Retired pastor from East Lansing helps Haitian children cope with grief

• By Kathy Gilbert, United Methodist News Services •

The Rev. Gordon Schleicher, a member of University United Methodist Church in East Lansing, returned from Haiti with 91 pictures of grief drawn by children who witnessed death and dismemberment of family and friends during the 2010 earthquake.

Schleicher, a retired UMC pastor and a trained grief counselor, went to the earthquake-damaged country earlier this year to encourage the youngest witnesses to the country’s devastation to express their feelings so they could start to heal from the trauma.

“From my experience as a grief counselor children all over need to be able to share their experience and be reassured that they didn't cause the event nor did God will for their loved ones to die,” he said. “They need to know it is OK to express their feelings and that there are people who will listen and care for them.”

The Methodist Church of Haiti asked Schleicher to provide bereavement training to Haitian teachers and in February, he visited four schools in villages near Les Cayes on Haiti’s southern coast.

Most of the people in Les Cayes are without homes, he said.

Schleicher and Ellen Coulter — a member of Owosso FUMC who is a retired nurse who has worked in the mental health community with children — taught art therapy to Haitian teachers.

“My Haiti contact arranged for 86 teachers from four rural schools to take part. I met with the whole group on Friday and with an interpreter explained grief and the resulting emotional and physical reactions to death,” Schleicher said.

The teachers then asked the students to draw a picture of their experience on Jan. 12, 2010, the day of the earthquake that was responsible for more than 300,000 deaths.

The teachers worked one-on-one with students and as the students drew, the teachers wrote down their stories.

One child drew a picture of a man with one arm and one leg.

“My cousin lost his arm and leg during the quake. He is the best cousin I’ve ever had,” the child said. “I am so sad.”

Another child drew a person with no arms and said, “The house collapsed on my cousin. He lost both his arms and died shortly afterward. I am very sad and was depressed for weeks afterward.”

Schleicher said many of the children still have nightmares and are fearful of every storm.

“My brother and I were at home when the earthquake struck on Jan. 12, 2010. I escaped but the house fell on my brother and he died,” said a young student.

One child drew a picture of a family lying on the floor of their house. “My mother died in our collapsed home during the earthquake,” she said.

Giving the children a chance to tell their stories is significant, Schleicher said.

Many of the teachers have only a two-year high school education and they teach by rote; students don’t ask questions but repeat back what their teachers say.

“The training encouraged children to speak one-on-one with a caring teacher and in return have a teacher listen and offer a caring presence,” Schleicher said.

Schleicher first visited Haiti 10 years ago as part of a Volunteer in Mission team that built a village church in the hills outside Jeremie. He has been to Haiti twice since the earthquake.

He served local churches in the Detroit Annual (regional) Conference for 23 years and has been serving as a chaplain/bereavement counselor for McLaren Hospice, Davison, Mich., for the past four years.

He serves as the mission and outreach person for his church and will teach the Haiti study at the West Michigan Conference School of Christian Mission later this year.

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Live from Detroit Annual Conference 2011: The Bishop's craving for chocolate enhances Haiti Task Force's pitch for aid

• By RJ Walters, Editor •

Evidently tempting Bishop Jonathan D. Keaton with chocolate is one way to make a point at Detroit Annual Conference.

Encouraging the Michigan Area Bishop to come visit the Michigan Area Haiti Task Force table at Friday evening’s Ministry Fair, the Rev. Don Gotham waved a bag of chocolates in front of the Bishop as he took the podium at Dawson Auditorium.

“If you would like to have one of these fine chocolates Bishop, I would urge you to come enjoy one with others at our table,” he said.

The Bishop smiled and inquired about having one immediately, but Gotham came back with a prudent response.

“But Bishop, good things come to those who wait,” he said.

Out came Keaton’s wallet and a five-dollar bill, earmarked for the conference’s Haiti Hot Lunch program.

The wait was over.

