The Faith that compels us
The Mission Society celebrates 20 years of service

By H.T. Maclin

On February 5, 2004, the unofficial Mission Society for United Methodists celebrated its 20th anniversary. The following article by MSUM founding president, Dr. H.T. Maclin, gives a brief history of the ministry of this supplemental mission-sending agency in the UM Church. As the article was being completed, Dr. Maclin was hospitalized for complications from chemotherapy treatment he has resumed for non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. Pray for Dr. Maclin and his wife, Alice.—The editors

Thirty years ago, I became the field representative in the Southeastern Jurisdiction for the General Board of Global Ministries (GBGM). I had only been on staff for a short time when I heard that a group of United Methodists known as the Evangelical Missions Council (EMC) had started meeting with a handful of GBGM executives and bishops in an effort to come to a mutual understanding about world missions.

The EMC was formed in February 1974 at a three day gathering in Dallas where more than 80 pastors with strong missions programs had been invited to pray and discuss the mission situation within United Methodism. For the following two years it functioned out of the busy office of Dr. David Seamands, then pastor of the Wilmore UM Church in Wilmore, Kentucky. By 1976, however, Virgil F. Maybray, pastor of the First UM Church in Irwin, Pennsylvania, was invited to become the first executive director, and the EMC became a program arm of Good News, the evangelical renewal movement within the UM Church.

Because of the dialogues the EMC had been having with GBGM regarding the need for more emphasis on evangelism, Dr. Malcolm McVeigh was appointed by GBGM in 1976 to head Church Development and Renewal. After two years with GBGM, however, he resigned in utter frustration when he concluded that it had no intention of permitting him to carry out a Christ-centered program of church growth and evangelism.

“The reason my position was frustrating was that its real purpose was window dressing. It was set up to say that we were doing something when it was obvious that there was no real intention of doing anything,” he recalls. “My major job there was to try to persuade people who weren’t interested that we ought to do something….You could refer the issue of ‘unreached peoples’ to the World Division one hundred times a year, and at the end of ten years, you would be exactly where you were at the start. That is true because the staff of the World Division (with a few non-vocal exceptions) are simply not interested.”

New leadership of World Division
When GBGM had the opportunity to appoint a new leader of its World Division in 1982, many of us hoped that they would now appoint someone to this position who would at least be open to the concerns of evangelicals. Such a person could bring a new vision for Christian world missions to the agency.

By the early summer of 1983, rumors were circulating that one of the candidates was Ms. Peggy Billings, a radical feminist on the staff of the Women’s Division of GBGM. Initially, I dismissed the idea that she had any chance of being elected. After all, why would GBGM deliberately “shoot itself in the foot” by putting such a controversial person in this prominent position?

One of the many concerned pastors across the nation in 1983 was Dr. L.D. (Bill) Thomas Jr., senior minister at First UM Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Bill believed the major purpose of the church was to give priority to mission outreach, and he himself became personally involved.

Disturbed by the rumors they too were hearing, Dr. Ira Gallaway and his wife Sally went to Tulsa to talk with Dr. Thomas and his wife Harriet about the troubling news. After several hours of conversation and a lengthy period of prayer, they agreed that if the GBGM did not elect someone who would uphold the historic Christian faith, a new missions sending agency would be founded.

Growing consensus for alternative sending agency
In 1983, Dr. Gerald H. Anderson had been invited to deliver a lecture in Dallas, Texas, before United Methodist ministers. He had been a GBGM missionary and served with his family in the Philippines for 10 years. Anderson was professor of church history and ecumenics as well as the academic dean of Union Theological Seminary in Manila. Upon returning to the United States, he was elected president of Scarritt College in Nashville and was also professor of World Christianity there. In 1976 he became editor of the International Bulletin of Missionary Research and the director of the Overseas Ministries Study Center (OMSC), now located in New Haven, Connecticut.

Regarded by many as one of Methodism’s foremost church historians and missiologists, Anderson had finally decided that change was impossible in the UM structure at that time. He had no contact or connection with the Evangelical Missions Council but had spent nearly a decade of private protest and consultations with colleagues at GBGM, as well as the wider church. Deciding to go public in Dallas as an act of conscience, he chose “Why We Need a Second Mission Agency” as his topic.

Although The United Methodist Reporter in Dallas headlined Anderson’s address, it apparently had no effect on events later that month when Peggy Billings was indeed confirmed to head the World Division.

Over the next several weeks, I talked personally with seven of the eleven bishops in the Southeastern Jurisdiction. Each without exception expressed concern over the appointment of Billings. Like many of the other bishops, however, and in spite of their personal feelings about this matter, not one was sufficiently disturbed to speak out or do anything about it.

