UM News Digest - June 3 2026

UM News Digest - June 3, 2026

Racial and revolutionary past | Living into regionalization | Varied perspectives on Supreme Court decision

“We gather here not merely to revisit the painful history, but to better understand the present and to help us shape a more just future.” — Rupert Hall, vice chairperson of the Greater New Jersey Conference’s Archives and History Commission.

Mark Sirak (left), a resource interpretative specialist and historian, recounts to members of the Northeastern Jurisdiction Commission on Archives and History the 1776 landing of Gen. George Washington’s troops at what is now Washington Crossing State Park in Titusville, N.J. Photo by John W. Coleman, UM News.

Church historians explore racial and revolutionary past
PENNINGTON, N.J. (UM News) — As the U.S. prepares to celebrate 250 years of independence, a jurisdictional gathering explored American and Methodist history, past racial oppression and present social challenges. The meeting also featured a tour of Revolutionary War sites, including one of the state’s oldest Methodist churches, which was used to care for wounded soldiers. John W. Coleman reports.

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Bishop João Filimone Sambo prays during the Southern Africa Regional Conference’s strategic retreat held April 9-11 in Maputo, Mozambique. Sambo was the host bishop for the gathering. Delegates at the retreat crafted a roadmap for contextualized mission and ministry in Southern Africa. Photo by Roque Facela, UM News.

Bishop João Filimone Sambo prays during the Southern Africa Regional Conference’s strategic retreat held April 9-11 in Maputo, Mozambique. Photo by Roque Facela, UM News.

Southern Africans live into regionalizaion
MAPUTO, Mozambique (UM News) — Leaders from the Southern Africa Regional Conference gathered for a pioneering retreat to define the church’s direction and growth for the next five years in a region that spans nine countries. Church leaders say the conference work could offer a model that can be replicated in other regions of the connection as United Methodists live into regionalization. Benedita Penicela Nhambiu reports.
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Holston Conference
Pastor attends 70th annual conference
LAKE JUNALUSKA, N.C. — A lot has changed at annual conference over the years. The Rev. Bob Hayes should know. On June 1, the 91-year-old retired pastor from Maryville, Tennessee, registered to attend his 70th annual conference. The Holston Conference member says he has a lot of hope for The United Methodist Church. Annette Spence has the story.
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Religion News Service
Joy in the midst of pain
DURHAM, N.C. — Kate Bowler, a professor at United Methodist-related Duke Divinity School, found experiences of joy while undergoing treatment for cancer. Her new book contemplates the possibilities of experiencing joy — which she differentiates from happiness — in the midst of hardship. Yonat Shimron reports.
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Pacific Northwest Conference
Surpassing $1 million in disaster recovery help
DES MOINES, Wash. — The Pacific Northwest Conference is now administering more than $1 million in disaster recovery funding across Washington state, supporting survivors of both the December 2025 floods and the 2023 Spokane wildfires. The latest milestone is a $675,000 Recovery Grant from the United Methodist Committee on Relief. Patrick Scriven reports.
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Global Ministries
Feeding Our Neighbors renewed
ATLANTA — A grant project started last year to help get food to people who need it will be launched again in 2026 with a revised structure. The Feeding Our Neighbors program will award up to 10 grants, each for $20,000, to annual conferences across the denomination’s five U.S. jurisdictions. Launched in November, Feeding Our Neighbors awarded 150 grants to United Methodist-affiliated food pantries and ministries. The revised structure is intended to streamline administration while ensuring broader geographic distribution of resources. Grant funds must be used for established, United Methodist-affiliated food pantries in churches.
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UM News includes in the Digest various commentaries about issues in the denomination. The opinion pieces reflect a variety of viewpoints and are the opinions of the writers, not UM News staff.

Cliff White.
Photo courtesy of the author.

Another way to look at high court’s voting decision
LEESBURG, Va. (UM News) — Cliff White, an attorney and longtime United Methodist, pushes back on United Methodist statements calling for political action over the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on the Voting Rights Act. He writes that while there is room for debate over the court’s interpretation and public policy going forward, “it is perplexing why United Methodist Church leaders should preach to congregations that the Bible compels political action over this judicial decision.”
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The Rev. Keri Cress. Photo courtesy of the Tennessee-Western Kentucky Conference.

Love of neighbor drives advocacy in political spaces
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UM News) — The Rev. Keri Cress doesn’t consider herself a political person but says her faith moves her to act. After the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Voting Rights Act, the Tennessee General Assembly called a special session to redistrict the state. Cress, connectional liaison for the Tennessee-Western Kentucky Conference, writes that state laws being enacted affect our neighbors, which makes Christian witness in the public space vital.
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Is this the civil rights moment of our day?
WASHINGTON — The Methodist Church was intimately involved in the passage of the Civil Rights Bill of 1964 and the Voting Rights Bill of 1965, writes the Rev. Lovett H. Weems Jr. That support came even before the elimination of the segregated Central Jurisdiction with the 1968 formation of The United Methodist Church. Weems offers historical context for the recent debates over redistricting.
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