50 years of turning faith into action

For 50 years, United Methodist Volunteers in Mission has sent ordinary people into extraordinary situations — building schools and churches, providing medical care, strengthening communities and helping families rebuild after disasters.

What began as a grassroots movement in 1976 has helped send more than half a million volunteers into mission, connecting them with partners locally, nationally and around the world. UM News reporter Lilla Marigza looks back on a half-century of service.

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Learn more about opportunities for individuals to serve internationally through UMVIM or the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries. Current mission team openings include Cameroon, Guatemala, Liberia, Mexico, Peru and Senegal.

UMVIM is actively developing the next generation of mission leaders by providing training and travel incentives for people under 35 through an initiative called Train 100.

Retirees can join NOMADS Mission Volunteers, who travel in RVs for projects across the United States.

Marigza is a multimedia producer for UM News. Contact her at (615) 742-5470 or [email protected]. To read more United Methodist news, subscribe to the free UM News Digest.

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Disaster Relief
Moïse Mwango Numbalanga (center in white shirt), coordinator for the United Methodist Committee on Relief’s Disaster Management Office in the Bukavu District, walks through the field of ruins in the Irambo neighborhood in Bukavu, Congo, to speak with United Methodist disaster survivors. More than 70 households from Ibanda United Methodist Church lost everything in the overnight fire. Photo courtesy of the Disaster Management Office of the East Congo Episcopal Area.

United Methodists lose homes in Congo fire

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Graphic by Ben Ward, photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.

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Graphic by Ben Ward, photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.

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