A Tapestry of Shared Ministry

Hazelwood surveys damage wrought by Hurricane Sandy last October in
Belmar, New Jersey.

Photo: Chris Heckert

By Tom Hazelwood

After 15 years at the helm of UMCOR’s US Disaster Response program, the Rev. Tom Hazelwood leaves his position on April 30 to assume a new post, director of Connectional Ministries with the Memphis Annual Conference. He offered this reflection as part of his final address to UMCOR’s board of directors during their semiannual meeting on April 12, 2013, at the headquarters of the General Board of Global Ministries in New York City.

As I give my last report here, I thought I would, like any preacher, read a passage of Scripture and then reflect on its meaning.

The passage is from I Chronicles, chapter 2, beginning at verse 13: “Jesse was the father of Eliab, his first born. The second was Abinadab. The third was Shimea. The fourth was Nethanel; the fifth Raddai; the sixth Ozem; the seventh David. Their sisters were Zeruriah and Abigail. Zeruriah’s three sons were Abishai, Joab, and Asahel. Abigail was the mother of Amasa, whose father was Jether, an Ishmaelite.” And, this, my friends, is the word of God for the people of God.

How many of you have ever preached on this passage? How many of you have ever heard a sermon on this passage? I love Chronicles and the listing of all these names! Anybody who’s ever tried to read through the Bible gets to Chronicles, and that’s when you throw up your hands and surrender! When I was in elementary school, we called them “The Begats”: So-and-so begat So-and-so…. Do you ever wonder why all these names are found in the Scripture?

Why are they in there? You know, you look, and they’re just names, they don’t mean anything to us. It’s much like if I took a single thread, which you can hardly even see, and it’s meaningless. It’s a scrap that I can drop, and it can be swept up and thrown away.

But you take that single thread and you weave it into other fabric, and it can become a part of this beautiful tapestry—have you seen tapestries? How those threads get woven together and create these beautiful scenes—just like any great painting, but all done with thread. So, you take any single thread and it means nothing, but when it gets woven together by the Master Weaver it becomes this beautiful thing.

This is the way the people of the Bible felt about their larger family: that apart from it, any one of them was scarcely more valuable than a snip of thread lying unnoticed on the floor, but within the family, every one of them took on the dignity and beauty of their part in the human tapestry into which they had been woven, thread by thread, begat by begat. "And Attai begat Nathan, and Nathan begat Zabad, and Zabad begat Ephal, and Ephal begat Obed...."

At the close of the Global Ministries board of directors meeting in April,
Hazelwood, right, greeted Greg Forrester, who assumes leadership of UMCOR’s
US Disaster Response program on May 1. After the meeting, Hazelwood led the
directors in a day of service with Hurricane Sandy survivors.
Photo: Cassandra Zampini

So, the Hebrews sprinkled their Bible with genealogies, having concluded that all that is profound does not have to be poetry and all that sings does not have to be music. That genealogy is as much the Word of the Lord as the Twenty-third Psalm.

I believe that these biblical family lists are a reminder to us that we are all connected. The scripture says, “Out of the stump of Jesse…”—and you see that out of the stump of Jesse there was another name that should have been familiar to you: David. The names, the chronologies of all these families, are tied together in what God is putting together, the history of God’s creation.

As I look at my 15 years at UMCOR and with Global Ministries, and as I look at each of you and recall your names, I consider how each one is a unique thread in the tapestry of what has been and is my ministry. You may think you have nothing to do with me; you may think your thread is meaningless when it comes to me and my life. But consider, as I do, how our threads have been woven together over these past 15 years. I appreciate each one of you as significant, part of a thing of beauty, woven into the tapestry of my ministry. And at the same time, that thread that is Tom Hazelwood is a part of the fabric, the tapestry, that is UMCOR, and part of the fabric of Global Ministries.

Any single strand of thread representing any one of us alone may seem meaningless, but they are all woven together in what God is doing in the ministry of The United Methodist Church. They all fit together.

As I have sojourned through this ministry for the past decade and a half, it has been a tremendous privilege and honor for me to serve the church in this way.

