NEWS AND FEATURES
A new Friday Digest
In order to streamline our news delivery and enhance our service to you, United Methodist News is merging the Friday Daily Digest and the Weekly Digest. Beginning on April 23, the single Friday Digest will combine the best of the Daily and Weekly digests, providing new stories, press releases and commentaries, as well as the top stories from the past week. If you already are subscribed to the Daily or Weekly emails, you will automatically receive the new Friday Digest. If at any point you would like to opt out, you can use the unsubscribe link at the bottom of this email. We hope you enjoy the new Friday edition.
African bishops not united on church future
GBARNGA, Liberia (UM News) — Three African episcopal leaders have signaled they will go with a new traditionalist denomination if The United Methodist Church splits over how accepting to be of homosexuality. The other nine African bishops haven't joined in such statements. Sam Hodges reports.
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Film puts Korean Americans center stage
NEW YORK (UM News) — United Methodists Julian Kim and Peter Lee didn't see their lives represented in Hollywood films, so they did it themselves. Their film "Happy Cleaners" takes a look at the lives and struggles of working-class Korean Americans. Jim Patterson has the story.
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Ask The UMC
Exploring the meaning of resurrection
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — What do United Methodists believe about resurrection? It is important to begin with what resurrection is not, writes Ask The UMC, a ministry of United Methodist Communications. "Resurrection is not like zombies pushing their way out of graves and tombs and roaming the streets in hordes. Resurrection does not make people or bodies 'undead.' Resurrection makes people truly, fully and completely alive."
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Read more Ask The UMC
Minnesota Conference
Bishop responds to Daunte Wright's death
MINNEAPOLIS — As eyes around the world are on the trial of Derek Chauvin in the death of George Floyd, Minnesota has again been rocked by the death of an unarmed Black man, Daunte Wright, at the hands of police. Bishop David Bard, the Minnesota Conference's interim bishop, urges the church not to grow cynical but continue the work of racial reckoning.
Read pastoral letter
Holston Conference
Churches respond after school shooting
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — United Methodists in the city where a fatal school shooting happened April 12 are trying to help a school that was already reeling from the shooting deaths of four students since January. Churches in the Holston Conference are striving to blend prayers with action. Annette Spence has the story.
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South Carolina bishop responds after another mass shooting
Louisiana Conference
Front-line ministry during the pandemic
BATON ROUGE, La. — The Rev. Todd Rossnagel, who hosts the Louisiana NOW podcast, recently chatted with the Rev. Tiffani Lyon about her experience working as a hospital chaplain during the pandemic. She serves in Louisiana's St. Tammany Parish.
Listen to podcast
Dakotas Conference
Circle of Friends ministers to disabled
RAPID CITY, S.D. — A childhood incident involving his cousin motivated Gene Mason to start Circle of Friends, a ministry for people with intellectual disabilities, at Open Heart United Methodist Church. He has never forgotten the time his cousin Bobby wasn't picked to play in a football game. Doreen Gosmire has the story.
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United Methodist Women
Grant allows African woman to pursue her dream
FREETOWN, Sierra Leone — A grant by the United Methodist Economic Development Initiative allowed Rachael Caulker to learn to be a makeup artist. She now has a salon and says business is getting better as COVID-19 infection rates fall. Keziah Kargbo reports.
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United Methodist Communications
5 surprising ways churches move outside the building
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The year 2020 may have forever changed our picture of church. A Barna Group study found that 59% of churchgoing Gen Zers will not return to regularly attending in-person church gatherings, meaning they will engage with their church communities in other ways. The Rev. Ryan Dunn, minister of online engagement for Rethink Church, looks at creative ways the church has been and may continue to be in ministry outside of in-person worship.
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South Georgia Conference
Church returns home after more than 2 years
COLQUITT, Ga. — After being displaced for two years, four months and 11 days, the Colquitt United Methodist Church congregation has finally returned home. Kara Witherow reports on the congregation's recovery and rebuilding after the wreckage caused by Hurricane Michael in 2018.
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Holston Conference
Churches help get shots in arms
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The Lennon-Seney United Methodist Church parking lot is bustling midweek with a large medical van and health care workers to receive patients arriving to get their COVID-19 vaccines. At least six churches in the Holston Conference have served or plan to serve as vaccination site hosts. Annette Spence has the story.
