New World Outlook - Summer 2017 - Open - 4

From the editor
FOUNDATIONAL TO MISSION
For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who is not partial and takes no bribe, who executes justice for the orphan and the
widow, and who loves the strangers, providing them food and clothing. You shall also
love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.
Deuteronomy 10:17-19 (NRSV)

he above quote from Deuteronomy is quite close to the quote from
Exodus 23:9 used on P. 6 for the introduction to this issue. It's also
similar to Leviticus 19:33-34. The themes of fairness, kindness, and justice for strangers and aliens in the land are repeated in the Psalms, and in
Matthew, and Ephesians, and Hebrews, among other books of the Bible.
Remaining open to strangers and people outside a tight ethnic community, being kind to people who are culturally or ethnically different, and
judging resident aliens by the same standards and laws available to citizens were tough lessons that had to be oft repeated in scripture. Left on
our own, we seem bound to forget these foundational tenets of our faith
and of Judeo-Christian community.
Jesus and the disciples did a lot of walking-it was the main mode of
transportation for people of their status and station in life. They walked along
the Sea of Galilee, up mountains, down valleys, along roads to Capernaum,
Gadarenes, Tyre and Sidon, Nazareth, Gennesaret, Jerusalem-Jesus even
walked on water. He met all kinds of people in different situations along his
way and connected with them as he went. Even after his death and resurrection, he was still meeting and walking with people-on the road to
Emmaus. His ministry was, and is, one of accompaniment.
As followers of Jesus, we are also called to accompany people along
their life journeys-those we love, those we meet, and those who are
sometimes strangers. Through the reach of our connectional United
Methodist Church, we can engage in this mission in many ways-welcoming refugees in our own communities; supporting missionaries and
congregations who work with migrant populations; helping UMCOR provide grants and service to partnership organizations that work directly
with refugee populations; helping those displaced by natural disasters;
advocating for reform and justice in our nation's immigration policies. Any
one of these avenues is a good place to start a journey of accompaniment.
Christie R. House

SEND US A LETTER OR AN EMAIL MESSAGE
New World Outlook values comments and suggestions from its readers.
If you want to share an idea, point out an error, or send a short story,
please contact the editor: chouse@umcmission.org. Your comments
may end up on this page in the magazine.

Yves Kinangwa visits a dairy farming
community in Adetikopé, near Lomé in
Togo. PHOTO: COURTESY YVES KINANGWA

Food, Trade, Climate
Change, and Migration
by Yves Kinangwa

he Conference on Trade, Migration, and Development to
foster regional integration in West
Africa, which brings together countries and subregions to exchange
ideas on trade, has been an important factor for development.
Church leaders take migration
as an enabler of equitable, inclu-

Yves Kinangwa (far right) with staff of
the Fellowship of Christian Councils and
Churches in West Africa (FECCIWA), in
Lomé, Togo, where he served as a Global
Mission Fellow advocacy officer for Food
and Climate Change.
PHOTO: COURTESY YVES KENANGWA

sive, and sustainable social and
economic development that connects and benefits countries of origin, transit, and destination. The
conference will create awareness
for church leaders on the impacts
of migration to the European
Union and EU trade policies that
counter regional integration in
West Africa.
For instance, European milk exports could damage West Africa

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of New World Outlook - Summer 2017 - Open