Overcoming ethnic differences through education

In a country with a recent history of cultural and ethnic division, Missionaries Külli Tõniste and Douglas Childress discuss how their work at Baltic Methodist Theological Seminary in Tallinn, Estonia is creating a more just and equitable learning environment.

Peace with justice for the Korean Peninsula

PHOTO: COURTESY ADAM SHAW

I grew up seeing people like my father holding communal memorial services at places as near to North Korea as they could get. Dividing Korea at the 38th parallel not only divided the land but also loved ones. – Rev. James Chongho Kim, from “The Light of Peace:     Churches in Solidarity with the Korean Peninsula,” World […]

Striving for justice in Central America

Cristian Schlick is a global missionary who works with migrants from Central America and Mexico in El Salvador. He was commissioned in June 2019 after serving for two years as a Global Mission Fellow, also in El Salvador, focused on human rights issues.

UMCOR Campaigns

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