United Methodist News Service

Top Story

Disaster Relief

Construction work on a building in Hatíllo, Puerto Rico, is part of efforts by UMCOR to rebuild and renew after Hurricane Maria devastated the island in September of 2017. Photo by Michelle Maldonado, United Methodist Communications.

Video: Puerto Rican bishop gives thanks to UMCOR

In the year since Hurricane Maria swept across Puerto Rico, UMCOR has contributed more than $20 million to help “Renew, Rebuild and Reconstruct.”

Editor's Picks

Human Rights

Women listen to a presentation on inheritance at St. Timothy United Methodist Church in Harare, Zimbabwe. The United Methodist Church is helping women protect their inheritance rights through awareness programs and legal advice. Photo by Priscilla Muzerengwa, UMNS.

United Methodists oppose unfair treatment of women for inheritance

The United Methodist Church is working to teach, assist and engage both victims and perpetrators of inheritance conflicts.

Immigration

The Rev. Anna Shammas shares the story of how an invitation to worship led to the formation of the Arabic-Speaking United Methodist Church in Aarau, Switzerland. Photo by Annette Spence, UMNS.

Arabic-speaking Swiss church provides home for migrants

An Arabic-speaking United Methodist church in Switzerland is providing a home for migrants and even some Muslims in Switzerland.

Bishops

Many United Methodists feel anxiety as the denomination heads toward a special General Conference in 2019. Louisiana Area Bishop Cynthia Fierro Harvey, president-designate of the Council of Bishops, offers her thoughts on where we are as a church. Harvey appears in the first installment of “Seeing a Way Forward,” a series of UM News videos discussing the work of the Commission on a Way Forward.

Seeing a Way Forward: Bishop Harvey

As we head toward special General Conference 2019, UM News will highlight bishops’ perspectives on where we are as a denomination, starting with Louisiana Area Bishop Cynthia Fierro Harvey.

Latest

General Conference

The 2019 special session of the General Conference will be held in The Dome, part of the America’s Center Convention Complex in St. Louis. A theologically diverse group of clergy and laity urges General Conference delegates to pass a gracious exit plan for churches. Photo by Dan Donovan, courtesy of the St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission. All rights reserved.

Letter urges GC2019 to prioritize exit plan

The Rev. Abril Goforth (left) and the Rev. Edlen Cowley lead a march of United Methodists from Dallas police headquarters to the apartment complex where a white officer shot and killed a black man in his residence. The group called for justice for 26-year-old victim Botham Jean. Photo by Sam Hodges, UMNS.

United Methodists speak out about Dallas police shooting

Disaster Relief

Sunday School and Bible study rooms of the United Methodist Church building in San Esteban, Iguig, Cagayan, Philippines following Typhoon Mangkhut. Photo courtesy of Mildred Abella

Picking up pieces after Philippines super typhoon

Disaster Relief

A tree fell on the parsonage of the Rev. Thomas M. Greener and his wife shortly after his wife came downstairs for dinner. No one was injured. The Greeners are among the thousands of people whose lives have been upended by Florence’s wreckage in the Carolinas. Photo courtesy of Thomas M. Greener.

Churchgoers pitch in amid Florence's floods

Social Concerns

Shamiso Musapenya, Estery Mahapare Ngorima and Tendai Muganho plant a tree in an effort to combat deforestation in Zimbabwe. Photo by Kudzai Chingwe, UMNS

United Methodist member creates Environmental Buddies Zimbabwe

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Multimedia

The Rev. Alan Ashworth (right) visits with Appalachian Trail thru-hikers at a free hiker feed sponsored by New Hope Union United Methodist Church near Bastian, Va. Volunteers set up a temporary shelter where the trail crosses a gravel parking area and offered hot sandwiches, salads and cold drinks to weary hikers. Photo by Mike DuBose, UMNS. — The Rev. Alan Ashworth (right) visits with Appalachian Trail thru-hikers at a free hiker feed sponsored by New Hope Union United Methodist Church near Bastian, Va. Volunteers set up a temporary shelter where the trail crosses a gravel parking area and offered hot sandwiches, salads and cold drinks to weary hikers.

