New World Outlook - Summer 2017 - Open - 28

28 N E W W O R L D O U T L O O K . O R G

follow our unique calling as The
United Methodist Church.
First, we already have mission
personnel located in ministries within Mexico and Central America.
They help us find our way around,
and some of them are also working
to address the root causes of migration from the areas where they now
live and work.
Second, we have excellent working relations with ecumenical partners and autonomous Methodist
churches in Mexico and Central
America. Our ecumenical partners, especially Roman Catholics,
Lutherans, and Anglicans, have
been involved in migration mission for decades. Our Methodist
partners have a much younger but
growing migration mission. They are
stepping up to mission with those
deciding to emigrate, those who are
transmigrating, those deciding to
immigrate to Mexico instead of risking crossing into the United States,
and those being deported daily from
Mexico and the United States.
Our work with Methodist and ecumenical partners in the region is
a fast-growing and dynamic task,
as we watch the Holy Spirit move
among our sisters and brothers in

mission with migrants, and as we
begin to accompany them. Churches
are everywhere in the migration corridor, and they are critical to our mission with people deciding to migrate,
their families that are left behind, and
those being deported back into local
communities but with no supporting
"family" for the transition.
Third, we are developing and coordinating a network or partners among
* local and national civil society organizations throughout Mexico
and Central America,
* international nongovernmental
human rights and humanitarian
aid organizations whose missions
match our own;
* rights and relief organizations related to the United Nations;
* regional international rights
organizations;
* some governmental relief agencies, such as USAID; and
* a select number of Central
American and Mexican universities and Mexican postgraduate research colleges that are studying
the causes of migration and treatment of migrants. They are developing creative programs to address
the causes of migration and the
rights of those who migrate.

Fourth, we work in partnership
with other departments of Global
Ministries, as well as with ecumenical partners and partner agencies
within the United States and Europe.
These partners place Mission
Volunteers, Global Mission Fellows,
US-2s, and global missionaries with
us and our partners as our way of
accompanying them in the strategic development of mission with migrants at the local level throughout
the region.
Finally, we look to annual conferences, local churches, and mission organizations, like the United
Methodist Women, to encourage
called and qualified candidates to
apply for mission assignments with
our migration mission or that of our
mission partners. You can find more
information on the Global Ministries'
website, especially the page for
Generation Transformation. In the
articles that follow, you will also discover both gripping stories and ways
that you can learn more about the region, its possibilities, and its needs.

The Rev. James Perdue, who is based in
Arizona (Advance #150298), serves as
a Global Ministries' Missionary for Migration in Central America and Mexico.

Everyday Migration Stories and
the Church's Response
by Amanda Cherry

exico is a country full of different types of migration: out
migration, in migration, through migration, return migration, internal
migration, and seasonal migration.
These migrations are so ubiquitous

that examples of them often show
up in my everyday life in Mexico City,
whether or not I'm looking for them.
Taxi drivers hear my accent and tell
me that they, too, used to live in my
home country, the United States.

Reaching Out to Migrants

The work of the Methodist Church
of Mexico-Iglesia Metodista de
México A.R. (IMMAR)-is to determine how to respond to these different migration flows. The church

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of New World Outlook - Summer 2017 - Open