Author Archives: Kim Reisman

By Rev. Dr. Kimberly Reisman

By Rev. Dr. Kimberly Reisman

By Rev. Dr. Kimberly Reisman

When our daughter Hannah first began teaching, she taught kindergarten. At one point during that year she was on the playground with her class. It was midday and the children were caught up in their play when one of them noticed the moon, visible despite the daylight.

What is that? he asked Hannah. The moon, she answered.

By Rev. Dr. Kimberly Reisman

In many churches around the world, we marked All Saints Day this past Sunday, taking the time to honor the clouds of witnesses that have gone before us – all those people who have shaped, challenged, and carried us forward on our spiritual journey.

As I contemplate the saints in my own life, I’m reminded of two interrelated and intriguing ideas. The first is called six degrees of separation; the second, three degrees of influence. Six degrees of separation is the theory that everyone is six or fewer steps away, via introduction, from any other person in the world. Essentially, through a chain of a “friend of a friend” statements, any two people in the world can be connected in a maximum of six steps.

In our current age of social media “influencers” the theory of three degrees of influence shouldn’t be a big surprise. It asserts that social networks have great influence on us, but that influence doesn’t end with the people to whom we are directly tied. We influence our friends who in turn influence their friends, which means that our actions can influence people we have never met.

You may be wondering what this has to do with the great cloud of witnesses we just celebrated on All Saints Day. For me, the connection is in the metaphorical power of this kind of thinking. These ideas help us visualize the importance of understanding our own place in that “cloud.”

My own story may help with that understanding, but first, a small bit of history.

Nelson Mandela was a Methodist, educated in a Methodist boarding school where the chaplain was Rev. Seth Mokitimi. In 1964 Mokitimi became the first black person elected to lead a major denomination in South Africa as President of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa (MCSA). He was a powerful influence on Mandela.

In 1963, Mandela was sentenced to life in prison on Robben Island. Rev. Peter Storey, a young, white, newly ordained pastor in the MCSA became his chaplain. Four years later, Storey became the Superintendent Minister at the District Six Methodist Mission in Cape Town. This Mission is now a Museum that documents the history of District Six, and the work of Peter Storey and fellow Methodists in their fight against apartheid. As time passed Storey became a bishop and was also elected president of the denomination.

Keep that bit of history in the back of your mind.

My father is also a Methodist minister, and when I was growing up, he served as the World Editor of The Upper Room, a devotional magazine distributed in 64 different languages. The Upper Room annually gives an award to a worldwide Christian leader in recognition of their work. When I was in high school it was given to Abel Hendricks, a “colored” (the apartheid classification meaning not black and not white) Methodist minister in South Africa who had spent his ministry fighting apartheid. He stayed in our home when he came to Nashville to receive the award. I can remember being fascinated as he talked about his life and struggle. Like Peter Storey and Seth Mokitimi, Abel was elected president of the MCSA. In fact he was elected twice.

In 1980, I had the opportunity to attend the first International Christian Youth Conference on Evangelism (ICYCE), sponsored by World Methodist Evangelism. It was a life-changing event for me. Peter Storey was one of the keynote speakers.

Fast forward a few decades to 2011 when I began working more closely with Ivan Abrahams, the General Secretary of the World Methodist Council. As a young Methodist minister in South Africa, Ivan was mentored by both Abel Hendricks and Peter Storey. I now hold Ivan as one of my own mentors. In his time as a Methodist bishop and then as President of the Church, he came to know Mandela well and when Mandela died, Ivan was called upon to deliver the sermon at the memorial service.

Six degrees of separation illustrates how small our world really is and how connected we actually are to one another. Three degrees of influence suggests that we can have an impact on others in ways we may never realize. My experience attests to the validity of both those ideas. Who knew that I would be connected to Nelson Mandela through a friend of a friend of a friend?

But as interesting as that may be, that’s not the real story. The real story is about the spiritual inheritance we receive from the great cloud of witnesses – and the importance of finding our own place in that “cloud.”

Abel Hendricks is in my cloud; and yet as he sat at our dinner table describing what it felt like to be “colored” in South Africa, he likely was not aware of the impact he was having on the shy 17-year-old girl sitting across from him.

Peter Story is in my cloud; and yet as he preached and taught day after day at ICYCE, he likely didn’t notice the skinny 20-year-old whose head was spinning with the magnitude of what she was hearing.

