Mission and Ministry

The larger-than-life statue of Bishop Francis Asbury is located near the front of campus at United Methodist-affiliated Drew University in Madison, N.J. File photo by Kathleen Barry, UM News.

Bishop Asbury still shapes church today

Francis Asbury played a key role in developing what is now The United Methodist Church. Fresh discoveries about his life remain reasons to celebrate.

Global Health

Henriette Kibibi, 22, sews uniforms in her workshop near Kindu, Congo. Kibibi, a mother of two, received vocational training at the Mama Lynn Center in Kindu that helps her support her family. Photo by Chadrack Tambwe Londe, UM News.

Center helps rape survivors restart lives

Once-vulnerable women who learned trades at the United Methodist Church of East Congo’s Mama Lynn Center are supporting themselves and becoming indispensable to their families.

Mission and Ministry

Texas Conference Bishop Scott Jones and the Rev. Jill Daniel (standing with Jones) visit with children and supervisors at the new Methodist Children’s Center in Linden, Texas. Jones has made child welfare a conference priority, and Daniel leads the conference’s effort to plant child care centers in underserved areas. Photo by Sam Hodges, UM News.

Conference takes on 'child care deserts'

Texas Conference partners with local churches to start child care centers in underserved areas, with a focus on literacy, health and discipleship.

Mission and Ministry

The ordination of Bishop Francis Asbury performed by Bishop Thomas Coke in Baltimore, Md., at the Christmas Conference, the historic meeting establishing the Methodist Episcopal Church of the United States in 1784. An engraving by A. Gilchrist Campbell from a painting by Thomas Coke Ruckle, 1882. Courtesy of the Drew University Methodist Collection (Madison, New Jersey) via Wikimedia Commons.

Ask The UMC: What influence did Francis Asbury have on the role of bishops?

Francis Asbury set the precedent for the work of Methodist bishops as organizers of ministry, as a source of unity, and in developing consensus.

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