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The Rev. Joseph M. De Castro, pastor at First United Methodist Church in Dubai, delivers a benediction at the Hamarin Center, a venue in Daira, Dubai, that the congregation rented while places of worship in the country were temporarily closed as a safety precaution during the U.S.-Israel war with Iran. His congregation of mostly migrant workers met by Zoom on Easter Sunday. Photo courtesy of the TFUMC Dubai Media Team.

Middle East United Methodists feel brunt of war

Filipino United Methodists who work and worship along the Arabian Peninsula have been caught in the crossfire of the U.S.-Israel war with Iran.

Editor's Picks

Judicial Council

Retired Bishop Marcus Matthews and other United Methodist bishops process into the opening worship service of the United Methodist General Conference in Charlotte, N.C., on April 23, 2024. The Judicial Council, the denomination’s top court, has released three decisions, including one related to the allocation of U.S. bishops. File photo by Paul Jeffrey, UM News.

Church court overturns bishop funding structure

The United Methodist Church’s top court has ruled unconstitutional some changes General Conference made that affect the funding of U.S. bishops.

Faith Stories

A new book, “Nonviolent: A Memoir of Resistance, Agitation and Love,” documents the Rev. James Lawson Jr.’s prominent role working with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. during the Civil Rights Movement. At top right, Lawson helps lead the March for Peace, Jobs and Freedom in Washington in 1984 with members of Holman United Methodist Church. He was the longtime pastor of Holman, located in Los Angeles. At bottom right, Lawson makes a point during a 2016 interview with United Methodist News. Book cover courtesy of Random House; march by John C. Goodwin, Board of Global Ministries; portrait photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.

The heroic life of the Rev. James Lawson

A new book documents the late United Methodist pastor’s prominent role working with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. during the Civil Rights Movement.

Theology and Education

The Rev. Young Seon Christina Kim, a United Methodist missionary with Global Ministries and founder of Global Mission Secondary School in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, addresses parents and guests at the school’s second graduation ceremony in November. Kim emphasized that the school is a Christian community where mentoring and service shape students’ character, preparing them to become the next generation of leaders in Tanzania. Photo by Asaph Sungura Ally, UM News.

Secondary school transforms lives in Tanzania

Its goal is to develop disciples of Jesus who are academically strong, rooted in faith, socially responsible and ready to serve beyond Tanzania’s borders.

Latest News

Social Concerns

Photo courtesy of Adam Hamilton's exploratory committee.

Hamilton to run for Senate as a Democrat

Faith Stories

Charles H. Webb was much honored in Indiana for his leadership of the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. He found time to play organ for his local United Methodist church and to serve on The United Methodist Church’s Hymnal Revision Committee. Webb died April 13 at age 93. Photo courtesy of Malcolm Webb.

Methodist prodigy became a maestro

General Church

Bishops Tracy S. Malone and Ruben Saenz Jr. preside over a memorial service on April 26 during the bishops’ spring meeting in Jacksonville, Fla. Saenz is the new Council of Bishops president and co-convener of the 2026 Leadership Gathering’s design team. Malone, the council’s immediate past president, said the Oct. 20-24 event is part of the bishops’ commitment “to providing strategic, visionary, inclusive, innovative and missional leadership for the church.” Photo by Paul Gómez, United Methodist Communications.

Survey gives shape to Leadership Gathering

General Conference

Emily Allen, a veteran lay delegate from the California-Nevada Conference, delivers a report during the 2024 United Methodist General Conference in Charlotte, N.C. on May 3, 2024. Allen has been elected to serve as the interim General Conference secretary beginning July 1. She will lead the planning of The United Methodist Church’s international legislative assembly, scheduled May 8-16, 2028, in Minneapolis. Photo by Larry McCormack, UM News.

Bishops elect interim General Conference head

Ecumenism

Retired professor Jin Kwan Kwon (left) and Vanderbilt University professor Joerg Rieger discuss Minjung theology — a liberation theology that emerged in the 1970s in South Korea — during a lecture March 31 at Vanderbilt Divinity School in Nashville, Tenn. The event was hosted by Vanderbilt’s Wendland-Cook Program in Religion and Justice, which was founded by Rieger. Photo by the Rev. Thomas E. Kim, UM News.

Minjung theology offers lessons for today

Bishops

Bishops urged to stop looking backward

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Local Church

Emily Yellin (center), co-author of civil rights leader the Rev. James Lawson Jr.’s memoir, speaks during a book launch Feb. 18 at Woolworth Theatre in Nashville, Tenn. Judge John C. Lawson II, Lawson’s son, is to her right, and to her left is Dennis Dickerson, a historian from Vanderbilt University. Photo by Joe Howell, Vanderbilt University.

Commentaries

Multimedia

Social Concerns

Recipients of sun-powered ovens learn to adapt local recipes to the new cooking method. This photo was taken during a United Methodist Solar Oven Partners workshop for new oven owners in Bo, Sierra Leone, in December 2025. Photo courtesy of Solar Oven Partners.

Solar oven ministry changes lives

United Methodist Solar Oven Partners promotes renewable energy and improves health in vulnerable communities in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Sierra Leone and the Navajo Nation.

Faith Sharing