Spiritual inheritance. We receive it from others, but we must also be willing to leave it for those who follow behind. We must take seriously our own place in the great cloud of witnesses. Because if we are connected to everyone else by no more than six degrees, there will always be potential for influence. And who knows what kind of impact we may have on the 17-year-old, or 20-year-old, or 45-year-old, or 67-year-old who happens to be the friend of a friend of a friend.

By Rev. Dr. Kimberly Reisman

Core Team (Left to Right) Arpit Charan, Augustine Frederick, Nikul Masih, Vijay Bannet
(not pictured – Anosh Charan, Amber Massey)

By Rev. Dr. Kimberly Reisman

One of the joys of my work with World Methodist Evangelism is to be able to see the dramatic way God works in the lives of young people. Surprisingly, the current pandemic has highlighted this joy, reminding me that even in the midst of crisis God moves in remarkable ways.

Two years ago, in January 2018 WME held an evangelism seminar in India. Several young adults were present and one in particular – Vijay Bannet, was especially energized by what he learned through the Embrace training that was included during the week. He left ready to enlist his friends to join him in reaching others for Christ.

Vijay was also excited to attend Metanoia, our international young adult gathering that was to take place in Costa Rica in May. He and four other young men began the visa application process in order to attend. Unfortunately, their visas were denied, and they were unable to be with us in person. The rejection was deeply disappointing, but God clearly had other plans.

Through Facebook Live these young men were able to experience a bit of our Metanoia gathering, which energized them further. God began to shape their rejection into a redirection and Metanoia India was born. Using the WME framework they had experienced, in November 2018, Vijay and his friends, Anosh Charan, Augustine Frederick, Amber Massey, and Nikul Masih held their own Metanoia gathering in India recruiting preachers, teachers and other leaders to engage with over 250 participants.

But a one-time gathering wasn’t enough. In November 2019 they held a second Metanoia India, which once again impacted hundreds of young people. These young men – none of whom were trained pastors, had caught a vision bigger than they could have imagined when they received their visa rejections.

This month I would have joined Vijay, Anosh, Augustine, Amber, and Nikul at their third Metanoia India gathering. Sadly, COVID19 prevented that from happening, and yet, once again, God had other plans.

Recognizing that a large gathering would be impossible, Vijay and his team shifted gears and launched a new effort – Project Next Generation. Building on the emphasis on transformation that is at the heart of Metanoia, Project Next Generation includes three components – Metanoia (spiritual transformation), Mathetes (discipleship and spiritual formation), and Igetis (leadership development). During these months of pandemic lock downs and social distancing, they have organized 6+ webinars and digital conversations that have continued to provide the young adults in the Metanoia India community opportunities to grow in their faith.

With great hope, they’re looking to the future when they can hold a small gathering for 30 young adults who are currently involved in deepening their discipleship (Mathetes). They plan to meet in Nainital, at the Chapel where the first Christian Ashram was founded by E. Stanley Jones. And of course, they haven’t given up on Metanoia India 2021, which (God willing) I will be able to attend with great joy.

When we face challenging circumstances – visa rejections or even pandemics – it can frequently feel like we’ve been robbed of opportunities for growth and forward movement. And yet, that couldn’t be farther from God’s perspective. Often, the Holy Spirit moves most powerfully in times of disruption, redirecting us to opportunities for growth and transformation that we otherwise would not have been able to see.

That has certainly been the case for Vijay and the Metanoia India team. They’ve already reached over 500 young adults through Metanoia India, often using their own resources in order to do so. And rather than giving up when they were unable to reach more in 2020, they redirected their vision to discipleship and spiritual growth. I have no doubt that God will continue to bless their efforts to bring more people to Christ through Metanoia India and Project Next Generation.

We praise God for the way he has used WME to spark a new movement of the Spirit in India. We are grateful to these young men – all under thirty-five – who did not hesitate to act when the Spirit moved within them. Vijay, a relationship manager at a local bank, Anosh, who has recently entered full time ministry as an evangelist, Augustine, who has recently completed his university studies,  Amber, who is a Hospital Quality Assurance Associate and Nikul, a school teacher – went from rejection to redirection because they trusted that God would lead and guide them if they were willing to follow.