Europe

A man receives help from the Miss Stone Center. Despite the many challenges of 2020, the leaders and workers of the Miss Stone Center in Strumica, a diaconal facility of The United Methodist Church in North Macedonia, were able to care for more than 200 people without interruption. Photo by Christina Cekov, Strumica.

North Macedonia ministry provides hope during pandemic

Though COVID-19 changed the lives of many, leaders of a United Methodist diaconal facility in North Macedonia, have been able to provide care without interruption.

Social Concerns

The Rev. Susanne Nießner-Brose (right) listens while a 27-year-old Sudanese woman who asked that she be called Fatima relates her story of fleeing Sudan to seek religious freedom in Europe. She was taking asylum in 2017 at the United Methodist Church of the Redeemer in Bremen, Germany, where Nießner-Brose is pastor, and was later accepted as a refugee. File photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.

A less welcoming place for refugees

As the migration crisis continues, Europe “is becoming a fortress” where desperate people are being turned away, says a United Methodist pastor in Germany.

Evangelism

Györgyi Vályi followed the call to lead a small church in Budapest, Hungary, called Hope Church. Her ministry as a mission worker leading the church has come amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Portrait taken in front of the Parliament building by the Danube River. Photo courtesy of Györgyi Valyi.

Church leader finds vocational certainty amid COVID-19

Györgyi Vályi found that even as the Covid-19 pandemic limited church to internet and telephone, Hope Church members grew closer together and that gave her new confidence in her own ministry leading the church.

General Church

Many annual conference gatherings scheduled for the first half of 2020 in Central and Southern Europe have been postponed again and some moved online due to the coronavirus pandemic. A decision is pending on the final form of the Hungary Provisional Conference, shown here in 2019. That meeting is now planned for the end of October. 2019 file photo by Urs Schweizer, Central Conference of Central and Southern Europe.

Many European conferences still unable to meet

Many annual conference gatherings in Europe were postponed until autumn due to COVID-19. Unfortunately, most will still be unable to meet in person.

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