DISCIPLESHIP RESOURCES, INTERNATIONAL Making basic United Methodist resources available, affordable, and appropriate (language and context) to the churches in the central conferences. From Rev. Stephen Bryant Publishing Teams Respond to Ebola STAY CONNECTED Follow United Methodist News Service, www.umns.umc.org for the latest news and updates. NEW DRI WEBSITE Visit http://www.gbod.org/ international-ministries to learn more about DRI, get updates on teams and download training seminars. FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK Discipleship Resources International The written word can bring healing! DRI and DRI publishing teams have become active participants in the church s response to the Ebola crisis in West Africa. Ebola is what experts call a social disease. It destroys people s ability to trust each other. That is why they say the most important preparation is grassroots education in villages and out into the bush. And the church is the most important carrier of health education because the church remains trusted. Like Jesus, the church is an agent of healing and peace in the midst of disease and panic when Christian hearts are ready and hands are equipped. In Liberia, the Publishing Team for the Liberia Annual Conference (LAC) asked, How can we help? First, working with the Ebola Response Team, they took it upon themselves to distribute emergency food relief to families of pastors. Then, they worked with DRI to develop, print and distribute 2000 copies of a booklet entitled, Ebola Disease Facts. A ministry of Discipleship Ministries (GBOD) 1
SEND US YOUR DEVOTIONS ON WRITING Have you written, preached, or shared testimony about what it means to develop a culture of reading and writing in your local context? Is there a scripture that speaks to you about the value of writing and sharing the gospel through the written word? Please your devotions to kara.oliver@gmail.com so that I can post them on the DRI website and Facebook page. If we receive enough devotions, DRI would like to publish them in a book. Prayerfully consider writing and sending Kara your devotion for the encouragement of all those who share in this ministry of writing and publishing. How did this happen? In September-October 2014, God brought together Dr. Richard Nisbett and DRI to author the booklet, Ebola Disease Facts for Liberia in Liberian voice. Richard, a good United Methodist, has worked for 25 years in Liberia and other areas of West Africa as a public health expert. After Liberian leaders responded to a draft, the LAC publishing team printed and is distributing the booklets to pastors and lay leaders in district gatherings. At each gathering, they review the information in the booklet, lead a discussion on Ebola prevention and care, and help everyone make action plans. Later they will return to evaluate. According to Julu Swen, Liberia team leader, Until now, our literature about Ebola consisted only of flyers and posters. This booklet is the only authoritative document we have. Its value will endure beyond the immediate crisis. We District Superintendent, Rev. Samuel commend Julu Swen Brown presenting the Ebola booklet. (team leader), Rev. Joseph Garkpee (publishing coordinator), Karwolokia Gbongolo (team assistant), and Edward Harmon (a team leader) for their courageous leadership. In Sierra Leone, there is no publishing team, yet. But they want to adapt the booklet and write additional content on the psycho-social dimensions of the disease, such as stigma. Maybe this will become a new brochure or booklet, which may also benefit others in the future. A ministry of Discipleship Ministries (GBOD) 2
Cote d Ivoire is Ebola-free, officially. Yet, UM church leaders worry that Ebola may jump the borders into Cote d Ivoire from Liberia and Guinea. So they translated the booklet into French. Now they are printing and distributing 4000 booklets in French for church leaders. As they do so, they prepare for an additional 30,000 copies, a gift from EBSCO MEDIA, a major printer in the USA. With these copies, the Ivorian team will work with government, embassies, NGOs, and other churches to educate the population as a precaution. In addition, they will reach out to Guinea and to the other French speaking countries of West Africa where they have several active mission outposts. There IS a balm in Gilead! PUBLISHING TEAM HIGHLIGHT: EAST CONGO by Antoine Otoko After the civilian war in East Congo, many Christians lost everything. They were missing even the Bible to read or to peach with. The greatest challenge and highest priority of the East Congo Publishing Team was first to provide Swahili Bibles to some Christians and pastors. A church without a Bible is not a church because the word of