Vice President Gillian Kingston presenting the Peace Award to Daoud Nassar for his work with the Tent of Nations. At the entry to the Nassar family farm outside Bethlehem is a large rough piece of the local limestone. Carved into its face, in Arabic, English and German, are the words, ‘We refuse to be enemies.’ It […]

At the Peace Award presentation, many people were moved by the work that had brought this moment to fruition and by the symbolism. Perhaps, the explanation from Bill Plitt who is the Executive-director/co-founder of the Friends of Tent of Nations North America will allow readers of the FFL to go there and to hear the […]

In late August, Vice President, Gillian Kingston, and General Secretary, Ivan Abrahams, traveled to the beautiful town of Torre Pellice in northern Italy to attend the Synod of the Waldensian Church and OPCEMI (the Methodist Church in Italy) and to present the 2017 World Methodist Peace Award to OPCEMI.  Later, in mid-October, they traveled to […]

Building upon a growing momentum for peace in Korea, representatives of the World Methodist Council and various Methodist denominations and ecumenical organizations will participate in this historic event Nov. 9-11 in Atlanta.  The 2018 Roundtable for Peace on the Korean Peninsula, hosted by the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, will begin with a morning […]

The chair of the ecumenical relationships committee, Reverend Dr. Tim Macquiban, Director of the Methodist Ecumenical Office Rome, represented the WMC as fraternal delegate to the Synod of Bishops meeting over three weeks to advise Pope Francis on the chosen theme, ‘Young People, the Faith and Vocational Discernment’. His summary of the meeting, which should be of […]

A UMC.org Feature by Joe Iovino* The life of a United Methodist pastor is filled with a variety of responsibilities. They preach, teach, visit, counsel, lead, consult, communicate, budget, clean, and so much more. Pastoring a church is not a job that can be done well under the pastor’s power alone. Every pastor relies heavily […]

October 26th 1939 was the day the first constitution of the World Federation of Methodist Women was signed in Pasadena, California. Since that time this global movement of Methodist women has grown and now includes women of United and Uniting Churches with a Methodist Heritage, hence its longer name. Each year, World Federation Day is […]

The Schola Europa, a high school in Budapest, Hungary, became a United Methodist school in September 2018. Photo courtesy of Central and Southern Europe Conference. After successfully leading a secondary school in Budapest for five years, The United Methodist Church in Hungary has taken leadership of a second school. “During the five years since the […]

Photo Credit: assembly.uca.org.au The biggest annual gathering in the Uniting Church, the Tongan National Conference (TNC), took place from 5-7 October with more than 1000 people gathered in Katoomba, NSW. Travelling from across the country, Tongan members of the Uniting Church came together to raise their voices in worship, celebrate their culture and be encouraged in […]

A delegation of Methodist leaders from around the world, who took part in the World Methodist Peace Prize Award ceremony and the Water and Peace Conference in Israel in October recognize the right of all people to live in peace and safety. Working together for justice of Water and Peace. Far right, Rev. Dr. R. […]

Parishioners of the Border Church in Tijuana, Mexico, raise their arms skyward beneath the border fence at El Faro Park in Tijuana. The Methodist Church of Mexico and The United Methodist Church in the U.S. share communion each Sunday across the border. As people lift their hands to the sky and try to peer through […]

Mango seedlings ready for planting in Jalingo, Nigeria, are sheltered under thatch from the hot sun. Photo by Sharon Adamu Bambuka, UMNS. In Nigeria, where the high rate of deforestation is leading to habitat loss, species extinction and soil degradation, United Methodists are hoping that 20,000 trees will make a difference. So far, the church […]