After showing a video that urged people to stop making excuses of why they can’t or won’t go on a mission to Haiti, Gotham issued the Michigan Area a challenge.

“We want there to be at least one clergy or laity from each congregation to go on a VIM mission to Haiti in the next five years,” he said.

More information about the Michigan Area Task Force, the programs it supports and how to donate is available at www.stovern.net/haiti.

Gotham said a brand new web site would be unveiled at www.mahtf.org in the near future.

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Ministry with UMC connections making a difference in Haiti

• By Pam Mettler, Correspondent •

Faith in Action International (FIAI), a Christian-based mission program in Verrettes, Haiti, has been quietly serving the poorest-of-the-poor for 13 years.

With each tree sapling planted, every meal delivered, and every water filter installed, the Haitian people have come to say “Mesi,” Creole for “thanks for making a difference.”

Michigan native Tom Braak founded FIAI in 1998.

Braak made an initial mission trip to Haiti in 1997 to see the country’s needs first hand. Upon hearing God’s call, he set up headquarters in the hills north of Port-Au-Prince and married a Haitian woman named Ficilta. Together, they have a 16-month-old son, Ryan.

It was when Braak was asked to present on FIAI at the United Methodist Church of the Dunes (UMC-Dunes) in Grand Haven, Mich. that he made a longstanding connection to the United Methodis Church.

At the conclusion of Braak’s presentation, one of the UMC-Dunes church members organized a mission trip to Haiti in April 2007. It included 16 people who worked shoulder-to-shoulder with FIAI missionaries.

Braak is also connected to the Michigan Area through Dr. Bill Cansfield, a strong advocate for Haiti and member of UMC-Dunes.

Cansfield is a member of the Michigan Haiti Task Force, which works through United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) to support churches, schools, orphanages and agricultural improvement projects in Haiti.

Cansfield also serves as the chairman of the FIAI board of directors.

As its sole missionary, Braak, 48, has brought FIAI to the people day-by-day through teaching sustainable development.

A tree nursery was established; animal husbandry programs were introduced, providing goats and chickens to help Haitian farmers learn how to start a business, sell milk and eggs at market; literacy programs also help children and adults learn to read the Bible.

Currently, the FIAI fruit tree nursery has 12,500 saplings growing in plastic bags.

Soil is mixed with bat guano and the plants are thriving.

“Some 23 species will bear fruit that can be a source of $80 of increased income potential each year.

This $80 is a welcome addition to the annual $200 income the farmers currently earn,” Braak said.
Trees are set for distribution in May, with each Haitian villager receiving 20 plantings.

FIAI’s tree nursery species include: Mango, avocado, lemon, kenep, sour sop, lamapen, guava, orange, cacoa, apricot, pumelo and chocolate pudding plants.

“We also started growing five children’s tree nurseries and we anticipate over 350 kids will benefit from this aspect of our ministry,” Braak said.

Recently, the mission has also made headway with continued distributions of goats, food and water filters.

“We took delivery of two more buck Boer goats this week,” said Braak. “The 19 bucks we gave out last year are now all producing offspring, which will help create income for villagers at market.”

Braak also received 47 boxes of food, which contained 36 meals each — to be distributed to the homeless, elderly and handicapped.

Rice, soybean flour, corn protein and dried vegetables are at a premium to many people.

A chronic problem is the need for clean water. Cholera continues to spread through contaminated water and food.

FIAI is addressing this epidemic by providing 300 water purification systems to schools and villages throughout the Artibonite Valley, some 40 miles north of Port-au-Prince.

“In January we gave out 74 water filters throughout six communities and each filter will provide clean water to 60 people,” Braak said.

In February, Tom’s father, Larry Braak, M.D., brought 200 Sawyer Point One filters, one of the fastest, most cost effective ways to deliver clean water.

Each filter system will clean up to 100 gallons of portable water every day. The filters remove the protozoa and viruses using technology adapted from kidney dialysis filters.

