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By Maidstone Mulenga and Erik Alsgaard

UMConnection Staff

Bishop Marcus Matthews has named the Rev. David and Sylvia Simpson as field coordinators for the revamped Imagine No Malaria Campaign for the Baltimore-Washington Conference.

David Simpson serves as senior pastor of the Ellicott City Parish in Ellicott City, which includes Bethany UMC and Emory UMC. He is also treasurer for the Northeastern Jurisdiction of The United Methodist Church.

Sylvia Simpson retired from Hughes Network Systems as director of Engineering Services and is a contractor for the General Council on Finance and Administration. Both have previously served on BWC staff.

In addition to providing leadership for the INM, both Simpsons will continue in their present roles.

“I’m so grateful to be able to say my work is all about ‘saving lives,’” said Sylvia. “When I look into the faces of small children and pregnant women who could very well be a fatality because of malaria, it grips my spirit.”

As BWC field coordinators, David and Sylvia will work closely with the Imagine No Malaria staff in Nashville, Tenn., to implement conference-wide strategies for education, advocacy and fundraising within the Conference. The Global Health Initiative will provide a grant to BWC to support the work of field coordinators.

“Sylvia and I are honored to accept Bishop Matthew’s invitation to serve as BWC Coordinators for the Imagine No Malaria campaign,” said David. “I believe God wants to fulfill in us the promise to do exceedingly far more than we ever hoped or imagined.”

With this new leadership team, the BWC is confirming its 2010 commitment and pledge to join United Methodists across the globe in raising $75 million to help eliminate deaths caused by malaria in Africa. The BWC is committed to giving $2.1 million and has $1.2 million left on that pledge yet to raise.

“Together, we can help eliminate the suffering and deaths caused by malaria in Africa,” said Bishop Matthews. “Imagine No Malaria is about saving lives, especially young lives, from this preventable, treatable and beatable disease. David and Sylvia are well-positioned to lead our conference in this life-saving mission.”

David notes that one of the Four Areas of Focus for The United Methodist Church is combating the diseases of poverty by improving health globally. Imagine No Malaria, he said, specifically targets this area, but impacts on the other three as well: engaging in ministry with the poor; creating new places for new people and renewing existing local churches; and developing principled Christian leaders for the church and the world.

“I believe it is past time for us to set aside all that distracts and divides us and pull together to live out the denomination’s vision,” David Simpson said. “I am Wesleyan to the core of my being and have spent my career trying to lift high the duality of heart and life. Imagine No Malaria holds those two core principles of discipleship in creative tension.”

Each year, malaria infects millions of people globally. About 600,000 people die annually from this disease, with 85 percent of these deaths occurring in sub-Saharan Africa, mostly pregnant women and children under the age of 5.

“Our prayer is that in 2015, we, the people of the Baltimore-Washington Conference, will be able to say we chose to heal the sick and eliminate malaria as a source of suffering and death. We chose to listen to the word of God and we did what it said,” Bishop Matthews said.

Through Imagine No Malaria, United Methodists are using a comprehensive approach to eliminating malaria deaths through prevention, education, communication and treatment. So far, the campaign has helped reduce the number of malaria deaths from about one death every 30 seconds to one every minute.

Save a Life today...

Every 60 seconds, malaria claims a life in Africa.

Imagine No Malaria is an extraordinary effort of the people of The United Methodist Church to put their faith into action to end preventable deaths from malaria in Africa.

Imagine no Malaria builds on the denomination’s original Nothing But Nets program, by creating an integrated strategy of prevention, treatment, education and communication.

Over the next year, your church will be invited to give generously to this life-saving campaign.

A vast array of resources are available as you plan your fundraising efforts. Visit http://www.imaginenomalaria.org/resources.

Over the next few months, a variety of opportunities for giving will be introduced. However, know now that every $10 you give buys an insecticide-treated bed net that will save a child’s life.

Gifts to the campaign can be marked “Imagine No Malaria”and sent to:

Conference Treasurer

11711 East Market Place

Fulton, MD 20759