I’m looking forward to the ministry that lies ahead of me, and it’ll be different. I know it will be very, very different, but also, it will be meaningful, and it will be a part of that tapestry God is weaving together that is my life's ministry. And where our threads have intertwined is to me a beautiful piece of my life, and I hope that the thread that is mine is a beautiful piece of your life and ministry as well.

The ministry of UMCOR will continue. That tapestry will continue to be woven as you make decisions each time the board meets and as we continue to serve the least, the last, and the lost. That tapestry continues to be woven. In some places the threads go one direction, and in other places the threads go in the other direction, but it’s all a piece of the whole.

What an honor it has been for me to be a part of this ministry. Over the years, I have had the privilege of growing professionally through the learning and the trials of working in disaster response, a very different kind of ministry than parish ministry. Probably most important for me are the personal relationships I’ve had with many if not all of you, in this room. Our relationships shape who we are, how we do ministry together, and how we serve those who are dependent upon the grace of God working in our midst. There are so many who depend upon the grace of God to touch the hearts of others so that UMCOR can have resources to help put lives back together once they’ve been broken by disaster or by whatever calamity comes along.

Thank God the church, The United Methodist Church, has Global Ministries. Thank God The United Methodist Church has the United Methodist Committee on Relief to address people’s specific needs through this ministry that is ours together.

So, what a privilege it is for me to have been a part of what God has been doing through UMCOR over the course of these past 15 years. And what a privilege it is for me to know that as I step away, my friend Greg Forrester steps into this role, to lead the US Disaster Response program going forward.

Newtown's Teddy Bears: How Many is Too Many?

Teddy bears seem nearly synonymous with solace.

Photo: Susan Kim

By Susan Kim

When a distressed child hugs a teddy bear, there is a moment of innocent comfort that not only soothes the child but the grownups around her, too.

No wonder, then, in the wake of the Dec. 14, 2012, mass shooting in Newtown, CT, the donation of choice for many people was a teddy bear. The bears—huge, tiny, handmade, store-bought, rainbow-colored, traditional brown—began arriving within 24 hours of the tragedy. They came from churches, children's groups, Facebook campaigns, car dealerships, and individuals across the globe.

Undeniably, for some of the children in Newtown—and adults, for that matter—a new stuffed animal was just the right gift at the right time.

But then a hundred bears arrived. Then a thousand. Then tens of thousands. Along with prayer shawls. Flowers. Rubber bracelets. What callously might be referred to as “stuff” if it didn't so fiercely represent a burning collective desire to reassure the people of Newtown that the world is not, in fact, an evil place.

A lot of “stuff” landed at the Newtown United Methodist Church, which has been a pillar for the town's ongoing recovery. The pastor, Rev. Mel Kawakami, has been featured on national television and in dozens of print and web news reports. The town's role in Newtown's recovery is finely documented by C. Jeffrey MacDonald in The Christian Science Monitor.

Now, three months after the tragedy, Kawakami quietly worries that he has perhaps offended some gift givers because he hasn't yet responded to them. His “sister churches,” he says, have already helped write more than 300 thank-you notes. But there are thousands more to go.

“You don't want to sound ungracious,” he says, “and you don't want to be ungracious. Because we became a witness for how deeply people were touched.”

Just what is the best response to a horrendous act of public violence? There's no right answer, Kawakami says. “One strategy might be to do something in your own community that honors the victims and also honors those who survived.”

Also, he says, don't underestimate the power of prayer. “We wouldn't have made it if we didn't know there were untold numbers of people praying for us.”

What about our own need to send “stuff?” Mary Hughes Gaudreau, a U.S. disaster-response consultant for the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), believes it's important to recognize the hearts of people involved in giving.

“I really do think when people give gifts after acts of public violence that, in some ways, they're trying to deal with their own pain,” says Gaudreau, who has supported Kawakami and the Newtown church during the ongoing recovery. “We don't want to have suffering be the last word. We need to touch something or do something tangible to make that real.”

UMCOR is a nonprofit ministry of The United Methodist Church dedicated to alleviating human suffering across the globe. Within UMCOR's broad range of response to disasters, a vital component is emotional and spiritual care.

Sometimes when you're trying to offer emotional and spiritual care, it's important to examine yourself as a giver, Gaudreau says. “There are times when we find people who get very angry when their desire to do something good is rejected. They desperately want to help and they feel frustrated when their help is not needed.”

