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

Budapest, Hungary, March 1, 2012--The United Methodist Church in Hungary has regained official state recognition, after having been removed from the list of "privileged" religious groups by Parliament in the summer of 2011.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Civil rights | Evangelism | Global connections | Human rights | International affairs | Justice | United Methodist Church | Focus on Congregational Development | Hungary |
Date posted: Mar 02, 2012

The face of missionaries has changed, with nearly 50 percent of United Methodist missionaries coming from places outside the United States. "We now have missionaries who are coming from everywhere and going everywhere," said Thomas Kemper, who leads the denomination's mission agency.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Evangelization | Mission opportunities | Missionaries | United Methodist Church | Youth | Partners/partnerships | Methodism | Focus on Leadership Development | Congo DR | Kenya | Mongolia |
Date posted: Mar 01, 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

Thomas Kemper letter: Dear Friends, Please join me in praying for our brothers and sisters in Senegal. They are facing political violence as they prepare for coming elections scheduled for this Sunday. According to Global Ministries national in mission, Aly Bashir, 20 people have died, hundreds have been injured, and hundreds more arrested.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Civil rights | Conflict | Ethics | Global connections | Human rights | International affairs | Peace | Poverty | Violence | War | Statements | Focus on Congregational Development | Focus on Ministry with the Poor | Senegal |
Date posted: Feb 23, 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

February 9, 2012, New York, NY--For the second year in a row, top leaders from the General Board of Global Ministries met with representatives of the Methodist Church of Great Britain to continue conversations with a goal of being more effective partners in mission. The two-day meeting took place in London at the British Methodist headquarters. The United Methodist group was led by Thomas Kemper, general secretary, who said it had been a useful meeting and "showed the growing collaboration between the UMC and British Church in its international mission work."
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Global connections | International affairs | Mission opportunities | United Methodist Church | Wesley | Focus on Congregational Development | United Kingdom | United States |
Date posted: Feb 09, 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 United Methodist Special Program on Substance Abuse and Related Violence (SPSARV) released a new podcast for the "Speak About It!" series on Grace Place Recovery Ministries, a ministry of a downtown church located in the heart of a southern California beach community that transformed itself to become a place of healing and wholeness for hundreds of people in recovery.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Health | Focus on Global Health |
Date posted: Jan 11, 2012

Thery's family was living in extreme poverty and could no longer care properly for their young daughter. They found a home for Thery at Cambodia Light Children's Orphanage and the affiliated Methodist school. Teachers recognized that she was a gifted dancer and nurtured her passion. Today she is 19 years old and attending the Royal University of Fine Arts. She continues to live at the orphanage and teaches dance to the children. The children's dance performances help raise funds to support the orphanage.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Children | Poverty | Women | Youth | Focus on Ministry with the Poor | Cambodia |
Date posted: Dec 20, 2011

There are so many reasons people drink too much over the holidays--stress, economic worries, emotional family reunions, holiday parties, or simply the depression or loneliness that sets in during long winter months. This Christmas and New Year's, turn to the downloadable book of devotions from SPSARV (United Methodist Special Program on Substance Abuse and Related Violence) to relieve the stress of the holiday season, a time when many individuals, families, and church members become aware of the disease of addiction and pray for recovery.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Christmas | Health | Prayers | Focus on Global Health |
Date posted: Dec 20, 2011

Dear Friends, On behalf of the General Board of Global Ministries, thank you for all you do to share God's love and light throughout the world. Through our work, together we are building a path that Isaiah prophesized--a radical path to liberation, peace, and justice. A path that is possible because of the birth of a small and helpless child. The light of the world lies in the hands of someone as powerless as a newborn baby.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Advent | Christmas | Emergencies | Justice | Missionaries | Natural disasters | Peace | Prayers | United Methodist Church | Women | Statements | Tsunami | Focus on Ministry with the Poor | Cote d´Ivoire | Japan | Liberia |
Date posted: Dec 16, 2011

With alcohol use a persistent problem on many US college campuses, the United Methodist Special Program on Substance Abuse and Related Violence (SPSARV) released an informative podcast for its "Speak About It!" series on Spartanburg Methodist College's alcohol education and awareness program to curb underage drinking on campus.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Education | Health | Youth | Focus on Global Health | United States |
Date posted: Dec 15, 2011

Consider becoming a US-2 or Mission Intern. If you are between the ages of 20 to 30 and feel called to address the root causes of injustice so that the gospel is lived out alongside communities and organizations seeking peace and systemic transformation, apply to become a United Methodist US-2 or Mission Intern.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Evangelism | Global connections | International affairs | Mission opportunities | Missionaries | Volunteers | Youth | Focus on Leadership Development |
Date posted: Dec 08, 2011

Methodist Cambodian youth, aged 16-24, gathered from around their country last week in Phnom Penh for their 2012 strategic planning at the Wesley Bible Center. Irene Mparutsa, a Global Ministries missionary and a nurse from Zimbabwe, took the opportunity to facilitate a discussion about HIV/AIDS with the 35 young people. While the rate of HIV infection is declining in Cambodia, there is a need to teach prevention as well as reduce stigma for those who are HIV-positive.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: AIDS/HIV | Health | Mission opportunities | Poverty | Prayers | United Methodist Church | Youth | Focus on Ministry with the Poor | Focus on Global Health | Cambodia |
Date posted: Dec 01, 2011

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

New York, NY, November 15, 2011--A delegation of 18 Methodists hosted by the United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries will attend the People's Global Action on Migration, Development, and Human Rights (PGA) in Geneva, Switzerland, from November 28 to December 2, 2011, as part of the mission agency's focus on global migration and poverty.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Advocacy | Christian love | Civil rights | Ecumenical | Global connections | Human rights | Immigration | International affairs | Poverty | United Methodist Church | Focus on Ministry with the Poor | Africa | Europe | Mauritius | Philippines | Switzerland |
Date posted: Nov 17, 2011

“Come to me and I will give you rest” Matthew 11:28 Dear Friends, It is with deep sadness that I share with you of that The Rev. Isaac Agre’ (link to bio), a missionary for the General Board of Global Ministries, passed away on November 3.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Education | Missionaries | United Methodist Church | Focus on Ministry with the Poor | Africa | Cote d´Ivoire | Tunisia |
Date posted: Nov 07, 2011

Advent is the season in the Christian year when we hear and participate in the time of waiting for the birth of the Messiah. We look with thankfulness and hope for the second coming of Christ. We hear the voice of God in Scripture. We hear the voices of God's people around the earth as we pray together for the joy and peace of Christ's love to warm the hearts and lives of all humankind.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Advent | Christmas | Evangelism | Music | Prayers | United Methodist Church | Focus on Congregational Development |
Date posted: Nov 07, 2011