“People are still dying in the mountains and all around Verrettes and Port-au-Prince because of the cholera pandemic,” Braak. said “We are praying for continued support throughout 2011 to help us sustain our brothers and sisters throughout Haiti.”

FIAI has faced several major challenges in the wake of the 2010 earthquake, hurricane and cholera pandemic. Rocky roads left with huge potholes by the disasters have taken their toll on the FIAI truck used to transport supplies and people to and from the regional hospital. Funds are being sought to help purchase a new vehicle.

Homes that collapsed have left people without shelter and FIAI has helped with the reconstruction process.

Braak has grown FIAI through donations from family, relatives, friends and supporters attending largely United Methodist, Presbyterian, Christian Reformed, Reformed, Baptist, Episcopal and Roman Catholic churches in Michigan, California, Iowa, South Carolina and Wisconsin.

People can donate by sending checks made payable to: FIAI, P.O. Box 171, Spring Lake, Michigan or by donating electronically on the FIAI website at www.faithinactionint.org.

A spring mission trip, led by Braak, is planned for March 29 through April 5 to the FIAI mission in Verrettes, Haiti.

Another one is being considered for September.

Participants will work in the tree nursery, deliver water filters to schools and homes, plus participate in church services with Haitian villagers.

To contact Faith in Action International reach Tammy Davison at tammy@faithinactionint.org or 616-842-8951, or Pam Mettler at pmettler@iserv.net or 616-402-3144

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Inside Haiti with long-time lover of the nation and people

By Valerie Mossman-Celestin, West Michigan Conference Executive Assistant and Office Manager 


West Michigan Conference Executive Assistant and Office Manager Valerie Mossman-Celestin has some unique insights into Haiti. She has been going there since 1998, she is the U.S.-based executive director for Haitian Artisans for Peace International and she is married to a Haitian man, who had relatives in the country at the time of the earthquake.

Observations of American interaction with Haitian
Americans don’t always ask questions but come across as having the answers.

They see things that make no sense and assume the solutions are simple, when in fact they are complex.

For example, we might say, “Preventing cholera should be easy. Wash your hands and drink clean water.”; simple in the American context, but not so in Haiti.

How many times a day will you wash your hands long enough to sing the alphabet when you have to walk long distances and haul the water in five-gallon jugs that supply all your water needs?

Do you have a filter for clean water? How do you boil water without money for charcoal or bleach?

The poor of Haiti are survivors
How can you think about future generations when your children are at home crying for dinner?

Also, it is tough to really know where someone stands on an issue, especially political. They want to be on the winning side because they fear for repercussions.

For example, my friend was on President Aristide’s team after his first election.

He had a team of people working with him to assess electrical needs for communities.

The day the coup happened, his team removed their Aristide t-shirts, put on the colors of the new guy, and tried to chase down my friend to hurt him to prove their loyalty to the new person in power because they were afraid of being killed or losing their jobs if it was perceived they supported Aristide.

Haiti is a collective vs. individual society.
The earthquake did not have to kill “my” mother for me to grieve and develop symptoms of depression.

It happened to “all of us.”

The poor are daily “looking for life.”

They understand the misery and what it is like to heap more misery on top of what already exists. This solidarity can lead to violence or vigilante justice.

But it can also work for good; if everyone in the community knows of a family that has absolutely nothing to eat, the community members will drop off food from their own meager servings.

Sharing is absolutely expected, to the point of being part of one’s personal security system.

If you are perceived as “selfish”, you can endanger yourself and your family. Larger communes are divided into very small community zones and people tend to be loyal to their zone. They try to get as many people from their zone into jobs or other distributions.

These folks are then the funnels that return cash and goods back to their zone families. This is part of the reason the earthquake was so damaging to Haiti. Rural zones emigrate people into Port au Prince, the Dominican Republic, US, Canada and France. These people are typically the ones with money that travels back down the pipeline to the rural family that is living off of an agricultural system that can be wiped out in one rainy or dry season.