That doesn't mean the teddy bears were rejected. Some of them went to local parents who had lost newborn babies. Some were given to church visitors and parishioners. Some were transformed into compost destined for a memorial garden. And some did make it into the arms of kids.

“The truth is, they needed those teddy bears,” says Gaudreau.

But thousands of them? “Then it gets complicated,” she adds, “and we need to consider those six key words: It's about the people we serve.”

What would Kawakami say is the best response? He would like people to keep praying for Newtown. “But if I could attach a tag to that,” he says, hesitating. “If you can freely send out the prayer—without expecting something in return.”

In normal times, he says, when someone sends a gift, you respond. “But multiply that by ten-thousandfold and there isn't a way to respond. My fear is that someone has taken offense because they've heard nothing.”

Susan Kim is a journalist who frequently writes on appropriate donations, disaster response, and social justice. She is a regular contributor to www.umcor.org.

The World through Children’s Eyes

By Amber Kubera*

Kubera’s son and his classmates focused on similarities they share with these children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Photo: Amber Kubera

When discussing the work of the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) with partners, communities, beneficiaries, donors, or church groups, I try to prepare information I think will most interest the audience. Upon return from my recent trip to UMCOR’s programs in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, however, I had to prepare for what I thought might be my toughest audience yet: my son’s preschool class.

Any worry I had about presenting my work from a seemingly far-away context to four-year-olds living in New York City evaporated when they leaped at the chance to discuss my first slide, the world map. I pointed out DRC, and then we looked through photographs of my work in Africa, which included pictures of animals, plants, and the landscape in general.

The work of UMCOR that I chose to highlight was that which most directly involved children. When I showed a photo of a classroom, the children shouted excitedly, “Look, the kids are in school, just like we are now! And do you see how they are also wearing uniforms, like we do! What language do they speak? Is it hot or cold there?”

As I showed more photographs of the children and our work, I was struck most by the way my son and his classmates focused on how the kids in the photos were just like them. When they saw little kids walking to school in Lubumbashi, they likened it to how they go to school every day. When they saw children at their desks, they pointed out how the kids were listening and learning, with their teachers watching over—just like them.

What my son’s class didn’t see in those photos was the stark reality of day-to-day life for many Congolese children. It was more exciting and interesting to them to think about what makes us alike than to focus on the differences. It is this world view that I hope to see nourished and strengthened as these children grow and learn about the world around them—and that they will appreciate how problems that affect others affect us all, and are ours to work toward solving, together.

*Amber Kubera is UMCOR’s senior program manager for international programs. She oversees the organization’s work in DRC, Sudan, and Zimbabwe. UMCOR’s work in DRC includes support for Orphans and Vulnerable Children as part of our HIV/AIDS activities under a Global Fund/SANRU grant. This support includes uniforms, school fees, and other educational and psycho-social support for children.

Remember One Great Hour of Sharing and UMCOR, Sunday, March 10, 2013

Bishop Hee-Soo Jung of Wisconsin is president of UMCOR’s board of directors.

PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy of Wisconsin Annual Conference

Tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, fires, famine, natural and human-caused disasters—whenever and wherever they strike in the world, we United Methodists respond with help to alleviate the suffering and assist in the long-term recovery.

The response we make is only possible because of the generous gifts we offer through the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR). Once a year, the invitation is extended through the One Great Hour of Sharing offering to replenish the funds needed to carry out the work of Christ’s love in action in the world. This year, the opportunity comes on Sunday, March 10.

I invite you to join me in supporting fully the work of UMCOR. As a bishop and as president of the UMCOR board of directors, I am made aware daily of the ways we are making a difference in the lives of people. I can’t name all of those ways for you because the list is very long and continues to grow, but I can list for you a few reasons your gifts are even more important this year than ever before:

• People in the eastern United States are still rebuilding from hurricanes 
• The 2013 flood season is approaching for the Midwest and southern United States 
• Growing famine and violence in the Horn of Africa 
• Ongoing need in the Caribbean, parts of Asia, and Central America. 

On Sunday, March 10, we United Methodists can make a huge difference in helping UMCOR meet current and future needs. Please, make sure your congregation takes part in the One Great Hour of Sharing offering.

I ask you to be as generous as possible with your offerings this year. Our God is a generous God, and we are called to respond with generous offerings.

