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Thanos, a prominent villain in Marvel comic books who was featured in several theatrical movies, was created by Jim Starlin with help from his roommate Mike Friedrich, who wrote the first stories featuring the character. Photo courtesy of Disney Movies.
Photo courtesy of Disney Movies

Deacon went from superheroes to God
The Rev. Mike Friedrich is a United Methodist deacon with a Marvel-ous past. These days, the former comic book writer works to redevelop church properties in the California-Nevada Conference.

Editor's Picks

Local Church
Tapiwa Nyawasha cuts strips from scrap pieces of plastic that she will use to make bed, bath and door mats as a way to increase income and empower widows and single mothers. Tapiwa is a member of Kuwadzana Extension United Methodist Church in Harare, Zimbabwe. Photo by Chenayi Kumuterera, UM News.

From trash to cash: Zimbabwe woman launches venture
By recycling plastic and cloth, Tapiwa Nyawasha supports herself and her church and encourages others to do likewise.
Annual Conferences
United Methodist conference reports. Find out what’s happening across the connection. Read official filings of annual and central conference meetings from around the world. Graphic by Laurens Glass, UM News; globe by Mediengestalter courtesy of Pixabay.

United Methodist conference reports
Find out what’s happening across the connection. Read official filings of annual conference meetings from around the world.
Annual Conferences
The California-Nevada Conference Cabinet issued a statement rejecting disaffiliation or withholding of apportionments in response to the Traditional Plan passed by the 2019 General Conference. Photo of the California-Nevada Conference United Methodist Center in Sacramento, Calif., courtesy of the conference.

California-Nevada says no to withholding funds, disaffiliation
The cabinet of the California-Nevada Conference says no to disaffiliation and withholding apportionments.

Latest

Social Concerns
The Rev. Joel Hortiales, a United Methodist missionary with the Board of Global Ministries, visits with Lizbeth and her three children, Bridgette, 3, Caleb, 4, and Alvaro Jose, 10, at the Hosanna Refugio Para Mujeres, in Mexicali, Mexico, in December 2018. The family was part of a migrant caravan from Central America. The United Methodist Immigration Task Force is urging support for migrants living in sanctuary churches who have been fined by the federal government. File photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.

Immigrant in United Methodist church fined $214,000
General Church
Delegates attend opening worship at the 2019 United Methodist General Conference in St. Louis in February. Given escalating conflict in the denomination over LGBTQ inclusion, two bishops are pushing a plan to create two or three self-governing church groups, with The United Methodist Church remaining as an umbrella organization. File photo by Kathleen Barry, UM News.

2 bishops offer plan for denomination’s future
Racism
An engraving from 1830 depicts the slave trade in the United States. The U.S. Capitol is visible in the background. To mark the 400th anniversary of the first African people being brought to the U.S. as slaves, a study guide and other resources have been prepared to help United Methodists better understand that haunting legacy. Engraving from the Library of Congress.

Slavery anniversary leads to new discussions
General Church
The Rev. Nyenda Okoko (center), a district superintendent, leads a procession of church members as they welcome visitors to Oye United Methodist Church, south of Kindu, Congo, in October 2015. Providing exact membership numbers is difficult in a denomination that spans multiple countries, languages and cultural understandings of church membership. File photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.

How accurate are church membership numbers?
Evangelism
The Zimbabwe Episcopal delegation stand in front of Joli Site Church in Galilee during their visit in the South Congo Episcopal Area. Photo by Chenayi Kumuterera, UM News.

Church members donate salaries to build church
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Multimedia

Global Health
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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Global Health
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
Evangelism
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
Global Health
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
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Commentaries

The Rev. Laceye C. Warner is Associate Dean for Wesleyan Engagement and the Royce and Jane Reynolds Associate Professor of the Practice of Evangelism and Methodist Studies at Duke University Divinity School, Durham, North Carolina. Photo by Les Todd.

John Wesley reminds us that grace is available to all
David F. Watson is Academic Dean and Vice President for Academic Affairs and Professor of New Testament at United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio. Photo courtesy of United Theological Seminary.

Wesley would call modern Methodists to return to their roots
The Rev. Steven W. Manskar is pastor of Trinity United Methodist Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Photo courtesy of Trinity United Methodist Church.

Wesley would urge modern Methodists to stay Christ-centered
The Rev. Stephen Mannion. Photo courtesy of Rev. Mannion.

The Book of Discipline unites us as a church
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Ask The UMC

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 anchor and two fish courtesy of Catacombe Domitilla; the Rev. George Mille by Mike DuBose, UM News.
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 anchor and two fish courtesy of Catacombe Domitilla; the Rev. George Mille by Mike DuBose, UM News.

Ask The UMC: Why do missionaries wear an anchor cross?
When missionaries are commissioned for service, an anchor cross is placed around their necks, as a symbol of their call to mission service.

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Evangelism
World map, courtesy of Wikipedia Commons.

