Friends, During the month of July most of my time was spent traveling in southern and central Africa where I discovered anew what Pliny the Elder, Roman scholar and scientist (23-79 AD) meant when he claimed; “there is always something new out of Africa”. It was a good time to be in South Africa to […]

As we draw closer to the World Methodist Council meeting at Wesley’s Chapel in London, we have a few details left to share with you:   For those who haven’t made hotel reservations for your stay in London, please be advised that we cannot guarantee that the hotels we have partnered with will have rooms […]

The New Room / John Wesley’s Chapel, Bristol, the oldest Methodist building in the world, has successfully passed the first-round application for £2.3million from the Heritage Lottery Fund.   The New Room, known as the ‘cradle of Methodism’ and widely regarded as the most important Methodist heritage site in the world, is seeking to construct […]

by Andrew Dutney In 2006, then-Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs Kevin Rudd wrote an article for The Monthly entitled “Faith in Politics.” It was about the role of churches and individual Christians in politics. His purpose was to critique the “privatised, pietised and politically compliant Christianity” of the televangelists and to challenge “those who would […]

Bishop David Kekumba Yemba and Bishop Unda Gabriel Yemba joined their conference leadership and overseas partners to kick off a round-table meeting to shortlist ministry priorities for their respective episcopal areas. The Central Congo Episcopal Area was host to the May 13-15 meeting in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. There will be an East […]

UMC Bishop Ken Carter is encouraging churches across the Florida Conference to welcome gays and lesbians in worship and ministry. At a regularly scheduled gathering of St. Luke’s UMC’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender cluster group Thursday, Carter encouraged United Methodists to welcome people of all sexual orientations with a spirit of “generous orthodoxy.” The […]

This article on two participants in the World Methodist Council’s Ministerial Exchange Program origninally appeared in the Swindon Advertiser, and can be found here. An American minister has traded places with a Swindon counterpart as part of an international exchange programme run by the World Methodist Council.   The Rev David Calhoun, 62, of North […]

In a speech given four months after he was elected president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela acknowledged the role the Methodist church had played in his life and applauded the church for its efforts against apartheid.   “The spirit of reconciliation and the goodwill within the nation can, to a great measure, be attributed to […]