Your brother in Christ,

Hee-Soo Jung

In Zimbabwe, a Noble Idea

Hannah Mafunda is coordinator of the Zimbabwe Annual Conference health board.

PHOTO CREDIT: Simon Mafunda

By Hannah Mafunda*

The United Methodist Church health board in Zimbabwe was established, and its 15 members trained by the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), in 2010. 

It was founded at a time when most health facilities in Zimbabwe were unable to provide even basic services, a situation that continues today. It was also a time when annual conferences were growing more and more concerned over the state of the health institutions owned by the church, as the infrastructure was getting dilapidated and services were below standard. Like any other sub-Saharan African country, Zimbabwe faces great health challenges, including the devastating effects of HIV/AIDS and malaria. 

Through community-based programs, such as Imagine No Malaria, the Zimbabwe Annual Conference health board seeks to meet Zimbabweans’ primary health-care needs. The idea of the board is a noble one and without it, the church’s health institutions today would never run so smoothly nor be maintained so well. 
From inception, the health board has made significant strides in executing its mandate. It has created harmony between the church and its health institutions in terms of general operation. Problems are easily picked up and nipped in the bud. Frequent meetings ensure that information flows easily to and from where it is needed. 

The board also keeps the health institutions’ operations in check. Financial transparency and strategy formulation have been enhanced. Trainings on various health issues have been extended to the clergy to enable them to better help their congregations. 

The health board has oversight of three United Methodist hospitals: Nyadire Hospital in Mashonaland East Province, with six rural health facilities under its supervision; and in Manicaland Province, Mutambara Hospital and Old Mutare Hospital. Old Mutare has six rural health facilities under its supervision. The board’s primary task is to provide holistic, affordable and accessible health-care services through various programs to the communities that use these hospitals.

Meetings of the entire health board are held twice a year, but its executive committee convenes whenever necessary. The board has three functional committees: the executive committee, the finance committee, and the governance and nominating committee.

The health board works in partnership with the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare. It also works closely with UMCOR’s Zimbabwe field office, which was responsible for putting up water tanks at Nyadire Mission Center. Other partners include the Zimbabwe Association of Church-Related Hospitals (ZACH) of The United Methodist Church.

Your gift to Health Systems Strengthening, UMCOR Advance #982168 , supports UMCOR’s work to build up United Methodist health boards in Africa and ensure their independence.

*Hannah Mafunda is the coordinator of the Zimbabwe Annual Conference health board.

People of God Step Up in New Jersey



Volunteers sort donations at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Bay Head, New Jersey. Bay Head was one of the New Jersey towns severely impacted by Superstorm Sandy.
Photo Credit: Scott Bostwick

By Christy Smith*

January 30, 2013—On my trip last week to New Jersey on behalf of UMCOR, most of my work involved teaching others (some United Methodists, but other faith partners as well) best practices in providing help to those who will not be able to recover from Superstorm Sandy without additional help. The Greater New Jersey Conference is hard at work determining how the conference can best provide support in coordination with other non-profit and faith responders. Only a working "village" will be able to accomplish this enormous task.

During my visit, I accompanied a United Methodist pastor on his visits to places where teams are working or have been working. At one home, Pastor Mark blew out the water lines in the gutted home so that the homeowner wouldn't have the additional grief of burst pipes. (It was REALLY cold in New Jersey!) At another stop, I encountered United Methodist Early Response Teams (wearing their highly visible emergency green shirts) from Ohio. They were cleaning out a flooded home. The United Methodist church across the street suffered flooding in the building that houses offices, Sunday school, kitchen, and fellowship. In the parsonage, which had not flooded, several families had been sheltering since the October storm.

Most encouraging was the work of a United Methodist congregation in another flooded town. The church was on high ground and unaffected; since the storm the congregation had been feeding survivors and responders, as well as distributing help. I met a young woman (a third grade teacher) who was not Methodist, but she had driven an hour into the storm's devastated area and had found the church at work. Since arriving in October, she had been commuting (after teaching!) to continue to partner with the recovery efforts there. The United Methodist way of responding had impressed her to the point of re-considering her church membership.

Truly, the people of God step up to respond when there is trouble. It works better when the local church, the district, and the conference have disaster plans. I believe the Greater New Jersey Conference would agree with that.

