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Mission and Ministry

Community members access water at new boreholes near United Methodist churches in the Uganda-South Sudan Conference. With the help of churches in Georgia and Florida, five boreholes were drilled in the East Africa Episcopal Area. Photos courtesy of the Rev. Isaac Kyambadde.

Boreholes bring ‘sigh of relief’ in Uganda

Churches in Georgia, Florida work with local United Methodists in East Africa Episcopal Area to provide clean water near United Methodist churches.

Editor's Picks

Mission and Ministry

Water is scarce at Chapanduka Secondary School, a United Methodist school in Buhera, Zimbabwe. Students often spend learning time standing in line to fill buckets of water from a shallow well. Photo by Kudzai Chingwe, UM News.

Challenges stack up for United Methodist school

Zimbabwe’s Chapanduka Secondary School faces water crisis, malfunctioning solar system, poor academic scores and poverty in the community.

Social Concerns

The Rev. James T. Laney, recipient of the 2019 World Methodist Peace Award, speaks during the Roundtable for Peace on the Korean Peninsula in Atlanta in this 2018 file photo. Laney is former U.S. Ambassador to South Korea and former dean of the Candler School of Theology. File photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.

Peace as a lifelong vocation

The two most recent recipients of the World Methodist Peace Award have very different backgrounds but share a commitment to peacemaking.

Local Church

Cain Hope Felder, June 9, 1943-Oct. 1, 2019. Photo courtesy of JK Photography, Howard University

Scholar who focused on Bible's diversity dies

The Rev. Cain Hope Felder, a longtime professor at Howard University and groundbreaking scholar on race in the Bible, has died.

Latest

The Book of Discipline contains the rules that guide The United Methodist Church, including its judicial process. A United Methodist clergyman who is prominent in interfaith work is facing that process after four women accused him of sexual misconduct. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.

Clergyman accused of sexual misconduct, abuse

Mission and Ministry

Julius Caesar V. Sicat, regional director of the Philippine Department of Science and Technology, stands by an amphibious rescue vehicle prototype designed to save lives in the event of major flooding. Photo courtesy of Ryan de Lara.

United Methodist works on amphibious rescue vehicle

Mission and Ministry

Megan Klingler, who works with the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries’ Global Health unit, and Dr. Marie Claire Manafundu, program officer of the Maternal and Child Health Program in Eastern Congo, visit with children at Irambo Hospital in Bukavu. Klingler visited six cities in the country during a three-week trip to conduct training sessions to help stop the spread of Ebola. Photo by Philippe Kituka Lolonga, UM News.

Ebola training well received in Congo

Social Concerns

Jose Antonio Marchas Novela recounts the threats of violence that caused him to flee Mexico with his wife, Irlanda Lizbeth Jimenez Rodriguez, and their 1-year-old son, Jose Antonio. The family took shelter at the Christ United Methodist Ministry Center in San Diego in August 2018 while seeking asylum. United Methodists are initiating a $2 million project to support asylum seekers in the U.S. File photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.

UMCOR, partners start asylum seekers project

Dennis Valstad from Immanuel United Methodist Church at Vogue Dry Cleaners in Ribon, Wisconsin. Photo courtesy of Ripon Commonwealth Press-Express.

Mourners surprised by cut of estate

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Multimedia

Rachael Porter and the Rev. David Johnston adopted two children who came from a home with opioid addiction. Johnston serves as pastor of Concord United Methodist Church in Athens, W.Va. — Foto Mike DuBose, Noticias MU.

Clergy embrace becoming foster parents

West Virginia has one of the highest rates in the nation of children removed from homes due to drug abuse, and one of the lowest rates of new homes for them. Clergy felt called to respond.

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Kate Rhodes (left) leads students from House of the Carpenter back from a field trip on Wheeling Island in Wheeling, W.Va. Rhodes was serving as youth coordinator for the program's Pre-Work Camp, which teaches basic employment skills to middle school students. House of the Carpenter is a mission project of The United Methodist Church's West Virginia Conference.

Ministries help children affected by addiction

Wayne Worth (right) embraces Roger outside his home in Fisher, W.Va. Worth, a member of United Methodist Temple in Clarksburg, was passing out flyers containing information about local resources for anyone struggling with addiction, when he met Roger.

Outreach ministry for addiction is simple, effective

Disaster Relief

Isabel João (right) and Maria Lidia António salvage what they can of their corn crop, which was killed before it matured when their field was flooded by Cyclone Idai in Buzi, Mozambique. “Hunger is the number one problem now,” Joao said. Photo by Mike DuBose, UMNS.

After the cyclone, faith abides

The Rev. Paula Napier lost her 32-year-old son, Lincoln Nutter, to a drug overdose in June 2018. Napier, who pastors Canaan United Methodist Church in Charleston, W.Va., says she lives in the midst of the opioid crisis. “I think people need to know it hits everybody,” she said.

Pastors cope with sons’ overdose deaths

Commentaries

United Methodists behind closed doors

Preventing a United Methodist Berlin Wall

Thomas Kemper, general secretary with United Methodist Global Ministries. Photo by Hector Amador for Global Ministries.

Rediscovering Native American-Methodist heritage

Bishop Richard Wilke. An official portrait courtesy of the Council of Bishops.

Gay daughter sent bishop back to Scriptures

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Ask The UMC

Theology and Education

Admittance to a Society Meeting required a ticket from a Class Meeting. Around the edges of this ticket from 1814 are several reminders of acts of piety. Photo courtesy of the General Commission on Archives and History. — Photo de la Commission générale des archives et de l'histoire

Ask The UMC: How did John Wesley empower lay people?

Weekly class meetings nurtured and equipped lay people to become disciples.

