Scenic view of a Cuban town with church and mountains in the background.

Iglesia Metodista en Cuba

official website Members 0 K+ Congregations 0 + Let me ask you something. What would it take to stop your congregation from meeting? A fuel shortage? A power grid collapse? A government that has spent decades teaching children that God does not exist? For the Iglesia Metodista en Cuba none of that has been enough. Right now, Cuba is in

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Elderly man reading a newspaper at a desk with plants and books, promoting Methodist evangelism.

It Helps To Work Together

George Washington Carver was born in a slave’s shack on a cotton farm. You know his story. He became a member of the Royal Academy, distinguished himself in science and helped discover countless uses of the peanut and sweet potato which helped salvage the economy of cotton-growing areas with depleted soil. Dr. Carver was not only a distinguished scientist, a

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Dog with large ears being held by two hands, symbolizing outreach and communication.

Ears Wide Open

Isaiah directs the reader to “Come to Me with your ears wide open. Listen for the life of your soul is at stake.”  Listening for the voice of the Lord must become a serious lifestyle imperative for us all. We cannot afford to do any less than to continually come to Him with our ears wide open, because our never-dying

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Young woman reading and using her phone by the window.

The Christian Pattern | Part II

This is the second article in a series on the Christian Pattern. Read the first article here. What Is Your Life Really About? I have been a pastor for over thirty-five years. In that time I have sat across from a lot of people in a lot of conversations — in hospital rooms, in counseling sessions, in coffee shops, in

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Global Methodist Church

official website Congregations 0 K+ It started with 17 churches. In May 2022, a small group of congregations formally launched a new denomination. They called it the Global Methodist Church. Seventeen congregations. A new name. A deep conviction that Wesleyan Christianity needed a fresh expression rooted in doctrinal integrity of the historic Christian faith and the authority of Scripture. Four years

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Iglesia Metodista de Mexico

official website Members 0 K+ Congregations 0 + In the spring of 1873, two bishops from rival American churches crossed the Rio Grande within weeks of each other — heading to the same country, with the same gospel, and the same dream. One was Bishop Gilbert Haven of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The other was Bishop John Christian Keener of

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Colorful colonial buildings in Cuba with vintage car.

A Faith That Shines In The Dark: Lessons From The Cuban Church

For several years, I have heard about the amazing things God is doing in the Methodist Church in Cuba. I have sought to see these firsthand on several occasions. However, for various reasons, those doors kept closing until this February. I took a group of four from our young church along with me as I taught at WME’s Unity in

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Hand raised in prayer or blessing during World Methodist Evangelism event.

Will You Finish Well? | Part VII

Two more characteristics of the saints I want us to explore as we wrestle with the question, “Will I finish well?” Closely akin to the issue of obedience is a third characteristic of the saints: they didn’t seek ecstasy, but surrender to the will of the Lord.  The Meaning of Surrender in Christian Leadership In her strange and beautiful book

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The Christian Pattern | Part I

I was nineteen years old when I wandered into the First Methodist Church of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and fell in love with John Wesley. I didn’t know much about him at first. But the more I read, the more I was captivated — by the way God had raised him up, by his faltering journey to faith, by his struggles with

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Community gathering at sunset with Ghana flag and local village scene.

The Methodist Church Ghana

official website Members 0 K+ Congregations 0 K+ If you’ve ever wondered what it looks like for the Wesleyan movement to shape an entire nation, look no further than Ghana. This week in our Prayer & Fasting journey, we are lifting up The Methodist Church Ghana, one of the largest and most influential Methodist bodies in the world. On January

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The Locker Room And The Vestry by Elizabeth Glass Turner

One time as I came down from a platform during a church musical rehearsal, I passed several women and whispered, “I’ll be right back, I have got to go to the bathroom!” I rushed away and couldn’t hear the laughter that erupted behind me; the sound guy had not yet muted my lapel mic. My whisper had been heard throughout the sanctuary.

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Faithfulness by Bryan Collier

Most of us are familiar with John 15—it is particularly central to my life and to the life of the local church that I pastor, The Orchard UMC.  It is from Jesus’ command there, “to go and bear fruit” that we take our name, vision and mission. Most of us are familiar with the flow: Jesus begins with an eight-verse

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Where There Is New Room by Elizabeth Glass Turner

Sometimes we need a space where there is new room for the Holy Spirit: space in our lives, in our schedule, in our church building, in our preaching, in our house. For me, luckily enough – except it never seems to do with luck where new room is involved – this has been at the New Room Conference. In an

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The Character Of A Wesleyan by Carolyn Moore

Much is being made these days in my (admittedly very narrow) slice of the world about what it means to be Wesleyan. “Wesleyan” in this case doesn’t refer to a particular denomination but to a broader theological stream birthed through an eighteenth-century movement and largely defined by the commentaries and sermons of John Wesley. Wesley himself once wrote a tract

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Francis Asbury: Mission Beyond Conflict by Aaron Perry

Regardless of your politics, but dependent on the plans of God, there will be a November 9, 2016. Do you know the day? It’s the day after the United States of America will choose between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Between now and then, there will be a lot of debate, discussion, and Tweeting. But that day will come and,

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When Holy Love Is Like a Laser by Elizabeth Glass Turner

If you or I think of a laser, we probably have a mental image of what we might colloquially call a concentrated beam of light, whether it’s used recreationally like in laser tag or a laser light show, or practically like in an eye surgery or in cutting material. You might even picture the powerful ray from the Death Star in Star

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When Calvinism Becomes Dangerous by Carolyn Moore

I have great respect for many colleagues in ministry who espouse a reformed or Calvinist view of the world. That said, it should be no surprise to those who read and listen to me regularly that I am enthusiastically and unapologetically Arminian. I am far too deeply committed to the notion of God’s pure love exercised in his gift of human free

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The Unreached Object by Elizabeth Glass Turner

Protestantism has hit a snag. Catholics have their challenges, but it’s a very different set. The Orthodox church in its various forms has its disputes but remains largely unchanged. North American Protestants have hit hard times, like an ecclesial version of the 2008 economic meltdown. We’ve printed Bible verses on magnets, screen printed t-shirts, run food pantries and epic VBS

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