President Donald Trump’s announced travel ban will harm members of The United Methodist Church and its far-flung ministries significantly if allowed to stand. According to the newsletter 1440: “Countries whose foreign nationals will be banned are Afghanistan, Myanmar (Burma), Chad,…
United Methodist schools stand up to Trump administration
Leaders of United Methodist-affiliated colleges and universities are expanding their resistance to Trump administration efforts to interfere in the nation’s educational institutions. The movement began in late February when Roland Fernandes, top executive of the General Board of Higher Education…
For United Methodists, politics isn’t partisan; it’s gospel
This is the last in a five-part series on the newly adopted Social Principles of The United Methodist Church. “Politics” often gets a bad rap in American churches, not least because it’s confused with “partisanship.” For United Methodists, politics…
The phrase that haunted United Methodists for 52 years is gone
Note: This is the fourth in a five-part series on the updated Social Principles of The United Methodist Church. Back in 1972, delegates to the first full General Conference of the four-year-old United Methodist Church struggled to adopt a…
‘Economic Community’ teaches United Methodists all wealth belongs to God
Editor’s note: This is the third in a five-part series on the Social Principles of The United Methodist Church and how they intersect current issues. Money, money, money, money. Everybody needs it, and some get a lot more than…
‘This is no longer just about Palestine; it’s about our collective humanity’
“This is no longer just about Palestine; it’s about our collective humanity,” a Palestinian Christian pastor told the World Methodist Council March 19. Munther Isaac, pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem and author of Christ in the…
Become ‘courageous resisters,’ scholar tells UMC women
“Everyday women” of the Civil Rights Movement should inspire Christians today to become “courageous resisters,” according to AnneMarie Mingo. She spoke during a March 18 webinar hosted by United Women in Faith, the worldwide women’s organization of The United Methodist…
Layman’s book sparked UMC’s ‘Community of All Creation’
Editor’s note: This is the second in a five-part series on the Social Principles of The United Methodist Church and how they intersect current issues. In 1989, a United Methodist layman named Bill McKibben wrote a book he called…
As Trump tries to kill refugee resettlement, groups issue ‘Ash Wednesday Declaration’
The American Baptist Churches in the USA and The United Methodist Church are among a host of religious bodies joining Church World Service in issuing an “Ash Wednesday Declaration” in support of refugee resettlement work. The declaration comes as the…
Social Principles are basis of UMC opposition to Trump policies
Note: This is the first in a five-part series on the updated Social Principles of The United Methodist Church. Still reeling like many Americans from the “shock and awe” of the first few weeks of the new federal administration,…
United Methodists express solidarity with immigrants
United Methodists have joined other Christians opposing President Donald Trump’s executive orders on immigration and promising to continue their immigration ministries. Retired Bishop Julius C. Trimble, now top executive of the General Board of Church and Society, published another of…
Bishop’s sermon inspires United Methodist hymn writer
Mark Gruber-Lebowitz of Baltimore is among thousands of Christians moved by the Jan. 21 sermon of an Episcopal bishop asking President Donald Trump to have mercy on vulnerable people — but not in the way some people are moved. The…