“It’s time to focus on peace, without which nothing can move forward.” — The Rev. Henry Jean Robert Kasongo Numbize, bishop's delegate to the Kivu Conference in Congo.
NEWS AND FEATURES
United Methodists killed in Congo attack
KOMANDA, Congo (UM News) — At least 13 civilians, including a faithful United Methodist woman and two of her children, were killed in the latest violence in the Ituri province in the northeastern part of Congo. Local authorities attribute the Feb. 17-18 attack to the Allied Democratic Forces, an armed rebel group operating in eastern Congo and Uganda. United Methodist Bishop Gabriel Yemba Unda expressed his compassion and strongly condemned the acts of violence. Philippe Kituka Lolonga reports.
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Sojourners
How a church became a refugee shelter
TUKWILA, Wash. — For more than a year, Riverton Park United Methodist Church has been a cramped, uncomfortable shelter for hundreds of refugees. The church does not turn people away, but more are seeking shelter than the church can handle. That has left the church and its neighbors, community organizers and local government all seeking solutions to the crisis. Josiah R. Daniels reports.
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Baltimore-Washington Conference
Grant winner helps save African American history
CHURCHTON, Md. — While other kids played kickball or hopscotch, Elinor Thompson spent time in cemeteries. A lifelong interest in preserving family and African American history led Thompson, a member of Franklin United Methodist Church, to be awarded the African American Methodist Heritage Center’s Forrest C. Stith Grant for 2023. Thompson’s presentation, “Saving Sacred Spaces and Places in African American Church Communities,” focuses on how churches for African Americans, especially during and in the early days of post-slavery, served as the core of communities. Baltimore-Washington Conference staff have the story.
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Global Ministries
Mission Volunteers support Ecuador school
ATLANTA — Shari and David Nelson of Colorado were determined to remain active volunteers in retirement. They discovered the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries’ Mission Volunteers program and have been busy helping at an elementary school in Quito, Ecuador, and collaborating with several Methodist churches in the country. Christie R. House has the story.
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UM Insight
Pastor’s podcast explores religion, authoritarianism
MESQUITE, Texas — When the Rev. Steven D. Martin was in seminary, he read a book that examined how seemingly faithful, moral German Christians could have supported the Nazi regime in the 1930s and 1940s. Seeing parallels with strains of authoritarianism emerging in U.S. politics, the former Holston Conference pastor and documentary filmmaker has produced a new podcast, “The Altar and the Eagle,” with the goal of educating people of faith to the role religion plays in politics. Cynthia B. Astle reports.
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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 UM News staff.
Missouri Conference
Love must be the priority
COLUMBIA, Mo. — The Rev. Sandy Nenadal has been thinking a lot about the need for United Methodists to love “even better” after a season of disaffiliation. For this commentary, she draws on the books “The Methodist Book of Daily Prayer” and “Multiplying Love,” as well as a coffee shop owner who stressed loving customers as much as serving good coffee. Nenadal is the assistant to Bishop Bob Farr.
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