United Methodist News Service

Top Story

Eight bishops sign statement calling for “vibrant and missionally effective Wesleyan movement.” Graphic by Laurens Glass, UM News. — Graphic by Laurens Glass, UM News

Group of bishops calling for ‘deeper conversations’

Eight active and retired United Methodist bishops released a statement calling for the church to be open to new expressions of Methodist witness.

Editor's Picks

Mission and Ministry

Protesters throw garbage at the entrance of the Immigration and Emigration Direction nel Moise, in the streets of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, October 28, 2019. REUTERS/Andres Martinez Casares.

Help for Haitians stymied by political unrest

United Methodists have helped the Haitian people through an earthquake, hurricane and cholera epidemic in the past decade, but political turmoil is sidelining efforts for now.

General Conference

Chart summarizes and compares proposals to General Conference 2020 about the future of The United Methodist Church. Graphic by Laurens Glass, UM News.

Comparing plans headed to GC2020

This chart summarizes and compares proposals to General Conference 2020 about the future of The United Methodist Church. The chart does not include plans from individuals and may be updated after all legislation is published.

General Church

Bishop Michael McKee speaks during the United Methodist Council of Bishops meeting in Lake Junaluska, N.C., where the bishops learned that, at the current rate of giving, the bishops will run out of funds in 2024. McKee is president of the denomination’s General Council on Finance and Administration. With him at the podium is Bishop Minerva Carcaño. Photo by Sam Hodges, UM News.

Bishops warned their funding imperiled

Church financial leaders sounded the alarm that if current trends persist, the Episcopal Fund will run out of money in five years.

Latest

Mission and Ministry

Members of Buduburam United Methodist Church in Buduburam, Ghana, leave after worship on Nov. 3. The church’s pastor, the Rev. James Y. Kaifunbah, is asking for support from the Liberia Conference and global United Methodist Church to help save the small parish. Photo by E Julu Swen, UM News.

Struggling Ghana church seeks support

A contractor in protective gear studies one of the last remaining lots being cleared of hazardous soil in Paradise, Calif., on Nov. 4, 2019. Wildfires have damaged or destroyed at least 198,392 acres in the state. Photo by Staff Sgt. Amanda Johnson of the California National Guard. Courtesy Defense Visual Information Distribution Network.

Response to wildfires deepens with experience

Social Concerns

Bishops Harald Rückert and Rosemarie Wenner of Germany recount the role the Christian faith played in the fall of the Berlin Wall 30 years ago. During the Council of Bishops meeting in Lake Junaluska, N.C., bishops were challenged to remove barriers of various kinds. Photo by Heather Hahn, UM News.

Bishops encouraged to break down barriers

The Wesleyan Covenant Association held its fourth Global Gathering on Nov. 9 at Asbury United Methodist Church in Tulsa, Okla. Leaders described a breakup of The United Methodist Church as inevitable and planned for the creation of a traditionalist Methodist denomination. Photo by Sam Hodges, UM News.

WCA looks toward new, traditionalist church

In his role as a funeral chaplain in Zimbabwe, United Methodist Elison Kamupira uses his faith to comfort the grieving. He serves with a unique combination of compassion and humor. Photo by Kudzai Chingwe, UM News.

Funeral chaplain puts faith to work

Sign up for our newsletter!

umnews-subscriptions

Multimedia

“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

This roundtable discussion of connectional giving in The United Methodist Church is a video resource designed to help local congregations explain the role of giving in the church.

More

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.

Clergy embrace becoming foster parents

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

Commentaries

Christians should defend journalists

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

VIEW MORE

Ask The UMC

Theology and Education

At the time of Jesus, cremation was widely practiced by the Romans, but rarely by Jews and Christians because of their belief that the bodies of believers would one day be physically resurrected. Photo by MaryW, courtesy of Pixabay.

Ask the UMC: How does the church view cremation, organ donation?

Find out the history of cremation from a Christian viewpoint and the church's stance today.

More

Theology and Education

Seawall cross and moon at Belin Memorial United Methodist Church, Murrells Inlet, S.C. Photo by Austin Bond Photography.

Ask The UMC: What is The United Methodist Church's view of Halloween?

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.

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

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?

Categories

Girls from the rural Notazana Village in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa receive a donation of sanitary pads from the United Methodist Youth Fellowship. Photo by Nandipha Mkwalo, UM News.

Donation helps rural girls stay in school

Indictment in scam that snagged church agency

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

View More

The Rev. Patrik Hipp and his wife, Zuzana Hipp (kneeling, second and third from left), pose with a small group of worshippers of the United Methodist mission congregation in Dolný Kubín, Slovakia. Photo courtesy of Rev. Patrik Hipp.

United Methodists building church in Dolný Kubín

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

View More

Social Concerns

United Methodist Bishop Grant J. Hagiya (right) answers questions during a press conference in Lake Junaluska, N.C., after the announcement that the five active bishops from the denomination’s Western Jurisdiction have promised to “protect the full participation” of LGBTQ individuals in the life of the church. He is joined by Bishops Karen P. Oliveto (left) and Elaine J. W. Stanovsky. Photo by Sam Hodges, UM News.

5 bishops pledge LGBTQ ‘safe harbor’

United Methodist Bishop Tracy Smith Malone (left) and Dawn Wiggins Hare celebrate an amendment to the denomination’s constitution that proclaims “men and women are of equal value in the eyes of God.” Ratification of the amendment was announced during the United Methodist Council of Bishops meeting in Lake Junaluska, N.C. Photo by Sam Hodges, UM News.

Church ratifies women's equality amendment

Lusinda Jacqueline, president of United Methodist Women in Bunyakiri, works on bean plants in the fields in Eastern Congo, where women are taking a lead role in fighting hunger through agriculture. Photo by Philippe Kituka Lolonga, UM News.

Women fight hunger with agriculture in Congo

View More

Mission and Ministry

Children ages 3-7 attend the new Magooli Academy for Children in Lugala, Uganda. United Methodist deacon Joseph Zalambi of Grace United Methodist Church-Magooli opened the preschool to help orphaned and vulnerable children. Photo by Vivian Agaba, UM News.

Deacon opens school for vulnerable children in Uganda

Vivian Chigweshe, right, stands in front of her home, which was destroyed by Cyclone Idai in March. She is among the survivors who will have a new house built with support from The United Methodist Church. Standing from left are lay leader Chirobwe Kupeti and the Rev. Jairos Mafondokoto, Masvingo District superintendent. Photo by Chenayi Kumuterera, UM News.

Church continues to aid Cyclone Idai survivors

People affected by the recent earthquake in In Kidapawan City in Mindanao, Philippines, sleep outside in tents on the campus of Southern Philippines Methodist College. Photo by Rhea Jane Donisa.

United Methodists comfort earthquake survivors

View More

The Rev. Yuyuba B. Yoila, Southern Nigeria Conference administrative assistant to Bishop John Wesley Yohanna, speaks about apportionment giving during a special called session of the Nigeria Episcopal Area in Jalingo, Nigeria. Photo by Sharon Adamu Bambuka, UM News.

Nigerian church puts focus on apportionments

Bishop Kenneth H. Carter, president of the Council of Bishops, discusses the strained United Methodist connection in his presidential address at the bishops’ fall 2019 meeting in Lake Junaluska, N.C. He urged adopting a posture of convicted humility. Photo by Heather Hahn, UM News.

Bishops urged to act with convicted humility

Bishop Kenneth H. Carter speaks during an oral hearing before the United Methodist Judicial Council meeting in Evanston, Ill. Carter is president of the denomination's Council of Bishops. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.

Church exit plan already in effect, court says

View More