By allowing the Spirit to move in creative ways, the Methodist Church in Cuba is dancing, singing, and spreading scriptural holiness over the land. Since 1999, the church has grown from 8,000 to 36,000 members. Bishop Ricardo Pereira encourages congregations to live out their Wesleyan theology in ways that are uniquely Cuban.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Communities | Evangelism | Global connections | John Wesley | Mission opportunities | United Methodist Church | Wesley | Focus on Congregational Development | Cuba |
Date posted: Mar 06, 2012

Under a hot and humid December sky, 800 Filipino protesters were marching. Some farmed rice paddies for a living, some fished, and some scraped by in the big cities. Others represented churches, nongovernmental organizations, and political parties. Children and old women walked side by side. But one protestor was conspicuously different from the rest. Not only did he stand head and shoulders above his companions--he had white skin and auburn hair.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Civil rights | Communities | Human rights | International affairs | Justice | Mission opportunities | Poverty | Youth | Focus on Ministry with the Poor | Philippines |
Date posted: Feb 29, 2012

Nome, Alaska, February 13, 2012--Nome usually has long, cold winters, and Christopher Steppe, a United Methodist young adult missionary in the Alaskan city, thought he had packed enough heavy gear when he headed there from his native Virginia last September: plenty of hoodies, thermals, scarves, gloves, and even a heavier coat than he would have used back home. Not enough, and especially not when unusually early snowfall blanketed the subarctic region on the Bering Sea.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Children | Communities | Mission opportunities | Missionaries | Natural disasters | United Methodist Church | Youth | Focus on Leadership Development | United States |
Date posted: Feb 17, 2012

Today's youth are often confronted at every turn with peer pressure to take drugs and engage in destructive behaviors. The latest podcast from the United Methodist Special Program on Substance Abuse and Related Violence's "Speak About It!" series features a substance-abuse ministry in the North Carolina Annual Conference's Rockingham District that is empowering youth through positive activities and programs to stay away from behaviors that may lead to drug use.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Children | Communities | Health | Poverty | Youth | Urban | Focus on Ministry with the Poor | Focus on Global Health | United States |
Date posted: Feb 13, 2012

Tola Seng lives in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia in Southeast Asia. As a child, she experienced the aftermath of a harsh and violent regime that killed much of Cambodia's population. "Twenty-four years ago," Seng says, "I was born to a single mother in a refugee camp on the Thai border. By God's grace, my mother was able to raise my sisters and me on her own. Yet, watching her struggle to support us, I wanted to grow up faster so I could find a job and help her."
Source: New World Outlook
More about: Children | Communities | Conflict | Evangelism | Global connections | Missionaries | United Methodist Church | Violence | Volunteers | War | Women | Youth | Focus on Congregational Development | Cambodia | Laos | Vietnam |
Date posted: Jan 30, 2012

When Gary retired from his work as a human resources trainer and teacher in the year 2000, he thought his career was over. Little did he know, his life's work had just begun. Now, at 63 years old, Gary says, "I can't wait for the next 10 years."
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Communities | Ethics | Justice | Missionaries | Focus on Congregational Development | United States |
Date posted: Jan 25, 2012

Jamila Hunter from Brooklyn, New York, served with Hyde Park Community United Methodist Church in Cincinnati, Ohio, for the first of her two years as a US-2. US-2s are missionaries between the ages of 20 and 30 who teach, learn from, pray with, and advocate for people in communities seeking transformation and justice in the United States.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Children | Communities | Education | Missionaries | Prison | United Methodist Church | Youth | Older adults | Focus on Ministry with the Poor | United States |
Date posted: Jan 20, 2012

Dear Friends, Please join me in praying for our brothers and sisters in Nigeria. In recent weeks, Christians have been targeted and killed by Boko Haram, a religious extremist group in northern Nigeria. Hundreds more have fled the region in fear. Societal, religious, and economic imbalance is creating a volatile climate, despite calls for peaceful resolutions.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Christian love | Communities | Conflict | Global connections | Hate | Peace | Prayers | United Methodist Church | Violence | War | Statements | Focus on Congregational Development | Nigeria |
Date posted: Jan 18, 2012

