Missionaries
Conference Missionaries
Rev. Julie Wilson, Church and Community Worker, Program Coordinator of Open Arms Ministry Center, Winston-Salem, NC (Advance # 3022608).
Join the WNCCUMC in celebrating Global Ministry Missionaries Nicole and Kirk Sims.
It has now been one year since we moved to the Czech Republic and it has been a joy to pastor the English Speaking United Methodist Church in the heart of this historic and beautiful Prague. I think pastoring a multi-cultural church of people from the nations is such a glimpse of God’s vision for disciples of Jesus Christ, learning to love people who are different from ourselves and embracing an attitude of mutual learning around Christ, who is our center! Keeping the main thing, the main thing is no small feat when people of different countries, cultures, and racial identities worship God together yet what a picture of our future, gathering around the throne with people from every tribe, people, and language to worship the Lamb of God. Thank you for praying and supporting me and my family on this missionary journey! We need your continued prayers and generosity that sustain us on the good days and bad. In the past months, the Czech United Methodists voted to begin the disaffiliation process, so we are in the process of clarifying the implications of this vote with Global Ministries and the Czech Methodists on all that will mean for us.
Here are a few brief ministry highlights from this past year:
- Getting to preach the Word in a cross-cultural setting to believers and seekers
- Meeting people from different parts of the world and learning their story
- Worshiping with a loving group of people who keep Christ in the center of it all
- Learning to better understand Czech and Slovak peoples with their rich and complicated histories
- Providing Christmas worship and Christmas lunch for anyone who worshipped with us that day!
- Talking with many young adults, many of whom have very little, positive exposure to Christianity
To read Nicole's full bio or to donate to Nicole's Advance, click here.
Ministry has taken me to Germany, Finland, Estonia, and various places in the Czech Republic over the past months. It was humbling to work with leaders of migrant and multicultural ministries throughout Germany and help lead a seminar on the church’s response to discrimination. As someone who has lived in Africa and Europe, it was a joy to be part of the joint gathering (and assist with the communique) of the All Africa Conference of Churches and the Churches’ Commission for Migrants in Europe (CCME), the latter being an organization for which I am doing research. I enjoyed being on the faculty for the Europe-wide Methodist e-Academy, which provides additional theological formation for probationers preparing for ordination. I was grateful that an academic article I had written prior to my time with Global Ministries was published on the views of sanctification held by E. Stanley Jones, the great Methodist missionary to India in the 20th Century. Being part of an ecumenical commission for ministry with Roma people has further sensitized me to the needs of one of Europe’s most marginalized populations. I have also been playing a significant role in the leadership of the Institute for Multicultural Ministry (IMM). Finally, one of the most rewarding ministries has been in my local congregation, the English Speaking United Methodist Church of Prague where I have been leading Bible studies on various epistles of Paul and the Acts of the Apostles.
To read Kirk's full bio or to donate to Kirk's Advance, click here.
To learn more about Covenant Partner Relationships through Global Ministries, click the link below.
Covenant Partner Relations - Global Ministries (umcmission.org)