Small churches, big ministry

The two churches of the Round Mountain Circuit in Virginia have about two dozen members, but they minister to thousands every year.

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Ernest Tokpah recalls the toll Ebola took on his family during 2015 and 2016 in Ganta, Liberia. "Ganta was on fire because of the Ebola," he said. "We stopped eating together, we stopped shaking hands, and people practically stopped talking to each other.” Tokpah, a faculty member at Ganta United Methodist School, is raising four children left orphaned when his sister and her husband died of the disease. Photo by Mike DuBose, UMNS.

Church institutions continue to aid post-Ebola Liberia

Bermondsey Central Hall Methodist Church serves a diverse congregation of about 320 and houses the South London Mission, which has been supporting the community since 1889. The modern London Shard skyscraper rises behind the church. Photo by Mike DuBose, UMNS.

British Methodism: Staying Relevant in Wesley’s Homeland

Edmond Assamoi directs the choir at a recently opened United Methodist church outside Agboville, Côte d'Ivoire. The church is so new that it has not yet been named. Photo by Mike DuBose, UMNS.

Singing the gospel in Côte d’Ivoire

A statue of Saint John of Nepomuk looks out over the Main River in the historic Höchst district of Frankfurt, Germany. Photo by Mike DuBose, UMNS.

German Methodism: A strong Christian voice

Commentaries

Gil Hanke, top staff executive of United Methodist Men. File photo by Mike DuBose, UMNS

Commentary: After General Conference, people will still need the church

The Rev. Lloyd T. Nyarota. Photo by Mike DuBose, UMNS.

Commentary: African delegates need information before forming opinions

Commentary: Ministry of presence, witness in ICE detention center

Martha E. Banks is a delegate to the 2016 and 2019 United Methodist General Conferences. Photo courtesy of the East Ohio Conference of The United Methodist Church.

Commentary: GC delegate says church should be considering hunger, healthcare

Ask The UMC

Mission and Ministry

Young adults pass the collection plate during the contemporary worship at McKendree United Methodist Church in Lawrenceville, Ga. 2016 file photo by Kathleen Barry, UMNS.

Ask The UMC: What does The United Methodist Church teach about tithing?

Tithing is commonly understood as the giving of one-tenth of one’s income for God. This standard of giving comes from several passages in Scripture.

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Theology and Education

Painting of Jesus and his Disciples on the Sea of Galilee dated 1833 by Carl Wilhelm Friedrich Oesterley courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. German art historian, painter and university teacher. Private collection. Wikimedia Commons.

Ask The UMC: What is the difference between an apostle and a disciple?

Theology and Education

The Rev. Jerome R. DeVine (left, rear) makes the sign of the cross on the Rev. Kyland Dobbins during a reaffirmation of baptism at Facing the Future 2018, an event for clergy in cross-racial/cross-cultural appointments, in Newark, N.J. DeVine described the service as “both a remembering of how we are claimed by God's grace in baptism as well as the ongoing gift of grace that heals and strengthens us in the midst of the storms of life and ministry.”

Ask The UMC: Do United Methodists make the sign of the cross?

A view of Kingswood School in England. Neil Phillips Photography, courtesy of Kingswood School.

Ask The UMC: What was the first school started by Methodists?

In his sermon Original Sin, John Wesley said, "By grace ye shall be wholly renewed." Photo by Darby Jones, United Methodist Communications.

Ask The UMC: How did John Wesley understand original sin?

Categories

The Rev. Steve Wood presents information on the general church budget to the fellow board members of the General Council on Finance and Administration. Rick King, the agency’s chief financial officer, is at left. The board is recommending substantially cutting the 2021-24 general-church budget in hopes of keeping more funds in U.S. local churches. Photo by Heather Hahn, UMNS.

