Key points:
- United Methodist staff in several annual conferences have job titles that call for them to promote “multicultural ministries,” “racial equity” or “belonging.”
- The United Methodist Book of Discipline mandates non-discrimination and that all people can participate in church life regardless of race, color and other factors.
- The Council of Bishops also has stood against the dismantling of DEI policies by the Trump administration.
The Rev. Brittany Radford not only believes that United Methodists should work for diversity, equity and inclusion in their churches and communities; it’s her job to stand up for what’s known colloquially as DEI.
Radford is one of several annual conference staff members within the denomination whose job titles call for them to promote “multicultural ministries,” “racial equity” or “belonging” to clergy and lay members in their areas. They’re doing this work at a time when DEI values have taken a beating under the Trump administration.
“In a world where DEI is being very much attacked by the current administration, we thought it was necessary to work towards inclusion and justice in our annual conference,” says the Rev. Noe Gabe Lopez, director of social impact and belonging in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference and the Greater New Jersey Conference.
In Radford’s case, she is director of racial equity and justice for the Minnesota Conference. Her office is in downtown Minneapolis, where thousands of federal immigration agents have targeted people of color since early December, leading to deportations, violence, protests and the killing of two protesters. In February, federal officials began withdrawing agents from Minnesota, announcing that the surge of enforcement was over. But some agents remain in the state, and volunteers report they are still busy helping people released from detention in freezing weather without their phones or coats.
“Because of what’s happening right now, a lot of efforts are focused on supporting immigrants, but there are a lot of African Americans who are native in this country also at risk at being harmed,” Radford said. “We’ve seen this before with the murders of George Floyd, Daunte Wright, Philando Castile. So how do we practice our values as United Methodists in ways that shift systems?”
Radford started her job on Feb. 1, 2025, less than two weeks after President Trump’s inauguration and subsequent executive orders tightening immigration and banning DEI programs in the federal government. On her first day, Radford participated in a program on race and faith at a local museum. A month later, she taught Hispanic pastors and laity to “know your rights” under the U.S. Constitution, as immigrant enforcement operations began to ramp up in Minnesota.
Lately, Radford’s work has involved locating Spanish-speaking mental-health therapists for Minnesota pastors. She routinely checks on clergy through Zoom meetings, text messages and phone calls.
“I went visiting one of our clergy who hasn’t left her house in two weeks,” Radford said. “I took dinner to her and her husband because ICE was in their neighborhood, and I wanted to remind her that their lives are sacred and that this is not a burden she has to carry alone.”
The Rev. Noe Gabe Lopez started his current appointment, a newly created position, last July.
“I come from a family of immigrants. My parents are Guatemalan,” Lopez said. “So this work is something I deeply care about.”
Lopez carries out his ministry by participating in a prayer vigil at a federal immigration field office every Monday morning in Philadelphia. He organizes “dismantling racism” workshops twice a year, which are mandatory for clergy in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference. He recently chartered buses so church members could join a Feb. 25 United Methodist-led march to the U.S. Capitol for immigrant justice.
Lopez’s office is in Philadelphia, where the National Park Service recently removed an exhibit on enslavement in the U.S., following the Trump administration’s directive to eliminate narratives portraying American history negatively. Lopez worked with Black pastors in his city to organize a response, to say “no, we’re not going to let this happen because history matters to us.” A federal judge later ruled that the removal was illegal and the exhibit had to be restored.
In Iowa and Virginia, United Methodists also have leaders appointed to new positions that were created within the last year. The Rev. Betty Kiboko is director of multicultural and anti-racism ministries in the Iowa Conference. The Rev. Lan Davis Wilson is director of belonging and advocacy in the Virginia Conference.
Wilson started his current appointment last July. “The two biggest parts of my job are educating around cultural competency, and all of the work that comes with that, and mobilizing people in the area of justice,” he said. “We do a lot of good mercy work, and that’s necessary, but often we fall short when it comes to justice. Mercy feeds the hungry people. Justice asks why are people hungry and seeks to do something about it.”
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Both Wilson and Kiboko said that responding to anxiety around U.S. immigration enforcement has become an urgent part of their work in recent months, especially as U.S. citizens have been detained along with immigrants.
“Now we are just in the protection mode. We have to protect our pastors and make sure that we have the buddy system. … I told them to check on each other, and I check on them,” said Kiboko, who was appointed to her position last year.
The Iowa Conference has five cross-cultural, cross-racial clergy appointments, including Black, Filipino, Korean, Hispanic-Latino and Native American representation. Born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kiboko says she is careful to wear her church-work nametag when she goes to new places.
“Some communities are not immigrant friendly, so we just have to have that in mind,” Kiboko said.
In Ohio, Will Fenton-Jones has served as director of multicultural ministries in the East Ohio Conference for the past eight years. In January 2025, he also began serving the West Ohio Conference in this role.
His work lately has involved promoting LGBTQ inclusion and helping churches know how to respond to possible visits from immigration enforcement, he said. He largely focuses on building ecumenical and interfaith relationships.
“My hypothesis is we’re not going to grow and we’re not going to stop the general trend of Protestant decline until we can figure out how to respond to our community’s needs. And we can’t respond to our community’s needs unless we focus on relationships with other people and other denominations,” Fenton-Jones said.
While The United Methodist Church has spent much energy talking about disaffiliation and unity in recent years, “that was energy that could have been spent on building relationships with immigrant communities,” he said.
Critics argue that promoting diversity, equity and inclusion discriminates against majority groups and creates workplace division. Yet DEI values are embedded in the United Methodist Book of Discipline, which mandates non-discrimination and ensures that all people can participate in church life regardless of race, gender, ability, color, national origin or economic status.
The Council of Bishops also has stood against the dismantling of DEI policies by the Trump administration. A May 2025 letter signed by Council of Bishops President Tracy S. Malone, on behalf of the bishops, calls on United Methodists “to support these principles in every country and context.”
“It’s a blessing that our denomination is outspoken about racism,” said Amania Drane, a program manager in the Northern Illinois Conference who works to provide programmatic and systemic changes supporting anti-racism. “Racism is incompatible with Christian teaching, and we as disciples of Jesus Christ, based on our discernment of what the word of God says to us, not only need to have book discussions, we need to act.”
The current political climate might be challenging to United Methodist leaders who speak up for DEI, but the Rev. Lisa Talbott sees this time as a great opportunity. Last summer, Talbott was appointed as assistant to the bishop for equity and intercultural competency for the Greater Northwest Area. Serving under Bishop Cedrick D. Bridgeforth, Talbott is based in Alaska.
“I do feel like this is the perfect moment for the church to be the church,” Talbott said. “There has been so much fear that has been driving educational institutions, nonprofits, even corporations to drop any kind of DEI efforts out of fear of loss of funding or some sort of reprisal. … But we are not driven by fear. We are driven by love for our neighbor. And policies don’t change who our neighbors are.”
Spence is a freelance writer based in the Holston Conference.
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