God is absent there. Our Team does not produce Bibles, but we buy them for US$10 each and then we sell them to $5 each, just to help every Christian and pastor to be able to buy one. The investment money is provided by Discipleship Ministries to the publishing team, through Rev. Stephen Bryant. The purpose is to allow everyone the chance to have a Bible at an affordable price. People enjoy the publishing team because they discover that the team can think clearly about the challenges and provide solutions and products locally. They see that we have local resources that can be used for the church s interest and for the glory of God too. DEVELOPMENT OF WRITER CERTIFICATION A ministry of Discipleship Ministries (GBOD) 3
The staff of Discipleship Resources International is pleased to announce a new Writing and Editing Certification program that will begin in 2015. After the success of several writer s training events throughout the central conferences and requests for more in the future, the DRI staff saw an opportunity to formalize a process in which Central Conference writers and editors gain official certification in the craft of writing and editing, granted by Discipleship Ministries (GBOD). While the certification does not guarantee that each participant will become a published author, we are confident that a long list of certified writers and editors throughout the central conferences will benefit local churches and insure the availability of high-quality, well-written resources. Training includes three courses of study: The Basics of Christian Writing, The United Methodist Way Seminars, and a formal writing project with potential for publication as a DRI title. Training events will be held in coordination with scheduled visits from the DRI team and will be announced through local publishing teams, UM universities, and conference offices. Participants in the training will apply by submitting a short essay on the topic: Why reading and writing is important in the church. Stay tuned for more information about the application process and training events! IN SEARCH OF FRENCH BOOKS by Robin Pippin Many of you have heard about the E-Readers for Theological Education project. We tested the idea of supplying e-readers to faculty and students at Gbarnga School of Theology in Liberia in 2013-14. We found that providing theological texts in e-book form to the school greatly enhanced their learning process; before that time, students did not have books of their own to study. Now our project has broadened to include nearly 18 schools in Africa and 4-6 schools in the Philippines. Finding e-books for the English-speaking schools was relatively easy. However, finding books in French and Portuguese has required more work. For Portuguese books, we ve had help from colleagues at the Methodist Seminary at Sao Paulo in Brazil. But we have had a difficult time finding important texts in French. A ministry of Discipleship Ministries (GBOD) 4
So, Steve Bryant and I traveled to France and Switzerland in November in order to acquire digital French books for the e-readers we are distributing in 2015 to United Methodist seminaries in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Côte d Ivoire. We met with six publishers and visited two Methodist libraries, requesting access to specific books we need for these seminaries. With each meeting, we seemed to find new information and connections to other people. In spite of the language difference, we found communication relatively easy. Our meetings went well, but we are still following up from the initial meetings. We hope that this journey will bear fruit for the Francophone seminaries in Africa. We are also looking forward to meeting with the publishing team in Abidjan in February, where we hope to gather French digital files that we can use on the e- readers. Here are some of the textbooks that we are seeking for the French e-readers: Atlas de la Bible Cours d Hebreu Biblique Théologie du Nouveau Testament Dieu Trinitaires et ses Attributs Doctrine de Dieu Théologie Systématique Transmettre la Foi Pastoral Chrétienne Christ au Coeur de la Prédication Introduction à la Mission Chrétienne Femmes dans le Ministère Chrétien Les Religions Traditionelles Africaines Perspectives pastorales pour l'eglise en Afrique noire - Réponse de Dieu au mal et à la souffrance Le combat de l'église pour la justice sociale - Revisiter le message d'amos Foi et modernité africaine - L'anticipation du règne de Dieu en Afrique Nouveau Commentaire Biblique Nouveau Dictionaire Biblique Switzerland. Introduction à L ancien Testament Steve Bryant reviewing and logging books at a United Methodist Church library in Lausanne, A ministry of Discipleship Ministries (GBOD) 5