'s Worldwide Ministries Division (WMD)
and National Ministries Division (NMD) looked on, Ufford-Chase cautioned that
the church must do its mission work "in a way that is coordinated, and that
glorifies God."

	"God is calling us to do this smart," he said, highlighting efforts
like the mission networks that link individuals and congregations throughout
the church who are engaged in mission work.

	"We must walk this road and create this together," he said.

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