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Disaster Relief
A mother and her four children stand by the remains of their home, which was destroyed by Cyclone Freddy in the Zambezia Province of Milange, Mozambique. The record-breaking cyclone wreaked havoc on southeastern Africa in February and March. Photo by Zenaido Castigo.
A mother and her four children stand by the remains of their home, which was destroyed by Cyclone Freddy in the Zambezia Province of Milange, Mozambique. The record-breaking cyclone wreaked havoc on southeastern Africa in February and March. Photo by Zenaido Castigo.

Church responds after cyclone batters Africa
The record-breaking storm’s duration was at least 36 days, killing more than 600 people in Malawi, Mozambique and Madagascar. United Methodists are reaching out to survivors as recovery continues.

Editor's Picks

Mission and Ministry
United Methodists use the new audio recording studio developed by The United Methodist Church in the South Congo Conference. Photo by John Kaumba, UM News.

Church installs Christian recording studio in Congo
With funding from Connexio, the Evangelical Methodist Church’s mission and diaconia network, The United Methodist Church recently installed an audio recording studio in the South Congo Conference.
Human Rights
Ebiye Seimode, a student at the Boston University School of Theology and participant in the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference Immersion Experience, samples a flute for sale at Oklahoma Native Art & Jewelry on March 9, 2023, in Oklahoma City. Photo by Jim Patterson, UM News.

Native immersion explores culture, horrors
A group of nearly 30 students, United Methodist church members and pastors toured central Oklahoma to learn about the culture and mistreatment of Native Americans. The experience was sobering yet hopeful.
Immigration
The Revs. Joel Hortiales (center, in blue blazer) and David Farley (to Hortiales' right) join parishioners of the Border Church in Tijuana, Mexico, as they lift their arms skyward beneath the fence that marks the border with the U.S. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.

Methodists participate in movement to preserve border park
Friends of Friendship Park, led by a United Methodist pastor, continues to defend the preservation of the oceanfront park, located on the border between Mexico and the U.S.

Latest News

Judicial Council
The coming General Conference is scheduled to meet April 23-May 3, 2024, in Charlotte, N.C. The Judicial Council, The United Methodist Church’s top court, faced questions about how to handle delegate vacancies for the postponed General Conference, and whether another General Conference should be held between 2024 and 2028. Photo courtesy of charlottesgotalot.com.

Court rules on General Conference questions
General Church
An excerpt from a map detailing the central conferences in Europe shows the Central and Southern Europe Central Conference (in red), the Germany Central Conference (in green), and the Northern Europe and Eurasia Central Conference, which contains the Eurasia Episcopal Area and the Nordic and Baltic Episcopal Area (in orange and blue respectively). Original map courtesy of UMC.org; edited by UM News.

Eurasia and Estonia begin exit from church
Mission and Ministry
Samuel Musareka, Nyadire Central Primary School head cook, lights the stove to prepare a meal. The Nyadire Connection teamed up with Carnegie Mellon University students to install a biogas digester at the United Methodist mission school in Mutoko, Zimbabwe. Photo by Kudzai Chingwe, UM News.

Engineers cook up eco-friendly solution at church school
Bishops
Bishop Minerva Carcaño presides over a May 19 session of the 2016 United Methodist General Conference in Portland, Ore. The United Methodist Commission on the Status and Role of Women is asking to serve as a monitor in the church complaint process involving Carcaño, who has been suspended for more than a year. File photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.

Agency seeks role in complaint against bishop
Disaster Relief
Jean Tshomba and Cudins Lokale, members of The United Methodist Church’s disaster management office in East Congo, lift bags containing rice and cornmeal during relief distribution in Goma in January 2023. Funding from the United Methodist Committee on Relief purchased more than 165 tons of food and non-food items distributed to more than 2,500 households or approximately 12,500 people. Photo by Chadrack Tambwe Londe, UM News.

