“We need it as comfortable as we can for people to return. No church wants to be on the news as the place where a bunch of people got sick.” — The Rev. Jim Doepken on reopening churches as shelter-in-place orders are lifted.
NEWS AND FEATURES
Churches practice caution before reopening
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UM News) — United Methodist bishops in the U.S. are setting guidelines and recommending what they think are appropriate times for churches in their conferences to reopen. Those recommendations are sometimes different from what their state governments are allowing. Joey Butler reports.
Read story
COVID-19 fund helps fill the gaps
ATLANTA (UM News) — From Louisiana to the Philippines, United Methodists are finding ways to assist those affected by the coronavirus pandemic and asking for support from the United Methodist Committee on Relief’s COVID-19 Response Fund. More donations are needed because of the volume of grant requests. Linda Bloom reports.
Read story
Minnesota Conference
Prayer, protest vigil held after Floyd's death
MINNEAPOLIS — After the death of George Floyd in police custody, Minnesota United Methodists were among nearly 400 people who grieved, prayed and were called to dismantle racism and act for justice. The online prayer and protest vigil organized and co-hosted by the Rev. Tyler Sit followed an in-person, public protest in south Minneapolis at the intersection where Floyd, an African American, lost consciousness. Karla Hovde reports.
Read story
Read Commission on Religion and Race statement
South Carolina Conference
Helping the starving in Guatemala
COLUMBIA, S.C. — The Healing Guatemala medical mission, headed by the Rev. Luke Rhyee, is focusing on getting food to that country because the coronavirus has prompted a crisis that threatens many with starvation during a nationwide lockdown. Jessica Brodie has the story.
Read story
Missouri Conference
Church dispatches from 1918
COLUMBIA, Mo. — The St. Louis Christian Advocate, the Midwest newspaper of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, provides some accounts of how the church dealt with the disease commonly referred to as the Spanish flu in the fall of 1918.
Read news clippings
UM News: Methodists led response in earlier epidemic
PRESS RELEASES
FastPrayGive.org
Relieving hunger at Ganta hospital
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The global aid organization FastPrayGive has set up a matching grant to cover half of the shipping cost for the North Carolina Conference to send a shipment of needed food and medical aid to United Methodist-related Ganta Hospital in Liberia. It’s one of the ways the Rise Against Hunger partner is continuing its mission in the days of COVID-19.
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.
Thinking concretely about reparations
LAKE JUNALUSKA, N.C. (UM News) — A chance meeting with an African American woman from the South Carolina island where her ancestors owned a rice plantation led Sara Jenkins, a white woman, to think concretely about reparations. Jenkins writes about the fruits of that meeting.
Read commentary
The risks of reopening and not reopening church
LEXINGTON, Ky. — The Rev. Teddy Ray, a United Methodist pastor, writes that church leaders need to consider a number of risks — both in reopening churches and staying closed.
Read commentary
RECENT HEADLINES
Bishop Jones removed from SMU board
Filipinos on the margins hurt by COVID-19
EVENTS
Monday, June 1-Friday, June 12
Online class: Faith communities’ response to domestic violence
NEWS AND FEATURES
Churches practice caution before reopening
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UM News) — United Methodist bishops in the U.S. are setting guidelines and recommending what they think are appropriate times for churches in their conferences to reopen. Those recommendations are sometimes different from what their state governments are allowing. Joey Butler reports.
Read story
COVID-19 fund helps fill the gaps
ATLANTA (UM News) — From Louisiana to the Philippines, United Methodists are finding ways to assist those affected by the coronavirus pandemic and asking for support from the United Methodist Committee on Relief’s COVID-19 Response Fund. More donations are needed because of the volume of grant requests. Linda Bloom reports.
Read story
Minnesota Conference
Prayer, protest vigil held after Floyd's death
MINNEAPOLIS — After the death of George Floyd in police custody, Minnesota United Methodists were among nearly 400 people who grieved, prayed and were called to dismantle racism and act for justice. The online prayer and protest vigil organized and co-hosted by the Rev. Tyler Sit followed an in-person, public protest in south Minneapolis at the intersection where Floyd, an African American, lost consciousness. Karla Hovde reports.
Read story
Read Commission on Religion and Race statement
South Carolina Conference
Helping the starving in Guatemala
COLUMBIA, S.C. — The Healing Guatemala medical mission, headed by the Rev. Luke Rhyee, is focusing on getting food to that country because the coronavirus has prompted a crisis that threatens many with starvation during a nationwide lockdown. Jessica Brodie has the story.
Read story
Missouri Conference
Church dispatches from 1918
COLUMBIA, Mo. — The St. Louis Christian Advocate, the Midwest newspaper of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, provides some accounts of how the church dealt with the disease commonly referred to as the Spanish flu in the fall of 1918.
Read news clippings
UM News: Methodists led response in earlier epidemic
PRESS RELEASES
FastPrayGive.org
Relieving hunger at Ganta hospital
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The global aid organization FastPrayGive has set up a matching grant to cover half of the shipping cost for the North Carolina Conference to send a shipment of needed food and medical aid to United Methodist-related Ganta Hospital in Liberia. It’s one of the ways the Rise Against Hunger partner is continuing its mission in the days of COVID-19.
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.
Thinking concretely about reparations
LAKE JUNALUSKA, N.C. (UM News) — A chance meeting with an African American woman from the South Carolina island where her ancestors owned a rice plantation led Sara Jenkins, a white woman, to think concretely about reparations. Jenkins writes about the fruits of that meeting.
Read commentary
The risks of reopening and not reopening church
LEXINGTON, Ky. — The Rev. Teddy Ray, a United Methodist pastor, writes that church leaders need to consider a number of risks — both in reopening churches and staying closed.
Read commentary
RECENT HEADLINES
Bishop Jones removed from SMU board
Filipinos on the margins hurt by COVID-19
EVENTS
Monday, June 1-Friday, June 12
Online class: Faith communities’ response to domestic violence
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