Bishop James King, president of the Commission on United Methodist Men (right), expresses his gratitude to Bishop Thomas Bickerton for his leadership in the Imagine No Malaria campaign and the distribution of insecticide-treated nets. A UMNS photo by Rich Peck.

(United Methodist News Service report) When United Methodist Bishop Thomas Bickerton preached at a Sierra Leone church, 75 of the 700 worshippers brought along empty mosquito bed-net bags from a distribution that took place the day before.

“You cared about my body, I can trust you with my soul,” said one of the worshippers who greeted him after the service.

Bickerton, who oversees the Pittsburgh Area, is chair of the denomination’s Global Health Initiative.

Read more at umc.org

By Laura Meengs, INM Field Coordinator

Famous last words indeed!  This simple statement, spoken by John Wesley as he sent Thomas Coke on his way to America, continues to echo through our very beings and helps to define our Wesleyan heritage.

On Easter Sunday, just a few short weeks ago, we celebrated the one perfect sacrifice – the one perfect offering – of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ as “the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world!”

And we paused to offer the individuals gathered in our sanctuaries an opportunity to accept and know Christ as their personal savior.

So, are we done?  What is next?  How can we continue to preach the good news to our congregations and communities and “offer them Christ?”

What about demonstrating a real-world, relevant way that your church is living out the Gospel?  Imagine No Malaria offers just such an opportunity.

This weekend, the churches of the Western Pennsylvania Annual Conference will celebrate a conference-wide Sunday to Save Lives - one day to stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters across the connection against a killer: malaria.

Why not consider having a Sunday to Save Lives in your congregation?  Leading up to your chosen Sunday, use the resources available on this site to introduce Imagine No Malaria to your church and community, then take a special offering in support of this life-saving ministry.  Perhaps you could enhance this effort with a house party or two or by encouraging those in your congregation with a monthly pledge. A gift of just $28 per month over three years will provide enough support to save 100 lives!

As new creations in Christ, we too are called to offer hope and healing.  Our actions can help to save the lives of hundreds of thousands of women and children suffering and dying from a preventable and treatable killer – malaria.

To “Offer Them Christ” means to preach the good news, proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.  Consider how your worship, praise and actions can carry out this calling – perhaps through Imagine No Malaria.

Through Imagine No Malaria we often say that malaria is a preventable, treatable, and a beatable disease.   First United Methodist Church of Colleyville took the word beatable literally during their Spring Fling on May 1st.  For a small donation you purchased the chance to literally BEAT Malaria (or at least a wonderfully creative mosquito piñata).

The before….

And the after….

“They had a blast!… The boys were quite proud of their conquest and wanted to be named in the photo (with their parents’ permission of course!): Adam Wachtel and Jonathan Husband.”  said Reverend Kaiya Kershaw.

Way to go guys!   Keep up the good work.

Listen to the buzzing inside of you.
Join the movement | Get involved | Give
The bite of malaria doesn’t have to kill.  But, only if you stop it.

For students living in Palestine or Afghanistan, we expect their journeys to and from school to be less than safe.  Maybe some of us are even surprised that they make the effort to attend school at all when much of their own societies are in absolute chaos.

We do not expect the same to be true for students in El Paso, TX.  Yet, for the young people who cross from Juarez (Mexico) every day to attend the Lydia Patterson Institute, they too face incredible danger for the opportunity to learn.

Since 2008, nearly 8,000 people have died in Juarez as a result of cartel violence; more than 600 of those deaths occurred the first three months of 2011.  In fear of losing their lives or being kidnapped, some of the students at Lydia Patterson refuse to wear their uniforms as they travel to the school.  Instead, they change after they have arrived.

Every chapel service the students have a time of prayer and they often ask to pray for their communities in Mexico that are experiencing unimaginable levels of violence.

I had the opportunity to attend one of these chapel services last year.  That day, I was supposed to speak to them about children suffering from malaria in Africa.  After hearing the prayer concerns they had, I almost felt guilty talking to them about children dying so far away, when they were experiencing death in their backyards on a level I could not even comprehend.

But I did talk to them about the children in Africa.

Following chapel, two teenage girls came up to me and asked if I would eat lunch with them.  At lunch, they wanted to discuss how they could save children’s lives and they were serious.  In thirty minutes, they set a goal and drafted a fundraising plan for their school.

These girls will save 100 children in Africa from malaria.  They have already saved 28.

Their fundraising ideas ranged from selling homemade tamales to showing a movie.  They planned to have a different fundraiser every couple of months and they wanted to involve their communities too…so they did.

