2015 in Review
The Women's Foyer
It is hard to believe it is time to write another FPM annual review. Here are the highlights of what we've been doing:
Construction:
2015 will be remembered as the year of the construction boom: new wings to the nursing school, the near-completion of the foyer (women’s vocational training center) and the refurbishment/reconstruction with durable materials of several sanctuaries across the region. We celebrate all who contributed their labor and resources to make these dreams a reality.
Scholarships:
The El Dorado Nursing School continues to grow—both in the size of its student body and its capacity to provide excellence in education. Thanks to the generosity of friends in El Dorado, Arkansas, FPM continues to provide scholarships to the female students. This scholarship program, which initially started as an attempt to make the nursing program affordable to women and remove the local stigma of their studying (suspicion of turning to prostitution to pay tuition) has created a wonderful challenge—female enrollment has dramatically increased such that more scholarships are requested.
As part of our commitment to investing in emerging leaders, FPM also provides scholarships (as available in the undesignated funds) and mentoring to a number of young adults, most of whom have lost their parents. We are very proud of these youth and look forward to the day when we can report on their post-graduation accomplishments.
Scouting:
Since several scout troops from the Tanyanika conference were unable to attend the 2014 jamboree in Tenke due to lack of transportation, FPM (thanks to contributions by Hoosier scouts) financially sponsored their 2015 jamboree in Ankoro.
Transportation:
Speaking of transportation, we were also able to distribute bicycles to church leaders in Tanyanika as well as track down pieces to repair our big truck, which has served us well despite the extreme assignments we have given it.
Our Team:
As for our primary team members, Rev. Joseph Mulongo has admirably juggled much: FPM project management, pastoring remote chapels, oversight of the Mulongo District, preparing delegates for the 2016 General Conference (he leads the delegation), being a devoted husband and father with a daughter who needed multiple surgeries this fall—the work never ends, yet he still manages to provide regular updates via Facebook of the situation on the ground. Send him a friend request if you haven’t already.
The Rev. Dr. “Biking” Bob has been concentrating on finishing that book we keep talking about in addition to beta-testing his new missiology workshops in congregations in Indiana. The manuscript is with an editor, so we have high hopes that 2016 will be the year it is finally in your hands. We are excited about both the book and the new workshop series—drop him a line if you’d like to be at the front of the line for them.
Yours truly is living in Algiers, Algeria. I’m helping the Methodist-Reformed Church of Algiers while simultaneously working on a doctorate in missiology with a focus on the decolonization of partnerships (researching the shifting dynamics of the relationship between North Katangan and American United Methodists). Bob likes to joke that I’ve become the “M” (a James Bond reference) of team FPM in that I keep a close eye on what everyone is doing from the comfort of my virtual mobile office.
2016 Plans:
Onward and upward! We prefer to “under-promise and over-deliver,” so some of our plans we are waiting to announce once we’ve accomplished them. That said, we are hoping that this will be the year that the student ministry at Purdue University joins us on a Congo bike tour. We are also in talks with United Methodist Women (especially those in Indiana) to journey to Mulongo for a celebration of the grand opening of the women’s foyer.
Again, thank you for your friendship, prayers and financial contributions.
Taylor
Rev. Taylor W. Denyer
President, Friendly Planet Missiology
Construction:
2015 will be remembered as the year of the construction boom: new wings to the nursing school, the near-completion of the foyer (women’s vocational training center) and the refurbishment/reconstruction with durable materials of several sanctuaries across the region. We celebrate all who contributed their labor and resources to make these dreams a reality.
Scholarships:
The El Dorado Nursing School continues to grow—both in the size of its student body and its capacity to provide excellence in education. Thanks to the generosity of friends in El Dorado, Arkansas, FPM continues to provide scholarships to the female students. This scholarship program, which initially started as an attempt to make the nursing program affordable to women and remove the local stigma of their studying (suspicion of turning to prostitution to pay tuition) has created a wonderful challenge—female enrollment has dramatically increased such that more scholarships are requested.
As part of our commitment to investing in emerging leaders, FPM also provides scholarships (as available in the undesignated funds) and mentoring to a number of young adults, most of whom have lost their parents. We are very proud of these youth and look forward to the day when we can report on their post-graduation accomplishments.
Scouting:
Since several scout troops from the Tanyanika conference were unable to attend the 2014 jamboree in Tenke due to lack of transportation, FPM (thanks to contributions by Hoosier scouts) financially sponsored their 2015 jamboree in Ankoro.
Transportation:
Speaking of transportation, we were also able to distribute bicycles to church leaders in Tanyanika as well as track down pieces to repair our big truck, which has served us well despite the extreme assignments we have given it.
Our Team:
As for our primary team members, Rev. Joseph Mulongo has admirably juggled much: FPM project management, pastoring remote chapels, oversight of the Mulongo District, preparing delegates for the 2016 General Conference (he leads the delegation), being a devoted husband and father with a daughter who needed multiple surgeries this fall—the work never ends, yet he still manages to provide regular updates via Facebook of the situation on the ground. Send him a friend request if you haven’t already.
The Rev. Dr. “Biking” Bob has been concentrating on finishing that book we keep talking about in addition to beta-testing his new missiology workshops in congregations in Indiana. The manuscript is with an editor, so we have high hopes that 2016 will be the year it is finally in your hands. We are excited about both the book and the new workshop series—drop him a line if you’d like to be at the front of the line for them.
Yours truly is living in Algiers, Algeria. I’m helping the Methodist-Reformed Church of Algiers while simultaneously working on a doctorate in missiology with a focus on the decolonization of partnerships (researching the shifting dynamics of the relationship between North Katangan and American United Methodists). Bob likes to joke that I’ve become the “M” (a James Bond reference) of team FPM in that I keep a close eye on what everyone is doing from the comfort of my virtual mobile office.
2016 Plans:
Onward and upward! We prefer to “under-promise and over-deliver,” so some of our plans we are waiting to announce once we’ve accomplished them. That said, we are hoping that this will be the year that the student ministry at Purdue University joins us on a Congo bike tour. We are also in talks with United Methodist Women (especially those in Indiana) to journey to Mulongo for a celebration of the grand opening of the women’s foyer.
Again, thank you for your friendship, prayers and financial contributions.
Taylor
Rev. Taylor W. Denyer
President, Friendly Planet Missiology
2015-2016 FPM Nursing Scholarship Recipients