The group of 39 Global Mission Fellows gather for training in Kenya before the commissioning service on Jan. 14. (Photo: Hannah Hanson)

ATLANTA – On January 14, 2024, Trinity United Methodist Church in Naivasha, Kenya, will host a service of commissioning with Global Ministries, officially recognizing 39 Global Mission Fellows (GMFs) in their service as young adult missionaries. Two more will be introduced as they prepare for a later commissioning service at their placement sites in the Philippines.

Global Mission Fellows in this group come from 21 different countries and will serve in 25 countries, including the United States. This cohort of GMFs will spread out over the globe from Africa to Asia, Europe, Latin America and to two island nations of the Caribbean.

Some of these GMFs were trained earlier and have been working in their assignments since the fall of 2023, while others are just finishing their training in Kenya and will soon travel to their new communities. Chanyoung Choi, from South Korea, enjoys the relationships he is building with youth in Grenada but has always felt called to visit Kenya. He shared that the training with GMFs from around the world taking place in Kenya is an answered prayer. Carlito Germias Alberto, from Quessua, Angola, has traveled to different church communities across Cameroon to get to know United Methodists as part of his new assignment.

Becca Baughman, a US-2 from Indiana, spent the holidays in Tampa, Florida, serving with Metropolitan Ministries and Seminole United Methodist Church. She described her “first holiday season in ministry” as both exciting and stressful, but now takes it all in stride. Tapiwanashe Moreblessing Manyeza grew up in a missionary family from Zimbabwe, currently serving in Sierra Leone, but she will begin her own missionary experience in Quessua, Angola.

Whether these newly commissioned missionaries leave Kenya to journey to new assignments in places they have never encountered before or return to continue service in communities they are just getting know, they are all still discovering what God has called them to do and learn in their missionary journeys.

The commissioning service, live from Kenya, can be watched online at https://www.facebook.com/@trinityumcnaivasha at 9 a.m. in Kenya (1 a.m. ET) on January 14. The service will be recorded and can be watched at a later time at the same address.

Christie R. House is a consultant writer and editor with Global Ministries and UMCOR.

Global Mission Fellows

Global Mission Fellows are young adults, ages 20-30, who commit to two years of mission service to engage with local communities, connect the church in mission, and grow in personal and social holiness. Global Mission Fellows engage in justice work, become ambassadors for mission, both internationally and domestically, and join a movement of young adults committed to mission and systemic change. For more information, visit umcmission.org/global-mission-fellows/.

Current 2024 GMF application deadlines: Jan. 17 for international track; Feb. 6 for US-2 track.

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