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The skyline of Minneapolis, which is scheduled to host the 2028 General Conference. The Commission on the General Conference, meeting online April 17-18, voted to shorten General Conference to May 8-16, 2028. The group is also taking steps to protect delegates amid heightened immigration enforcement. Photo by Lane Pelovsky, courtesy of Meet Minneapolis.

Planners shorten GC2028, discuss Minneapolis

Organizers are pressing forward with holding the 2028 United Methodist General Conference over eight days in Minneapolis. The group is also taking steps to protect delegates amid heightened immigration enforcement.

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Violence

The Rev. Bob Anders (at left) leads a time of prayer on April 3, Good Friday at Cedaredge Community United Methodist Church in Cedaredge, Colo. The church displayed on its steps a memorial showing pairs of shoes to represent the 168 children and teachers killed Feb. 28 in the bombing of the girls’ school in Minab, Iran. Photos of the memorial went viral on social media. Amid the tenuous ceasefire, United Methodists continue to speak out against the war and especially threats of genocide. Photo courtesy of Anders, Cedaredge Community United Methodist Church.

United Methodists confront Iran war’s impact

With the ceasefire on shaky ground and no deal in sight, United Methodists are praying for peace as they’ve done since the beginning of the U.S.-Israel war against Iran. They also are speaking out against disregard for human life.

Theology and Education

Students attend a class at the Cambine Theological Seminary, part of the United Methodist Cambine Mission near Macarringue, Mozambique. Through the Miracle Sunday offering on May 17, United Methodists have the chance to help support scholarships for students at Cambine and other United Methodist-related theological schools in Africa, Europe and the Philippines. File photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.

What churches should know about Miracle Sunday

Miracle Sunday is a one-time offering on May 17 to raise funds intended to help United Methodist pastors in Africa, the Philippines and Europe get a theological education.

Evangelism

Evangelism efforts flourish in southern Madagascar

Thanks to a $12,000 grant from the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, a United Methodist church team conducted open-air campaigns and house-to-house outreach in four communities, distributed Bibles and built a shelter for worship.

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Bishops

United Methodist leaders pray during a Feb. 27-28 summit in Nashville, Tenn., focused on the future of episcopal leadership. This week, the denomination’s Judicial Council will take up questions related to the allocation of U.S. bishops going forward. Photo by Andrew Jensen, General Council on Finance and Administration.

Church leaders chart new future for bishops

General Agencies

Christ is depicted in a stained-glass window at the Upper Room Chapel in Nashville, Tenn. Discipleship Ministries, which includes The Upper Room, is working to unite into one organization with the United Methodist boards of Global Ministries, Higher Education and Ministry, and United Methodist Communications. The agencies are working together to send legislation to form such a union to General Conference. Photo by Kathleen Barry, UM News.

4 church agencies propose unifying into one

Ruvarashe Chinya, a student at The United Methodist Church’s Murewa High School in Murewa, Zimbabwe, is assisted on an edge-stitching machine by teacher-in-charge Memory Maibheka. The school has launched a uniform factory to help students build skills and to provide financial stability for the school. Photo by Kudzai Chingwe, UM News.

Church high school launches uniform factory

Social Concerns

United Methodists hand over goods to inmates at Harare’s Chikurubi Female Prison. The church, with support from the Isaiah 58 prayer group in Australia, provided gift baskets to expectant mothers and other basic supplies to enhance their welfare. Photo by Eveline Chikwanah, UM News.

Behind prison walls, expectant mothers encounter grace

Faith Stories

Raquel Martínez, editor of “Mil Voces Para Celebrar,” the Spanish United Methodist hymnal, is being remembered for her musical contributions and leadership in The United Methodist Church. She died April 12 at the age of 86. She is pictured at right at the launch of the hymnal in 1996, and at left, at the celebration of its 25th anniversary in 2021. Photos courtesy of the Martínez family; photo composition by the Rev. Gustavo Vásquez, UM News.

Remembering Raquel Martínez, editor of Spanish hymnal

Violence

(From left) Bishop Werner Philipp, local preacher István Pásztor from Hungary, Bishop Stefan Zürcher and Bishop Knut Refsdal stand under a Ukrainian flag at Nevytske Castle, north of Uzhhorod, during their visit to Ukraine on March 26-30. The bishops’ trip was intended as a sign of solidarity and a reminder to people in Ukraine that they have not been forgotten. Photo courtesy of EmK-Öffentlichkeitsarbeit Germany, UM News.

United Methodist bishops encounter hope in Ukraine

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Local Church

Members of Black River Falls United Methodist and community guests enjoy “Dinner Church” on March 18 at the rural Wisconsin church. The weekly ministry, which is celebrating its second anniversary, has become a place where strangers become friends and a small congregation reimagines its mission. Photo by the Rev. Thomas E. Kim, UM News.

Commentaries

Multimedia

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

United Methodist Solar Oven Partners promotes renewable energy and improves health in vulnerable communities in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Sierra Leone and the Navajo Nation.

Faith Sharing