By: Bishop Scott Jones On 6/22/2010
Topics: Bishop's Columns & Blogs
When John Wesley said the famous phrase, “I look upon all the world as my parish,” he was not advocating global mission or speaking directly about Africa. He was defending his right as a fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford University, to preach anywhere in Great Britain.
It was a claim that effective ministry in the name of Jesus Christ should not have artificial boundaries. Eventually, that push to spread scriptural holiness—making disciples in both biblical and contemporary terminology—led to Methodist churches throughout the world.
Another Wesley saying, “the Methodists are one people throughout the world,” had more limited application then. He was trying to show the basic unity between the Methodist societies in both Great Britain and the colonies.
Now that the movement has become a church and spread to many continents, Wesley’s sentiments take on a deeper and broader meaning.
The unity of the United Methodist Church stems from scripture. On the night before he died, Jesus prayed, “I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” (John 17:21-22) The unity of the body of Christ was seen as important in evangelizing the world.
Paul used the metaphor of the body in 1 Corinthians 12 to show that the diversity of gifts was normal in a unified body with Christ as the head. Then, in Ephesians 4:1-6, he said, “I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.”
We United Methodists know that diversity in unity is crucial. Our way of being the body of Christ is connectionalism—unity in doctrine, mission and discipline, but diversity in many of the ways we express that unity. We are a global church with congregations in more than 40 countries on four different continents.
The Kansas East and Kansas West conferences are finding a new way to express that connection. Kansas West has voted to enter into a covenant relationship with the Zimbabwe East Annual Conference. Bishop Eben Nhiwatiwa addressed the Annual Conference session and then visited all six districts. We are calling the partnership “Chabadza,” a word from the Shona language that means to work alongside of another. One offers chabadza only if the person is already working, but it is nonetheless a gift of time and labor to help the other one accomplish her or his work. The Zimbabweans have much to offer us. They far excel us in tithing, passionate worship and evangelism. We have much to offer them in knowledge and financial resources. We will find many new ways of offering chabadza to each other.
The Kansas East Conference has formed a partnership with the Haiti District of the Methodist Church in the Caribbean and the Americas. President Gesner Paul, head of the Methodist Church in Haiti, was present at the 2010 Annual Conference session. We are considering ways in which we can assist the church there in reconstruction after the earthquake and strengthening their evangelistic efforts. Again, we also have much to learn from the Haitians, and we look forward to deepening a relationship that goes back more than 30 years.
In both cases, these partnerships should not be seen as preventing any other international missional relationships. Many congregations in Kansas have been involved in other countries, and we hope those relationships will continue. These conference partnerships should help even more congregations to be involved in international missions by providing new channels for connectional efforts in these two countries.