Evangelicals meet in St. Louis to plan new agency
The election of Billings quickly set in motion the covenant Gallaway and Thomas had made nearly two months earlier to create a second missions sending agency to represent a broad-based coalition of evangelicals across the church. They contacted and invited friends of like mind and met in St. Louis in late November of 1983.

Of the people invited from all five jurisdictions of the UM Church, 34 persons, paying their own air travel, participated in the meeting. Gerald Anderson was asked to give a summary of the address he had given in Dallas the previous month. He made clear that it was “difficult to discern that those who are now responsible [at the World Division] really believe that it makes any difference whether or not one believes in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. Further, that their programs do not reflect this belief.”

David Seamands presented a summary of the nearly 10 years of attempted dialogue between the EMC and the GBGM and gave two reasons for establishing a second missions sending agency:

“1. The 10 years of attempted dialogue have been a failure. Dialogue has been attempted up front and behind the scenes. From the lack of response and the reactions of [GBGM], there is reasonable doubt if [it] had ever seriously dialogued with the EMC. The recent staff elections are a direct signal that the dialogue has completely failed.

“2. Now is the time for setting up an alternative sending agency due to a great fear of division in the church. A parallel agency is the only way to prevent a split in the church, as well as an essential necessity to preserve the mission of the church and the unity of the church in diversity.”

After considerable discussion followed by prayer, Seamands and Dr. Clarence Yates presented the following resolution: “Therefore, be it resolved that we United Methodists here assembled vote to establish a supplemental mission agency.” It carried unanimously.

A twelve-member steering committee was established, which elected Thomas as chairman and Gallaway as secretary. Twenty of the pastors present made a promise in faith to raise a total of $130,000 to establish the new missions agency. The major question was who they could find to help organize it and provide the basic leadership.

Ira Gallaway came to Atlanta in early December to see Alice and me. Because we had been friends for many years, Ira spoke about the decision to organize a new Mission Society for United Methodists (MSUM). Knowing nothing of the decision I had come to weeks before to resign from GBGM, Ira asked if we knew someone whom we could recommend to help them organize the new agency. I glanced quickly at Alice and said to Ira, “How about me?” There was a moment of stunned silence. Ira could not believe what he had heard. Knowing of my lengthy tenure with GBGM both as a missionary and an executive staff member, he had assumed I would stay there until I retired. The next week I flew to Tulsa to meet with Bill Thomas.

Following a few telephone calls to members of the ad hoc committee, Bill asked me to become the founding president of The Mission Society. I replied, “Yes!” without hesitation. In 1984, the Good News board ended its mission ministry and the Evangelical Missions Council staff executive Virgil Maybray was invited by the Mission Society to join its staff.

MSUM formed in 1984
The Mission Society was formed and incorporated in the State of Georgia on January 6, 1984. Since the news about it had leaked out even before the formal announcement, the president of the GBGM, Bishop Jesse R. DeWitt, had sent a letter on December 21, 1983, to each jurisdictional College of Bishops entitled, “An Outline for Discussion,” stating that “we fail to find anything that would now commend the establishment of another mission society—especially one standing outside the established lines of accountability of the connectional system.”

The Southeastern Jurisdictional College of Bishops responded by expressing concern about the current direction of GBGM. They wrote:

“1. We believe that this proposed second mission agency reflects the deep and long-standing concerns of many United Methodist people about parts of the philosophy, policy, and program, and some of the personnel of the GBGM, some of which concerns we ourselves share.

“2. We would call attention to this prolonged effort that many United Methodists have made to get [GBGM] to hear their questions and their concerns and to demonstrate by its responses a clear and honest desire to consider these concerns seriously and to make changes where careful objective reflection and evaluation indicate they should be made.

“3. We strongly urge [GBGM] to take a long look at its current philosophy of missions and attempt to understand what honest critics are saying about it, and why. This observation is not intended to reflect negatively upon [GBGM’s] well-conceived policy of indigenization. However, it is our hope [GBGM] will find ways to increase its deployment of missionaries.

“4. We are of the opinion that the present crisis is very serious, that it represents a far wider base of concern than any one segment of our church’s membership and that it should be addressed with integrity by the Board before critical deterioration of denominational support occurs.

“5. We are opposed to the formation of a second agency, but deplore the circumstances that have made some of our people feel this to be necessary.”

The Mission Society had no sooner started than we began to hear from Methodist bishops and church presidents in other parts of the world (South America and Africa), all of them wanting to join with us in a new partnership. Since then, the Society has extended its outreach to 29 other nations with at least 25 percent of our missionaries assigned to work in areas of the world where the gospel has been little heard or heeded.

