World Methodist Council team to work with Palestinian Christians
5/22/1998 by United Methodist News Service With 50th anniversary festivities in full swing in Israel, the World Methodist Council is preparing a team of volunteers to work there this fall with people who have little to celebrate.
These, according to council officials, are Christians who live in and around Jerusalem Bethlehem, and Gaza "whose lives have been reduced and whose hope has been nearly extinguished by military occupation and the loss of rights and land over more than 30 years."
"This volunteer team, working with local Palestinian Christians, will be a reminder that the land which is holy to Christians, Jews, and Muslims -- if shared by all -- can be a light to the whole world," said the Rev. Joe Hale, general secretary of the council, which has offices in Lake Junaluska, N.C.
Coordinating the 1998 team for the council is Bonnie Gehweiler of Lake Junaluska. The effort is open to any volunteers but is working closely with the church's Volunteers In Mission program. U.S. team members will depart Oct. 30 through New York and Charlotte, N.C., and return Nov. 14.
The work project this fall is the second of four planned by the council. An international pilot volunteer service team last year drew participants from four nations and laid the groundwork for the 1998 effort.
The work teams are a result of action taken by the World Methodist Council meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1996. Council members called for persons to "engage in acts of solidarity with indigenous Christians in the Bethlehem area to give substance and credibility to the 2000th anniversary of Jesus' birth." President of the council's executive committee is Frances M. Alguire, New Buffalo, Mich.
The presence of work teams in Israel and the West Bank is especially significant this year, Hale said, because of the number of expected visitors.
"Many who visit are unaware of the presence of a living Christian community," he said. "They visit the holy places without seeing the people of faith who maintain the witness where it first began. Those who actually meet the people bring the gift of encouragement for indigenous Christians to remain steadfast in faith, and gain strength and hope because they know other Christians see them, and care."
Persons interested in participating may contact Gehweiler at (704) 452-7410; fax (704) 456-4508; or by e-mail, bjg@primeline.net
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