When the Oregon-Idaho Conference decided to become involved in the Abundant Health initiative of the General Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church, Rev. Marshall Wattman-Turner was eager to get involved.

On July 1, he began his job as the Conference’s Abundant Health Coordinator and will be working part-time to focus on improved spiritual, mental, physical and emotional health throughout the Conference.

“It represents a confluence of my call to ministry and my experiences over the last 40 years,” Wattman-Turner said of this position. “The last several years I’ve been exploring the call to serve at the intersection of faith and health care.”

Read more of this story on the Conference website.

“The Western Jurisdiction Immigration Taskforce uncompromisingly rejects the forced separation of children from their families. United Methodists are called to mourn, and to act, when we encounter a child being taken away from their family. We reject any effort to label a human being “illegal.”  Every person is of infinite and sacred worth and bears the image of a God who would have us treat with kindness and love. We oppose our government’s “zero tolerance policy” towards immigrants and migrants. It has resulted in the internment of families who in many cases have come to our border seeking safety from violence and deprivation. The criminalization of the asylum process is unconscionable, and we affirm the rights of people who fear domestic violence and gang violence to seek asylum in the United States.”

Read more of this statement, and find resources for local churches, on the Conference website.

For United Methodist missionary Adam Shaw, being expelled from the Philippines will mean leaving an area that has felt like home.

“I think the cruelest part is that I can’t come back, and that is the most painful part for me,” Shaw said, during a July 2 press conference at Good Samaritan United Methodist Church.

Shaw, a United Methodist Global Ministries missionary, has been expelled by the Philippine government and will return to Ohio next week. Two other United Methodist missionaries—Tawanda Chandiwana, who is in a detention center, and Miracle Osman, who has had her passport confiscated—are still being detained. All three were labeled subversives by the government while taking part in an international ecumenical fact-finding investigation of alleged human rights violations, including the deaths of nine indigenous people.

Read more of this story from United Methodist News Service.

 In times of hardship, the church is needed more than ever to transform individuals as well as communities with the gospel of hope and to advocate for social justice.

Perhaps that is why — despite social, economic and political challenges — The United Methodist Church in Zimbabwe continues to strive for financial sustainability, raising funds within membership.

People share whatever they can. Rather than giving up in despair, “they work together within the difficulties of their economy,” said the Rev. Alan Gurupira, administrative assistant to Bishop Eben K. Nhiwatiwa, Zimbabwe Episcopal Area.

Because of economic sanctions, Zimbabwe cannot trade freely. People struggle to make ends meet. Yet, people give to the church, and God turns tiny offerings into gigantic mountains.

Read more of this story from United Methodist News Service.