I hope our church family will continue to hold the conference and the survivors in their prayers. All designated funds received by UMCOR (100%), through Hurricanes 2012, Advance #3021787, will go to bring aid to survivors. The United Methodist connection works. Thanks be to God.

*Christy Smith is a disaster response consultant with UMCOR.

Chatham UMC Hosted Sandy Evacuees

Dean Jeffrey Kuan sits with his students in the Chatham United Methodist Church fellowship hall.
CREDIT: John Schol

By Julia Kayser*

November 21, 2012—The closer I got to Madison, New Jersey, the worse Hurricane Sandy’s destruction became. My neighborhood of brick apartments and relatively young trees had barely been affected, but the Drew University campus—home to many of my friends—was completely devastated. Bearing gifts of blankets and camping mattresses, I drove at a snail’s pace past toppled trees and drooping power lines.

My friends were no longer on campus. School had been closed for the week and most people had gone to stay with nearby family and friends. One hundred forty-seven students, most of them seminarians and graduate students with families, had stayed behind. On Tuesday, October 30, Dean Jeffrey Kuan announced a campus-wide evacuation.

“My biggest joy in such a situation,” said Dean Kuan, “is the connectional system that I was able to draw on.” A nearby church, Chatham United Methodist, still had power. Thanks to the longstanding relationship of Rev. Tanya Bennett, associate chaplain, with that congregation, students without friends and family close by were able to caravan and camp out there.

A student does homework at the Chatham day shelter.
CREDIT: John Sc

About 60 people spent three days at the church. There were large rooms designated for single men and for single women, while smaller Sunday-school classrooms became suites for families with children. When I arrived to offer my extra supplies, everyone was bundled up in coats, gloves, and hats. They gathered around tables in the fellowship hall, quiet in the face of the storm and a slower pace of life.

On the students’ second day of exile, Bishop John Schol of the Greater New Jersey Annual Conference visited Chatham UMC. In an open letter, he wrote about meeting students, many of whom could not travel home during the storm because they lived “too far away in Africa, South Korea, Texas, Portland, Oregon, and a host of other places… They found Christ through a place to sleep, hot meals, and electricity.”

But, the electricity didn’t last. Student Susan Goodman wrote, “As the 24 hour benchmark of being at the church approached, we unexpectedly found ourselves in the dark once again.” Dinner was prepared by flashlight. Rev. Bennett brought her dog for a visit, which boosted morale.

One thing that flourished without electricity was conversation. “We learned much… in the stillness created by the absence of power and all that powers up,” wrote Bennett. “It was a holy time, even in an unholy circumstance.”

Children of the graduate students celebrated Halloween in the Chatham day shelter.
CREDIT: John Schol

Chatham UMC regularly hosts families in need of shelter, so they had some blankets, and the students brought additional bedding from their dormitories. Still, people got cold. Richenda Fairhurst, a second-year Masters of Divinity student and local pastor from Washington, wrote: “blankets and sweaters [were] like loaves and fishes, blessed and shared.”  

Dean Jeffrey Kuan said that he was very concerned about the children that night. The next afternoon, he met with campus police and determined that since power had turned on at Drew University, the students could return to their homes at last. “What a relief that was,” he said. “All the students and their families were extraordinarily cooperative, patient, and grace-filled. We experienced community together in the midst of a disaster.”

Every student I talked to expressed deep gratitude for Dean Kuan, Rev. Bennett, and Chatham UMC. In addition, many students found a silver lining in this difficult experience.

“I would have been stir-crazy if I hadn’t been able to spend time in community like this,” said Rebecca Patterson.

Betty Lynn Gannon said the storm gave people time to think, and also opportunities to be the hands of Christ for each other. “It’s nice to see my future colleagues living into their call of ministry,” she said.

How are you living into your call to provide aid for victims of Hurricane Sandy? The Drew students are back on campus now, but recovery work continues. Please make a donation to the UMCOR’s 2012 Hurricane Relief fund, Advance #3021787, and help UMCOR reach out to communities in need. 

*Julia Kayser is a writer and a regular contributor to www.umcor.org. She gives special thanks to Susan Goodman for her careful and comprehensive notes for this story.