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General Agencies

Stacey Abrams speaks to the legacy banquet during the United Women in Faith Assembly 2026 in Indianapolis on May 16. Photo by Paul Jeffrey, United Women in Faith.

Church women urged to resist authoritarianism

United Methodists Stacey Abrams and her mother, the Rev. Carolyn Abrams, challenged United Women in Faith to disrupt rollbacks to voting rights. Elizabeth Eckford, one of the Little Rock Nine, also shared her story of bravery in the face of brutality.

Editor's Picks

Faith Stories

Bishop Tracy S. Malone (far right) celebrates her oldest daughter’s wedding in 2023. From left are bride Alexis Malone Woolery and her sister, Ashley Malone Brown. Bishop Malone’s daughters say they have something special planned this year on Mother’s Day, since the day coincides with Woolery’s graduation and Woolery is the mother of a 1-year-old son. Photo by Sekoprince Studios.

Bishops’ children shed light on life with their moms

The daughters of four United Methodist episcopal leaders share what life is like when their mothers are the leaders of hundreds of churches.

Local Church

Five-year-old Crystal Buta participates in a Zumba class at Chisipiti United Methodist Church in Harare, Zimbabwe. The women’s organization at Chisipiti launched the all-ages dance classes to foster community and combat rising stress and anxiety. Photo by Kudzai Chingwe, UM News.

Drawing closer to God through dance

United Methodist church in Zimbabwe hosts Zumba classes to help community members shake off stress and connect physically and spiritually.

Theology and Education

Africa University board members and staff celebrate during a dinner to mark the end of the March meetings at the United Methodist-related university in Mutare, Zimbabwe. The university introduced new board members and welcomed them to the institution during the event. Photo courtesy of Africa University Advancement and Public Affairs Office.

Africa University gets first AME member on development board

Monifa McKnight hopes to provide a bridge between United Methodists and the African Methodist Episcopal Church for the 34-year-old Pan-African institution.

Latest News

Mission and Ministry

Students at The United Methodist Church’s Hanwa Mission Secondary School in Hanwa, Zimbabwe, gather around a guava tree they planted at the school. The tree-planting initiative, funded by the United Methodist Board of Church and Society, promotes creation care and practical learning. Photo by Kudzai Chingwe, UM News.

Planting hope: Mission school journeys toward climate justice

Bishop Mande Muyombo (right) helps a woman settle into her new adapted bicycle in Kamina, Congo. At left are lay leader Kiluba Yolola Elie and Pastor Joseph Kasongo Mukolomone. The United Methodist Church distributed 97 bicycles to people living with disabilities in the North Katanga Conference. The initiative is funded by United Methodist partners in the North Georgia Conference. Photo by Yamba Kisonga Barthélémy, UM News.

Adapted bicycles break barriers, enrich lives in Congo

Social Concerns

Gubernatorial candidate Olu Brown (left) mingles during a campaign event. The retired United Methodist pastor is running in the May 19 Democratic primary election in Georgia. Photo courtesy of the Olu Brown campaign.

Retired pastor running for Georgia governor

A 1961 map shows the location of churches and the borders of episcopal areas within the Central Jurisdiction, which the Methodist Church established to segregate Black members from the wider church. The union that formed The United Methodist Church in 1968 dissolved the Central Jurisdiction. During the Council of Bishops spring meeting in Jacksonville, Fla., bishops explored the legacy of the Central Jurisdiction as denominational leaders consider changes to the geographic jurisdictional system. Image courtesy of Archives and History.

Lessons from past shape jurisdictions’ future

Worship

The Rev. Cynthia Wilson (center, front) sings with choir members during a performance of “Gospel Mass” at the Shifting the Atmosphere conference May 2 at Hamilton Park United Methodist Church in Dallas. The Junius B. Dotson Institute for Worship and Music in the Black Church and Beyond, which is led by Wilson, partnered with The United Methodist Church’s Strengthening the Black Church for the 21st Century for this year’s event. Photo by John W. Coleman, UM News.

Black church leaders learn worship wisdom at institute

Mission and Ministry

The Rev. Laurie Bayen (left) reads the Sermon on the Mount from an Indigenous version of the New Testament while standing alongside the Laguna de Santa Rosa, a 22-mile-long wetland in Sebastopol, Calif., that was once inhabited by the Southern Pomo and Coast Miwok people, during a field trip for the Sacred Ground program. Sacred Ground is a mobile outdoor walking/spirituality app developed by Bayen, a United Methodist pastor. It combines creation care and Indigenous history with calls to action. Pictured with Bayen, from left, are Cheryl LaSalle, Charlotte Fisher, Carol Wegner and Pat Schoch.

