Students take civil rights tour for spring break
Students affiliated with United Methodist campus ministries at Emporia State University and Baker University in east Kansas spent spring break tracing the civil rights struggle of the 1950s and ’60s. From Atlanta, where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. first became a public figure… to Central High School in Little Rock, where forced desegregation began… and at various landmarks along the way, the students are engrossed by countless stories of heroism and horror.
African bishops discuss health needs
United Methodists are looking at ways to improve health systems in Africa. Representatives of the denomination and its Global Health Initiative recently consulted with several African bishops about how to strengthen their health boards. The goal: to be better able to receive funds and improve the health systems in their areas.
Hoops turn fears into friendship
The Books and Basketball ministry helps Broadmeadow United Methodist Church in Jackson, Miss., touch its community. What started with the simple act of opening a gymnasium door has turned into a ministry that has reconnected the church with its community.
A Statement on Recent Gun Violence
The General Board of Church & Society of The United Methodist Church is saddened by the gun-related violence of last weekend. Fourteen persons, most of them immigrants and refugees, died in the shooting at the American Civic Assn. in Binghamton, N.Y., on Friday, and three police officers were killed on Saturday while answering a domestic dispute call in Pittsburgh, Pa. Our sadness at the tragic loss of life is equaled by our continued disappointment at the inability of Congress to enact necessary, common-sense gun regulations. In the face of more and more mass killings due to gun violence, it is imperative for Congress to take action. In the interest of public safety, we cannot permit the power of the gun lobby and its efforts to ensure ownership without responsibility to keep Congress silent and inactive.
Ethnic church social justice programs funded
Young people with a passion for justice issues, an interracial youth camp for boys and social justice education for teenage mothers, the mentally ill and children are some of the projects that will receive more than $185,000 from The United Methodist Church’s social action agency. The Ethnic Local Church Grants program seeks to strengthen congregations through education, advocacy or leadership development for social justice engagement. The grants are awarded twice each year during the United Methodist Board of Church and Society’s spring and fall meetings.
Black Methodists urged to share God’s ‘amazing grace’
One of America’s foremost preachers ended a three-day conference of black United Methodist leaders by foretelling good news, citing divine intervention in the U.S. presidency of Barack Obama and calling for a deeper Christian commitment to ministry among the poor. The Rev. James A. Forbes, senior minister emeritus of New York’s Riverside Church, spoke to more than 500 members and guests of Black Methodists for Church Renewal at their closing banquet on March 27, in a manner that some described as “prophetic.”
Native American Ministries Sunday Spotlight: Daphine L. Strickland
Daphine L. Strickland, a Lumbee laywoman from the Western North Carolina Annual Conference, is a new 2009-2012 member of GCORR's Board of Directors. She is a gifted, impassioned public speaker, lecturer and storyteller about Native Americans and their culture, as well as about African American history.
PBS presents Native American history in "We Shall Remain"
From PBS’s acclaimed history series, American Experience, in association with Native American Public Telecommunications (NAPT), comes We Shall Remain, a groundbreaking mini-series and provocative multi-media project that establishes Native history as an essential part of American history. Five 90-minute documentaries spanning three hundred years tell the story of pivotal moments in U.S. history from the Native American perspective. We Shall Remain will premiere on PBS in April 2009.
|
|
