North Carolina Annual Conference

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.

Teens clap and sing during one of two UNITE youth retreats sponsored by the Missouri Conference in July 2025 at Central Methodist University in Fayette, Missouri. United Methodist conferences in the U.S. are seeing growth at annual youth retreats after years of slowdown following the COVID pandemic. File photo by Schaefer Photography.

Conference youth retreats make comeback

Promoting youth involvement in leadership and maintaining yearlong connections beyond the United Methodist events have been keys to success.

Local Church

Corn is harvested from a field next to New Hope Bethel United Methodist Church outside Leipsic, Ohio, in 2010. Rural United Methodist churches are contributing to the economies of their communities up to $735,000 annually per congregation, according to a study funded by The Duke Endowment of rural congregations in North Carolina. File photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.

Rural churches fuel economies

Rural churches and their leaders should look beyond the length of the membership rolls and the amount of donations collected to gauge their worth, a new study in North Carolina suggests.

Mission and Ministry

Priscilla Legay Jaiah-Gilayeneh, director of the Ganta Mission Station in Liberia’s Nimba County, displays a pig farming T-shirt during the dedication ceremony of a new butchery plant in Ganta City. Photo by E Julu Swen, UM News.

Butchery plant empowers pig farmers in Liberia

Through partnership with the North Carolina Conference, Liberian United Methodists share benefits with their neighbors.

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