“It is incredibly easy in the midst of sorrow, pain and fear to forget our first job is to love. If we are God's people, we have to be about love.” — The Rev. Ken Irby, district superintendent in Louisiana.
Louisiana Conference holds vigil for fallen police
BATON ROUGE, La. (UMNS) — For the second time in two weeks, more than 200 Baton Rouge residents joined nearly 40 United Methodist pastors to pray for the city — and this time, to mourn the death of three law enforcement officers who were gunned down on July 17. Todd Rossnagel reports for the Louisiana Conference.
Minnesota church’s ‘love letter to Orlando’
RAMSEY, Minn. (UMNS) — Members of Northern Light Church in Ramsey felt called to share God’s love with Orlando in the wake of the June 12 shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando. The resulting “love letters” to Orlando residents also ended up connecting the new United Methodist church start with the congregation of St. Luke’s United Methodist in Orlando. The Minnesota Conference's Christa Meland reports.
Read more about St. Luke’s response to the shooting
United Methodists in Central African Republic
NEW YORK (UMNS) —The beginnings of The United Methodist Church in the Central African Republic can be traced back to 2001, when Lucien Dockpa, a native of the country, tuned into Radio Afrique Internationale, a French-language radio show produced by the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries. Christie House, editor of New World Outlook, reports on what happened next.
AME: Climate change hurts blacks
PHILADELPHIA (RNS) — African Methodist Episcopal Church members have joined the call of other religious leaders for action on climate change, citing its disproportionate effect on the health of black people. Adelle M. Banks reports for Religion News Service.
Read story
Christians in North, South Korea pray together
SEOUL, South Korean (PNS) — Christians from North and South Korea have been meeting and praying together since the 1980s, when Eastern European Christians from the former Communist Bloc agreed to introduce North Korean Christians to the World Council of Churches. Their goal is peace, writes Kurt Esslinger in a special report to Presbyterian News Service.
Church start exec heads to Florida Conference
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) — The Rev. Candace Lewis, an executive at Discipleship Ministries and executive director of New Church Starts (Path 1), has been named district superintendent for the Gulf Central District of the Florida Conference. She will start her new role Sept. 1.
Looking ahead
Here are some of the activities ahead for United Methodists across the connection. If you have an item to share, email [email protected] and put Digest in the subject line.
Tuesday. Aug. 2
Webinar “Heathy Families Series: What Does it Mean to be a Family?” — 2 p.m. CDT. This interactive webinar will help participants discern the church's role in supporting family health. Webinar leaders will be from Discipleship Ministries and the United Methodist Commission on the Status and Role of Women with an introduction of Wespath’s Center for Health. All three United Methodist agencies will discuss how they touch on healthy families. Details
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