Board moves to slash general church funds

Children at St. Paul United Methodist Church in Harare, Zimbabwe, can expect a brighter future thanks to efforts by the church to help them obtain birth certificates. Having a birth certificate helps ensure access to government services such as education. Photo by Priscilla Muzerengwa, UMNS.

Church helps children, adults obtain birth certificates

Bishop Joaquina F. Nhanala of Mozambique is presented with a carving to commemorate her decade as the first and only female United Methodist bishop in Africa during a celebration at Africa University in Mutare, Zimbabwe. Photo by Eveline Chikwanah, UMNS.

Nhanala: ‘Africa is ready’ for second female bishop

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Bishop Nhiwatiwa earns many nicknames

Bishop Mande Muyombo and delegates work in small groups during a tribalism workshop in Kindu, Congo. Photo by Judith Osongo Yanga, UMNS.

Congo United Methodists seek to eradicate tribalism

Members of MARCHA, meeting in Charlotte, N.C., pray together following a panel discussion on proposals to end The United Methodist Church’s division over homosexuality. From left are: the Rev. Ana Awilda Nolla, Bishop Cynthia Fierro Harvey, Rosie Rios and the Revs. Rosario Quiñones and Rosanna Panizo. Photo by Gustavo Vasquez, UMNS.

Hispanic/Latino caucus supports One Church Plan

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Social Concerns

The Rev. Maxie Dunnam speaks in 2014 in Atlanta. Dunnam, on behalf of the Renewal and Reform Coalition, submitted some modifications to the Traditional Plan. He and other advocates for current church policies on homosexuality are promoting the modified Traditional Plan. Photo by Steve Beard/Good News Magazine.

Groups push for modified Traditional Plan

View of healthy soy beans growing at Madisi Farm in Malawai. Photo by Joseph Kaipa for UMNS.

In Malawi, community permaculture farming transforms lives

U.S. Border Patrol agents run down a dirt road amid swirling dust stirred up by a helicopter during a search for people who had crossed into the United States illegally and were hiding in heavily wooded areas and sugar cane fields near McAllen, Texas. Photo by Mike DuBose, UMNS.

Paths collide for immigrants, border agents

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Mission and Ministry

Glenview United Methodist Church in Harare, Zimbabwe is currently closed due to a cholera epidemic. Photo courtesy of Priscilla Muzerengwa.

Cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe closes church doors

Computers donated through a ministry of Memorial United Methodist Church in Clovis, Calif., are stacked in an office at United Methodist University of Liberia in Monrovia. Photo by E Julu Swen, UMNS.

California church lives its mission through generosity

Public health official Adolfo “Trio” Paras III leads a class on AIDS prevention at Wesley Third Millennium United Methodist Church in Cabanatuan City, Philippines, in July 2018. The 2018 Breaking Barriers HIV/AIDS ministry conference, Oct. 25-27 in Indianapolis, is designed to help United Methodists save lives, reduce stigma and increase awareness about HIV/AIDS. File photo by Gladys Mangiduyos, UMNS.

Churches can help erase stigma of HIV/AIDS

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United Methodists hold up signs about justice after discussions in Luanda, Angola, about proposed revisions to the Social Principles of The United Methodist Church. Photo by Orlando da Cruz, UMNS.

Angolan United Methodists weigh in on Social Principles

Photo of retired Bishop Michael J. Coyner, courtesy of the Indiana Conference of The United Methodist Church website.

Commentary: Preparing for nothing (or anything) from General Conference

Bishop Kenneth H. Carter answers questions during a press conference about the United Methodist Church's Way Forward plan to address how the denomination ministers with LGBTQ individuals at the conclusion of the church's Council of Bishops meeting in Chicago in May 2018. File photo by Mike DuBose, UMNS.

Arguments mount on Way Forward plans

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