10 years of ministry celebrated
“Celebrating a decade of miracles” was the theme of the 10th anniversary celebration of the Mission Society in October of 1994. We celebrated the life and effective ministry of Julia McLean Williams, who had served the Society so well the previous two years as its president. And we officially welcomed long-time Mission Society board member Dr. Alvern VomSteeg as our new president. VomSteeg had been the senior minister for the previous 14 years at St. Luke’s UM Church in Fresno, California. The VomSteegs had also served as missionaries with the General Board of Global Ministries for seven years in Brazil and brought to the Society their invaluable experience in both world missions and local church ministries.

During VomSteeg’s tenure, the Mission Society gave birth to three new ministries: Young Leaders International, headed by Dr. Jim Moye, former professor of youth ministry at Eastern College; and the International Leadership Institute, headed by Dr. Wes Griffin, who had recently returned from the mission field in Estonia, where he helped to establish a new seminary. Both Young Leaders International and the International Leadership Institute have since spun off the Mission Society and today are effectively equipping international Christian leaders.

In 2000, the Mission Society also launched World Parish Ministries (WPM), which partners with local congregations for the purpose of enabling congregations to be personally and strategically involved in fulfilling the Great Commission. Under the direction of the Rev. Dick McClain, the vice president of the Mission Society, WPM has assisted 120 congregations in the United States. In August 2003, WPM “went international,” when it introduced the newly-developed Global Vision Seminar to pastors in Ghana, West Africa.

Our current president, Dr. Philip Granger, succeeded VomSteeg in 2001. As an elder of the North Indiana Annual Conference, Granger was appointed to serve the Society by Bishop Woody White. Phil and his wife, Sue, had a strong missions ministry in their several appointments in Indiana, had visited a variety of mission fields across the years, and spent time in India working with Mission Society missionaries there. Like those who have served in this office before him, Granger is committed to extending the love of our Lord Jesus Christ through a variety of ministries around the world.

Since the first 10 missionaries were commissioned and sent forth from the Highland Park UM Church in Dallas in 1985, an additional 335 men and women have been confirmed to serve Christ (serving four-year, two-year, or one-year terms) in 30 nations. At present, 165 Mission Society missionaries currently serve on the field, are doing homeland ministry (furlough), or are raising their support to go out for the first time. A total support staff of 25 works out of our home office in Norcross, a suburb of Atlanta.

The Mission Society receives no apportioned funds from our denomination. Neither does it have programs of support for home mission or extension ministries, having consciously chosen to deploy all of our world mission personnel to places of need largely in the developing world, where an average of about $.05 of all U.S. Christian church dollars go to enable the gospel to be heard among nearly 95 percent of the earth’s population!

We began in January 1984, with the promise in faith of $130,000 from 20 UM congregations in the United States to support the Mission Society—a small fraction of the existing churches. But God honored our commitment to go forward in faith, believing he would supply all our needs. When the first year ended in December, 1984, we had actually received more than $289,000. Today, more than 1700 churches and thousands of individuals, families, and local church groups provide an annual budget of $7,500,000. As the opportunities to develop exciting new ministries in the world have been presented to us, God has raised up both the people and supplied the necessary funds to support them.

For more information about the Mission Society or to receive the 20th anniversary issue of its publication, Heartbeat, call 800-478-8963.

H.T. Maclin is the founding president and president emeritus of the Mission Society. The Rev. Dr. Maclin and his wife, Alice, were accepted as missionaries in 1952 by the then-Board of Missions of The Methodist Church and served 20 years in Africa, in the Central Congo and then in Nairobi, Kenya. Following their years in Africa, H.T. served from 1974 to 1983 as the Field Representative for Mission Development for the General Board of Global Ministries before becoming Mission Society president in January 1984.

SIDEBARS

Bringing hope-Dr. Ira Gallaway
Dr. Ira Gallaway is a retired United Methodist pastor, a staff member of the Confessing Movement, and member of the Board of Directors of the Mission Society.

The Mission Society for United Methodists was born out of a prayerful concern of a small group of clergy and laity that the leadership of the Church was forsaking Jesus’ commandment to His disciples to “go into all the world and make disciples of all nations.” Many local churches and individual Christians have expressed their great gratitude that in The Mission Society a way was opened for them to express their faith and be in mission to the world. Thus, the Mission Society brought hope to many United Methodists and kept them from leaving the denomination.

In my own experience, several bishops and leaders of National Churches had expressed their need for committed missionaries who would come and help them build up their church. In the words of one such brother, “We don’t need people to come and tell us what is wrong with our country. We need those who will come to witness to Jesus Christ and help us build up the church. We can take care of our own politics.”

It has been twenty years now since the founding of The Mission Society. A new National Church exists in Paraguay and many persons across the globe have been brought to saving faith in Jesus Christ. God has blessed The Mission Society. Perhaps it is time for the leadership of the church on a national level to recognize The Mission Society—and open up the church to move beyond restrictive channels.