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Hollywood United Methodist Church
Pauley Perrette urges COVID-19 vaccinations
LOS ANGELES — Actress Pauley Perrette lost her father to COVID-19 before vaccines became available. She and other members of Hollywood United Methodist Church used a Facebook video post to support the effort to get people vaccinated for COVID-19 as soon as possible.
Watch video
United Methodist Communications
Community gardens grow more than veggies
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — Gardening is a way to create interest in a church, get to know members of the community and show the love of Christ in a tangible way. Tricia K. Brown offers steps for churches to show their green thumbs and loving hearts.
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Impact of Spicewood community garden
California-Pacific Conference
Japanese culture explored in workshops
PASADENA, Calif. — Online workshops in onigiri and origami offered in the California-Pacific Conference aim to bridge the cultures of African American and Japanese people. The workshop on onigiri, Japanese rice balls, was held on March 27. The origami workshop on Japanese paper craft will be scheduled in April. The initiative grew out of conversations between the Consulate General of Japan in Los Angeles and local pastors.
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South Georgia Conference
Churches fight COVID-19 with care boxes
SYLVANIA, Ga. — In prayers, the Rev. Dorsia Atkinson felt God nudging him to help bring relief to his rural county. In a region where the only store is often the local gas station, Atkinson decided that care packages might help people avoid spreading the virus, and other local churches joined the effort. Kara Witherow has the story.
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PRESS RELEASES
Upper New York Conference
Delegates request transparency from episcopal leaders
LIVERPOOL, N.Y. — A letter, signed by 17 of the 23 Upper New York Conference delegates to General and Jurisdictional Conference, was submitted to the Northeastern Jurisdiction Committee on Episcopacy requesting transparency from the jurisdiction's episcopal leaders regarding their intentions to remain in a post-separation denomination. "We reaffirm … the need for leaders who continue to display a passion for the unity of the church," the letter reads.
Read letter
Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary
Celebrating 25 years of the Order of Deacon
EVANSTON, Ill. — This week kicks off the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the Order of Deacon of The United Methodist Church. The celebration includes several Zoom events, including a worship service.
Register for event
Church and Society
Agency urges support for voting rights
WASHINGTON — The United Methodist Board of Church and Society is urging U.S. United Methodists to call their senators to support federal voting-rights legislation. The call to action cites church teachings approved by General Conference.
Read story
COMMENTARIES
UM News includes in the Daily Digest various commentaries about issues in the denomination. The opinion pieces reflect a variety of viewpoints and are the opinions of the writers, not the UM News staff.
'I believe in the resurrection and reparations'
INDIANAPOLIS (UM News) — Indiana Conference Bishop Julius C. Trimble recounts experiences of racism from his mother's and his own childhood and acknowledges that so many others have suffered from systemic racism. "We, as a nation, owe them at minimum an apology and a calculated commitment to address the generational harm that has been done," he writes.
Read commentary
Caught in a twilight zone of change
OKLAHOMA CITY (UM News) — Even after the passage of civil rights laws, a white teen found change slow to come in the rural South of the 1970s. Author and retired local pastor Richard F. Hicks shares his story for UM News' Personal Encounters with Racism feature.
Read commentary
Read more Personal Encounters with Racism
Faith & Leadership
A pastoral response to conspiracy believers
UNIONTOWN, Ohio — The Rev. Derek Kubilus, pastor of Uniontown United Methodist Church, has a podcast that addresses QAnon and other conspiracy theories from a Christian perspective. He elaborates on his concerns, both for conspiracy theory believers and their loved ones, in a column for the Faith & Leadership website.
Read commentary
Read about Kubilus' podcast
RESOURCES
United Methodist Communications
Training series focuses on leveraging communication
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — United Methodist Communications is launching a series of ecumenical virtual communications learning conferences to help local churches deliver messages effectively and efficiently. The first offering, "Leveraging Communication for Greater Connection," will focus on a variety of communication tools, including social media, digital ministry and news writing. The online conference will take place at 10 a.m. U.S. Central time April 20-21. Register by April 20 to receive access to the new Effective Church Marketing online training course at no additional cost.
To register
Higher Education and Ministry
Conversation with Rick Steves now online
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry recently hosted a conversation with PBS travel host Rick Steves on "Travel as a Spiritual Act." The agency has posted a recording of that conversation.
Watch recording
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