George Howard,
his entire family, and all his colleagues are to be congratulated on his
new job!
As one who toiled
for years (& peanuts, BTW) in the back rooms at 475 Riverside Drive
for what was then the Methodist Board of Missions, I am particularly
proud to celebrate this occasion.
For years Joe
Mathews and company went hat in hand to the Methodist establishment to
offer a new model of 'mission' -- and to invite their cooperation and
financial support for our efforts to demonstrate this model globally.
Without, of course, all the theological and institutional baggage that
conservative Methodists tended to perpetuate through their "career
missionaries."
Bottom line is
that although we created some amazing partnerships with churchmen of all
denominational stripes, particularly at the local and regional level and
especially in places like Asian nations where there was a strong
institutional infrastructure of Methodist presence, the denominational
hierarchy @ 475 tended to be institutionally rigid (reflecting the
conservative mission theology in local churches that sent and supported
their career missionaries). Their response was more like, "Yes, BUT
. . ." "Yes, but where's your orthodox Christology and your
evangelical preaching calling individuals to make decisions for
Christ?" Et cetera.
Fast forward a
half century, more or less. Amazingly, almost all of those career
missionaries are gone. As are most of the short term misisonaries in the
program Lela Jahn was in.
And, amazingly, this Board finally gets it that in order
to create significant partnerships with Methodists and their institutions
worldwide, it's necessary to give up the old (and resented) model of
sending missionaries and money controlled from 475, invest in new,
non-hierarchical, cooperative relationships with these Methodists (not to
mention others outside the denominational fold), and pursue what they
call "asset-based community development" (which means tapping
and developing the potential resources that are already present, rather
than pouring in vast quantities of outside funding). Sounds strangely
familiar!
Of course they
were wise enough to hire George Howard!
So to all of us
who sweated blood for years in the global band of human development
projects and the religious houses and local colleagues who made it all
happen (despite an absence of institutional support in many cases), I
offer my profound gratitude for all we did together to be part of 'the
great turn.'
Now we see more
evidence that our years of practical research and demonstration have
finally taken root and blossomed within the established church. Amazing.
But what else could they do? The fundie missionaries are clueless and up
the proverbial creek without a paddle.
As one who is
about to REALLY retire and just enjoy the amazing view from my front
porch rocking chair (& I mean this LITERALLY!), I'm very happy to let
go of any sense of having to pursue any unfinished business. Let the
Order Archives team organize, preserve, and disseminate our corporate
wisdom for the new world. And let Terry and company take care of the
Kemper Building and preserve our footprint in Chicago to be of service in
the new world.
