United Methodist News Service

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Mission and Ministry

Bishop Hope Morgan Ward preaches at Clarks United Methodist Church, on the outskirts of New Bern, North Carolina. The church celebrated homecoming and burned a paid-off mortgage during the September 23 service, which Ward led with the Rev. Michael Register, pastor. Members shared stories of flood damage from Hurricane Florence. Photo by Sam Hodges, UMNS

Giving thanks in New Bern

Bishop visits on special Sunday at Clarks United Methodist Church, in an area of North Carolina hard hit by Hurricane Florence.

Editor's Picks

Disaster Relief

Sunday School and Bible study rooms of the United Methodist Church building in San Esteban, Iguig, Cagayan, Philippines following Typhoon Mangkhut. Photo courtesy of Mildred Abella

Picking up pieces after Philippines super typhoon

United Methodists prepare to help others after Mangkhut cuts a path of destruction across the northern end of the island of Luzon.

Disaster Relief

A tree fell on the parsonage of the Rev. Thomas M. Greener and his wife shortly after his wife came downstairs for dinner. No one was injured. The Greeners are among the thousands of people whose lives have been upended by Florence’s wreckage in the Carolinas. Photo courtesy of Thomas M. Greener.

Churchgoers pitch in amid Florence's floods

While the rains of Florence have stopped in much of the eastern Carolinas, waters are rising. Amid uncertainty, United Methodists still find ways to help.

Bishops

Many United Methodists feel anxiety as the denomination heads toward a special General Conference in 2019. Louisiana Area Bishop Cynthia Fierro Harvey, president-designate of the Council of Bishops, offers her thoughts on where we are as a church. Harvey appears in the first installment of “Seeing a Way Forward,” a series of UM News videos discussing the work of the Commission on a Way Forward.

Seeing a Way Forward: Bishop Harvey

As we head toward special General Conference 2019, UM News will highlight bishops’ perspectives on where we are as a denomination, starting with Louisiana Area Bishop Cynthia Fierro Harvey.

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North Katanga Area Bishop Mande Muyombo speaks about the benefits of a United Methodist Communications project in his episcopal area. Muyombo spoke during at presentation Sept. 4 at an Africa College of Bishops’ retreat Freetown, Sierra Leone. Photo by Phileas Jusu, UMNS.

African bishops reaffirm stance on marriage, vow to maintain unity

Bishop Arnold C. Temple speaks during the African College of Bishops meeting Sept. 4-7, 2018, in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Temple is president of the All Africa Conference of Churches. Photo by Danny Mai, United Methodist Communications.

African bishops hear call to cross divides, unite Methodists

Parishioners pray for Jadon Olsen at Saint Luke United Methodist Church in Laurinburg, N.C. Photo courtesy of the Rev. William A. Olsen.

Accident puts family on 'sacred road of suffering'

Disaster Relief

Construction work on a building in Hatíllo, Puerto Rico, is part of efforts by UMCOR to rebuild and renew after Hurricane Maria devastated the island in September of 2017. Photo by Michelle Maldonado, United Methodist Communications.

Video: Puerto Rican bishop gives thanks to UMCOR

Human Sexuality

Screen image of the UM Sexual Ethics site, courtesy of GCSRW.

Learning how to 'Do No Harm'

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Multimedia

U.S. Border Patrol agents run down a dirt road amid swirling dust stirred up by a helicopter during a search for people who had crossed into the United States illegally and were hiding in heavily wooded areas and sugar cane fields near McAllen, Texas. Photo by Mike DuBose, UMNS. — U.S. Border Patrol agents run down a dirt road amid swirling dust stirred up by a helicopter during a search for people who had crossed into the United States illegally and were hiding in heavily wooded areas and sugar cane fields near McAllen, Texas.

Paths collide for immigrants, border agents

Complex issues are challenging people on all sides of the immigration debate.

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The Rev. Alan Ashworth (right) visits with Appalachian Trail thru-hikers at a free hiker feed sponsored by New Hope Union United Methodist Church near Bastian, Va. Volunteers set up a temporary shelter where the trail crosses a gravel parking area and offered hot sandwiches, salads and cold drinks to weary hikers. Photo by Mike DuBose, UMNS.

Small churches, big ministry

Ernest Tokpah recalls the toll Ebola took on his family during 2015 and 2016 in Ganta, Liberia. "Ganta was on fire because of the Ebola," he said. "We stopped eating together, we stopped shaking hands, and people practically stopped talking to each other.” Tokpah, a faculty member at Ganta United Methodist School, is raising four children left orphaned when his sister and her husband died of the disease. Photo by Mike DuBose, UMNS.

Church institutions continue to aid post-Ebola Liberia

Bermondsey Central Hall Methodist Church serves a diverse congregation of about 320 and houses the South London Mission, which has been supporting the community since 1889. The modern London Shard skyscraper rises behind the church. Photo by Mike DuBose, UMNS.

British Methodism: Staying Relevant in Wesley’s Homeland

Edmond Assamoi directs the choir at a recently opened United Methodist church outside Agboville, Côte d'Ivoire. The church is so new that it has not yet been named. Photo by Mike DuBose, UMNS.

Singing the gospel in Côte d’Ivoire

Commentaries

Gil Hanke, top staff executive of United Methodist Men. File photo by Mike DuBose, UMNS

Commentary: After General Conference, people will still need the church

The Rev. Lloyd T. Nyarota. Photo by Mike DuBose, UMNS.

