Above: On the eve of the 2024 United Methodist General Conference in Charlotte, N.C., climate activists hold a candlelight Vigil for Creation to mark Earth Day and to call the denomination to greater stewardship of creation. Participants included Mary Frances Gaston (left) and Emily McGinn, students at the Candler School of Theology in Atlanta. The service took place at the First United Methodist Church of Charlotte. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.
2024 was a year of great change for The United Methodist Church. A history-making General Conference brought big changes for the denomination, particularly the removal of constraints on ministry with and by LGBTQ people. Globally, wars killed thousands, and left millions of people displaced. Warmer temperatures and rising sea levels increased the number and severity of extreme weather events. The contentious U.S. presidential election fueled concerns over immigration, the economy and reproductive rights. But in a world filled with uncertainty, United Methodists continued to live out their faith and serve their communities. UM News, the denomination's official news service, documented a year in the life of United Methodism worldwide.
Kaleigh Corbett and Thomas Lank of the Greater New Jersey Conference embrace after delegates to the 2024 United Methodist General Conference in Charlotte, N.C., eliminated the longtime assertion in the denomination’s Social Principles that “the practice of homosexuality… is incompatible with Christian teaching.” Photo by Larry McCormack, UM News.
The Rev. Jay Williams (right) hugs fellow delegates after the 2024 United Methodist General Conference, meeting in Charlotte, N.C., voted to remove The United Methodist Church’s ban on the ordination of clergy who are “self-avowed practicing homosexuals” — a prohibition that dated to 1984. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.
A delegate cries tears of joy after General Conference voted to remove The United Methodist Church’s ban on the ordination of clergy who are “self-avowed practicing homosexuals,” during the 2024 United Methodist General Conference in Charlotte, N.C. Photo by Larry McCormack, UM News.
The Rev. Dorlimar Lebrón Malavé (left), Bishop Karen Oliveto (in blue jacket) and her wife, Robin Ridenour (front, center), join in embracing delegates and visitors to the 2024 United Methodist General Conference in Charlotte, N.C., after the conference voted to remove the denomination’s ban on the ordination of clergy who are “self-avowed practicing homosexuals.” Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.
Bishop Agustín Altamirano Ramos prays with migrants inside the Center for Attention to Migrants, a shelter in Apaxco, Mexico, run by the Methodist Church of Mexico. The center provides food, medical care, clothing, a safe place to sleep, showers, free phone calls back home, and spiritual counseling to hundreds of migrants a day. Many migrants spend several days in Apaxco awaiting an opportunity to climb aboard a northbound freight train. Altamirano heads the Mexico City-based Mexico Annual Conference of the Methodist Church of Mexico. The center receives support from the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR). Photo by Paul Jeffrey, UM News.
After spending the night sleeping beside the railroad tracks in Apaxco, Mexico, Mari Angeli cleans the face of her 3-year old daughter Ari. They are from Venezuela, and have been traveling for a month. They've spent two days in Apaxco waiting for a freight train to stop so they can climb aboard. They received support in the town from a shelter run by the Methodist Church of Mexico, with support from UMCOR.
Wilbur, a 15-year old boy from Venezuela, helps his 5-year old sister Noemi eat a meal in the Center for Attention to Migrants, a shelter in Apaxco, Mexico, run by the Methodist Church of Mexico. The center provides food, medical care, clothing, a safe place to sleep, showers, free phone calls back home, and spiritual counseling to hundreds of migrants a day. Photo by Paul Jeffrey, UM News.
Bishop Agustín Altamirano Ramos helps deliver emergency supplies to Acapulco, Mexico, where Hurricane Otis struck in October 2023. At the last minute, the storm intensified suddenly to a Category 5 hurricane, a phenomenon observers say results from warmer ocean temperatures and other elements of the climate crisis. Altamirano is bishop of the Mexico Annual Conference of the Methodist Church of Mexico. The emergency response of the Methodist Church of Mexico in Acapulco is supported by UMCOR. Photo by Paul Jeffrey, UM News.
The Rev. Neelley Hicks talks with a neo-Nazi demonstrator outside Nashville Together, a rally in Nashville, Tenn. Hicks attended the rally to support a friend who was the subject of anti-Semitic attacks. The neo-Nazi was part of a group holding a counter-demonstration. Hicks is a United Methodist deacon and executive director and founder of Harper Hill Global, a non-profit specializing in mental and physical health resources. Photo by Ray di Pietro.
