Stories

Within 20 years, missionary pastor Juarez Goncalves has coordinated the planting of seven United Methodist churches in the United States, centered in New England where he serves multiethnic communities.

Twenty-seven farm and technical operatives of the Bishop John K. Yambasu Agricultural Initiative (YAI) from Sierra Leone, Liberia, Nigeria and Zimbabwe are learning agricultural entrepreneurship skills at a two-week training at Songhai Center – a research, teaching and production center in sustainable farming in Port Novo, Benin.  

In Puerto Rico, over 1 million people have registered with FEMA seeking assistance.

As the war in Ukraine escalates, UMCOR engages with more partners inside and outside Ukraine to care for war-weary people whose lives have been disrupted and overburdened with loss. Since July, more than $14 million in new grants have been approved to continue United Methodist war relief through UMCOR.

Conference Disaster Response teams from the Florida and North Carolina annual conferences explore the benefits of mobile solar-powered generators while responding in real time to power needs in Florida after Hurricane Ian.

In 1960, Ruth Johnson Colvin decided to volunteer her time to do something about the high rate of functional illiteracy in Syracuse, where she lived. Sixty-two years later, the nonprofit she founded and the methods she designed to teach literacy have spread across the United States and into 26 developing countries around the world.

Global Ministries EarthKeepers’ projects in 2022 include plans to increase environmentally sustainable energy projects, decrease waste and plastics, repopulate trees in urban areas, improve access to environmental resources, preserve island habitats, grow gardens in many settings and offer spiritual growth opportunities that integrate the need for human rest and restoration with the environment’s need for care and thoughtful preservation.

Global Health partners with the North Katanga UMC for a cholera campaign that provides more treatment options and prevention measures, but also aims to change the understanding of entire communities about water safety and sanitation to stop the disease in its tracks.

More than 18 million people face severe hunger in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya as they struggle to survive the worst drought in 40 years. UMCOR is responding to this unfolding crisis.

The application has launched for the next cohort of young adults who will serve in social justice ministries in the United States in 2023-25.

UMCOR has delivered 4,000 cleaning and hygiene kits, supplies of non-potable water and generators while ERTs help assess damage.

As the 2022 hurricane season begins to churn, UMCOR continues work with partners in the Bahamas to aid the recovery of families affected by Hurricane Dorian in 2019, marking its three-year anniversary.