“We are willing to be arrested in front of the White House to tell the President that compassion on immigration starts with the stroke of his pen. We know that the consequences will be minor for us compared to the grave reality undocumented people live with on a constant basis.” — Los Angeles Area Bishop Minerva Carcaño
United Methodists to risk immigration protest arrests
WASHINGTON (UMNS) – United Methodist Bishops Minerva Carcaño and Julius Trimble will be among several United Methodists, undocumented immigrants and other faith leaders who will risk arrest at a pray-in on President's Day, Feb. 17, in front of the White House as President Obama nears a record-breaking 2 millionth deportation. United Methodist News Service will cover the event and provide updates.
Cupid and The United Methodist Church
LAFAYETTE, Ind. (UMNS) – Some call it “Methodist Destiny.” For Valentine’s Day, couples share how United Methodist ministries brought them together and have helped their marriages withstand the test of time.
Read story and share if the church helped your love connection
Better than chocolate: A vow renewed
PALM COAST, Fla. (UMNS) – Palm Coast United Methodist Church is among the Florida congregations spreading a message that expressions of love should not be reduced to just heart-shaped boxes of treats on Valentine’s Day. The church hosts an annual renewal-of-marriage vows for couples. It is not alone, reports Kathy Steele for the Florida Annual (regional) Conference.
Read story
Read Religion News Service about how love became part of marriage
Dorsey, rural chaplain, agency director, dies
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (UMNS) – The Rev. Frank Lee Dorsey, an active member of the United Methodist Rural Chaplains Association and former director of the denomination’s Board of Global Ministries and Board of Church and Society, died Feb. 5 at the age of 75.
Clergy diversity mirrors membership
CHICAGO (UMNS) – The United Methodist Commission on the Status and Role of Women has found a 7.6-percent increase in the denomination’s U.S. clergy of color during a five-year period. The analysis also found the numbers mirror the racial/ethnic group proportions in U.S. membership.
Read story
See where clergy are
WCC concerns about violence, displaced
BOSSEY, Switzerland (UMNS) – The World Council of Churches executive committee has expressed its strong concern over an “alarming trend” in the number of displaced worldwide. The Feb. 12 statement noted the increased number of displaced because of the violence in Syria, in the Central African Republic and in South Sudan.
Statement of rights on internally displaced
Minute on South Sudan
Bread for World’s 2014 letter campaign
WASHINGTON (UMNS) – United Methodists and other Christians are being invited to use their influence in urging the U.S. Congress to develop policies that end hunger by participating in Bread for the World’s 2014 Offering of Letters. The focus this year is “Reforming U.S. Food Aid.”
Bridge Bread helps homeless, jobless
ST. LOUIS (UMNS) – The St. Louis Post-Dispatch shows in pictures how Centenary United Methodist Church in the downtown area is helping people regain their lives through baking bread.
Can divorced clergy become bishops?
MONROVIA, Liberia (UMNS) – Sometimes, even among clergy, relationships do not last. James Massaquoi and Cletus A. Sieh of West Africa address the incorrect assumption that United Methodist rules prevent divorced clergy from becoming bishops.
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