Church member Sherrie Mayotte views damage to the kitchen at Pensacola United Methodist Church in Burnsville, N.C., weeks after record rainfall from the remnants of Hurricane Helene caused the nearby Cane River to overflow its banks, driving a wall of water packed with mud and debris into the church. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.
Al Miller shares a laugh with Anita McKinney during a visit to her home in Newland, N.C. An Early Response Team from Bethlehem United Methodist Church in Moneta, Va., has been cleaning up flood damage at McKinney’s home after storms spawned by Tropical Storm Helene caused nearby Squirrel Creek to overflow its banks. Miller, the former director of disaster ministries for the North Carolina Conference, is leading the disaster recovery center at Spruce Pine United Methodist Church. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.
Nancy Galvan (left) and Glenn Cliborne, members of an Early Response Team from Bethlehem United Methodist Church in Moneta, Va., remove flood-damaged household items from a storage barn in Newland, N.C. Runoff from storms spawned by Tropical Storm Helene tore through mountain communities in Western North Carolina, causing major flooding. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.
Rosa Sistare helps explain preparations to winterize temporary housing in camping trailers for residents of the Grindstaff Trailer Park in Spruce Pine, N.C., who survived flash flooding which rolled their mobile homes onto their sides after storms spawned by Tropical Storm Helene caused nearby Brushy Creek to overflow its banks. Sistare serves as a volunteer interpreter for the Hispanic community, most of whom are longtime residents who have raised their children there. The disaster recovery center at Spruce Pine United Methodist Church has helped provide the camping trailers and is working to prepare them to withstand winter weather. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.
Randy Slemons walks among dozens of trees that were toppled by winds from Tropical Storm Helene at the Garden retreat center, which he operates near Poplar, N.C. He said he and his wife used to sing a song of thanks every morning for the beautiful setting and ask one another, “Can you believe this is our home?” Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.
Bishop David Wilson (right, front) receives applause before presiding over a session of the 2024 United Methodist General Conference in Charlotte, N.C. Applauding him from the stage are (from left) parliamentarian Maurice Henderson and Bishops Ruben Saenz Jr. and Tracy Smith Malone. Wilson is the first Native American to serve as a bishop in the denomination. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.
The Rev. Ron Bell (right) anoints Kristen Caldwell with oil during the 2024 United Methodist General Conference in Charlotte, N.C. Bell, director of healing and resilience for Discipleship Ministries and The Upper Room, participated in a noontime communion service near a prayer center outside the gathering's legislative committee rooms. Caldwell is communications manager for the Oregon-Idaho Conference. Photo by Paul Jeffrey, UM News.
Emma Asores (left) and Romuel “Dojoe” Flores walk among idled fishing boats in the Mozon II neighborhood in Rosario, Philippines. Typhoon Carina caused three oil tankers to sink in July, prompting the government to ban fishing in villages around Manila Bay. The Manila Episcopal Area Disaster Management Office is conducting relief operations in the affected communities. Asores heads the women’s organization in Mozon II and Flores is a consultant with UMCOR's International Disaster Response unit. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.
Aid recipients listen during a relief distribution at Rosario (Philippines) United Methodist Church. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.
Tina Boone shares the joy of Sunday worship with homebound and distant participants through the conference phone at Gordon Memorial United Methodist Church in Nashville, Tenn. The program, started during the COVID-19 pandemic, allows people who don’t have a computer or internet access to dial in and hear the entire service through their telephone. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.
Delegate Julia Stukalova (left) and other members of the Eastern Russia and Central Asia Conference react as delegates to the 2024 United Methodist General Conference vote to allow their conference to exit the denomination. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.
Eyes are painted on Palestinian homes in Silwan, a neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem. The eyes are part of an international public art project in support of Silwan’s longstanding fight against dispossession by Israeli officials. Murals depicting the eyes of local and international leaders, activists, workers, and more, are scattered across the hills of Silwan and can be seen from miles away. Eighty percent of the homes in Silwan and other neighborhoods in East Jerusalem have received eviction notices, and thousands of Palestinians have already been dispossessed. Photo by Paul Jeffrey, UM News.
The Rev. Larry Clark, a United Methodist pastor from Toledo, Ohio, lights a candle in Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulcher. He and other members of a visiting delegation of U.S. church activists came to the Middle East to accompany threatened Christians and other Palestinians and call for a ceasefire in Gaza. Photo by Paul Jeffrey, UM News.
