Race and Racism in Methodist Mission History: A Literature Review

The work of overcoming racism in church and society today requires honest confrontation with racism in the past. Dr. David W. Scott has prepared a review of existing literature on African Americans, race and racism in Methodist mission history, published by the independent blog UM & Global.

Food relief helps in Liberia’s COVID-19 fight

Liberia is combating COVID-19 through both health and food security: the health board received an early solidarity grant from UMCOR for prevention training and the conference received a more recent UMCOR Sheltering in Love grant to provide food packages to the elderly, the physically challenged and at-risk children and youth undergoing rehabilitation at a facility in Monrovia. UMNS shares the story.

The enduring resiliency of North Macedonia

ATLANTA — Missionary Jennifer Moore reflects on life lessons she has learned from the Macedonian people, especially as they face a pandemic. To support our missionaries around the world, give to Advance #00779Z.

A creative response to grief

Originally from Minneapolis but now serving in Tampa as a Global Mission Fellow, Abigail Reeth envisioned a way for her community – especially the kids – to process and respond to racial injustice: painting a mural together.

United Methodist mission in Morogoro, Tanzania

Missionaries Umba and Ngoy Kalangwa send a mission update from Morogoro, Tanzania – a reconstructed dispensary that reopens just as COVID-19 starts to spread, members of a sewing workshop who learn to craft hundreds of masks and the first woman to pastor a UMC church in the Morogoro District.

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Six Years, No Solution: A 500-Gallon Tank Carries Hope to West Virginia’s Forgotten

McDowell County is one of the poorest in the U.S., and the communities of Anawalt, Leckie and Gary are some of the hardest hit by the current six-year water crisis. All have Methodist churches that are part of the Welch Charge.

To ease the burden of residents who have to purchase many gallons of drinking water weekly, the Welch Charge contacted the West Virginia Conference Disaster Response Coordinator, Jim McCune, for help. McCune’s United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) connection put him in touch with Global Ministries’ Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) program. 

A WASH grant allowed them to obtain a 500-gallon “water buffalo.” The conference disaster response team arranged to fill the portable water buffalo from the Welch water system, the county seat of McDowell, and transport it to Gary, where residents have been supplied with refillable containers. Residents of all three towns can come to get water, and volunteers will also continue deliveries for those who need it. Meanwhile, residents, including church members, continue to advocate state and local officials for a permanent solution to their aging, compromised water infrastructure. Full Story