You think we are ‘connectional?’ This is a connectional system.

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Haiti — one year later: The church’s role then and now in an overwhelmed nation

By RJ Walters, Editor

One year ago catastrophe struck Haiti in the form of a 7.0-magnitude earthquake that killed nearly a quarter of a million people and left another million displaced, provoking an incredible response from the United Methodist Church, internationally and locally.

A succession of horrors continues to set the country back, but it’s not due to a lack of assistance or shortage of heart.

80 United Methodist Volunteers in Mission (UMVIM) teams totaling 712 volunteers arrived with help for Haitians from May through December, the continuation of a long-standing covenant between the Michigan Area UMC and Haitian UMC. The North Central Jurisdiction, which includes the Michigan Area, sent 18 VIM teams to “earthquake priority projects” in 2010 and 20 more teams worked on other projects in Haiti.

VIM estimates its volunteers have had an economic impact of $1.25 million dollars in Haiti since the earthquake and more money is on the way. After an initial $565,000 investment, the General Board of Global Ministries (GBGM) and United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) Board of Directors recently approved a three-year plan for continuation, funded at $3,094,500.

Still, North Central Jurisdiction VIM Coordinator Lorna Jost said the last year has “been a rollercoaster of emotions” and the earthquake deflated a population that seemed to be on the cusp of moving forward.

“I’m watching as the hope gets restored and as the people go down there to help. But I’m very worried,” she said. “This could have been a time where the government, the church, everything…could have really grown from this experience and that’s still a great possibility, but there’s also the possibility they’re just going to be turned into a state and country that is just going to require our donations.”

Rev. David Morton, a VIM coordinator out of Chapel Hill UMC in Battle Creek, was a member of one of the first emergency response teams to visit Haiti and he said Americans should consider the Haitians’ resiliency.

He remembers visiting the Ninth Ward of New Orleans shortly after Hurricane Katrina and the thing that surprised him about Haiti was how many street vendors were already back up selling fruits, coal, and other supplies at the same time people were being dug up from the wreckage.

Rev. Don Gotham, pastor at St. Clair FUMC, was leading a VIM team in Jeremie, Haiti when the earthquake struck on Jan. 12. He echoes Morton’s sentiments, noting his experience with the Haitian people is vastly different than the video footage of riots and political upheaval shown on national television.

“I think what’s important for folks to realize is that while (the Haitian people) are faced with un-imaginable stresses and hardships in their lives, for the most part the people of Haiti — aside from some political unrest you will see — are gentle, loving people,” he said. “Just like in the U.S., the people who end up being the splash on the news are not representative of most of our people. It’s the same in Haiti.”

Making a Difference
The losses of Rev. Clint Rabb and Rev. Sam Dixon, who were in Port Au Prince at the time of the earthquake, forced UMC leadership to re-organize itself quickly and efficiently.

Rabb was head of the office of Mission Volunteers of the GBGM and Dixon was in charge of UMCOR.
Jost said VIM jurisdictional coordinators carried some of the load, but a strengthened relationship with Rev. Paul Gesner, the president of the Methodist Church in the Caribbean and the Americas, has been vital.

She said Gesner helps determine what projects are deemed “earthquake priority” ones and VIM teams attempt to send workers to the places of most dire need.

Jost maintains regular contact with conference VIM coordinators and she said networking and open lines of communication from her level all the way down to local churches continues to improve as action plans for Haiti are put into place.

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UMVIM Haiti Response Program cancels twelve January 2011 teams

By Susan J. Meister, UMVIM

New York – United Methodist Volunteers in Mission (UMVIM) announced today that twelve teams scheduled to travel to Haiti as part of the Haiti Response Plan in January 2011, have been cancelled.

The decision was made in light of recent experience in Haiti surrounding the response to the presidential election.