The Rev. Larry Clark (in blue shirt) and other members of a delegation of U.S. church activists prays for Archimandrite Ioustinos, priest of the Saint Photini Church in Nablus, Palestine, where Jacob's Well is located. The priest has received repeated threats and assassination attempts from Israeli settlers in the West Bank. The delegation came to the Middle East to accompany threatened Christians and other Palestinians and call for a ceasefire in Gaza. Photo by Paul Jeffrey, UM News.
Bedouin sheep farmers in Umm Jamal, a small West Bank village near Nablus, pack up their belongings — including bags of animal feed — after being chased off land where they have lived for more than 30 years. Israeli settlers have harassed and threatened the families at all hours of the day and night, finally convincing them to leave the land. Israeli soldiers stationed nearby have usually protected the settlers. The farmers were visited by a delegation of U.S. church activists who came to the Middle East to accompany threatened Christians and other Palestinians and call for a ceasefire in Gaza. Photo by Paul Jeffrey, UM News.
A Bedouin sheep farmer weeps in Umm Jamal, a small West Bank village near Nablus, as he packs up his family's belongings after being chased off land where they have lived for more than 30 years. Israeli settlers have harassed and threatened the families at all hours of the day and night, finally convincing them to leave the land. Israeli soldiers stationed nearby have usually protected the settlers. The farmers were visited by a delegation of U.S. church activists who came to the Middle East to accompany threatened Christians and other Palestinians and call for a ceasefire in Gaza. Photo by Paul Jeffrey, UM News.
During an interfaith prayer service for peace along the Israel-Gaza border at the Maon Synagogue near Nirim, an air raid siren sent participants to the ground to take cover. In blue jeans and blue shirt is the Rev. Larry Clark, a United Methodist pastor from Toledo, Ohio. Clark was a member of a delegation that came to the Middle East to accompany threatened Christians and other Palestinians and call for a ceasefire in Gaza. At the interfaith service, delegation members prayed for peace with Jewish and Muslim participants. On the left (with the yellow wristband) is Rabbi Avi Dabush, who survived the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Kibbutz Nirim, and currently is displaced by the war. In addition to the air raid siren, which sounded an all clear after several minutes, the nearby explosion of bombs inside Gaza frequently disrupted the service. Photo by Paul Jeffrey, UM News.
The Rev. Jane Eesley (right) helps Amal Qumsieh and Ramzi Qubrosi divide food into portions to be distributed to hungry people in the Bethlehem area by the Shepherd Society, the outreach program of the Bethlehem Bible College. The program received a solidarity grant from UMCOR, helping Palestinians cope with the economic effects of the Israeli war on Gaza, which has scared away the tourists who are the motor of Bethlehem's economy. Eesley is a United Methodist missionary from the United States serving in the Methodist Liaison Office in Jerusalem. Photo by Paul Jeffrey, UM News.
Ramzi Qubrosi (right) delivers food to Haisam Altrash at his home in Beit Sahour, a town in the Israeli-occupied West Bank near Bethlehem. The food delivery provides nutrition and human contact to people adversely affected by the decline in tourism that has ravaged Bethlehem's economy since the October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel and the subsequent Israeli war in Gaza. It is provided by the Shepherd Society, the outreach arm of the Bethlehem Bible College. The program received a solidarity grant from UMCOR. Photo by Paul Jeffrey, UM News.
United Methodist pastor Tim Holton visits family graves at the Simpson Cemetery in Eagleville, Tenn. In 1997 his cousin, Daryl Holton, killed his four children with a military-style rife and was eventually executed in Tennessee’s electric chair. He is buried beneath the light-colored headstone at left, next to the graves of his children. Tim Holton now serves on the board of Tennesseans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty and ministers to death row inmates as a volunteer chaplain at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, Tenn. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.
United Methodist Bishop Tom Berlin (third from right) leads a prayer for the Rev. Augie Allen (seated) and his wife, Mary, at their parsonage in St. Petersburg, Fla. The home was heavily damaged by flooding from Hurricane Helene. They are joined by volunteers from Riviera United Methodist Church in St. Petersburg, where Allen serves as pastor, members of the Florida Conference staff and the United Methodist Committee on Relief. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.