The Reverend Paul Shew from the West Ohio Annual Conference has been planting seeds of hope and promise for more than ten years in Japan. "I cannot imagine a place with more opportunity for student ministry than in Japan. We are in a unique position to point young people to a loving God through word and deed." Serving as a long-term mission volunteer through Global Ministries in Japan, Shew is a professor and university chaplain at Aoyama Gakuin, in Tokyo.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Children | Christian love | Communities | Education | Emergencies | Environment | Evangelism | Global connections | International affairs | John Wesley | Mission opportunities | Missionaries | Natural disasters | Volunteers | Tsunami | Focus on Congregational Development | Japan |
Date posted: Nov 30, 2011

The assembly hall at the Asian Rural Institute in Tochigi, Japan, was filled with a spirit of celebration as graduating students anticipated bringing the fruits of their labor back to their home countries. In a commencement message to the 2011 class on November 19, 2011, Thomas Kemper, the head of Global Ministries, said:
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Agriculture | Christian love | Communities | Donations | Emergencies | Environment | Global connections | Health | International affairs | Natural disasters | Poverty | Prayers | Rural | Welfare | Statements | Tsunami | Focus on Congregational Development | Focus on Leadership Development | Focus on Ministry with the Poor | Focus on Global Health | Japan |
Date posted: Nov 23, 2011

I sent Patrick Friday an email, suggesting that we meet for breakfast in the cafeteria for a conversation about social media and mission. Patrick suggested, instead, we should chat, pray, and invite others to join us at a Google+ "hang out." A couple of emails later, Patrick and I logged on to Google+ for our "hang out," a four-way videoconference with Patti Bacher in De Pere, Wisconsin, and Mi Rhang Baek in Madison, Alabama.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Communities | Evangelism | Global connections | Mission opportunities | Missionaries | United Methodist Church | Focus on Congregational Development | Asia and the Pacific Islands | Bulgaria | Cameroon | Europe | Honduras | Lithuania | Malawi | Russia | Senegal | United States |
Date posted: Nov 23, 2011

The East Belfast Mission is pitching its tent. The community center, Skainos, an ancient Greek word meaning tent, is being built by missionaries, staff, volunteers, and community members of Ballymacarret in Northern Ireland. All people will be welcome in this East Belfast building which will offer space for outreach groups and individuals seeking healing and transformation.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Christian love | Communities | Conflict | Evangelism | Global connections | Hate | Human rights | Peace | United Methodist Church | Violence | War | Focus on Congregational Development | Focus on Ministry with the Poor | Ireland |
Date posted: Nov 04, 2011

I have two small children--a five-year-old daughter and a son, age two. When my daughter was only a few months old, I joined the Henderson Settlement's Maternal Infant Health Outreach program (MIHOW). I usually visit the settlement once a month to get diapers, wipes, and other baby things. It means a lot to have a helping hand these days. I don't think the outreach workers realize just how much they help others and how greatly appreciated they are.
Source: New World Outlook
More about: Children | Communities | Education | Family | Poverty | Women | Focus on Ministry with the Poor | United States |
Date posted: Oct 27, 2011

Mark Stransky brought a tape measure as a symbol of transformation and hope. As the director of housing at Crossroads in Marion, Virginia, Stransky said that volunteers and community members find grace while repairing houses together. "What the tape measure doesn't measure is the hearts of the people serving on the projects," Stransky said.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Children | Communities | Education | Evangelism | Health | Immigration | Justice | Missionaries | Refugees | Focus on Leadership Development | Focus on Global Health | Mexico | United States |
Date posted: Sep 22, 2011

On a recent visit to Susanna Wesley House in Baltimore, Maryland, three of the house's nine housing units were found to be empty. This was a positive sign. It meant that three families had recently made a successful transition from supportive housing to their own residences in the community.
Source: New World Outlook
More about: Children | Christian love | Communities | Education | John Wesley | United Methodist Church | Welfare | Wesley | Women | Methodism | Focus on Ministry with the Poor | United States |
Date posted: Sep 13, 2011

