General Conference 2004

General Board of Global Ministries|
The United Methodist Church
475 Riverside Drive
New York, NY 10115

Emergency Efforts Underway to Obtain Visas for
United Methodist Conference Delegates to Enter U.S.

STAMFORD, CT, March 24, 2004 – Dozens of African and Philippines delegates to the ten-day United Methodist General conference in Pittsburgh, April 16 to May 7, have been denied entrance visas into the United States by the U.S. Department of State or put on a slow track visa review process.

The problem captured the attention of directors of the Church’s General Board of Global Ministries, holding a semi-annual meeting here. An emergency action urged directors and other United Methodists to contact members of the U.S. Congress urging intervention to expedite the visas.

The international mission agency joined its efforts with those of the Church’s General Council on Ministries, which is working with Senator Richard Luger, an active United Methodist, to address the visa issue.

Some 20 percent of the nearly 1,000 delegates to the quadrennial General Conference, a legislative session, are from regional bodies of the denomination outside of the United States.

As of March 22, only 16 visas had been issued for 38 delegates from the Philippines; other denials and slowness in processing were reported from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, all in Africa.

Mission agency directors from the United States were given instructions on how to contact their representatives in Washington and also urged to call Ambassador-at-Large John Hanford, head of the Office of International Religious Liberty of the U.S. Department of State.

A sample e-mail or FAX message to senators and members of the House of Representatives said, referring to those who have not received visas, "We are deeply concerned that these Christian brothers and sisters will be denied the right to take part in the decisions of their Church. In the name of religious liberty, the First Principle in the Bill of Rights, we appeal to you to intervene with the State Department on behalf of the visa applicants."
 

You can contact your Senator and Representative by telephone number or e-mail. Contact info is available online from the directory of the 108th Congress, at: http://www.visi.com/juan/congress 

You can also contact the office of Ambassador-at-large John Hansford, who is head of the International Office of Religious Liberty, at the State Department. His phone number is 202 647-3607

Here is an example of an email message you might use. Adapt as appropriate to reflect individual or group sender:

Dozens of African and Philippine delegates to the ten-day United Methodist General conference in Pittsburgh, April 26 to May 7, have been denied entrance visas into the United States by the U.S. Department of State or put on a slow track visa review process. I (we) are deeply concerned that these Christian brothers and sisters will be denied the right to take part in the deliberations of their Church. In the name of religious liberty, which is the First Principle, in the Bill of Rights, I (we) appeal to you to intervene on behalf of the applicants. You may want to join your voice to the efforts underway by Senator Richard Luger to obtain visas for the delegates. May God bless you in this effort.