Education

Children dance in front of the altar rail during vacation Bible school at Connell Memorial United Methodist Church in Goodlettsville, Tenn. The church served as a test site for a new VBS curriculum, “Food Truck Party,” which Cokesbury officially launched on June 30. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.

Congregations eagerly embrace VBS opportunities

Learning from 2020 experiences, many United Methodist churches reopen doors to community while others continue virtual classes for 2021.

Mission and Ministry

Pupils of the UMC Kulanda Town in Bo, in southern Sierra Leone, rush back to class in March 2020, shortly before schools were closed down after the first cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in the country. There are more than 350 United Methodist schools in Sierra Leone, with the majority of them assisted by the government and affected by the free education initiative. File photo by Phileas Jusu, UM News.

Free education policy affects church schools

Sierra Leone’s Free Quality School Education initiative creates challenges for United Methodist schools, including overcrowded classrooms.

Mission and Ministry

Claremont School of Theology students undergo a first orientation meeting on the campus of Willamette University, in Salem, Ore., in 2019. The United Methodist seminary planned to sell its Claremont, Calif., campus and make a complete move to Willamette. But recent litigation setbacks, affecting the price for a sale, have caused the seminary to decide to operate both in Claremont and Salem. Photo courtesy Claremont School of Theology.

Claremont pivots to two-campus strategy

Claremont School of Theology planned to sell its Southern California campus and move to Willamette University in Oregon, but litigation setbacks have forced the United Methodist seminary to try to operate both places.

General Church

Southern Methodist University’s Dallas Hall was its first building and remains a campus centerpiece. A judge recently ruled for SMU and against the South Central Jurisdictional Conference of The United Methodist Church in a lawsuit over whether ultimate control of the Dallas school belongs to its board of trustees or the conference. The conference has filed an appeal. Photo by Sam Hodges, UM News.

Judge rules for SMU over jurisdiction

The South Central Jurisdictional Conference of The United Methodist Church is appealing a lower court loss in suit over who controls the Dallas school.

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