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June 2002
Dear Friends,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus
Christ. At the moment of writing this letter, I (Paul) am enjoying
a place of unusual serenity and beauty. For the past four days
I have helped lead a conference in a spot far from the noise and
hectic life of the city. I am on a "prayer mountain"
in Korea offering lectures to Korean pastors on the nature of
mission and evangelism. This is my first time in Korea, but it
is not the first time for the faculty of Union Theological Seminary
(UTS) of the Philippines, where I teach Christian theology.
UTS does pastoral and ministerial training on an international
scale. We have programs in Korea and Hong Kong and exchange programs
that bring faculty and students to our campus from India, Korea,
Myanmar (Burma), Malaysia, Indonesia, and Africa. Our main task
is to train the future ministers and leaders of the United Church
of Christ of the Philippines, the Methodist Church, and Unida
in the Philippines. Yet, because of our commitment to mission
and ecumenicity, we seek to share the gospel with the world—to
be responsible stewards of the gifts God has given us. We hope
to reach Southeast Asia, a world of poverty and hopelessness for
many of its inhabitants, where millions do not know God’s
love and where millions hunger for righteousness, justice, and
peace.
This week I have rested. The peace and simplicity of a "prayer
mountain" experience is one of the unique experiences a Western
Christian can have. High on top of a mountain sit three huge chapels
prepared for the prayers of visitors. Two nights ago five hundred
people from local churches arrived around 9:00 p.m. and prayed
together in the chapels, sitting on cushions on hard wood floors
until around 5:00 a.m. They sought what we all seek—the presence
of God and God’s will for their lives. Belief in the power
of prayer is very strong here.
Almost a year ago, I sat on a floor with a group of Christians
on another mountain. This mountain was in northern Luzon in the
Philippines. It was the graduation celebration of a high school
girl in the ancestral home of her family. She had won many honors,
and one could see that she was unsure of the future. Was this
all there was for her? Her village was poor, and the work they
had in the mines was disappearing. No one believed that there
was a future for them. The girl asked Mary and me to stand and
share what wisdom we could. I shared with the group my belief
in the promise of God’s presence and the hope of Christ.
I led the family and the village that had gathered in prayer,
assuring them of God’s love and of the hope in Christ. They
were not alone and never would be.
As professors, Mary and I are offered daily the opportunity to
remind our students of the presence of God and the hope of our
faith. Few of our students have the opportunity to experience
"mountaintop" prayer retreats. For most, life as a student
is hard. The stress of seminary life is great. Their work as students
is aggravated by poverty, neglected facilities, pressures of family
life, and overworked faculty. Yet most of our students know what
it means to celebrate daily the liberating power of faith in God.
God is present in their lives as they serve and study, just as
God was present on the mountaintop in Luzon and the prayer mountain
in Korea.
In spite of the stresses of poverty and the tensions this creates,
UTS is a special place. Mary and I have grown to love it and the
people who make up its community. We know we make a difference.
As the largest and the most ecumenical Protestant seminary in
the Philippines, we help create the leadership of the future.
Our work with the graduate students also makes a difference. We
prepare many to teach in the Philippines and in Asia and Africa—a
task that must be done, as the number of trained theologians who
can teach is dwindling. The unique circumstances of Southeast
Asia—its poverty and history of oppression—need special
consideration, which cannot be given at Western centers of theological
training. We can address this need while working alongside other
institutions in the area with a special sense of purpose. The
need is great, as few professors in Southeast Asia have academic
doctoral degrees. We know that our work will strengthen and preserve
the church here.
The experiences of life here at UTS are often moments of God’s
presence—moments connecting the faithful to the mission of
God for the sake of the world. Southeast Asia needs the gospel.
Poverty, war, religious and spiritual confusion, political corruption,
and disorder are the order of the day. Many lead lives of disruptive
despair. Southeast Asia is a world where evangelism, mission,
and the struggle for justice and peace embrace. Mary and I are
participating in the struggle in our work as professors. We want
our students to know of God’s embrace, so that the reality
of hope may be felt and lived by everyone.
We would love to hear from you.
In Christ,
Rev. Dr. Paul D. Matheny and Rev. Mary C. Nebelsick
The 2002 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 189
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