Comics, CD-ROM bring health issues to young people
5/14/2001 News media contact: Linda Bloom · (646) 369-3759 · New York
NEW YORK (UMNS) -- In an effort to better reach a young audience, the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries has developed mission study materials in the form of comic books and CD-ROMs.
Children and youth also are encouraged to use a specially designed Web site on the topic of "Global Health and Christian Response-ability," according to the Rev. Toby Gould, the board's project manager for mission studies.
"It is our hope that these resources will find a positive response in different church settings as they are designed to help engage youth and children in mission issues," Gould explained.
The youth comic book, Youth Chat, was written by Roger Sadler and illustrated by Dennis Bud. It features six teen-agers - Lisa and Ron from the United States, Abimbola from Angola, Raoul from Brazil, Nadia from Russia and Aparna from India - who have met at a youth conference on mission and decide to form an Internet chat group to continue their discussion on global health.
Issues that arise during their chat include how the lifestyle of one country affects the health of another country; how HIV/AIDS, famine, land mines and other problems impact Africa; how urban poverty drives children in Brazil to the streets; and how India's population affects the nation's overall health. Suggestions on what churches and individuals can do to improve global health follow.
In A Child's View of Global Health, also written by Sadler and illustrated by Min S. Ku, eight children take two imaginary hot-air balloon trips to different parts of the world to see health problems and the church's mission work in addressing global health issues.
The CD-ROM for youth and children contains narrated versions of both comics, songs from the board's Global Praise songbooks, games, activities and mission projects.
Gould noted that teachers' guides are available to help prepare lessons on global health for church, vacation Bible school or other settings.
The Web site can be found at http://gbgm-umc.org/missionstudies/globalhealth-yth/ .
Ordering information is available through the board's Service Center by calling toll free (800) 305-9857.
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