Commentary: African delegates need information before forming opinions

Commentary: Ministry of presence, witness in ICE detention center

Martha E. Banks is a delegate to the 2016 and 2019 United Methodist General Conferences. Photo courtesy of the East Ohio Conference of The United Methodist Church.

Commentary: GC delegate says church should be considering hunger, healthcare

Ask The UMC

Mission and Ministry

Young adults pass the collection plate during the contemporary worship at McKendree United Methodist Church in Lawrenceville, Ga. 2016 file photo by Kathleen Barry, UMNS.

Ask The UMC: What does The United Methodist Church teach about tithing?

Tithing is commonly understood as the giving of one-tenth of one’s income for God. This standard of giving comes from several passages in Scripture.

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Theology and Education

Painting of Jesus and his Disciples on the Sea of Galilee dated 1833 by Carl Wilhelm Friedrich Oesterley courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. German art historian, painter and university teacher. Private collection. Wikimedia Commons.

Ask The UMC: What is the difference between an apostle and a disciple?

Theology and Education

The Rev. Jerome R. DeVine (left, rear) makes the sign of the cross on the Rev. Kyland Dobbins during a reaffirmation of baptism at Facing the Future 2018, an event for clergy in cross-racial/cross-cultural appointments, in Newark, N.J. DeVine described the service as “both a remembering of how we are claimed by God's grace in baptism as well as the ongoing gift of grace that heals and strengthens us in the midst of the storms of life and ministry.”

Ask The UMC: Do United Methodists make the sign of the cross?

A view of Kingswood School in England. Neil Phillips Photography, courtesy of Kingswood School.

Ask The UMC: What was the first school started by Methodists?

In his sermon Original Sin, John Wesley said, "By grace ye shall be wholly renewed." Photo by Darby Jones, United Methodist Communications.

Ask The UMC: How did John Wesley understand original sin?

Categories

Children dance the Congolese rumba during the closing ceremony for a two-week United Methodist summer camp in Bukavu, Congo, intended to help strengthen their faith. Photo by Philippe Kituka Lolonga.

Camp in Congo helps kids grow in their faith

The Rev. Steve Wood presents information on the general church budget to the fellow board members of the General Council on Finance and Administration. Rick King, the agency’s chief financial officer, is at left. The board is recommending substantially cutting the 2021-24 general-church budget in hopes of keeping more funds in U.S. local churches. Photo by Heather Hahn, UMNS.

Board moves to slash general church funds

Children at St. Paul United Methodist Church in Harare, Zimbabwe, can expect a brighter future thanks to efforts by the church to help them obtain birth certificates. Having a birth certificate helps ensure access to government services such as education. Photo by Priscilla Muzerengwa, UMNS.

Church helps children, adults obtain birth certificates

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The Rev. Anna Shammas shares the story of how an invitation to worship led to the formation of the Arabic-Speaking United Methodist Church in Aarau, Switzerland. Photo by Annette Spence, UMNS.

Arabic-speaking Swiss church provides home for migrants

Bishop Nhiwatiwa earns many nicknames

Bishop Mande Muyombo and delegates work in small groups during a tribalism workshop in Kindu, Congo. Photo by Judith Osongo Yanga, UMNS.

Congo United Methodists seek to eradicate tribalism

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Social Concerns

The Rev. Abril Goforth (left) and the Rev. Edlen Cowley lead a march of United Methodists from Dallas police headquarters to the apartment complex where a white officer shot and killed a black man in his residence. The group called for justice for 26-year-old victim Botham Jean. Photo by Sam Hodges, UMNS.

United Methodists speak out about Dallas police shooting

Shamiso Musapenya, Estery Mahapare Ngorima and Tendai Muganho plant a tree in an effort to combat deforestation in Zimbabwe. Photo by Kudzai Chingwe, UMNS

United Methodist member creates Environmental Buddies Zimbabwe

The Rev. Maxie Dunnam speaks in 2014 in Atlanta. Dunnam, on behalf of the Renewal and Reform Coalition, submitted some modifications to the Traditional Plan. He and other advocates for current church policies on homosexuality are promoting the modified Traditional Plan. Photo by Steve Beard/Good News Magazine.

Groups push for modified Traditional Plan

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Mission and Ministry

Glenview United Methodist Church in Harare, Zimbabwe is currently closed due to a cholera epidemic. Photo courtesy of Priscilla Muzerengwa.

Cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe closes church doors

Computers donated through a ministry of Memorial United Methodist Church in Clovis, Calif., are stacked in an office at United Methodist University of Liberia in Monrovia. Photo by E Julu Swen, UMNS.

California church lives its mission through generosity

View of healthy soy beans growing at Madisi Farm in Malawai. Photo by Joseph Kaipa for UMNS.

In Malawi, community permaculture farming transforms lives

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Bishop Gregory V. Palmer (left) of the Ohio West Area and the Rev. James Boye-Caulker of Sierra Leone bless the elements of Holy Communion during closing worship for the Africa Comprehensive Plan meeting in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Photo by Phileas Jusu, UMNS.

Church leaders study placement of new African bishops

The 2019 special session of the General Conference will be held in The Dome, part of the America’s Center Convention Complex in St. Louis. A theologically diverse group of clergy and laity urges General Conference delegates to pass a gracious exit plan for churches. Photo by Dan Donovan, courtesy of the St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission. All rights reserved.

Letter urges GC2019 to prioritize exit plan

United Methodists hold up signs about justice after discussions in Luanda, Angola, about proposed revisions to the Social Principles of The United Methodist Church. Photo by Orlando da Cruz, UMNS.

Angolan United Methodists weigh in on Social Principles

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