Agent of renewal-Dr. Gerald H. Anderson
Dr. Gerald H. Anderson is Director Emeritus of the Overseas Ministries Study Center, New Haven, CT, and a Senior Contributing Editor of the International Bulletin of Missionary Research.

The formation of the Mission Society for United Methodists in January 1984 was a defining moment in the history of The United Methodist Church. It marked a determined effort by evangelicals in the church to counter the theological drift and institutional decline that had afflicted the church—especially the General Board of Global Ministries—since the 1960’s. The soul of the church was at stake.

Having studied at some of the premier liberal schools here and abroad, I was not part of any evangelical network. I had no association with the Good News movement, and did not receive their magazine. But having written a doctoral dissertation on the theology of mission, and observed developments in the GBGM as a missionary for ten years and as the president of Scarritt College in Nashville, I became increasingly alarmed by the radical theological relativism and programmatic malaise that had taken hold of the official mission board of our denomination.

After private conversations with staff in the GBGM over several years failed to affect any change, I felt I had to “go public” with my concerns. In an address to a group of United Methodist ministers in Dallas in October 1983, I described “Why We Need a Second Mission Agency” (published in Good News in 1984). Soon I was invited to join others in forming the Mission Society for United Methodists. 

Today the Mission Society has 160 fulltime, career missionaries serving in holistic ministries in 29 countries on five continents, including 11 new missionaries commissioned in February, and a staff of only 25. The GBGM has announced that no new missionaries will be appointed in 2004, and their missionary training center in Atlanta has been closed.

During the first ten years, those associated with the Mission Society faced relentless hostility from the Council of Bishops and the GBGM. More recently, there is a growing recognition that the Mission Society is not a threat, but rather an agent for renewal in the UM Church and for the advancement of the worldwide Christian mission. To be a part of this has been one of the most thrilling aspects of my ministry. “To God be the glory.”

Best years ahead-Dr. Philip R. Granger
Dr. Philip R. Granger is a former pastor, district superintendent, and an annual conference director of finance and administration. He has also been a delegate to four General Conferences. He has served as the President and CEO of the Mission Society for United Methodists since December 2001.

When my wife Sue and I came to the Mission Society we were not strangers.  Over the years we had watched the Society grow from a fledging agency with a handful of people on the field to the mature agency it is today. We watched, supported, and visited several of the mission fields directed by the Society. Our daughter served on a MSUM Co-Mission team to the Russian Far East. Sue and I were in Brazil in 1996 at the World Methodist Council when the Methodist Church of Paraguay became a member of the Council. We rejoiced in the knowledge that the Society had been instrumental in the founding of this new church.

No, we were not strangers to the Mission Society, but until we became part of the Society in 2001 we only had a glimmer of the depth and breadth of the ministry carried out daily by the Society. In addition to the new church in Paraguay, MSUM has helped in founding a new church in Kazakhstan; planted churches in the Russian Far East and India; established medical missions in Peru, Paraguay, Kazakhstan, and Ghana; supported national churches with diverse ministries in 29 countries on 5 continents; and has developed a U.S. ministry in church revitalization and church planting in conjunction with United Methodist churches, districts, and conferences. All of this has been done in a culturally sensitive and relevant way in partnership with over 3000 national participants.

As we celebrate our twentieth anniversary we are experiencing a call from God to more countries and ministries in partnership with many new international partners.  Our best years are ahead of us as we continue to be faithful to God’s call.

MSUM vision-The Rev. Joseph Otsin
The Rev. Joseph Otsin is a pastor in the Methodist Church of Ghana and a member of the Board of Directors of the Mission Society.

The Rev. Frank Decker was the first Missionary sent to work with the Methodist Church in Ghana by the Mission Society for United Methodists. He brought a vision of a two-year training program for evangelists and I was chosen to be a participant. Afterward the Mission Society helped me to go to Nigeria for a one year diploma course in evangelism.

With this training I have, by the grace of God, been able to train over 70 local pastors, evangelists, and church leaders throughout the country in both urban and rural areas. As a team we have been able to plant over 80 churches in the seven Dioceses of the Methodist Church in Ghana. Recently, we have been working on reaching out to the northern parts of Ghana, which are predominantly Moslem.  Over 10 churches have been planted among these communities thus far.

Out of my training and experience in evangelism, I have been able to write two books, The Process of Discipleship, and Growing in Christ. Currently, I am serving as the evangelism co-coordinator of the Kumasi Diocese of the Methodist Church in Ghana. I am mostly involved in the work of discipleship, church planting, and leadership training for the church.

Suffering for the sake of Christ has been a great joy for me. I remember an incident at Sasa, a village near Kumasi where I was stoned as a result of proclaiming the Gospel amongst an idol worshiping community. By the grace of God some were converted and a church planted for them.

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