Mission Ministry Team

Missionaries

Grace United Methodist Church supports the following missionaries:

Dr. Dennis Marke

Dr. Marke is a missionary doctor working with Operation Classroom in Africa.

The Kissy Health Maternity Center in Freetown, Sierra Leone now has a web site. It contains an abundance of facts and information about the medical center where Dr. Dennis Marke, our missionary, serves. Here are some of the statistics about patients in Sierra Leone:

• 90% of Kissy patients who have their blood tested have malaria.
• 144 of 1,000 die from childbirth or pregnancy in Sierra Leone.
• No women have died during childbirth at Kissy Clinic for more than three years.
• 3,000 babies were delivered at Kissy Clinic in 2004.
• 400 women attend Kissy's prenatal classed each week.
• 40% of children under 5 years old in Sierra Leone suffer from kwashiorkor, a form of malnutrition caused by too little protein.
• 8,000 women and children benefited from Kissy's Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission program for HIV-positive pregnant women.

We are pleased to partner with the Kissy Clinic through Operation Doctor, an Indiana Area United Methodist related mission under the leadership of Dr. Dennis Marke. This information, along with much more on the center, can be found at Kissy's new web site. It features sections for maternity and nourishment, staff profiles, personal testimonies and information on how to volunteer. For more information about Operation Doctor, log on to http://gbgm-umc.org/health/kissy

Jeff Newton

Jeff Newton has been assigned to Trinity United Methodist Church in Kokomo as a part-time pastor with the remaining amount of time being committed to direct the Kokomo Urban Outreach ministry. Jeff is being supported by the churches in the downtown area and also by the surrounding community.

The vision of Kokomo Urban Outreach is to work with churches, organizations and individuals to reach into their neighborhood providing ideas, support, encouragement and guidance. Neighborhoods would be reached through four streams of ministry:

• Make contact with neighbors-- through acts of kindness, providing a specific unmet ministry need or just everyday living.
• Provide a focused ministry in an already established place within a neighborhood.  Examples include a Children's ministry at a Laundromat, a Bible Study in a restaurant, tutoring in a school, or some sort of life skill class in a community center, library or a church.
• Provide safe places where people can explore the Christian faith.
• Organize neighbors into groups where they begin to serve their own neighborhood and reach out to under served neighborhoods in their area.

Kokomo Urban Outreach home page

Kokomo Urban Outreach Annual Report

Ken Vance

The Reverend Ken E. Vance, Jr. is a missionary with the General Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church serving as Director of the Likasi Pastor's School in Ndola, Zambia, teaching at the Kafakumba Pastor's School and serving as pastor of the Ndola Town Center United Methodist Church.

Along with his administrative, teaching and pastoral responsibilities, Ken has also been involved with the Wings of the Morning Flight Ministry. The flight ministry, originally based in the Democratic Republic of Congo, has a forty-five year history, and has flown millions of miles while ministering to those in need, including emergency flights in dangerous and often wartime situations, and countless lives saved through the delivery of vaccines and medical supplies. Doctors and nurses covering over 60 clinics and two hospitals have been expressions of the purpose, ministry, and motivation of God’s love.

A clergy member of the North Indiana Annual Conference, Rev. Vance served as pastor of Richland Chapel United Methodist Church in Converse, Indiana before beginning his service in Africa. He was also pastor for five years at Highland Avenue United Methodist Church in the North Indiana Conference.

Born in Lafayette, Indiana, Ken was active in his church during high school as vice president of the Methodist Youth Fellowship as well as representing young people at his local church on the community board. A licensed pilot, Ken holds a B.A. from Ball State University in Muncie, IN, and Master’s of Theology from United Theological Seminary in Dayton, OH.

Ken and wife Deborah, also a General Board of Global Ministries missionary, are the parents of two children: Stacie, born in 1986 and is preparing to enter her university experience, and Joshua, a sophomore in high school and is with his parents.