The United Methodist Church formally commissioned 40 persons to mission vocations in a service of celebration and commitment on the night of October 13 in Stamford, CT. In the formal act of commissioning, missionaries, deaconesses, and home missioners are charged to “take the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ into all the world.”
They were commissioned in the presence of an on-site congregation of 300 and a worldwide community taking part via a live internet broadcast–the first such occasion for the commissioning of United Methodist missionaries.
Persons in seven categories of mission service were commissioned on October 13. Those commissioned who are connected to the North Carolina Conference are:
Rosanna Panizo-Valladares, Durham, North Carolina Annual Conference. She was commissioned as a National Plan for Hispanic/Latino Ministry Missionary. These missionaries serve in annual conferences and special ministries in the US through a plan authorized by The United Methodist Church. Panizo-Valladares is assigned as a pastor and community developer, Durham District.
Charles Barrow, Snow Hill, in the North Carolina Annual Conference was commissioned as a Home Missioner. He serves as an agricultural research specialist, North Carolina State University’s Lower Costal Research Station in Kinston.
Alexandria Jones, New York City, originally from Illinois. Jones was commissioned as a Church and Community Worker to serve the poor and marginalized. She is serving the National Farm Worker Ministry based in Durham.
For more information, including a video of the event, visit ummissionaries.org.
*Photos by Cassandra M. Zampini