Site
Contents
 |
General Information about the Area Office
North Indiana Conference Office
South Indiana Conference Office
Prayer Guides
(Courtesy of the NIC Prayer Team)
Area United Methodist
Foundation
For resources to assist your congregation in welcoming guests,
click here
Seashore District Volunteer Center VIM project -- Completed
Hoosier United Methodist News Archives
| Hoosier United Methodists together |
April 2006 |
My life as a missionary
By Katharine Lehman Walker
As women in The United Methodist Church observe and celebrate the 50th anniversary of full clergy rights for women in the Methodist tradition, we have been remembering the variety of influences which have brought us this far. The task for today is to tell you about my experiences as an unofficial missionary and to remember others who have blazed the path for my colleagues and me.
I have been privileged to serve God in two countries other than the United States, Antigua and India.
Upon graduation from Indiana University, I went to Antigua, in the Caribbean, where I lived with a Moravian missionary family from Pennsylvania. I taught school at Sunnyside Tutorial School. I was not officially connected to the Mission Board (as it was then called) of The United Methodist Church or other denomination, but my relationship with the Moravian pastor and family gave me a similar reputation. My students were from around the world, including the children of those who were stationed on the US Navy Base. They knew me as a Christian teacher. I did not identify myself at that time as a missionary, yet as I reflect on my call to ministry, I can see its roots in my experiences in Antigua.
The wonderful diversity of people I met and the wide variety of tasks I was called to do would inform and strengthen my skills in ministry. |
In the winter of 1977-78, I was re-evaluating my life and seeking a direction for the future. The earlier call from God was renewed, and I prayed heartily about it. Just as I decided that seminary would be my next adventure, God's decision for me was different. I learned that there was an opening for a residence supervisor at a school in India, so I applied and was accepted for that work.
From 1978 until 1981, I was a residence supervisor for high school and junior high school girls at Woodstock Christian International School, in Mussoorie, India. During the years in India, my call into ministry was confirmed. I realized that God could actually use women as well as men in pastoral ministry.
The wonderful diversity of people I met and the wide variety of tasks I was called to do would inform and strengthen my skills in ministry. I counseled girls who were far away from their parents; I loved the students through any of the discipline that was enforced; I learned to listen carefully between the words to hear what a person was trying to communicate; I discovered the wonder of God's creation in every culture, language, and race.
I am not alone in the North Indiana Conference as an ordained Elder with missionary experience. The Rev. Ellen Studley, the first female Elder in the Conference, was a missionary in China and a very special friend to me. The Rev. Susan Messenger was one whose journey touched mine. Both of these women offered me insight into the expectations and joys of being in fulltime ministry.
The ministry I have been privileged to participate in as part of the North Indiana Conference has been enriched, empowered and emboldened by my experience, unofficial as it was, as missionary in other places and cultures.
The Rev. Katharine Lehman Walker serves as pastor of the Williamsport United Methodist Church.
Last updated on 25 Apr 2008