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Evangelism
A composite of historical photos from the Korean Methodist Church in Honolulu, Hawaii. Clockwise (from left), The Honolulu Korean Methodist Church, Korean Methodist Mission and the SS Gaelic. Photos courtesy of History & Information Service of the Korean Methodist Church. Composite by Kathleen Barry, UM News.
A composite of historical photos from the Korean Methodist Church in Honolulu, Hawaii. Clockwise (from left), The Honolulu Korean Methodist Church, Korean Methodist Mission and the SS Gaelic. Photos courtesy of History & Information Service of the Korean Methodist Church. Composite by Kathleen Barry, UM News.

New statistics provide snapshot of Korean United Methodists
The project, 10 years in the making, shows that Korean clergy are younger on average than previously thought and reveals a significant gender gap in appointments to Korean churches.

Editor's Picks

General Church
United Methodist Bishop Gregory Palmer (right) and The Episcopal Church’s presiding bishop, Michael Curry, discuss full communion between the two denominations in 2019. The proposed agreement is on hold for now because of disruptions related to COVID-19. File screenshot from video courtesy of the Council of Bishops of The United Methodist Church.

Full communion with Episcopalians delayed
Citing COVID-19, the United Methodist and Episcopal dialogue committee urges putting its proposed agreement on hold until after 2021.
Mission and Ministry
A Coast Guard Sector Ohio Valley Shallow Water Response Team rescues nine people and one dog Sept. 16, 2020, near Navarre Beach, Fla., after they were stranded by Hurricane Sally. U.S. Coast Guard photo courtesy of Sector Ohio Valley Shallow Water Response Team.

Churches pick up after Sally
Hurricane brought strong winds, torrential rain to west Florida and south Alabama.
Racism
Speakers for the Sept. 16 panel discussion on the theological roots of racism and colonialism are (left to right) the Revs. Mai-Anh Le Tran, Edgardo Colón-Emeric and Willie James Jennings. The United Methodist Church held the livestreamed discussion as part of its Dismantling Racism series. Photos courtesy of Tran, Jennings, and photo of Colón-Emeric by Les Todd; graphic by Laurens Glass, UM News.

Grappling with how racism coexists with faith
Three theologians wrestled with how Christianity can overcome racism at a time when polls show that many white Christians don’t see racial injustice as a problem.

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Social Concerns
Beneficiaries in Mutum-Daya in the Wurkun Central District in Nigeria receive rice, beans, Maggi seasoning and salt as part of The United Methodist Church’s COVID-19 outreach. The Nigeria Episcopal Area received a Sheltering in Love grant from the UMCOR COVID-19 Response Fund. Photo by Richard Fidelis, UM News.

Sheltering in Love grant alleviates hunger
Social Concerns
Volunteers carry a child ashore on a beach near Molyvos, on the Greek island of Lesbos, on Oct. 30, 2015, after a group of refugees crossed the Aegean Sea from Turkey in a small overcrowded boat provided by Turkish traffickers to whom the refugees paid huge sums. The refugees were received in Greece by local and international volunteers, then proceeded on their way toward western Europe. File photo by Paul Jeffrey/Life on Earth Pictures.

Fix broken migration policy, religious leaders say
Mission and Ministry
Nigeria Area Bishop John Wesley Yohanna (center front) addresses the press during the groundbreaking ceremony for a new United Methodist radio station in Jalingo, Nigeria. Grace Radio will be the first faith-based station in the Northeast region. Photo by the Rev. Ande I. Emmanuel, UM News.

Groundbreaking first step for Nigerian church radio
General Conference
The North Texas Conference voted at its Sept. 19 annual meeting to submit legislation to General Conference 2021 that would begin the process of changing the church’s Cross and Flame insignia. Logo courtesy of United Methodist Communications.

Conference backs replacing Cross and Flame
Mission and Ministry
The Rev. Carlton R. “Sam” Young is, at 94, still composing and arranging music. Editor of The Methodist Hymnal (1966) and The United Methodist Hymnal (1989), he’s out with a new collection of sheet music called “Today I Live: Hymns and Songs of Remembrance and Hope.” Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.