“Team safety and welfare is our first priority,” remarked Rev. Tom Vencuss, Volunteer Management Coordinator, “and regrettably the events of the last week have led us to the decision that it would not be safe to have these UMVIM teams present in Haiti around the presidential run-off, scheduled for January 16, 2011.”

No one on the five UMVIM teams present in Haiti on December 8 and the following days were ever in imminent danger. However, the staff at the Methodist Guest House could not reach teams at the field sites of Petit Goave and Mellier for several days and teams could not be sent to work sites nearby to the MGH (due to road closures); teams’ stays were extended beyond their expected departure dates (due to flight cancellations) and caused significant additional expenses for the teams; and in some cases, stays were extended beyond team members’ comfort and anxiety levels.

“The December teams were very accommodating,” Vencuss continued. “The team leaders were great, and the Haitian and American staff at the MGH went above and beyond in caring for the many guests.

However, as we looked at this experience and the potential disruption unfolding in January 2011, we recommended to GBGM, and they concurred, that the trips within this time frame be cancelled and rescheduled.”

The decision to cancel was made by Vencuss and the staff in Haiti; Susan Meister, US-based Calendaring Coordinator; Una Jones, Assistant General Secretary for Annual Conference Relations & Mission Volunteers Program, GBGM; and Greg Forrester, Northeast Jurisdiction UMVIM Coordinator, in consultation with Rev. Gesner Paul, President of the Methodist Church of Haiti.

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The Lighthouse Overlook: Haitian Artisans for Peace International

By RJ Walters, Editor

What is it?
HAPI stands for Haitian Artisans for Peace International. It is an initiative of The Advance that was co-founded in 2007 by West Michigan Conference Council on Ministries Staff Office Manager Valerie Mossman-Celestin and Paul Prevost, a former mayor of Mizak, Haiti. It is a United Methodist Women-supported project that was founded as a fair trade artisan co-op focused on women’s economic development and empowerment.
The goal is to help skilled Haitian workers earn just and fair wages to help stimulate economic growth.
HAPI’s work extends into the community through community-based health care and programs for youth and its four major areas of focus are: economic opportunity, children, health, healing and wholeness, and building capacity.

How did it start?
Prevost introduced Mossman-Celestin to an artisan cooperative on her visit to Haiti.
Mossman-Celestin said it was not a sustainable business model, but the women earned a paycheck and had the dignity of their work.
“The effects were transformational; children were in school. Women were respected at home and in the community,” she said. “They didn’t have to travel long distances on risky and costly public transportation to sell products in dangerous urban areas. The women were happy.”
Prevost and Mossman-Celestin have helped people in Mizak make partnerships with local churches, local civic bodies, media outlets and even North American organizations.

What type of progress has been made?
Mossman-Celestin wrote the following about one Haitian woman’s experience in the August edition of the UMW publication Response:
Artisan Leonne Ridore’s husband once held traditional views of a woman’s role. He did not see the value of a woman going off to work, and instead believed Ms. Ridore should stay home. But he changed his mind when he slipped in a muddy field and severed his wrist on his machete. Ms. Ridore had just received her first paycheck from HAPI, which enabled them to pay for the transportation to rush him to the hospital.
“If I had not gotten there as soon as I did, I would have bled to death,” Mr. Ridore said, as he exposed the scar on his wrist. “Now I am happy HAPI is in the community.”
Some of the anticipated long-term outcomes of HAPI are more households living above $2 per day, the empowerment of women and girls, a reduction of emigration to other areas of the country and improved health and mortality numbers.

What churches/people can do to help?
There are plenty of ways to get involved.
As with any project, funding is essential. People can donate through The Advance by donating to special project #3020490. Tax-deductible donations can also be made at www.haitianartisans.com, where individuals or groups can choose specifically where their money goes.
HAPI is also looking for people interested in serving as long-term volunteers in the areas of business, creativity, medical, agricultural, photography and more.
Prevost can be reached at Hapiest2007@yahoo.fr and Mossman-Celestin can be contacted at valeriem@wmcumc.org.

