global ministries

Global Ministries photographer had eye on King

March 26, 2013 Posted by LInda Bloom, UMNS Leave a Comment

King (left), flanked by the Rev. Ralph Abernathy, shakes hands with Rabbi Abraham Heschel during a February 1968 prayer vigil at Arlington Cemetery.

A year to the day before the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., was assassinated, the civil rights leader made a major public speech against the war in Vietnam. John C. Goodwin, then 25 years old, was at Riverside Church in New York to document it. His photographs of King from that day and several other anti-war events from 1967 and 1968 have been in demand ever since. Mr. Goodwin, who later spent many years as the staff photographer for the United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries, had a goal [...]

A gentler, kinder approach to the mission trip

February 28, 2013 Posted by Special Contributor Leave a Comment

Nan McCurdy and Miguel Mairena are a married couple serving as United Methodist missionaries in Nicaragua, through the UMC’s General Board of Global Ministries. They have worked with mission teams for 30 years. PHOTO COURTESY GENERAL BOARD OF GLOBAL MINISTRIES

By Nan McCurdy and Miguel Mairena, Special Contributors… When organizing an international mission trip, it is helpful to prepare your group to go with open minds and open hearts: open to learning from the people you will meet, open to listening to them and open to understanding them and how they interpret the gospel in light of their history and reality. Groups sometimes go with the idea of teaching or showing “our” way, or evangelizing. We should definitely always try to show God’s love and be a word of hope; [...]

UMW a step closer to separate status

April 28, 2012 Posted by Sam Hodges, Managing Editor Leave a Comment

Today at General Conference, the General Administration Committee approved legislation that would establish United Methodist Women as a separate entity within the UMC. With the committee hurdle cleared, the legislation moves to the full General Conference. UMW has been part of the Board of Global Ministries. Making it separate is one of several proposals for restructuring the general agencies of the UMC – and one that has been far less controversial than most.