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UM News Digest - Sept. 19, 2025
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“Sometimes people will be knocking at our doors wanting to buy the buns. We are so happy and working hard and it’s keeping us busy.” — Priscilla Kuture, on Divine Grace Bakery.
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Rumbidzai Munetsi of Divine Grace Bakery separates freshly baked buns into batches at Hunyani United Methodist Church in Chitungwiza, Zimbabwe. Photo by Eveline Chikwanah, UM News.
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Bakery ministry empowers women in Zimbabwe
CHITUNGWIZA, Zimbabwe (UM News) — Women in Chitungwiza Marondera are rising in their communities through a new baking initiative funded by United Women in Faith. Each day they meet, the women of Divine Grace Bakery make hundreds of sweet buns that they sell in their communities. People line up to buy the buns as soon as they come out of the oven. Eveline Chikwanah has the story. |
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Susquehanna Conference
Bishop urges prayer after police killed
NORTH CODORUS, Pa. — The shooting that killed three police officers and injured two others has left central Pennsylvania shaken, writes Bishop Héctor A. Burgos-Núñez in a pastoral letter. It was the second deadly police-involved incident in the region this year. “Now more than ever, we need one another,” the bishop writes. “And now more than ever, our neighborhoods need the church.”
Read statement
AP: Officers killed in rural Pennsylvania
Ask The UMC
Where to find curriculum resources
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — United Methodists have an array of resources to support the curriculum needs of their congregations. The Rev. Taylor W Burton Edwards shares how to find them in Part 4 of Ask The UMC’s “Whom to Call” series.
Read story
Read more in series
California-Nevada Conference
Filipino American association gathers
CLOVIS, Calif. — Memorial United Methodist Church played host to more than 100 participants in the 18th biennial convocation of the National Association of Filipino American United Methodists. The gathering marked a return to the California-Nevada Conference, where the association formed in 1984 in San Francisco. The Rev. Ben Vinluan has the story.
Read story |
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Florida Conference
Delegates remember Helen Ryde
LAKELAND, Fla. — The Florida Conference delegation to last year’s General Conference is mourning the sudden passing of Helen Ryde, a fellow delegate and longtime advocate for LGBTQ inclusion. Ryde’s impact “on The UMC and the Church at large will be felt globally for generations,” the delegation said.
Read tribute
Baltimore-Washington Conference
Congress of the Deaf meets in Maryland
ELKRIDGE, Md. — Presentations on Deaf liberation theology and an introduction to DeafBlind ministries were heard by the United Methodist Congress of the Deaf during its conference Sept. 12-13 at Magothy Deaf Church. Other highlights were the presentations by members of the Association of Ministers with Disabilities, the Disability Ministries Committee and Love Your Neighbor Coalition. The Rev. Leo Yates has the story.
Read story
Religion News Service
Huston-Tillotson University receives $150M gift
AUSTIN, Texas — Huston-Tillotson University, one of 11 United Methodist-related historically Black colleges and universities, marked its 150th anniversary with an announcement that it received a $150 million gift from a Texas foundation. It is the largest-ever single donation to a private historically Black college or university. Adelle M. Banks reports.
Read story
New 2025 annual conference reports
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UM News) — United Methodist News is posting 2025 annual conference reports. New this week is the West Angola Conference.
Read reports |
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Higher Education Foundation
Foundation names interim leader
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The United Methodist Higher Education Foundation Board of Trustees has named the Rev. Cara Stultz Costello as interim president and chief executive officer, effective immediately. She plans to serve through the end of 2025 as the board completes its search for a permanent president. She also will continue as a district superintendent in the East Ohio Conference.
Read press release
Wespath
Agency hires new chief financial officer
GLENVIEW, Ill. — Wespath Benefits and Investments has announced that Jennifer Seuring will join the agency as chief financial officer, effective Oct. 1. Seuring succeeds Eileen Kane, who is set to retire. Seuring has more than 30 years of experience in strategic business finance. “I’m honored to join Wespath and contribute to an organization whose mission deeply resonates with me,” she said.
Read press release |
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Photo courtesy of the Rev. Andy Oliver
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United Methodists push back in Florida
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (UM News) — United Methodists are among those striving to alert the public that marginalized communities are struggling in Florida. The Revs. Andy Oliver and Roy Terry are organizing protests to try and keep pressure on lawmakers, including leading weekly demonstrations at detention centers in the state that are housing suspected undocumented immigrants. Jim Patterson reports.
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File photo courtesy of the Rev. Andy Oliver
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Pastor emulates Wesley in community outreach
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (UM News) — A heart attack in his early 30s jolted the Rev. Andy Oliver so badly he quit his ministry and worked as a bartender while he “figured things out.” Now back in church ministry at Allendale United Methodist Church, Oliver is committed to community activism and standing with people on the margins. “Those are the spaces I feel called to be,” he said. Jim Patterson has the story.
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Video image by Lilla Marigza, UM News
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Taking worship into the wild
OMAHA, Neb. (UM News) — Wild Worship or Wild Church is a movement in which people gather in natural settings to worship, connect with nature and experience spirituality outside of traditional church buildings. “It brings one to a renewed awareness of the world of nature,” said Mary Spurgeon of First United Methodist of Omaha’s Wild Worship. Lilla Marigza reports on the church’s unique ministry.
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File photo by Heather Hahn, UM News
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Big push planned to fund pastoral education
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UM News) — United Methodist bishops plan a one-time special offering next year to better support pastors’ theological education in Africa, Europe and the Philippines. The board of the denomination’s finance agency gave its approval Sept. 12, clearing the way to boost the endowment fund for educating clergy outside the U.S. in the Wesleyan tradition. Heather Hahn reports.
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