Ask The UMC: Is The UMC in Canada, Australia, Latin America, Asia?
Theology and Education
Eucharist is shared during the morning prayer held in the chapel of Sarum College during the 2016 Wesley Pilgrimage in England. Photo by Kathleen Barry, United Methodist Communications.

Ask The UMC: Is communion simply a ritual of remembrance?
Theology and Education
The Christian year includes the central seasons of Christmas and Easter followed by Ordinary Time. The colors associated with the different seasons express visually what is happening in the life of the church. Each color symbolizes the nature of the festival being celebrated. Graphic by Laurens Glass, United Methodist Communications.

Ask The UMC: What is Ordinary Time?
Theology and Education
John Wesley portrait from the U.S. Library of Congress, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons (altered from original)

Ask The UMC: Are we saved if accepting God's grace happens gradually and not in one specific moment?
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Categories

Local Church
Coy United Methodist Church in Preston, Miss., is among seven Mississippi congregations that left the denomination on June 30. Photo courtesy of the Mississippi Conference.

7 Mississippi churches exit denomination
Abuja Area 1 United Methodist Church in Abuja, Nigeria, was started 10 years ago and is still under construction. Photo by E Julu Swen, UM News.

Nigerian church faces fine, possible demolition
The Rev. Schubert Ogden, a longtime professor at Perkins School of Theology, died June 6 in Louisville, Colorado, near Boulder and Denver. He was 91. Photo from Wikimedia Commons, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Theologian Ogden pushed himself and his students
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Evangelism
Janet Mutsengi, 85, arrives in an ox-drawn cart to seek medical care from the staff at the Dindi United Methodist Clinic in Zimbabwe. The United Methodist Church is helping provide health services to underserved communities through an outreach program. Photo by the Rev. Taurai Emmanuel Maforo, UM News.

Clinic patients come in carts, wheelbarrows, on foot
Dorcas Muranda enjoys watching sermons via Facebook on her phone. Churches in Zimbabwe are embracing social media for its ability to bring the Gospel to a larger audience. Photo by Priscilla Muzerengwa, UM News.

Zimbabwe church using social media to spread the Gospel
Bishop John K. Yambasu watches the ribbon cutting at the new eye clinic at the Port Loko Government Hospital in northern Sierra Leone. Photo by Phileas Jusu, UM News.

Sierra Leone conference opens new eye clinic
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Social Concerns
Clergy and lay members from the East Ohio Conference use their voting cards during the 2019 annual conference held at Lakeside Chautauqua. They use cards to cast votes for motions, resolutions and petitions but secret ballot for delegate elections. The conference elected a mix of delegates who support and oppose the Traditional Plan. Photo by Brett Hetherington, East Ohio Conference Communications.

US elections see shift in GC2020 delegates
A coyote, or smuggler, (right) uses his hands to paddle a rubber raft full of immigrants across the Rio Grande from Mexico to the U.S. side of the river in Roma, Texas, in August 2014. Recent reports of the suffering of children at immigrant detention centers and immigrants drowning calls for reform, say many United Methodist leaders. File photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.

Neglected children spark outcry for immigration reform
The California-Nevada Annual Conference service of commissioning and ordination included six LGBTQ elders, deacons and local pastors. Front row, from left are: The Revs. Emily Pickens-Jones and Caiti Hamilton. Back row, from left are: The Revs. Tara Limbaugh, Rob Herrmann, Jacey Pickens-Jones and Kenneth Schoon. Photo by The Rev. Israel I. Alvaran.

California-Nevada has 6 new LGBTQ clergy
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Mission and Ministry
Youth from the East Zimbabwe Annual Conference participate in team-building exercises as part of their training in learning to promote drug-free communities. Photo by Eveline Chikwanah, UM News.

Zimbabwe church trains youth leaders to avoid drugs
Dr. Damas Lushima stands outside the former Osio Health Center. Lushima served as the general coordinator of the new center. Photo courtesy of the Equator and Oriental Annual Conference.

First health center opens in rural Congo village
Bishop Eben K. Nhiwatiwa (center, with foot on ball) celebrates with youth teams after playing an exhibition soccer game together at Avonlea Primary School in Harare, Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwe Episcopal Area has put a focus on sports and fitness as a way to get members healthy and bring new souls to Christ. Photo by Kudzai Chingwe, UM News.

Zimbabwe United Methodists focus on sports and recreation
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General Church
A video shown at the recent North Carolina Conference features male clergy reading some of the sexist comments that the conference’s female pastors have endured. Graphic by Laurens Glass, UM News.

New video calls out harassment of clergywomen
The Rev. Heecheon Jeon, superintendent of the Central District of the Iowa Conference. Photo courtesy of the Iowa Conference.

Clergyman apologizes for filing complaint
Bishop Kenneth W. Hicks, who led conferences in Arkansas and Kansas, is remembered for his good humor and passion for peace. Photo courtesy of the Council of Bishops.

Bishop Hicks, striver for peace, dies at 96
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