I first met Dan Terry in 2004 in Afghanistan. One day he offered to help me get to a meeting on the other side of Kabul--by bicycle. We took a "shortcut" up to a steep ridge, following a rocky path where we had to push or carry our bicycles. At the top, while I caught my breath and admired the view, we encountered a family of returned refugees. This steep ridge--far from roads, water, and the city proper--was the only place this family could find to live.
Source: New World Outlook
More about: Christian love | Communities | Conflict | Education | Global connections | Health | International affairs | Missionaries | Peace | Poverty | Refugees | Rural | Social Principles | Violence | War | Methodism | Focus on Ministry with the Poor | Focus on Global Health | Afghanistan |
Date posted: Aug 24, 2011

Coming from many rural villages in the same district of Laghman Province in eastern Afghanistan, members of the district shura, or council of community leaders, gathered for a meeting. Together, they considered a handwritten list of 14 urgent concerns in their communities--including drought in remote mountain villages, flooding that destroyed crops near the river, a lack of jobs, and insecurity stemming from armed conflict in their area.
Source: New World Outlook
More about: Children | Communities | Education | Human rights | Rural | Women | Youth | Focus on Ministry with the Poor | Afghanistan |
Date posted: Aug 19, 2011

Zachary Ferguson has enjoyed being a part of this class of missionaries for the last three weeks as they have prepared for their next two to three years as US-2s or Mission Interns. Zach felt safe, comfortable, and challenged.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Civil rights | Communities | Human rights | Justice | Music | Race | United Methodist Church | Focus on Leadership Development |
Date posted: Aug 17, 2011

As part of the Healthy Families, Healthy Planet initiative, maternal health advocates from the Global South visit the United States to share their experiences with United Methodists and government policymakers. Their purpose is to urge congregations to support increased funding for international family planning.
Source: New World Outlook
More about: Bioethics | Children | Communities | Ethics | Family | Health | Human rights | Missionaries | Welfare | Women | Focus on Ministry with the Poor | Focus on Global Health | Sierra Leone |
Date posted: Aug 05, 2011

Dallas, Texas, July 29, 2011--Using the story of Peter and Cornelius in Acts 10 as an illustration of crossing boundaries in ministry, Doug Cunningham and Dionisio Salazar led a diverse group of church leaders through three sessions at the School of Congregational Development about how to build a multicultural congregation.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Christian love | Communities | Evangelism | Ethics | Jesus Christ | John Wesley | United Methodist Church | Wesley | Mission studies | Focus on Congregational Development |
Date posted: Aug 04, 2011

Dallas, Texas, July 28, 2011: The conference room at the Vital Congregation Intensive at the 2011 School of Congregational Development was filled with some 30 people eager to discuss the denomination's new "Call to Action," and the implications for their congregations.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Christian love | Communities | Evangelism | Evangelization | Jesus Christ | John Wesley | Resolutions of the UMC | United Methodist Church | Wesley | Methodism | Statements | Focus on Congregational Development |
Date posted: Aug 01, 2011

Even as you read these words, the people of Southern Sudan are opening their eyes to a new reality: independence. This July, we welcome them as citizens of the world's newest nation and as partners in the pursuit of global peace and development. On July 9, 2011, the independent government of Southern Sudan is to be formally constituted. Earlier this year, the Southern electorate voted overwhelmingly to secede from the Republic of the Sudan.
Source: New World Outlook
More about: Children | Communities | Conflict | Education | Human rights | Peace | Poverty | Refugees | United Methodist Church | Violence | War | Focus on Congregational Development | Focus on Ministry with the Poor | Sudan |
Date posted: Jul 22, 2011

The Summer Intern program is a leadership immersion experience for young adults between the ages of 18 and 25 who live in new communities for the summer to learn about and experience putting their faith into action. The Summer Interns will serve in United Methodist-related centers, churches, and institutions for ten weeks over the summer.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Advocacy | Christian love | Communities | Education | Human rights | Justice | Peace | United Methodist Church | Youth | Focus on Leadership Development | Focus on Ministry with the Poor |
Date posted: Jun 24, 2011

Ever wonder what esperanza, hope, looks like? Go to San Francisco Libre, Nicaragua, on Lake Managua. That's what Arlene Andrews, Stuart Andrews, Katherine Hepfer, Rick Hepfer, Miriam Freeman, and Rita Rhodes did from May 14 to 21, 2011. They were the team from several United Methodist churches in Columbia, South Carolina.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Children | Communities | Family | Hunger | Poverty | Volunteers | Women | Focus on Ministry with the Poor | Nicaragua |
Date posted: Jun 10, 2011