General Church

Bishops
Bishop Ruben Saenz Jr., presides over a session of the 2024 United Methodist General Conference in Charlotte, N.C. Saenz, who leads the Horizon Texas Conference, is co-convener of the design team for this October’s Leadership Gathering. He and other organizers hope to engage all United Methodist in the gathering through a survey and through webinars scheduled January through March. File photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.

Bishops ask all to help shape church’s future

The Council of Bishops is inviting all United Methodists to participate in a historic denomination-wide survey and join in a series of webinars to prepare for this October’s Leadership Gathering.
Mission and Ministry
Kephus Mtambo, farm project coordinator for Mikundi Dairy Farm in Blantyre, Malawi, walks in a barn that is under construction. The farm is being transformed from a previously neglected irrigation facility into a modern livestock center with support from the Yambasu Agriculture Initiative, a United Methodist Board of Global Ministries program. Photo by Francis Nkhoma, UM News.

Malawi farm aims to improve lives, draw people to Christ

Supported by a grant from The United Methodist Church’s Yambasu Agriculture Initiative, Mikundi Dairy Farm provides a model for community empowerment and evangelism.
General Conference
The Rev. Aleze M. Fulbright (center) celebrates the growth of The United Methodist Church in Africa as the Commission on the General Conference meets in Minneapolis on Nov. 11. Indiana Conference Bishop Tracy S. Malone announced Jan. 16 that Fulbright is leaving her role as General Conference secretary to become executive secretary to the bishop, starting in July. Photo by Heather Hahn, UM News.

General Conference secretary steps away

The Rev. Aleze Fulbright said she feels called back to the local ministry context and plans on June 30 to conclude her role overseeing the organization of The United Methodist Church’s top lawmaking assembly.
Bishops
Retired Bishop José Gamboa Jr. served as the first resident bishop of the Davao Episcopal Area in the southern Philippines. He died Dec. 22 at age 97. Photo courtesy of Union Theological Seminary Philippines.

Bishop Gamboa remembered as humble shepherd

e educator and trailblazing United Methodist leader pioneered mission in the Philippines’ Davao Episcopal Area. Gamboa died Dec. 22 at age 97.

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