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BY LINDA WORTHINGTON
UMCONNECTION STAFF

In her plenary sessions at the 2010 Cooperative School of Christian Mission, Mary Baldridge invited the 180 people attending the sessions “to be a partner with God and be in communion with Christ, God’s son.”

Baldridge, a member of Baldwin Memorial UMC and for eight years a Director of the Women’s division, led the Bible study, ”For the Love of God: John’s Letters,” in four plenary sessions.

The School of Missions met Friday through Sunday, July 23-25, at the Clarion Hotel in Hagerstown. Stressing the importance of community, in the John epistles as well as for today’s church, each person found a piece of a jigsaw puzzle at the luncheon table Friday. “You can’t see the whole picture unless it is all put together, as we as a community work together,” Baldridge said, and puzzle piece holders were directed to a table on which to work.

Leadership for the 2010 School of Missions, co-sponsored by the United Methodist Women and the General Board of Global Ministries, was a home-grown affair this year. Bible study, workshops on “The Beauty and Courage of Sudan” and “Joy to the World: Mission in the Age of Global Christianity,” the missionaries attending, all except the music leader, were laity and clergy from conference churches.

Two of these local people were the Revs. John and Bonnie Campbell, fresh back from missionary service in Lithuania . They are both now serving conference churches, but for the past several years have been under the Board of Global Ministries as missionaries creating new churches in Lithuania , an initiative of the Estonia Annual Conference.

The United Methodist Church was reestablished in Lithuania in 1995, following the breakup of the Soviet Union. John Campbell was a district superintendent and Bonnie Campbell served first two churches, then later four.

John Campbell reviewed how the UMC had reemerged in Lithuania , starting with three people who asked, “What took you so long?”

At first all the churches were served by missionary pastors, but there are now seven (of 11) with Lithuanian pastors, five of whom are ordained, and three missionaries, one American, one Norwegian and one Swedish.

“These are probably the last,” Campbell said, “as pastors (being trained) will take over. We want to work ourselves out of a job.”

It’s difficult for Lithuanian churches to be self-sufficient, since most members are working class people with lower incomes, in a society that has high unemployment and is 80 percent Roman Catholic.

According to the Campbells, the Board of Global Ministries pays all salaries for six pastors, including health insurance. The total bill is about $76,000 a year for all six. Church membership (and clergy) are disproportionately female, as is the population of the country.

“There is a young but strong United Methodist Women,” said Bonnie Campbell. In September, they will have a retreat on mental health. “ Lithuania has the highest suicide rate in the world.” she said. Alcohol addiction is also very high.

The Campbells are positive about the young people in the country, who are optimistic, they said. “They have no memory of the Communist years,” which informs so much of the older generation’s outlook and belief. Nor are young people learning Russian as their elders did. Most now study English as a second language.

All attendees participated for three sessions, in one of two study areas. The Rev. Richard Brown-Whale, pastor of Camp Chapel UMC, and Judy Smith, a lay person from Chevy Chase UMC, led the two sessions on the Sudan , the second year this study has been offered. Brown-Whale has served as a missionary in both Mozambique and Senegal ; when Smith’s foreign service husband was stationed in Sudan , she taught at Ahfad University College for Women and at Khartoum University.

The new study, which began this year and will also be taught next year, is “Joy to the World,” that explores the theology of mission and evangelism in the 21^st Century. It was taught by Paulette V. Jones, a member of Hall UMC and past president of the conference UMC; the Rev. Lisa Jordan, pastor of Magothy UMC of the Deaf in Pasadena and chaplain to Gallaudet University; and the Rev. Cecil Mudede, from the Zimbabwe Episcopal Area and currently serving Wesley Chapel in Lothian.

The dean of this year’s SOCM was Jane Barss. Next year, it will be led by the Rev. Antoine Love.