What is VMM's History?

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=220 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <IMG SRC="13eb8750.jpg" border=0 width="184" height="117" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <I><B>Celebrating 35 Years of Mission Service 1969-2004</B></I></div> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Volunteer Missionary Movement (VMMUSA)"><U>Home Page</U></A></div> <div> <B>What is VMM's History?</B></div> <div> <A HREF="id8.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="What is VMMs Spirit and Lifestyle?"><U>What is VMM's Spirit and Lifestyle?</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id9.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="What are VMMs Ministries?"><U>What are VMM's Ministries?</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id15.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Where does VMM Serve?"><U>Where does VMM Serve?</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="http://www.guidestar.org/partners/networkforgood/donate.jsp?ein=36-3153581" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.guidestar.org/partners/networ"><U><IMG SRC="1877e300.gif" border=0 width="126" height="48" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> <bR> <div>  <form method="get" action="http://search.atomz.com/search/"> <input size=15 name="sp-q"><br> <input type=submit value="Search"> <input type=hidden name="sp-a" value="sp10020180"> <input type=hidden name="sp-f" value="iso-8859-1"> </form></div> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial" ><I><B>Volunteer Missionary Movement (VMM-USA)</B></I></FONT>     |     <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Volunteer Missionary Movement (VMMUSA)"><U>home</U></A></div> <div> back to  <A HREF="id3.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="All About VMM"><U><B>All About VMM</B></U></A></div> <div> What is VMM's History?</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <IMG SRC="147e52c0.jpg" border=0 width="485" height="300" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <bR> <div> Imagine what it was like to be a layperson in 1969 who wanted to be a missionary. Your choices were pretty much limited to becoming a priest or minister, a religious sister or a brother. While many people felt the call to mission, they didn't always feel called to one of these other ministries.</div> <bR> <div> It was exactly this situation that led Edwina Gateley to found the Volunteer Missionary Movement in 1969. Out of her own mission experience in Africa, following the Gospel, she set out to build a community of Christians committed to justice for all peoples. Since 1969, more than 1,700 women and men have provided this witness in 26 countries on five continents.</div> <bR> <div> Today, VMM has two branches: VMM-USA and VMM-Europe. VMM-USA concentrates its efforts on primarily serving Central America and the U.S., while VMM-Europe primarily serves Africa. Members of one branch may perform their mission activity in whichever project location meets both their interests and the needs of VMM.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>