Church History

Church Leadership
Holding hands during a service of appreciation for African Americans who stayed in the church despite institutional racism at The United Methodist Church's 2004 General Conference in Pittsburgh are, from left: Anne Marshall of the church's Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns; Juanita Bryant of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church; Jerry Ruth Williams; the Rev. Larry Pickens; and Bishops Violet L. Fisher and Charlene P. Kammerer. File photo by Mike DuBose.

Giving Methodist women their due

A new book brings Southern Methodist women and their social justice work to the forefront.
Church Leadership
Mary McLeod Bethune with some of her pupils in 1905. Bethune, the daughter of former slaves, was a pioneering American educator and civil rights leader. She founded what became the historically Black United Methodist college named in her honor, Bethune-Cookman College (now Bethune-Cookman University). Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress World Digital Library Collection.

9 women to know

“Southern Methodist Women and Social Justice: Interracial Activism in the Long Twentieth Century” features the stories of nine important Methodist women.
Theology and Education
Centered on the moment John Wesley “submitted to be more vile" in spreading the love of God to all people, Ashley Boggan argues in her new book that Wesleyan “vile-tality” is at the core of who we are as Methodists. Cover art courtesy of Abingdon Press.

Being ‘vile’ is a good thing, historian says

A return to roots for The United Methodists Church means being a countercultural movement again, says the top executive of the United Methodist Commission on Archives and History.
Mission and Ministry
Bishop Hee-Soo Jung (second from left) and leaders from the Ohio Episcopal Area visit Yanghwajin Foreign Missionary Cemetery on April 23 in Seoul, South Korea, for the unveiling ceremony of a memorial stone honoring missionaries William Scranton, and his mother, Mary Scranton, who are buried in the cemetery. Photo by the Rev. Thomas E. Kim, UM News.

Ohio leaders mark 140 years of Korean mission

On a pilgrimage to South Korea, United Methodist leaders draw inspiration and insight from the lives of early missionaries Mary Scranton and William Scranton.

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