What will we be doing as Global Ministry Fellows in New York & Zambia?

As many have no doubt heard, Ryan and I have been offered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be the Global Ministry Fellows at Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City. It is a two year position in which a recent seminary graduate in the Presbyterian Church (USA) is ordained as a parish associate at the church in New York, spends a year working at a ministry site in the Global South, takes three months to travel in the Global South, followed by six more months in New York. Since both Ryan and I will be candidates for ordained ministry in our respective denominations, we will be sharing the Fellowship.

Here's the timeline of what we'll be doing:
Ryan will be ordained to this call by the United Church of Christ on May 22 3pm at First Congregational Church of Oakland. We will begin at Madison Avenue Presbyterian this summer--June-August. I will meet with Heartland Presbytery and NYC Presbytery in early June and if the way be clear, on June 27 I will be ordained at First Presbyterian Church of Atchison, Kansas. Over the course of the summer, we will be getting to know the MAPC congregation, preaching there, and being trained for our work abroad at PC(USA) headquarters in Louisville and at a two week program in Chicago.

In early September, we will depart for Kitwe, Zambia, to serve as interns at Theological Education by Extension Zambia (TEEZ), a program which trains tutors to develop strong lay and pastoral leadership for the Zambian Christian community. Because most Zambian church leaders do not have the time or money to take four years off to go to seminary, TEEZ essentially brings seminary to them, allowing them to learn by correspondence in a cohort with other leaders in their area, to which traveling TEEZ tutors are sent. During our time at TEEZ, we will be involved in curriculum revision and development, tutoring and tutor training, and administration of a program which provides theological education to inmates in the Zambian prison system.

Upon completion of our work at TEEZ in early Semptember 2011, we will have three months to travel in the Global South, learning about the ways that Christianity has taken root and blossomed among communities in the Two Thirds World. We will have the opportunity to create our own itinerary, and we will have a choice between continuing east through Asia on the way back home to the States, or returning west through Latin America. We will likely be setting that itinerary in March or April 2011. During that time, we will also plan to visit our families as well as our church communities in California and Kansas in November of 2011.

After our three months of travel, we will return to Madison Avenue Presbyterian for the final six months of the fellowship, where we will be debriefed from our experience in the Global South. As parish associates, we will also have the opportunity to preach and teach about that experience, sharing with the Madison Avenue congregation the new wisdom and understanding it has provided us.

As you can imagine, Ryan and I are both thrilled and overwhelmed by this call. We feel so blessed to know that we have a call right out of seminary, a privilege not many in the PC(USA) or UCC have. We are also extremely excited to have the opportunity to minister together as a team, as this is something we have been itching to do for awhile. We will be sad to leave the wonderful and supportive community we have built in the Bay Area, and a move across the country, and then across the world, will not be without physical, logistical and emotional challenges. At the same time, we are excited and optimistic as we look toward the future, and we will be relying on the support and prayers of our friends and family as we embark on this first adventure of our lives in ordained ministry.

Stay tuned for more updates.