Church increases aid to displaced people in Congo
Annual Conferences
Annual Conference Reports

2022 United Methodist annual conference reports
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Local Church
The Rev. Dr. Tori Butler (right) interviews Bishop Dee Williamston of the Louisiana Conference, the first Black woman elected to the episcopacy in the South Central Jurisdiction. Zoom video image courtesy of the Rev. Butler, via YouTube.

Hollering for Change: An interview with Bishop Dee Williamston
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Evangelism
Innocent Afful, a missionary with the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, poses with children from a church-supported orphanage in Kinshasa, Congo. Funding from a Global Ministries Advance project teaches orphans vocational skills. Photo courtesy of Innocent Afful.

Church radio drums up support for orphans
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Social Concerns
Amber Blankenship shows off a tattoo honoring Kairos Prison Ministry, a program which she credits with changing her life while she was incarcerated at the Lakin Correctional Center in West Columbia, W.Va. “I told God that if he would heal my broken heart, I would go wherever he wanted me to go, and I have served him every day since,” she said. She and her husband, Aaron Blankenship, are standing in front of a mosaic depicting the Transfiguration of Christ that stands behind the altar at Wesley Chapel at the West Virginia United Methodist Conference Center in Charleston. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.

Faith communities can aid transition from prison
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Mission and Ministry
Anthony (foreground), who is incarcerated at the St. Marys Correctional Center in St. Marys, W.Va., says he tries to serve as a role model for new inmates at the facility after seeing the transformation brought about by the Kairos Prison Ministry. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.

Prison ministries transform inmates, volunteers
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General Church
Members of the Standing Committee on Central Conference Matters discuss the values they are seeking in proposed denominational regionalization. During a meeting in Braunfels, Germany, the General Conference permanent committee gave a boost to proposals to restructure the denomination so different geographic areas are on equal footing. Photo by Klaus Ulrich Ruof, Germany Central Conference.

International group pursues regionalization
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Commentaries

Urs Schweizer. Photo courtesy of author.

When the poor share what they have
Dr. David W. Scott. Photo © Hector Amador.

The many meanings of connectionalism
The Rev. Mel West. Photo courtesy of the Rev. Mel West.

Youth group outreach changed Mr. X’s views of church
Bill Brownson. Image courtesy of the West Ohio Conference.

Disaffiliation supporters use political playbook
Bishop Julius C. Trimble. Photo by Tessa Tillett for the Indiana Conference.

Lifting up three key Black history figures
The Rev. Taylor W. Burton Edwards. Photo by Vincent Isner.

Using our brains: A proposal for General Conference
The Rev. Lovett H. Weems Jr. Photo courtesy of Wesley Theological Seminary.

Disobedience didn’t start with sexuality debate
Bridget Cabrera. Photo courtesy of the Methodist Federation for Social Action (MFSA).

Political categories don’t capture work ahead
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News From UMC Partners

Poverty
Loaves of bread will help provide financial support for women in Sierra Leone. Screengrab courtesy of United Women in Faith, by UM News.
Loaves of bread will help provide financial support for women in Sierra Leone. Screengrab courtesy of United Women in Faith, by UM News.

Bakery supports women in Sierra Leone
A bakery financed by United Women in Faith will provide economic opportunities for women in Sierra Leone. “The bakery is a legacy that will be profitable to the women today and to generations to come.”

Additional Headlines

The Bridge of Hope Free Food Pantry will provide welcoming baskets containing necessities such as coats, caps and gloves, as well as a Bible and invitation to worship to workers during Lent. Photo courtesy of the West Ohio Conference.

Churches offer welcome to migrant workers
Local Church
The Harbor is an online faith community for anyone finding themselves without a church home—whether that's because of turmoil, timing, life changes, health challenges, or displacement.

Online-only church plant launches
Faith Sharing
People have traveled from far and wide to attend worship services at Asbury University and Asbury Theological Seminary in a revival that has gone "viral" through social media. Photo by Cathy Bruce, the Kentucky Conference.

Hunger for God on display at revival
Violence
In response to the Feb. 13 mass shooting at Michigan State University, someone painted this question in large red letters across "The Rock." Photo by Mark Doyal, Michigan Conference.