On March 12, 2011, Lydia Patterson Institute held a health fair for the Segundo Barrio.  They raised awareness of Imagine No Malaria, gave out health screenings, and even had face painting available.  The entire community was involved in a festival like environment, with tents, dancing, clowns on stilts, and much more!

My expectations were wrong.  I expected these students to ignore the problem of malaria, since they have so many problems of their own that jeopardize their wellbeing, but they didn’t.  They chose to protect 100 children, because they believed they could make a difference.

Two nights ago, tornadoes hit my home state and did a lot of damage.  Several people were killed.  Electricity was out in many places across the state.  Roads were destroyed.  People were trapped.

That night my brother and I had nowhere to go, except under the house.  We know tornadoes are dangerous…we know what we are supposed to do when they hit.  The problem is – we simply do not have a place to get away from them.  Our house is not equipped with a storm cellar, safe room or basement.  So, we sit in the dirt under the house and pray it doesn’t collapse as seventy-mile-an-hour winds pound the walls, bend the trees, and send objects flying.

It is terrifying and frustrating to be in a situation, where you know how to protect yourself, but you simply do not have the resources to do it.

Every 45 seconds in Africa, a child dies from a preventable and treatable disease.   Their parents know how to protect them from malaria.  They know their children need medication, but they cannot afford the treatment options.  They know their children need to sleep under a net, but they have no way of getting one.

Today, two thousand parents will bury a child, a child they wanted to protect, to love, and to watch grow-up.  These children will die needlessly, and even more frustrating is the fact that tomorrow two-thousand more children will join them.

Our church has the ability to change this.  We can get the necessary resources to those who need them.  We can save lives, simply by helping parents who already want to protect their children.

My history with the United Methodist Church began with a song.  My first degree was Classical Voice Performance.  This meant that I trained day in and day out in order to sing opera and other classical music endeavors.  That musical passion and my strong desire to serve God lead me into Music Ministry for almost 9 years.

In the Summer of 2010 I was working as a Music Minister for Faith United Methodist Church in Austin TX and it was there that I was introduced to the ministry of  Imagine No Malaria.  My church hosted a screening of the documentary “When the Night Comes”.  That documentary and the celebration on the Capitol grounds for  World Malaria Day in 2010 changed my life.  I found a passion for global missions that I had not felt before that time.  Sure I was a good donor to my local charities, but I hadn’t felt that “connectionalism” for which the United Methodist Church is so well  known.  It was because of people like Elizabeth Gore, Jars of Clay, and the Imagine No Malaria team (all of which participated in last years World Malaria Day)  that I realized the potential that we have as United Methodists.  We, as the body of Christ, can achieve more than we can ever imagine.  United Methodism took on an entirely new meaning for me that day.   Even though I had worked for the UMC for almost 9 years I had no idea what it meant to be truly “United”.

Yesterday was World Malaria Day, 2011.  People around the world came together to celebrate that Christ commanded us to feed, heal, and care for his sheep and we as UNITED Methodists have taken up that charge through Imagine No Malaria.  I hope that you and your family found time yesterday to pray for this ministry and for those suffering from a disease that is treatable, preventable, and beatable.

In Peace,
Jeremy

The people of The United Methodist Church have a history of impact in Africa. Your compassion and generous support helped make 2010 a benchmark year. The fight against malaria with the people of Africa is stronger than ever.

2010: A Year of Impact

376,000 insecticide-treated mosquito nets distributed to protect vulnerable populations

3,500 local community health workers trained

5 in-country health boards established and trained

Net Distributions

Democratic Republic of Congo: 31,000 nets

Sierra Leone: 330,000 nets

Zimbabwe: 5,000 nets

In-Country Health Boards* Established & Trained

Angola                  Nigeria

Zimbabwe          Mozambique

Democratic Republic of Congo

*An in-country health board provides local accountability and stewardship of resources for the planning and implementation of anti-malaria programs. This process also includes the follow-up assessment to determine usage rates and program effectiveness.

Establishing these boards is also a key step, making the country eligible to receive grants from The Global Fund.

We’ve still got lots to do!  Planning is under way for upcoming activities to fight malaria in Mozambique, Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, Zimbabwe. Please get on-board and join this life-saving movement to eliminate malaria deaths in Africa.

Listen to the buzzing inside of you.
Join the movement | Get involved | Give
The bite of malaria doesn’t have to kill.  But, only if you stop it.

Will you save a life this Mother’s Day?

Show Mom how much her love means with a gift in her honor to support Imagine No Malaria. Your thoughtful donation will help provide resources for programs that help Mothers in Africa protect their families from malaria.

SAVES LIVES FOR MOTHER’S DAY!

Then, print out this special note to include in her Mother’s Day card.

Pssst…..click a link below to share this with someone who needs a reminder (or a hint)!