Methodist Mission at 200

For more than 200 years, millions of Methodists have shared God’s love with the world. Baked into the theological purpose of our mission is the compassion and resolve to relieve human suffering by offering healing, hope, and holiness everywhere in the world. Millions of Methodist people on every continent persist in serving faithfully amid the tensions and challenges that cry out for transformation.
This book tells the story of these global efforts, beginning with John Stewart’s ministry among the Wyandotte Nation in America, and what Methodists have learned about God’s mission along the way. This book also describes how United Methodist Global Ministries is living out these lessons of cooperation, humility, relationship, and practicing holistic mission. Together, Methodists pursue and promote personal, social, and cosmic transformation. Together, we work and live amid the tensions that enrich and expand our awareness of Methodist identity in God’s diverse world.

John Stewart, a man of mixed European and African descent, was American Methodism’s original missionary and the inspiration for the first permanent mission endeavor. He was called to bring the Christian message to the Wyandotte Nation, Native Americans living in northern Ohio during the mid 1700s. The story of Stewart is just one of many about those who shared God’s love and offered healing, hope, and holiness even while suffering hardships and setbacks along the way. Methodist Mission at 200 looks at how Global Ministries has and is living out lessons of cooperation, humility, and relationship while promoting personal, social, and cosmic transformation amid stressful situations that enrich and expand our awareness of Methodist identity in God’s diverse world.