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Opening Remarks of Connie Fegley Chair of the World Mission Committee We in the World Mission Committee of the Diocese of Bethlehem are so very happy you're here today. Even though this group of people hasn't been meeting long -- six times, if my count is accurate -- we've found an incredible sense of vision of ministry. What I believe we are doing is seeking God's desire for this Diocese. Now, I always feel people who think they know what God wants are problematic at best, and that's why I said "seek" instead of "know." First of all, we wanted to determine what is already happening in this Diocese in terms of mission, since we strive to be a serving committee rather than one that thinks it knows everything about mission. So we prepared and distributed a questionnaire to all the churches, and you can see the early results of the survey on our display in the other room. There is clearly a sense of mission and ministry beyond our diocesan borders that is often quietly done. We celebrate and honor your work. A person on our committee, Marie Elizabeth Dyer, loves children just about as much as it is possible to do, and we want to ask you to take particular care to talk to her and look at her materials on the Christian Children's Fund. That organization entrusted her with the names of four children who are seeking sponsorship, and if your congregation might be interested in getting involved with a child in this way, be sure to talk with her. We have three mission teams in the field from this Diocese that we are aware of, and also ask that you take particular care to look at the information at the booth about them. A big piece of the World Mission Committee is the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief, and Tom Lloyd was just in San Antonio for the yearly conference. Tom is all fired up and, when I finish, he will share some of his recent experience with you. At our March meeting, we invited Margaret Larom, the World Mission Interpretation and Networks officer of the National Church, to come and speak with us about the big picture in the Anglican Communion. Because the situation in the Sudan is so dire, it very early seemed to rise to the forefront of our attention. Due to a series of events that we can only attribute to God opening doors for us, we have this find priest from the southern Sudan, Michael Kiju Paul, who will not only be our guest at this convention and hearing, but in the Diocese of Bethlehem for the summer as well. I know that sharing your story is a hot ticket in the church these days and I want to tell you just a little bit of my own experience. Since my husband lived and taught in the Sudan and is an African specialist and studies the Sudan, I've been aware of that country since I've known him. It was, however, reading Margaret Larom's article, "Christ in the Sudan," (which, by the way, just won a big national award), that I experienced a flame being tuned up inside me. It made me think of the burning bush right away. There was a sidebar article about a jconference in NYC called "Hear the Cry!" about the persecuted church, and I knew I just had to go to it. It came to me to call Rick Cluett who was absolutely wonderful to me and helped encourage and make it possible for not only me but Randall as well to attend the conference. I wrote about that experience when I got back, not to my church but to the Diocese, and Bill Lewellis asked to publish it right away. I admit that I started sort of nagging Diocesan House about reviving the World Mission Committee, and the next thing I knew, Bishop Paul had called this fine group of people together and we were off and running. Several months ago, I had shared with our online electronic conference <bethlehempa> my great desire to have someone from the Sudan talk to you just for this one day. God bless Albie Hazen who wrote about Kiju. They are both studying at Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria. He also asked if I knew of a place for Kiju to be for the summer, which I, of course, didn't. Thank the good Lord that I shared this with Laura Chegwidden who immediately seized on the idea of bringing him here, possibly in one church. The committee was in favor of trying to bring him here for the summer and having him go all over the Diocese. The next hurdle was Bishop Paul, who wasn't a hurdle at all, but the most enormous help in the world. He has really made this possible with his care and support, and I thank him from the bottom of my heart. It was during this time that Dane Bragg came on board. Before he knew it, he was attending the Global Episcopal Mission Network conference in Denver, and was acting as ringmaster for this crazy summer schedule for Kiju. After Tom's sharing with us about the Presiding Bishop's Fund, we will ask Kiju to speak to us. Then my husband, Randall, is going to share his impressions of the conference he attended in April at the Episcopal Cathedral in Indianapolis. We hope to be as effective a vehicle as we can for sharing information with this Diocese on world mission and also pray that we can serve as inspiration. We have all of us been so inspired by God, and we hope we can share this. You may remember the C. S. Lewis quote in Time Magazine's cover story on 2000 years of Jesus: "If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next. The Apostles themselves, who set on foot the conversion of the Roman Empire, the great men who built up the Middle Ages, the English evangelicals who abolished the slave trade, all left their mark on earth, precisely because their minds were occupied with heaven. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this one. Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you will get neither." Unfortunately, his comment about the slave trade made years ago has reversed itself in the Sudan. Would any of you have ever thought that at the end of the 20th century you would be sitting in a room in Scranton, Pennsylvania, about to hear about an area of the world where slavery is flourishing? I still ponder Lewis' comments and wonder just what he meant about keeping one's mind occupied with heaven. I can't help but wonder if Kiju's being with us is precisely because that's what's been happening -- that we *have been keeping our eyes on heaven and that God desires great things from this Diocese. It seems that within pretty short order, we will know what God wants of us. If we keep praying and listening with open hearts, how can we miss? In the whole of the Anglican Communion, the place where the church is growing the fastest is the southern Sudan. My strong hunch is that Kiju will bring all of us far more than we will bring him in terms of what our Diocese may or may not be able to do.
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