Connecting with creation on Sacred Ground

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Madang marks 10th anniversary with renewed vision

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Retired professor Jin Kwan Kwon (left) and Vanderbilt University professor Joerg Rieger discuss Minjung theology — a liberation theology that emerged in the 1970s in South Korea — during a lecture March 31 at Vanderbilt Divinity School in Nashville, Tenn. The event was hosted by Vanderbilt’s Wendland-Cook Program in Religion and Justice, which was founded by Rieger. Photo by the Rev. Thomas E. Kim, UM News.

Minjung theology offers lessons for today

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Social Concerns

An illustration shows Wesley Chapel, built in 1768 and located in downtown Manhattan. The chapel was the first meeting house of John Street United Methodist Church, the New York City church that grew out of the first Methodist Society in North America and still worships near Wall Street today. The church played a role in balancing civic responsibility in the early days of the U.S. republic and faithfulness to God. Photo courtesy of John Street United Methodist Church.

As US 250th nears, bishops discuss democracy

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Mission and Ministry

Bishop João Sambo of Mozambique (right) and Bishop Emmanuel Sinzohagera of Burundi (center) distribute cans of vegetable oil at the Musenyi camp in Burundi. The bishops were among a United Methodist delegation who visited the camp in March to offer physical and spiritual support to refugees fleeing conflict in eastern Congo. Global Missionary Abro Patrick stands to the left. Photo courtesy of the communications department of the Burundi-Rwanda Episcopal Area.

Church supports Congolese refugees in Burundi

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Bishops Tracy S. Malone and Ruben Saenz Jr. preside over a memorial service on April 26 during the bishops’ spring meeting in Jacksonville, Fla. Saenz is the new Council of Bishops president and co-convener of the 2026 Leadership Gathering’s design team. Malone, the council’s immediate past president, said the Oct. 20-24 event is part of the bishops’ commitment “to providing strategic, visionary, inclusive, innovative and missional leadership for the church.” Photo by Paul Gómez, United Methodist Communications.

Survey gives shape to Leadership Gathering

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Commentaries

The Rev. Christopher P. Momany. Photo by Kristen Schell.

For every righteous ‘no,’ there must be a holy ‘yes’

Grace doesn’t grab: Why consent belongs in worship

What comes next after ‘Faithful Resistance’ march?

Winter guard meets Wesleyan warmth

The Rev. Dr. Javier A. Viera. Photo by Brian McConkey Photography, courtesy of the Rev. Dr. Viera.

Church must do messy work of restoring community

A clean page for a critical time

Celebrate Black History Month by listening to historic voices

The Rev. Christopher P. Momany. Photo by Kristen Schell.

In troubling times, look to ‘higher law’

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Multimedia

Mission and Ministry

Holly Petti and her dog Paisley chat with people entering the Sanctuary at Pinnacle View United Methodist Church in Little Rock, Ark. The church has a designated dog greeter every Sunday in addition to numerous pet outreach ministries the congregation offers. Image from video by Lilla Marigza, UM News.

Dog church welcomes people and pets

A United Methodist church in Little Rock celebrates Earth Day by recognizing God’s care for his people and the pets they love.

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Social Concerns

Recipients of sun-powered ovens learn to adapt local recipes to the new cooking method. This photo was taken during a United Methodist Solar Oven Partners workshop for new oven owners in Bo, Sierra Leone, in December 2025. Photo courtesy of Solar Oven Partners.

Solar oven ministry changes lives

Photo by Austin Bond; graphic by Laurens Glass, UM News

Social media graphics from UM News

Social Concerns

Christians from many faith denominations join a Palm Sunday march through the streets of downtown Nashville, Tennessee, on March 29, 2026. The rally was one of about 30 events across 16 states. Image from video by Lilla Marigza, UM News.

United Methodists put faith into action on Palm Sunday

Social Concerns

Filipino United Methodists in the Davao Episcopal Area participated in a four-day United Methodist Board of Global Ministries EarthKeepers training on climate change and environmental conservation. Image from video by Touch Barrientos, Kyla Ragasa, DEA Communications, and Matthan Bang-Asan.

EarthKeepers promote creation care in the Philippines