“If you don’t offer a nonviolent way of making changes, then you get Jan. 6.” — The Rev. James Lawson, United Methodist pastor and nonviolence activist.
Lawson Institute advances nonviolence work
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UM News) — The use of nonviolent activism strategies pioneered by the Rev. James Lawson will be bolstered by an institute at Vanderbilt University named in his honor. Lawson, 93, is a United Methodist pastor celebrated as “the architect of the civil rights movement.” Jim Patterson reports.
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Missouri Conference
Pastors find extra pay, blessings as school bus drivers
COLUMBIA, Mo. — Some United Methodist pastors need or just choose to have a second job. Fred Koenig reports on five Missouri Conference pastors who also drive a school bus. It means rising early and sometimes breaking up fights, but the pastors are grateful for the relationships they make and the chance to be an encouraging presence. “It has allowed me to see the joys and struggles of families on my bus route,” said the Rev. Clint Lambeth.
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Greater New Jersey Conference
Pandemic-born ministry leads to nonprofit
DUMONT, N.J. — Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, Calvary United Methodist Church was approached by a food ministry to serve as a distribution point to help families in the area. Every week, pallets of food boxes and milk were distributed from the church parking lot. When that food ministry, The Food Brigade, became a nonprofit organization, the church provided space and found new ways to partner. The Rev. Elaine Wing has the story.
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UM News includes in the Daily Digest various commentaries about issues in the denomination. The opinion pieces reflect a variety of viewpoints and are the opinions of the writers, not the UM News staff.
ESG Investor
Net-zero good, but more is needed
LONDON — To meet the goal of keeping global temperatures below 1.5 Celsius, more must be done beyond achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, said Jake Barnett, director of sustainable investment stewardship for Wespath Benefits and Investments. Barnett wrote an opinion piece on the issue with Patrick Peura of Allianz Investment Management.
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UM News: Report released on church’s net-zero efforts
United Women in Faith
Alarm at possible overturning of Roe v. Wade
NEW YORK — Harriett Jane Olson, the top executive of United Women in Faith, voiced alarm over the possible overturning of Roe v. Wade by the U.S. Supreme Court. “Over the years, The United Methodist Church has crafted a carefully nuanced position on abortion that calls us to respect both the sanctity of unborn human life and the well-being of the mother, while supporting the legal option of abortion by certified medical providers in cases of ‘tragic conflicts of life with life.’ It is for this reason that, as the nation awaits the Supreme Court’s ruling on this issue, we express our concern for the lives of women and girls,” the statement says.
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Read the United Methodist position on abortion
Church World Service
Church World Service receives national award
BALTIMORE — Church World Service, a United Methodist partner that works with refugees, has been named the 2022 National VOAD Member of the Year. National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster, or VOAD, is a coalition of more than 70 national organizations in the U.S. Church World Service has helped thousands of Afghans start new lives in the U.S. and responded to the deadly tornadoes in Kentucky.
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North Georgia Conference
LaGrange inaugurates 26th president
LAGRANGE, Ga. — Susanna Baxter was inaugurated as LaGrange College’s 26th president during a formal installation ceremony, an event delayed by COVID-19. United Methodist-related LaGrange College is Georgia’s oldest private institution of higher learning.
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Lancaster Theological Seminary
Conference book explores multivocational ministry
LANCASTER, Pa. — What does it mean to embrace multivocational ministry? Laity, clergy and ministers in discernment are invited to explore this question together at an online ecumenical conference at 2 p.m. U.S. Eastern time May 14. The Embracing Multivocational Ministry Conference costs $35. The conference coincides with the publication of “Bivocational and Beyond: Educating for a Thriving Multivocational Ministry,” edited by the Rev. Darryl W. Stephens with a foreword by the Rev. Lovett Weems.
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