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General Conference
The Rev. Aleze M. Fulbright (center) celebrates the growth of The United Methodist Church in Africa as the Commission on the General Conference meets in Minneapolis on Nov. 11. Indiana Conference Bishop Tracy S. Malone announced Jan. 16 that Fulbright is leaving her role as General Conference secretary to become executive secretary to the bishop, starting in July. Photo by Heather Hahn, UM News.
The Rev. Aleze M. Fulbright (center) celebrates the growth of The United Methodist Church in Africa as the Commission on the General Conference meets in Minneapolis on Nov. 11. Indiana Conference Bishop Tracy S. Malone announced Jan. 16 that Fulbright is leaving her role as General Conference secretary to become executive secretary to the bishop, starting in July. Photo by Heather Hahn, UM News.

General Conference secretary steps away
The Rev. Aleze Fulbright said she feels called back to the local ministry context and plans on June 30 to conclude her role overseeing the organization of The United Methodist Church’s top lawmaking assembly.

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Bishops
Retired Bishop José Gamboa Jr. served as the first resident bishop of the Davao Episcopal Area in the southern Philippines. He died Dec. 22 at age 97. Photo courtesy of Union Theological Seminary Philippines.

Bishop Gamboa remembered as humble shepherd
e educator and trailblazing United Methodist leader pioneered mission in the Philippines’ Davao Episcopal Area. Gamboa died Dec. 22 at age 97.
Bishops
Bishop Thomas J. Bickerton gives the sermon during opening worship for the 2024 United Methodist General Conference in Charlotte, N.C. Bickerton, who was Council of Bishops president from 2022 to 2024, is among four bishops working with a task force that is examining the workload and number of U.S. bishops with plans to make recommendations that ultimately go before the 2028 General Conference. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.

Group zeroes in on number, work of US bishops
A United Methodist task force is dealing with the biggest change to setting the number of U.S. bishops in nearly 90 years. The group is focusing on missional needs while also facing the aftermath of church exits.
United Methodist Men
(From left) Steven Scheid, director of the Center for Scouting Ministries for United Methodist Men, receives communion from Bishop L. Jonathan Holston, who leads the North Alabama and Alabama-West Florida conferences, and Bishop Nelson Kalombo Ngoy of the Tanganyika Episcopal Area. The communion service was part of a meeting held Dec. 9-11 by the Commission on United Methodist Men at Africa University in Mutare, Zimbabwe. About 30 men gathered to discuss how to grow men’s ministry on the continent. Photo by Eveline Chikwanah, UM News.

Equipping men in Africa to make disciples
United Methodist Men gathered African church leaders for a historic meeting to share ideas and collaborate on a vision for men’s ministry on the continent.

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Global Health
Janat Twahirwa from Wiceceka distributes condoms to participants during a World AIDS Day event on Dec. 1 in the Mukamira Sector of Rwanda’s Nyabihu District. “Wiceceka” means “do not keep silent” in English. During the event, Twahirwa had a particular focus on providing condoms to peer educators, so that they can further share them with their peers as part of ongoing HIV prevention efforts. Photo by Samuel Iraguha Shema.

Church, Rwandan officials unite to fight AIDS
Faith Stories
The Rev. Dale Caldwell greets a family on the campaign trail in Burlington, N.J. Caldwell, a United Methodist pastor, becomes New Jersey’s lieutenant governor and secretary of state on Jan. 20. Photo courtesy of the Mikie Sherrill for Governor Campaign.

Pastor prepares to step into N.J. elected office
Faith Sharing
Peter Krüger plants an apple tree at the Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Jürgen, where the United Methodist congregation in Flensburg, Germany, meets. The tree planting is part of the “Hope on the Way” campaign initiated by United Methodist Bishop Werner Philipp (standing at left), who leads the Germany Regional Conference. Photo by Isabel Philipp.

Church in Germany plants seeds of hope
Social Concerns
People pick up battery-operated votive candles and write their prayers during a Jan. 9 prayer vigil hosted by Minneapolis’ Park Avenue United Methodist Church. The church is just two blocks from where a federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot 37-year-old Renee Good. At Sunday services, worshippers at Park Avenue and other United Methodist congregations remembered Good, mourned the week’s violence by federal officials and took comfort in God’s presence. Photo courtesy of Park Avenue United Methodist Church.

Countering federal violence with neighborly love
Mission and Ministry
Filipino United Methodists living in the United Arab Emirates gather in Dubai for an annual meeting and celebration that included special choir performances and worship. Screenshot from video by the UAE Media Team.

Filipino United Methodists celebrate mission in Middle East
Mission and Ministry
Sister Confianza, a member of the Amigas del Señor (Women Friends of the Lord) Monastery in Limón, Honduras, rides her bike through the village alongside a neighbor. Originally from the United States, Sister Confianza founded the monastery with another woman in 2006. Photo by Paul Jeffrey, UM News.

2025: The year in photos
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Local Church
This year, United Methodists mourned the passing of the bishop behind a popular Bible study, a cowboy turned preacher, the first Native American woman to be a United Methodist elder, and the last surviving World War II flying ace. Candle image by Gerd Altmann, courtesy of Pixabay; graphic by Laurens Glass, UM News.

2025: Remembering United Methodists of note
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Evangelism
Excerpt from a sermon given by Martin Luther King Jr. in 1956 at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York. Original photo by Maile Bradford, UM News.

Social media graphics from UM News
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Social Concerns
In a Nativity scene at Oak Lawn United Methodist Church in Dallas, Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus are depicted being held in a detention center, as a protest of how immigrants are being treated in the United States. “We feel it’s important to depict the parallel of what’s happening in our world with what we understand to have been happening in the biblical story of the birth of Jesus,” said the Rev. Rachel Griffin-Allison, senior pastor of Oak Lawn. Photo courtesy of Oak Lawn United Methodist Church.

Nativity scenes, art spotlight immigration
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Mission and Ministry
Volunteer Kalvin Davis helps a family select a tree from the artificial “tree farm” at Faith Community Church of Coopersville, Michigan, a United Methodist congregation. Video image by Lilla Marigza, UM News.

Artificial tree farm brings joy to families with special needs
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General Church
The Rev. Øyvind Helliesen, a member of The United Methodist Church’s top court since 2016, died Nov. 25, 2025. At the time of his death, he was the Judicial Council’s vice president. Photo by Kristine Helliesen.

Øyvind Helliesen mourned as ‘sage’ amid tumult
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Commentaries

The Rev. Dr. Jefferson M. Furtado. Photo courtesy of the author.

Martin Luther King Jr. and the work we haven’t finished
The Rev. John Wagner. Photo courtesy of the author.

A plea for ‘costly solidarity’ in Middle East
Andrew “Andy” Q. Hendren. Photo courtesy of Wespath.

Compass provides sustainable retirement plan for clergy
The Rev. Dr. Don Messer. Photo by David Stucke, Dakotas Conference.

On World AIDS Day, church called to bold action
The Rev. Dr. Luan-Vu “Lui” Tran. Photo courtesy of author.

After regionalization, church must prioritize unity
The Rev. Dr. Tércio B. Junker Photo courtesy of the Northern Illinois Conference.

Reclaiming faith beyond fear and ideology
Retired Bishop Peggy A. Johnson. Photo courtesy of the author.

Remembering who we are amid US budget fight
The Rev. Dr. Darryl W. Stephens. Photo by Brian Tolbert.

Deacons serve diverse, specialized roles
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