Daily Digest - July 16, 2020

“Many people won’t abandon their opinion that using these terms is honoring Native people. This is an acknowledgment that, just maybe, this is not profit over people and we're people, not caricatures.”Anne Marshall, councilwoman for the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and member of the Wewoka United Methodist Church in Holdenville, Oklahoma, on the Washington NFL team name change.


NEWS AND FEATURES 

NFL team name change victory for Native people

OKLAHOMA CITY (UM News) — United Methodist advocates say dropping Redskins as Washington’s NFL team’s name marks the beginning of an era of understanding the negative impact the names have for Native people. Kathy L. Gilbert has the story.
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Pandemic creates new opportunities for some
GWERU, Zimbabwe (UM News) — United Methodists in Zimbabwe and Congo are building new businesses or adapting old ones to make ends meet during the COVID-19 pandemic. Seviria Taedza, 22, has turned her church training into a successful business during the lockdown and now is helping to support her family and church. Kudzai Chingwe has the story.
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Western North Carolina Conference
3 dinner churches adapt to ‘new normal’

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — When church doors closed, leaders of dinner churches expected they, too, would need to suspend their ministries for a time. “But the Lord had other ideas,” said one church leader. The Western North Carolina Conference shares how three dinner churches have adapted to nourish souls in safety.
Read story


PRESS RELEASES

Global Ministries
Korean hospital ships face masks to mission agency

ATLANTA — Seeking to help in the battle against COVID-19, a top hospital in Seoul founded by a missionary doctor has shipped 10,000 face masks to the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries for distribution to retired missionaries. 
Read press release

Methodist Foundation for Arkansas 
Grant supports new Project Transformation chapter

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — The Methodist Foundation for Arkansas is supporting the Arkansas Conference’s Culture of Calling initiative with a $106,500 grant. The money will help start a Project Transformation chapter in the conference’s Southeast District. Project Transformation is a nonprofit in which young adults who feel a call to ministry work with low-income kids in summer and after-school programs.
Read press release


COMMENTARIES
UM News includes in the Daily Digest various commentaries about issues in the denomination. The opinion pieces reflect a variety of viewpoints and are the opinions of the writers, not the UM News staff.

Eastern Pennsylvania and Peninsula-Delaware conferences
Bishop reflects on Americans with Disabilities Act

PHILADELPHIA — Bishop Peggy Johnson reflects on the progress made and what still needs to be done in The United Methodist Church for people who are “differently abled.” Her commentary addresses the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act on July 26, 1990. She will take part in an online panel discussion sponsored by the Interfaith Disability Advocacy Collaborative on July 22 at noon Eastern time.
Read blog and register for online event


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