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Theology and Education

The Rev. Shawn Moses (right) of First Grace United Methodist Church, New Orleans, welcomes a new family joining the church. Photo by Kathy L. Gilbert, UM News.

Ask the UMC: What does it mean to be a member?

Theology and Education

Public domain image from the National Child Labor Committee collection by Lewis Wickes-Hine, courtesy of the U.S. Library of Congress.

Ask The UMC: Why do we have Social Principles? Where did they come from?

General Conference

Spare voting machines rest on a table at the 2019 United Methodist General Conference in St. Louis. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.

Ask The UMC: How are decisions made at General Conference?

Theology and Education

Clockwise from top left: Detail from Butyka Mausoleum by Globetrotter19, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons; stained glass window by Kathleen Barry, UM News; Bible and cross by Mike DuBose, UMNS; detail of aanchor and two fish courtesy of Catacombe Domitilla; the Rev. George Miller by Mike DuBose, UM News.

Ask The UMC: Why do missionaries wear an anchor cross?

Categories

United Methodist Women regional missionaries Elmira Sellu (third from left) and Finda Quiwa (fourth from left) hold a lock box that is part of a new loan program for women during a four-day training in Freetown, Sierra Leone. The microfinance project, funded by United Methodist Women, is one of two empowerment programs the Regional Missionary initiative launched in September. Photo by Phileas Jusu, UM News.

Empowering women through entrepreneurship

Students gather for a Sunday school class at Brentwood (Tenn.) United Methodist Church. Photo courtesy of Brentwood United Methodist Church.

Curriculum is key in Sunday schools

Workers tend to vegetables planted at the Nyadire Mission farm in Nyadire, Zimbabwe. The farm was among six United Methodist properties evaluated during a land audit by the Zimbabwe Episcopal Area. Photo by Chenayi Kumuterera, UM News.

Audit reveals Zimbabwe church's farming potential

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The Rev. Andrew Mhondoro, a tailor and United Methodist pastor, sewed the clergy shirts and gowns for many of Zimbabwe’s United Methodist pastors. Mhondoro died Sept. 29 at age 82. Photo courtesy of The UMC UK Media & Publications.

From making garments to making disciples

Laurence Fishburne stars as Warden Daniel Calvin in the film “Imprisoned,” about a clash between the warden and an ex-con who is tied to a tragedy in Calvin’s past. Photo courtesy of Equitas Entertainment Partners.

Edgier movies for mainstream Christians

United Methodist clergy and church members witness the dedication of the Chin’ando prayer shrine in Old Mutare, Zimbabwe. Photo by the Rev. Taurai Emmanuel Maforo, UM News.

Celebrating women’s movement at historic prayer hill

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Social Concerns

United Methodist deaconess Bulelwa Ndedwa leads a march against gender-based violence in Durban, South Africa, on Sept. 14. The march began with prayer at a United Methodist church and ended in downtown Bizana in the Makukhanye District, Eastern Cape. Photo by Nandipha Mkwalo, UM News.

Church shines spotlight on violence against women

Zacky Kabunga, president of United Methodist Men in Goma, Congo, counsels a group of children who live on the streets in South Kivu. Photo by Philippe Kituka Lolonga, UM News.

Congo church connects with ‘street children’

Pat Luna speaks during a panel discussion at the Leadership Institute, held at the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas, Sept. 25-27. She was joined by the Revs. Adam Hamilton, Junius B. Dotson, Ginger Gaines-Cirelli and Michael Bowie. This year’s event focused on preserving, but reforming The United Methodist Church. Photo by Sam Hodges, UM News.

Annual event becomes forum on church’s future

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Mission and Ministry

United Methodist Bishop Mande Muyombo, left, Dr. Graciela Salvador Davila, director of Global Health for the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, and Haut-Lomami Governor Marcel Lenge Masangu Mpoyo celebrate renovations and upgrades at United Methodist Lupandilo Hospital and Shungu Clinic in Kamina, Congo. Photo by Betty Kazadi Musau, UM News.

Maternal care improves at church hospitals in Congo

A Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crewmember assists a group of people needing medical attention in the Bahamas, Sept 4. The Coast Guard is supporting the Bahamian National Emergency Management Agency and the Royal Bahamian Defense Force, who are leading response and search and rescue efforts in the Bahamas. U.S. Coast Guard photo.

Methodists in Bahamas cope with Dorian’s trauma

Laurine Deemi and Thomas Mallah stand in front of medical supplies at The United Methodist Church in Liberia’s health department in Monrovia, Liberia. The United Methodist Board of Global Ministries has donated over $40,000 worth of anti-malarial medicine, tests and mosquito nets to the church in Liberia. Photo by E Julu Swen, UM News.

Church in Liberia gets malaria medication

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Delegates from the Philippines bow their heads during a day of prayer at the 2019 United Methodist General Conference in St. Louis. A group of Filipino United Methodists have submitted a plan to the 2020 General Conference that calls for church unity, not division. Photo by Kathleen Barry, UM News.

Filipino legislation calls for church unity

United Methodist bishops and delegates gather together to pray at the front of the stage before a key vote on church policies about homosexuality on Feb. 26 during the special session of the General Conference of The United Methodist Church in St. Louis. Photo by Paul Jeffrey, UM News.

Breaking up would be hard to do

The Rev. Will Green (center) leads the singing of "Jesus Remember Me When You Come Into Your Kingdom" at the "Queer Prayer Station" during the Feb. 23 morning of prayer at the 2019 Special Session of the United Methodist General Conference in St. Louis. Green serves one of nine New England churches looking into leaving the denomination. Photo by Kathleen Barry, UMNS.

9 New England churches consider disaffiliation

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