Our EMC Partners Around the World

From the earliest days of its existence, the EMC has been globally minded.

Over our 75 years, many missionaries have followed the call of God to carry the gospel to countries across the globe in evangelistic eff orts to places such as Mexico, Bolivia, Ukraine, Japan, Kenya, Nigeria, and Russia.

In addition to countless outreach eff orts that were initiated from within the U.S., four global or mission conferences have joined the EMC as fully affi liated conferences. Th ere is far too much to tell in the space we have in this issue, but here are a few highlights from each of the four.

MEXICO (Th e Mexican Evangelistic Mission, or M.E.M.)

Dr. Ezekiel Vargas, with the support of family and a few others, founded the Mexican Evangelistic Mission in 1926 out of a desire to stay true to orthodox theology. Twenty years later, Dr. Vargas was present in Memphis when Dr. J. H. Hamblen met with others to discuss the forming of a new movement in the United States.

In the Summer of 2016, “Th e Connection’ devoted an entire issue to the MEM Conference, and it is a tremendous read.

You may access the historic archive and read that entire issue to learn so much more about the M.E.M.

In 2006 a second offi cially affi liated Conference was added to the EMC network, that being the Myanmar Methodist Church. Rev. Dar Rothanga was its fi rst General Superintendent, with Rev. Lalduhawma as Conference Secretary, and Dr. Rual Th ankuma as Chairman of Ministerial Education. Myanmar is a wonderfully organized conference, with churches in four districts, most of them located in the northwest part of the country in Chin State. While Myanmar is predominantly Buddhist, Chin State is almost entirely Christian. Th e nation has struggled under military rule for several decades, and while recent strides have been made toward a democratic government, a coup was organized last year by the military as they ruthlessly reclaimed absolute power. Th is has made things extremely diffi cult for the people of Myanmar, and the situation there has grown even worse by the spread of the Covid-19 virus. Aff ordable, quality health care is largely unavailable. Th e men and women of the Myanmar Evangelical Methodist Church are amazing

Christ-followers, and we are overjoyed to be co-laborers with them. Th e current General Superintendent of Myanmar is Rev. Dr. Lalduhawma. From his report to

General Council last year, he shared: “I had the privilege of visiting local churches in Chin State

along with Rev. Lian Sailova, General Secretary. ere are restrictions on public gathering because of Covid-19. erefore, we did not have a chance to worship in the church, but there were tremendous times we spent together with the local churches. We experienced the work of the

Holy Spirit and we had the opportunity to see the unity and strength of the churches in the midst of the Covid-19.”

State. While Myanmar is predominantly Buddhist, Chin State is almost entirely was organized last year by the military as they ruthlessly reclaimed absolute Th e future is bright for our global partnerships, because two additional conferences were affi liated in 2018.

Asia Pacifi c EMC (Philippines) and Christ for All Nations EMC (CFAN)

Our Asia Pacifi c Conference was founded by Rev. Dr. Jun Mateo. Primarily through medical missions trips in various areas across the Philippines from yearto-year, Rev. Jun and his wife Marlene initiated a church planting movement that has grown exponentially. Th e network of churches was formally affi liated by the General Conference as the Asia Pacifi c Conference. Th eir vision is to plant churches in New Zealand, across the Pacifi c Rim and elsewhere as God guides.

Th e C.F.A.N. Conference is led by Bishops Rev. Albert Budiaki in Canada, and Rev. Dr. Patrick Mubobo in Greensboro, NC.

Dr. Mubobo reported to the General Council that evangelistic work was being done in Greensboro, NC (at Change the Nations Church), and globally in Montreal, Toronto, Paris, West Africa, Central Africa and South Africa. He wrote: “ e great news is that Jesus Christ is still on the rone and

changing lives on earth. roughout our conference, we are experiencing the power of God and witnessing transformation of lives.”