Dear Friends There has been many commemorations and celebrations the past month. Wesleyans commemorate the 24th of May, as the day that John Wesley, the father of the Methodist Movement received assurance of his salvation. Our President writes an interesting article in this edition of the First Friday Letter. The Methodist Church in Fiji […]
June 2018
John Wesley’s Aldersgate Experience in Context

By: Rev. Dr. J. C. Park (President of World Methodist Council) People called Methodists all around the world are celebrating the 280th anniversary of the Aldersgate experience of John Wesley. Strictly speaking, it was not his conversion from his unbelief or atheism but his personal experience of the assurance of faith in Jesus Christ. Wesley […]
Continued Prayer Requested for Cuba Families, Churches

By Nazarene Church News Staff 25 May 2018, Havana, Cuba — Leonel López, president for the Church of the Nazarene in Cuba and superintendent of the Cuba West District, shared an update this week following the 18 May plane crash that claimed the lives of more than 100 people, including 10 Nazarene pastor couples. López was at the airport […]
Methodists Among Dead in Congo Flooding

By Philippe Kituka Lolonga May 15, 2018 | UVIRA, Congo (UMNS) Nine people have died and thousands of homes and buildings have been destroyed, including five United Methodist schools, two local churches and pastoral homes, after heavy rains and flooding in the Uvira District of Kivu. Among the dead are a United Methodist woman from […]
Church Ready to Welcome Asylum Seekers

By Kathy L. Gilbert May 7, 2018 | UMNS The Rev. Bill Jenkins, pastor of the Christ United Methodist Ministry Center in San Diego, and other church leaders are gearing up to offer shelter to hundreds of migrants gathering at the border seeking asylum. The migrants reached the border after a months-long journey, fleeing their […]
Remembering Revd Dr Colin M Morris

21 May 2018 — The Methodist Church in Britain has announced the death of the Revd Dr Colin M Morris, the renowned preacher, author and broadcaster, who served as President of the Conference in 1976. The son of a miner, Colin Morris was born in Bolton and educated at the universities of Oxford and Manchester. He served as a missionary […]
New Zealand Church Begins Rebuilding after Earthquake

Durham Street Methodist Church in Christchurch, New Zealand, celebrated the start of construction of the new building on the site where the 22 February 2011 magnitude 6.3 Christchurch Earthquake tragically demolished the historic 1864 Gothic-style building. At that time, six men from the South Island Organ Company were engaged in removing the pipe organ – […]
Joy and Pain – The United Church of Papua New Guinea

In January, the Revd Michaela Youngson, President Designate of the Methodist Conference [Methodist Church in Britain], visited the United Church of Papua New Guinea with her husband Sandy, and Steve Pearce, Partnership Coordinator for Asia and the Pacific. The United Church of Papua New Guinea celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in true South Pacific style. Surrounded by beautiful landscapes and […]
Wesley’s Chapel Makes History Relevant Today

Story by Linda Bloom, Photos by Mike DuBose May 9, 2018 | LONDON (UMNS) With John Wesley’s study chair, Charles Wesley’s organ and the Museum of Methodism on-site, it would be possible to conclude that Wesley’s Chapel & Leysian Mission is stuck in time — the late 18th century, to be exact. That is not the case. […]
Who Are We? A Lesson from the Life of James Cone and His Love for the Church

By Rev. Nikia Smith Robert, Contributing Writer for The Christian Recorder In rural Arkansas, at Macedonia AME Church, a young boy sat in the pews with his mother. He listened to a Gospel that proclaimed liberation for the oppressed and heard the sultry sounds of spirituals signifying the suffering of Black people. He contemplated the […]
The Journey Changes You – Staff Change at WMC HQ

By Barby Bowser When I was first approached for the position of Executive Assistant and Communications at the World Methodist Council, I was a bit nervous about taking on such a huge role, especially since I would be “filling the shoes” of an amazingly efficient and knowledgeable person whom I truly admired. My predecessor, Roma […]