Today's post is by UM & Global blogmaster Dr. David W. Scott, Mission Theologian at the General Board of Global Ministries. The opinions and analysis expressed here are Dr. Scott's own and do not reflect in any way the official position of Global Ministries. Mission and the associated financial and other forms of support that the Western church gives to the church elsewhere in the world are often framed as charity. But what if this exchange was framed differently, as an investment by the Western church in a joint partnership with the majority world church? How might that shift underst ..read more

Today's post is by UM & Global blogmaster Dr. David W. Scott, Mission Theologian at the General Board of Global Ministries. The opinions and analysis expressed here are Dr. Scott's own and do not reflect in any way the official position of Global Ministries. The COVID-19 pandemic is over. That is to say, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), the United States government, and other authorities, the COVID-19 virus no longer constitutes a public health emergency. It is, instead, “an established and ongoing health issue,” as the WHO put it. On a practical level, the most visib ..read more

Today's post is by UM & Global blogmaster Dr. David W. Scott, Mission Theologian at the General Board of Global Ministries. The opinions and analysis expressed here are Dr. Scott's own and do not reflect in any way the official position of Global Ministries. This piece originally appeared as a commentary on the United Methodist News Service site and is republished here with permission. In a recent commentary, I noted that connectionalism has organizational, relational and theological dimensions. I pointed out that the current wave of separations from The United Methodist Church raises ques ..read more

Today's piece is the second in a three-part series by Dr. Philip Wingeier-Rayo. Dr. Wingeier-Rayo is Professor of Missiology, World Christianity and Methodist Studies at Wesley Theological Seminary. Part Three: The Impact of a Fully Online MDiv for Theological Schools On February 9, 2023, the University Senate of the UMC announced that they have approved a fully online MDiv degree to meet the educational criteria for ordination orders. https://www.gbhem.org/news/university-senate-approves-policy-change-to-offer-fully-online-master-of-divinity-degree/ This is a monumental change from the previ ..read more

Below is a run-down of significant (United) Methodist stories from the past month. Notable this month are the many stories from the continent of Africa. United Methodist mission organized in Madagascar: Bishop Joaquina Nhanala of Mozambique traveled to Madagascar to officially inaugurate a United Methodist congregation in the capital city of Antananarivo. UMNews covered the occasion with a story and photo essay: https://www.umnews.org/en/news/bishop-makes-historic-visit-to-madagascar and https://express.adobe.com/page/X8DUHKwa4rkkx/ United Methodist mission organized in the Republic of Congo ..read more

Today's piece is the second in a three-part series by Dr. Philip Wingeier-Rayo. Dr. Wingeier-Rayo is Professor of Missiology, World Christianity and Methodist Studies at Wesley Theological Seminary. Part Two: The Impact of Fully Online Theological Education on the UMC On February 9, 2023, the University Senate of the UMC announced that they have approved a fully online MDiv degree to meet the educational criteria for ordination orders. This is a monumental change from the previous policy that required at least one-third of the degree to be completed in-person. This is the second of a three-p ..read more

The Florida Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church has launched an ambitious digital humanities project that seeks to collect and preserve materials related to the history of missionaries from the Florida Annual Conference. Called the "The World Parish: Serving Beyond Boundaries-The Missionary Legacy Preservation Project," this digit humanities resource has the potential to be of significant interest to church members and academic historians alike. An overview article about the project can be found here. The project contains nearly 500 items ranging from decades ago to the present. T ..read more

Today's piece is the first in a three-part series by Dr. Philip Wingeier-Rayo. Dr. Wingeier-Rayo is Professor of Missiology, World Christianity and Methodist Studies at Wesley Theological Seminary. Part One: The Impact of Fully Online Theological Education on Seminary Students On March 11, 2020, while serving as Academic Dean at Wesley Theological Seminary I did something that I never thought I would do. I sent out an email to faculty that stated: “We are cancelling all classes.” The first positive case of Covid-19 had come too close to our seminary community, and so I cancelled all in-person ..read more

In honor of the upcoming Earth Day celebration, here are some recent creation care related United Methodist stories from the past couple months. Note the significant amount of creation care work happening outside of the United States and that most of the work is not geared toward Earth Day celebrations but rather a regular part of the church’s activities. Biogas stoves in mission school in Zimbabwe: The Nyadire Connection, Carnegie Mellon Engineers Without Borders, and United Methodist-affiliated Nyadire Central Primary School partnered to install an environmentally friendly biogas digester to ..read more

Today's post is by Rev. Dr. Kirk Sims. Rev. Dr. Sims is a United Methodist missionary with the General Board of Global Ministries, serving as a consultant and theological educator based in Prague. He is an ordained elder in the North Georgia Annual Conference ..read more