International Mission

Poverty in Angola affects children such as this boy, who struggles for something to eat among the trash.

Around the world, The United Methodist Church is reaching out in a variety of ways to meet the needs of our brothers and sisters in the global community. In hospitals scattered from remote villages in the bush to crowded urban streets, United Methodists are offering healthy starts for newborn babies through prenatal care of their mothers, medical treatment to people who would otherwise have little hope of even the most rudimentary of medical care. Children are educated; persons with disabilities are welcomed as equals; and patients with terminal illnesses are given the opportunity to die with dignity; all because United Methodists have long seen the need to reach out to others around the world with ministries as varied as the people to whom they offer their care.

The Rev. Al Horton, pastor of Mt. Pisgah UMC in the Richmond District of the Virginia Conference, helps a Zimbabwean church communicator improve her computer skills.

Among the more than 2,000 United Methodist projects around the globe, the Virginia Conference Board of Global Ministries has selected 12 International Advance Specials to offer a glimpse of the variety of needs that confront our world. Some have a special connection with the Virginia Conference; some are located in areas where conference-supported missionaries are engaged in ministry; others are connected with the mission emphasis of the conference.   

The Apostle Paul said there are "varieties of service" and "varieties of working," but, "it is the same God who inspires them all in every one" (1 Corinthians 12:6 rsv). It is the same God who inspired Paul to take Christ into some of the most varied places of the world who now inspires us to do the same today.