The Rev. Robin Jocelyn (second from right) is comforted by Molly McEntire of the Florida Conference outside Cedar Key (Fla.) United Methodist Church following Hurricane Helene. They are joined by the Revs. Catherine Fluck Price (left) and Alex Shanks. The church sustained heavy damage from Helene’s floodwaters. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.
Homeowner Trina Madsen-Smith (left) views damage caused by Hurricane Helene in Madeira Beach, Fla., with Katie Hills, director of disaster response for UMCOR. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.
Homeowner Trina Madsen-Smith (right) hugs Jill Hockin, volunteer coordinator for the Florida Conference of The United Methodist Church, after touring storm damage caused by Hurricane Helene to her neighborhood in Madeira Beach, Fla. “We’ve lived here 50 years and never seen anything like this,” Madsen-Smith said. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.
Maria Hulipaz (center) discusses the progress of rebuilding in an informal settlement in the Tondo neighborhood of Manila with Romuel “Dojoe” Flores (left) and Josephine Cedillo after a massive fire tore through the area in July, displacing about 1,000 families. Many in the densely packed neighborhood near the port of Manila are engaged in waste picking and recycling shipping materials. Many there suffer from higher temperatures, rising water levels and exposure to water- and vector-borne illness driven, in part, by climate change. Cedillo and Flores work with the United Methodist Manila Episcopal Area Disaster Management Office and Hulipaz is president of a local community activist group, SMTH, whose name in Fillipino translates to Join us Towards a Better Home and Career. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.
The Rev. Beth Stroud (right) hugs Bishop John Schol after she was reinstated as clergy on May 21 during a closed clergy session of the Eastern Pennsylvania Annual Conference in Wildwood, N.J. Stroud was defrocked 20 years ago after admitting to being in a committed relationship with another woman. Photo © Shari DeAngelo, 3leafstudios.
The Rev. Deen Thompson (center) serves Holy Communion with Lindsey Dye at Edgehill United Methodist Church in Nashville, Tenn. Thompson was among United Methodist clergy who were reinstated as elders in full connection decades after he was removed from ministry because of his sexuality. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.
Wrestler Negative Lee (right) propels Jameson Shook toward the ropes during a New South Pro Wrestling event at the Priceville (Ala.) Event Center. The Rev. Steven Barber serves as an unofficial chaplain to the professional wrestling community at small wrestling promotions in Alabama. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.
Pro wrestlers The Mongrel (front) and Mad Dog Connelly tumble out of the ring during a match at the Priceville (Ala.) Event Center. They are attached to one another by a length of chain in what is known as a “dog collar” match. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.
Fans cheer during a New South Pro Wrestling event at the Priceville Event Center. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.
The Rev. Steven Barber cheers on wrestlers as the action spills out of the ring and onto the floor at the Priceville Event Center. Barber, who is pastor of Neel United Methodist Church in Hartselle, Ala., serves as an unofficial chaplain to the professional wrestling community. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.
Schoolgirls on a homemade raft make their way home down a flooded street in Calumpit, Philippines. Flooding caused by Typhoon Carina in July has been slow to recede, forcing many residents to wade or use boats to reach their homes. Local leaders say rising sea levels and the development of a new airport in Manila Bay has worsened flooding. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.
Romuel “Dojoe” Flores (front) and Bong Laderas wade through a flooded alleyway in Pamarawan, Philippines. Construction of the a international airport on some 6,000 acres of former mangroves and wetlands and rising sea levels have led to persistent flooding, residents say. Flores is a consultant with UMCOR, and Laderas is coordinator of AKAP KA, Manila Bay, a community organization dedicated to protecting the people and environment along the coastline of the bay. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.
The Rev. Ishmael James Bolado rides his motorbike along the flooded road in front of Meysulao United Methodist Church in Calumpit, Philippines. Bolado and church members are continuing to support families forced from their homes some three months after Typhoon Carina struck the area. Because of the flooding, “most of the people can’t work,” he said. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.
The Rev. Joseph Estadilla (front), accompanied by community leaders and representatives of UMCOR, surveys high water levels in Manila Bay near Pamarawan, a fishing village near Malolos, Philippines. Estadilla has been coordinating relief efforts in communities affected by Typhoon Carina in July. He is wearing a shawl over his head for protection from the sun. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.
Residents in low-lying areas of Calumpit, Philippines, use boats to reach their homes after streets were flooded by Typhoon Carina in July. Locals say that rising sea levels and the construction of a new airport on landfill in Manila Bay have worsened flooding in recent years. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.