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Live from WMC 2010: Bishop Keaton on what it means to practice social and personal holiness as a church

By RJ Walters, Editor

With his usual zest and animated spirit, Bishop Jonathan Keaton officially opened the West Michigan Annual Conference by encouraging the 2010 church to look a little bit more like the 1st Century church described in Acts 2.

As it says in Acts 2:46-47 (NIV): “Every day they continued to gather together by common consent in the temple courts, breaking bread from house to house, sharing their food with glad and humble hearts, praising God and having the good will of all the people.”

“The crowds shown in Acts 2 are looked at as the ideal church by some, focused on communion, prayer, teaching, helping others and all the things that should be important,” Keaton said. “But sometimes we focus so much on things like crime, homosexuality, inhumanity, hopelessness and all the things that divide us.”

Keaton made note that nowhere in Acts 2 does it talk about denominational divide, Jews and gentiles being separate, or longtime believers distinguishing themselves from new ones.

What it does reflect though, he said, is Christian community flourishes through personal and social holiness — something that was exemplified by the late Sam Dixon (UMCOR head) and late Clint Rabb (Rev. and missionary), as well as mission worker Jim Gulley when they were trapped under the Hotel Montana following the devastating Haiti earthquake in January. Keaton talked about the faith they showed by referencing reports that they sang hymns together, repeatedly tried to lift the spirits of those around them and never gave up despite the grave circumstances.

“What happened to Sam Dixon and Clint Rabb and Jim Gulley was social and spiritual,” he said. “Underneath that rubble was the spirit of Pentecost and the spirit of holiness, even during their most trying times.”

A special offering was taken for Haiti Thursday and Keaton applauded the conference’s response to the disaster through giving and prayer.

Keaton said the modern-day United Methodist Church needs to remember the words of John Wesley more often though, when he said, “The world is my parish.”

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Getting equipped for the mission: VIM training showcases opportunities for outreach and service

Another story from next week's upcoming April edition of the Michigan Area Reporter. It's been pushed out early so people can sign up and get involved if they so please. To register for VIM training online click here.

By RJ Walters, Editor

A buffet of spiritual food has been prepared with care — now it is only a question of who will come and sit at the table.

The Volunteers In Mission (VIM) Festival of Opportunities will offer a wealth of ideas and training on April 10 at Brighton First UMC and there’s still time to get registered.

The Detroit and West Michigan Conferences have put together a day of speakers and sessions to help equip and inspire people to serve in a myriad of different ways in places all over the globe.

The festival will take place from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and the keynote speaker is Rev. Don Gotham, a member of the executive committee of the Michigan Area Haiti Task Force and the vice chair of the Detroit Conference Board of Global Ministries.

Gotham has been heavily involved in mission outreach for 15 years and he recently returned home to St. Clair following a January trip to Haiti.

“It seems like Haiti was a pretty popular topic among volunteers recently and he was stranded following the earthquake there, so we felt it was appropriate to have him,” said John Walls, a VIM coordinator for the Detroit Conference.

What makes the festival so valuable is the number of options available:

VIM Leader Training

There will be a four-hour study of the VIM training manuals and basic training for people who want to become leaders. It will equip attendees with resources for selecting a project, organizing a team and leading them into either a domestic or overseas mission. The cost of this training is $35 with lunch provided.

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Bishop's Column: Seeing Easter in Haiti

The upcoming April edition of the Reporter is currently having the finishing production touches done on it down in Texas, and should be ready to roll out to the public online in a few days, with the print edition going into the mail by the end of the week. This column by Bishop Jonathan D. Keaton will appear in the issue.

Despite our economic challenges in the nation, the state of Michigan and the local church, our love for our neighbors has not been shackled, and our billfolds and pocketbooks continue to make a difference when it comes to others.  Haiti is a prime example. 

We had Volunteer in Mission (VIM) teams in Haiti before the earthquake.  Plus, United Methodists have worked alongside our Haitian brothers and sisters dating back to 1817. 