At 94, he’s ‘Mr. Music of United Methodism’
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Multimedia

Worship
Michael Vaughn, director of music ministry at A&M United Methodist Church in College Station, Texas, has directed and edited virtual choir videos, including with his church’s children’s choir. United Methodist music ministers are coming up with creative ways to keep music going and keep choir members engaged during the COVID-19 pandemic. Photo courtesy of Michael Vaughn.
Michael Vaughn, director of music ministry at A&M United Methodist Church in College Station, Texas, has directed and edited virtual choir videos, including with his church’s children’s choir. United Methodist music ministers are coming up with creative ways to keep music going and keep choir members engaged during the COVID-19 pandemic. Photo courtesy of Michael Vaughn.

Pandemic challenges music ministers, choirs
With singing identified as a spreader of COVID-19, there’s a scramble to keep church music going and choir members engaged.

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Mission and Ministry
A well pad for a hydraulically fractured gas well lies at the end of a gravel access road near Plum Run, W.Va. Aerial photography flight courtesy of SouthWings.

Photo Feature: Preaching creation care in the land of fracking
Mission and Ministry
Ruth Moreno shows her brother, Lino, how to keep his hands warm as the sun rises behind them on the Santa Fe Bridge over the Rio Grande in Juárez, Mexico. They make the two-hour cross-border journey each school day to attend the United Methodist Lydia Patterson Institute in El Paso, Texas. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.

Lydia Patterson Institute is a dream maker for young students
Social Concerns
Bishop Woodie W. White (center) crosses the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, during the 50th anniversary observance in 2015 of Bloody Sunday. With him are his wife, Kim (right), Ruby Shinhoster and Beth Clarke. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.

A look back at Bloody Sunday’s 50th anniversary
Local Church
“Faithful Giving in a Time of Change,” a roundtable discussion of connectional giving in The United Methodist Church, is a video resource designed for local congregations to help explain the role of giving in the church. Panelists were (from left) Christine Dodson, the Rev. Reginald Clemons, John Pearce, the Rev. Lyssette Perez, the Rev. Dennis Shaw and panel moderator Vicki Brown. Photo by Kathleen Barry, UM News.

Faithful Giving in a Time of Change
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Commentaries

The Rev. Lovett H. Weems Jr. Photo courtesy of Wesley Theological Seminary.

Young elder numbers near historic low
The Rev. David Maldonado. Video image courtesy of IMU Latina (Iglesia Metodista Unida Latina) via YouTube by UM News.

Racism and Latinos: The wall of separation and fear
The Rev. Ian Straker. Photo courtesy of the Rev. Straker.

Embracing whole truth about Methodism and race
The Rev. Mel West. Photo courtesy of the Rev. Mel West.

A new reformation? Look to the NGOs
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Ask The UMC

Social Concerns
Since the Church’s inception, Methodists have been actively involved in social and political matters in order to build a more peaceful and just world. Graphic by Laurens Glass, United Methodist Communications.
Since the Church’s inception, Methodists have been actively involved in social and political matters in order to build a more peaceful and just world. Graphic by Laurens Glass, United Methodist Communications.

Ask The UMC: Is The United Methodist Church involved in politics?
Can United Methodists be politically active? The Social Principles offer guidance about the interaction of church and politics.

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Church History
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?
Social Concerns
Members and supporters of the Coalition of Immokalee (Fla.) Workers pray in Nashville, Tenn., at the conclusion of a protest against the Publix supermarket chain's refusal to join a farm workers' rights labor program. The Book of Resolutions of the United Methodist Church demands that employers "treat farm workers and their families with dignity and respect.” Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.

Ask The UMC: Does the church support workers' rights?
Theology and Education
The word shalom is Hebrew for peace and describes harmony between humanity and all of God's good creation. Photo by RÜŞTÜ BOZKUŞ, courtesy of Pixabay.

Ask The UMC: What does ‘peace’ mean in the Bible?
Theology and Education
A portrait of John Wesley standing in a graveyard is on display at the Museum of Methodism located beneath Wesley's Chapel in London. Photo by Kathleen Barry, United Methodist Communications.

Ask The UMC: What would John Wesley think about the critical issues of our time?
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Categories

Local Church
Oretha Goyanvator receives a certificate during training led by United Methodist Women in Monrovia, Liberia. As part of the new Village Saving Scheme program, participants learned to make soap, detergent and sanitary pads to help them earn and save money during the COVID-19 pandemic. Photo by E Julu Swen, UM News.

