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

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

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

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

This coming Saturday will mark 10 years of the September 11, 2001 attacks. The reactions that followed this event radically changed our world and the context of Mission. As we take time together to reflect and pray we are mindful of other instances of violence, including the recent shootings in Norway and all the places and people in the world who suffer violence in this very hour.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Children | Conflict | GBGM events | Global connections | Health | Human rights | Hunger | International affairs | Peace | Poverty | Prayers | Violence | War | Statements | Focus on Congregational Development | Focus on Ministry with the Poor | Focus on Global Health | United States | Afghanistan | Iraq | Norway |
Date posted: Sep 09, 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

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

Gaza is like a prison in many ways, surrounded by high walls on three sides. Gun towers oversee the free-fire stretch of scorched earth and rubble, warning anyone--including farmers who once tilled the land--against getting close. On the fourth side, the west, the Mediterranean inexorably draws the eye to the horizon; but it, too, is forbidden.
Source: New World Outlook
More about: Children | Civil rights | Conflict | Emergencies | Health | Human rights | Hunger | Peace | Poverty | Violence | War | Women | Focus on Ministry with the Poor | Focus on Global Health | Israel | Palestine |
Date posted: Jul 07, 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

More than 40 United Methodists with a heart for Lithuania came together for the annual Lithuania consultation from May 6 to 7, 2011, at Centreville United Methodist Church in Centreville, Virginia.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Communities | Evangelization | John Wesley | Peace | United Methodist Church | Focus on Congregational Development | Focus on Ministry with the Poor | Estonia | Latvia | Lithuania |
Date posted: Jun 03, 2011

Western Hills United Methodist Church in El Paso, Texas, sought to answer this question in an ordinary yet radical way--sitting down to dinner with neighbors. While many churches saw the Change the World weekend as an opportunity to engage in acts of Christian service, one group of Texas churches led by Western Hills saw the event as a chance to listen to and learn from Muslim neighbors in partnership with the Institute of Interfaith Dialogue/Turkish Raindrop House in El Paso, Texas.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Christian love | Ecumenical | John Wesley | Peace | Wesley | Partners/partnerships | Focus on Congregational Development | United States |
Date posted: May 23, 2011

When we pray for those who wrong us, we transform ourselves and become clearer channels for God's power, through which we can promote peace with justice in the world.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Christian love | Conflict | Easter | Ethics | Hate | Jesus Christ | Lent | Peace | Violence | Focus on Congregational Development |
Date posted: Apr 14, 2011

Stamford, Connecticut, April 12, 2011--A call for United Methodist confidence and boldness in mission was issued on April 12 in the semi-annual report of the denominations' chief mission executive.
Source: GBGM Mission News
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Date posted: Apr 12, 2011

In the Middle East and North Africa, millions of men and women, young and old, Muslims and Christians, rich and poor, have recently hit the streets to call on their leaders to step down and demand the end of corrupt regimes. President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia was the first head of state to go.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Civil rights | Conflict | Economy | Global connections | Hate | Human rights | International affairs | Justice | Missionaries | Peace | Race | United Methodist Church | Focus on Congregational Development | Africa | Middle East |
Date posted: Apr 06, 2011

Global Ministries celebrates Black History Month and Valentine's Day on February 14, 2011 by offering a performance that will go straight to the heart. Poet Andrea Michelle will perform "Palpitation: Heartbeats in Rhyme."

New York, NY, January 13, 2011--The United Methodist Church in eastern Albania received 18 new members on the fourth of Advent 2010. They come from the city of Pogradec and the nearby town of Bishnica, each of which has a United Methodist congregation.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Communities | Global connections | Human rights | International affairs | Mission opportunities | Peace | United Methodist Church | Youth | Focus on Congregational Development | Albania |
Date posted: Jan 13, 2011

Public celebration of Christmas--public testament of faith in Jesus Christ--is not always easy, or even safe. As we move into a new year, my prayer list includes persons and situations in which Christian brothers and sisters lost their lives in recent days because of their faith, or where a public official was killed for trying to protect religious rights of Christians.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Christian love | Christmas | Civil rights | Conflict | Ethics | Global connections | Human rights | Justice | Peace | United Methodist Church | Violence | War | Statements | Egypt | Iraq | Pakistan |
Date posted: Jan 07, 2011

Our desire to connect with family and friends reaches a peak during Advent and the holiday season. Few people want to be alone on Christmas and New Year's Eve, and many feel distant from God.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Advent | Bible | Christian love | Christmas | Ecumenical | Global connections | Globalization | Internet | Jesus Christ | Peace | United Methodist Church | Partners/partnerships | Focus on Congregational Development |
Date posted: Dec 15, 2010

The time of Advent reminds me to wait, wait, wait. Yet my social-media habit encourages me to hurry, hurry, hurry. This December I've found these modes--of waiting and of hurrying--are at odds. While I am happy to be connected to so many friends and family through social media, I fear my round-the-clock digital connectedness is distracting me from a deeper relationship with the people in my life and with God.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Advent | Global connections | Internet | Peace | Welfare | Women | Focus on Congregational Development |
Date posted: Dec 09, 2010

October 29, 2010--On October 31, 2000, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 1325, dubbed "Women, Peace, and Security." This week, to celebrate ten years since the resolution's passage, hundreds of global citizens gathered with United Methodist Women at the Church Center for the United Nations (CCUN) to strategize on new and creative ways to hold governments accountable for the resolution's implementation.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Conflict | Human rights | Justice | Peace | War | Women | Focus on Leadership Development | Bangladesh | Pakistan |
Date posted: Oct 29, 2010

"Radical means go back to the roots. That means dig deeper," said Dr. Siosaia Tuitahi of the Pacific Islander National Caucus of The United Methodist Church (PINCUM). "Your story, my story, will become deeper if we connect to the original story. Never forget. After all, it's not our story. It's God's story that we will continue to tell. Jeremiah said, 'If you are rooted in the Almighty, you will be like the plant by the river. Your leaves will always be green…. And blessed are those who are rooted in Christ Jesus.'"
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Education | Global connections | Human rights | Justice | Peace | Poverty | Refugees | Focus on Ministry with the Poor | Israel | Mexico | Palestine |
Date posted: Oct 01, 2010

Budapest, Hungary, August 23, 2010--Methodism on the European continent in the 20 years following World War II was the theme of a mid- August conference of the European Historical Commision of The United Methodist Church.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Conflict | General Conference | Global connections | Immigration | Mission opportunities | Missionaries | Peace | Refugees | United Methodist Church | Violence | War | Wesley | Methodism | Focus on Congregational Development | Germany | Hungary | Serbia | Sweden | Switzerland | United Kingdom | Yugoslavia |
Date posted: Aug 23, 2010

The Rev. Dr. Romeo del Rosario is a United Methodist missionary currently serving as country director for the United Methodist Mission in Cambodia, where he also serves as a district superintendent and a professor at the Cambodia Methodist Bible School.
Source: New World Outlook
More about: Conflict | Global connections | Human rights | Immigration | Peace | Race | War | Focus on Congregational Development | Cambodia | Philippines |
Date posted: Jun 01, 2010

Geneva, Switzerland, May 6, 2010--The World Council of Churches has issued a study guide on overcoming violence in contemporary contexts as part of the preparation for a 2011 International Ecumenical Peace Convocation.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Global connections | Peace | Jamaica | Switzerland |
Date posted: May 07, 2010