Methodists have joined them in the work of rebirth and/or renewal. 

Indeed, God has used us as one of the signs of resurrection, past and present.  In the wake of the January 12^th Haiti earthquake, that killed the well known and the unknown, more will be required of us. 

A District Superintendent in a circuit outside Port-Au-Prince said it best: “You (had) your 9/11, now we have our 1/12.”

America lost three to four thousand people because of 9/11.  Due to 1/12, Haiti lost over 200,000.    In a Haiti supplement published by The United Methodist Reporter, how Port-Au-Prince and surrounding were crucified by an act of nature is delineated. 

The worst earthquake in the Western Hemisphere in the past century took an estimated 200,000 lives, left thousands of Haitians, hungry, homeless and wounded along with dashed hopes and dreams. 

In some towns there was no medicine, doctors or clinics; in others, there were no markets or vendors selling food. 

What’s more, Haiti has had the highest maternal mortality rate in the Western hemisphere (670 over 100,000 live births according to the United Nations Population Fund). 

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Seeing the aftershocks of Haiti up close

By RJ Walters, Editor / March 2010 Issue

Many of us dropped our jaws while staring at a television, some of us attended prayer services and gave abundantly, and people around the globe devoted themselves to finding ways to help.

But nearly 2,000 miles away, Rev. Don Gotham and 16 other UMC brothers and sisters from Michigan simply lived through one of the most devastating earthquakes of our time — with their faith in tact and much more perspective than what can be found in The USA Today or on CNN.com.

A mission trip that arrived to Haiti on New Year’s Day was scheduled to return home Jan. 14, but just 15 hours before the mission team was scheduled to get on a plane a 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit in Port-Au-Prince, about 120 miles east of where the crew was working in Jeremie.

While all of the crewmembers were unharmed, and eventually they returned home safely on Jan. 19 through the help and persistence of many people whose names they will never know, well over 200,000 people have now been declared dead from the tragedy, and these servants’ lives will never be quite the same.

Gotham wept with a Haitian paint foreman who lost his only sister in the wreckage and the entire crew consoled people who walked in and out of the guest house they called their residence, as stories of agony and fright rolled off their lips.

But despite that, and the fact they experienced somewhat strained communications with family and friends for a few days, the team chooses to focus on the “amazing spirit” of the Haitian people and all of the good that is left to do in a reeling country.

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Timeout with the Bishop, March Edition

Bishop Jonathan D. Keaton has been serving the Detroit Area and West Michigan Conferences as bishop since 2004. He has been actively involved in the United Methodist Church as a clergy member for 40 years and one of his primary goals is to enforce the UMC mission to “make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.” Editor RJ Walters recently sat down with Keaton to discuss the state of the church and the Michigan Area as 2010 gets underway.

Q: From your position as the bishop, what do you see as some of the strengths and weakness of the two Michigan conferences in particular?

A: There are so many different visions and dreams people have about the way they do church, so one of the challenges is always getting the conferences on the same page. That doesn’t mean people shouldn’t have dreams; for example, if someone has the gift of working on social justice issues or being in Christian education or one church does a lot of work with camping, (that’s good). Both annual conferences have a real strength in mission — it’s mission, mission, mission. The United Methodists in Michigan do mission right, and they have for many, many years long before I was here —I’m not responsible for that. The Michigan Area has been one of the top areas in giving in the United Methodist Church….we have folks all over the world in Jamaica and Africa and a seminary there in Russia, so just mission. But I think we’ve had the great struggle in “How do we get ministries organized on the same page?” What helps that is we have two conferences and two connectional ministry leaders and they have primary responsibility for directing program areas. So I would say the greatest strengths of the Michigan Area are mission work and worship services, and if we would say what some of the weaknesses have been, you look at how the denomination has seen membership decline over the last 40 years, and secondly stewardship, which is why we need continuing education.

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