Mountain Sky Episcopal Area

The Rev. Anjie Peek Rivers officiates at a baptism Aug. 9 for the Nichols family at Atlanta’s Eastside Church, one of nine small, thriving United Methodist congregations featured in a new report by Wesleyan Impact Partners. In “Flourishing Small Congregations,” the Texas-based nonprofit challenges The United Methodist Church to see small churches as assets. Eastside also celebrated its 15th anniversary Aug. 9. Photo by Karina Aragon-Buchanan, Eastside Church.

How small congregations can flourish

Small churches are an asset for The United Methodist Church, argues a new report from Wesleyan Impact Partners. The report profiles nine U.S. congregations that are outsized in their community impact.

Church History

A 1961 map shows the location of churches and the borders of episcopal areas within the Central Jurisdiction, which the Methodist Church established to segregate Black members from the wider church. The union that formed The United Methodist Church in 1968 dissolved the Central Jurisdiction. During the Council of Bishops spring meeting in Jacksonville, Fla., bishops explored the legacy of the Central Jurisdiction as denominational leaders consider changes to the geographic jurisdictional system. Image courtesy of Archives and History.

Lessons from past shape jurisdictions’ future

United Methodist bishops learned more about the legacy of the segregated Central Jurisdiction and history of the jurisdictional system, as leaders contemplate possible changes to that system.

Human Rights

Great Plains Conference Bishop David Wilson, left, and Eugene Ridgely Jr., a Sand Creek representative of the Northern Arapaho tribe, gather in an Arapaho tipi located at the History Colorado Center in Denver. Both men are part of the United Methodist Responses to the Sand Creek Massacre Team, which met Sept. 20-21 at Iliff School of Theology to formulate next steps in the denomination’s work to atone for its role in the 1864 Sand Creek Massacre. Photo by Joey Butler, UM News.

Church restarts response to Sand Creek Massacre

Church leaders and Sand Creek representatives from the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes gathered at Iliff School of Theology to identify concrete ways the denomination can continue to work toward repentance.

Human Rights

The Rev. Calvin Hill, a Navajo holy man and pastor at First United Methodist Church in Newcastle, Wyo., puts cedar ashes on Doug Tzan, assistant dean at Wesley Theological Seminary, in a calling your name ceremony Sept. 11 during the 10th Historical Convocation at Bozeman United Methodist Church in Bozeman, Mont. The convocation featured a detailed report on The United Methodist Church’s involvement with U.S. boarding schools for Native American children. Photo by the Rev. Jeremy Smith.

Spotlighting UMC’s role in Indigenous boarding schools

A report on The United Methodist Church’s involvement with U.S. boarding schools for Native American children was presented at the 10th Historical Convocation. Remembrance and reconciliation is the goal of the initial research, but more work is planned.

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