Empowering women in Liberia amid COVID-19
Asbury Memorial Church in Savannah, Ga., is leaving The United Methodist Church in support of LGBTQ inclusion. The church, with more than 300 members, is the first since 2016 to leave expressly in opposition to the denomination’s bans on same-sex weddings and “self-avowed practicing” gay clergy. Photo courtesy of Asbury Memorial Church.

Church exits denomination for LGBTQ equality
Parishioners sit apart from one another during worship at Franklin (Tenn.) First United Methodist Church. The church, which recently returned to in-person worship, has adopted safety protocols, including social distancing, to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.

Churches begin returning to in-person worship
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Evangelism
Children from the United Methodist congregation in Debrecen, Hungary, gathered for vacation Bible school in a new building recently bought by the church council. Photo courtesy of the Rev. László Khaled.

Debrecen church has new home
The coronavirus pandemic has presented unique challenges to the U.S. census this year. Robbinsville United Methodist Church is one of the churches trying to help make sure everyone counts. Photo illustration by Kathleen Barry, UM News.

Churches see census as part of their mission
The congregation of the new Levuma United Methodist Church meets for worship in a corridor of a member’s home. Pastor Joseph Turay said he hopes to one day have a church large enough to accommodate all who want to attend. Photo by Phileas Jusu, UM News.

Community project births new congregation
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Social Concerns
The Rev. Grace Cajiuat (third from left in front row), pastor of Wesley United Methodist Church in Kenosha, Wis., protests with other interfaith religious leaders at Simmons Library Park on Sept. 1, the day President Trump visited the city near Milwaukee. Photo by Chris Herigstad.

Clergy: Racial justice is church’s responsibility
United Methodist Women parade the streets in Marshall City, Liberia, to protest sexual violence against women and girls during the group’s 72nd annual session held Jan. 21-27, 2020. File photo by E Julu Swen, UM News.

Violence against women, girls in Africa spikes amid COVID-19

The Rev. Sheila Peters from Braden Memorial United Methodist Church preaches March 7, 2020, at a joint Sunday service held at Gordon Memorial United Methodist Church in Nashville, Tenn. Praying over attendees on the floor is the Rev. Paula B. Smith, pastor at Gordon Memorial. Strengthening The Black Church for the 21st Century works with predominately Black churches like Braden and Gordon on effective mission and ministry. Photo by Kathleen Barry, UM News.

Fundraising, church assessments on tap for SBC21
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Mission and Ministry
Angela Macherechedze, sister-in-charge of the family and child health unit at United Methodist Old Mutare Mission Hospital in Zimbabwe, holds baby Prince Anotidaishe, the first child for 18-year-old Samantha Sibanda, who traveled more than 160 miles to give birth at the church hospital. Photo by Kudzai Chingwe, UM News.

Missions’ doctors, nurses serve despite struggles
Wildfires burn during a mid-August night near Susanville, Calif. A series of wildfires has destroyed more than 30,000 acres of land around Susanville. Photo by Doug Magill, U.S. Army.

Fires, coronavirus complicate Western disaster relief
A view of the Gault Fine Arts Center on the campus of Martin Methodist College in Pulaski, Tenn. Martin Methodist College officials have signed a letter of intent to be acquired by the University of Tennessee System. Photo courtesy of Martin Methodist College.

Martin Methodist in talks to join UT system
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General Church
John Yambasu Jr. (left) and other mourners carry the casket bearing the remains of Sierra Leone Bishop John K. Yambasu, who was laid to rest Sept. 6 after a service of Remembrance and Rites of Passage in Freetown. The bishop died in a car accident on Aug. 16. Photo by Phileas Jusu, UM News.

Driver arrested in crash that killed bishop
United Methodist missionary Tawanda Chandiwana (left foreground) is embraced by Thomas Kemper, head of the Board of Global Ministries, at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila, Philippines, on July 1, 2018, after Chandiwana was released from a detention center and allowed to leave the country. 2018 file photo courtesy of Thomas Kemper, Global Ministries.

Finding strength in the worldwide church family
Family and friends of Bishop John K. Yambasu, (from left front) Elizabeth Yambasu, Emmanuel Yambasu, widow Millicent Yambasu and Alfred Lansana, arrive at the burial site on the campus of United Methodist University in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Photo by E Julu Swen, UM News.

Bishop Yambasu remembered as bridge builder
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