Local Church

The Rev. Grace Pak leads a session on cross-cultural theology at the United Methodist Church of the Incarnation in Schaumburg, Ill., during the 2024 CRCC Madang retreat on Aug. 13, 2024. File photo by the Rev. Heewon Kim, the National Association of Korean-American United Methodist Pastors Serving Cross-Racial/Cultural Appointments.

Program strengthens cross-racial ministry

The Madang program focuses on helping the many Korean American United Methodist pastors who are serving in non-Korean congregations.

Mission and Ministry

Larry and Jane Kies pose for a photo in Vumba, one of the scenic areas outside Mutare, Zimbabwe. Behind them is a Zimbabwean indigenous tree called Musasa. As United Methodist missionaries, the couple contributed to the development of agriculture and education in the country at the church’s Nyadire Mission and Africa University. Photo courtesy of Larry Kies.

Missionaries leave mark on agriculture, education

Larry and Jane Kies retired last year after serving for three decades in Zimbabwe at United Methodist Nyadire Mission and Africa University.

Church History

The history of Pickett Chapel United Methodist Church in Lebanon, Tenn., goes back almost 200 years. Pickett Chapel is believed to be the oldest African American church building in the state of Tennessee. Photo from video by Lilla Marigza, UM News.

Historic church tells story of slavery, triumph

Pickett Chapel has served both Black and white congregations over nearly 200 years. The fingerprints of enslaved people who built this church can still be seen today.

Faith Stories

The Rev. Russell E. Richey speaks during a panel discussion on theological education at Scarritt Bennett Center in Nashville, Tenn., in 2015. Richey, who died Jan. 19 at his home in Durham, N.C., was a professor at Duke Divinity School in Durham, and former dean of Emory University’s Candler School of Theology. File photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.

Richey, influential historian, remembered

The Rev. Russell E. Richey, who died Jan. 19, was praised by colleagues, friends and former students as an amiable yet exacting historian who steered scholarly research of the denomination toward sources beyond the minutes of General Conference.

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