Campus shooting shatters Michigan United Methodists
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Multimedia

Faith Stories
Children who fled the war in Ukraine play at the United Methodist Dorcas church camp in Debrecen, Hungary, where their families have been given shelter. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.
Children who fled the war in Ukraine play at the United Methodist Dorcas church camp in Debrecen, Hungary, where their families have been given shelter. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.

2022: The Year in Photos
Amid challenges from an evolving denomination, multiple natural disasters, the war in Ukraine and a continuing struggle to address migration, United Methodists continued to live out their faith and serve their communities in 2022. UM News photographers were there.

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Bishops
The Rev. Dr. Tori Butler (right) interviews the Rev. Wanda Bass about historic episcopal election in the South Central Jurisdiction. Zoom video image courtesy of the Rev. Butler, via YouTube.

Hollering for Change: Reflections on Bishop Williamston’s historic election
A woman pushes her daughter in a stroller past the monastery for the Church of the Assumption in Cornești, Romania. The United Methodist Church in Romania is providing support for refugees from the war in Ukraine who are staying at the monastery. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.

Video: Romanian church’s hotel ministry houses Ukrainian refugees
Immigration
United Methodist Bishop Christian Alsted prays with Alexandre, who is living in the gymnasium at the Onokivtsi Secondary School near Uzhhorod, Ukraine, after fleeing his home due to the war with Russia. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.

Photo essay: United Methodists stand with Ukraine
Immigration
A guide using a raft made from inner tubes ferries people across the Suchiate River from Guatemala into Mexico near Ciudad Hidalgo. Migrants routinely cross the border into Mexico here, many of them hoping to eventually make their way to the United States. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.

Photo essay: Strangers and sojourners
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World Press Freedom Day - Learn More
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Ask The UMC

General Church
With some congregations considering leaving The United Methodist Church or just wondering about its future, Ask The UMC offers a series of questions and answers to help clear up some common misperceptions or misinformation around disaffiliation. Graphic by Laurens Glass, United Methodist Communications.
With some congregations considering leaving The United Methodist Church or just wondering about its future, Ask The UMC offers a series of questions and answers to help clear up some common misperceptions or misinformation around disaffiliation. Graphic by Laurens Glass, United Methodist Communications.

Ask The UMC: Is The United Methodist Church really... ? Part 10
This article addresses several issues including whether a re-vote on disaffiliation is allowed, whether United Methodist seminaries teach doctrines contrary to those of church, and whether The United Methodist Church endorses critical race theory.

Additional Headlines

Church History
Sarah Mallet was one of the few women authorized by John Wesley as a preacher in early English Methodism. She and Wesley regularly corresponded by letter. Wesley referred to her as "My dear Sally." Quill courtesy of OpenClipart/Pixabay; letter excerpt courtesy of Emory University Libraries; graphic by Laurens Glass, United Methodist Communications.

Ask The UMC: Pioneers in Methodism — Sarah Mallet
Church History
Bishop Woodie W. White, the first executive secretary of the General Commission on Religion and Race and the first Black person to head a United Methodist general agency, was tasked with the oversight of the merger of the Central Jurisdiction annual conferences and the geographical annual conferences. Photo courtesy of the Council of Bishops; graphic by Laurens Glass, UM News.

Ask The UMC: Pioneers in Methodism — Bishop Woodie W. White
General Church
With some congregations considering leaving The United Methodist Church or just wondering about its future, Ask The UMC offers a series of questions and answers to help clear up some common misperceptions or misinformation around disaffiliation. Graphic by Laurens Glass, United Methodist Communications.

Ask The UMC: Is The United Methodist Church really... ? Part 9
Annual Conferences
With some congregations considering leaving The United Methodist Church or just wondering about its future, Ask The UMC offers a series of questions and answers to help clear up some common misperceptions or misinformation around disaffiliation. Graphic by Laurens Glass, United Methodist Communications.

Ask The UMC: Is The United Methodist Church really... ? Part 8
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