JULY FFL

First Friday Letter

The World Methodist Council

Greetings from the General Secretary

Dear siblings in Christ Jesus.

July 2023

We recently gathered at the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches to celebrate, commemorate, and speak truth to power through statements on global issues that threaten peace and security and develop action plans as we journey together as an ecumenical fellowship of 352 churches representing 580 million Christians worldwide. (News | World Council of Churches (oikoumene.org)

This year, the World Council of Churches, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the International Labour Organisation’s Freedom of Association Convention celebrate their Diamond Anniversary (75 years). To be Methodist is to be ecumenical and engage in civil society. Our founder, Mr. Wesley, made it very clear that “Christianity is essentially a social religion,” and to turn it into a solitary religion is to destroy it. He claimed that “holy solitariness” is no more consistent with the Gospel than “holy adultery.” Methodists firmly believe that “there is no holiness except social holiness.” There is no other place or time to respond to the Gospel and to show that we love God and our neighbor except in the cut and thrust of daily living.

July 1 marked the 150th anniversary of the Dutch abolition of slavery, and King Willem-Alexander delivered a speech in which he apologized for his country’s role in the slave trade. In a recent panel discussion on “Pilgrimage of Justice, Reconciliation, and Unity” at the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches, I asked if saying sorry was enough without reparations. Can an apology and asking for forgiveness heal generational trauma and injustice?

During the past month, I spent time at our office in Waynesville, and together with staff, we began the countdown to Conference22 in Gothenburg from 13-18 August 2024. (The World Methodist Conference | Coming to Sweden in 2024) As presenters and workshop leaders confirmed their participation in Conference, we are all excited and look forward to a great time in August next year. The registration site will be up soon.

It is almost impossible to have a conversation without someone sharing their source of information: ChatGPT or some other form of generative artificial intelligence (AI). While I value and celebrate new and emerging technologies, in an age of fake news and false information, the Persian poet Omar Kayam says, “A hair divides what is false and true.” Will ChatGPT affect critical thinking and the search for truth? (link to WCC statement on AI)

Happy reading.

Shalom

Reconciliation in conflict areas is not easy

Church leaders from Canada, the Holy Land, and South Africa have addressed the central committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Geneva on reconciliation, explaining that the process involving communities is not easy and needs hard work and responsibility.

24

Bishop Ivan Abrahams, the secretary general of the U.S.-based World Methodist Council, addressed a session of the central committee about reconciliation, saying that South Africa shaped his vision.

“I am a South African whose life has been shaped on the anvil of the apartheid struggle,” he said in an address to the WCC’s governing body, which usually meets every two years.

From 2003-2012, Bishop Abrahams served as presiding bishop of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa–one of the largest Christian denominations in Southern Africa.

Abrahams spoke about South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) which was set up by the South African Government of National Unity in 1995 to help deal with what happened under apartheid and was led in part by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who died in 2021.

Facing the truth

It was “an attempt to face our own truth about the wounds, horrors and enriching of the past,” said Abrahams.

“There are many published works analyzing the achievements and shortfalls of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, who chose restorative justice above retributive justice,” said Abrahams.

It took six years for the TRC to complete its work, and he said Tutu had claimed that South Africa would show the world how to deal with post-conflict situations.

The TRC offered forgiveness to those who testified to it honestly, but scholars have looked at the sometimes-ambiguous role of the church in the struggle for liberation in South Africa and was seen as a “quasi-judicial institution.”

“In many ways, the TRC became a public confessional. It was a national and symbolic healing ritual of a very special kind that offered a place for people to tell their stories and exorcise past demons.”

He said that although the commission chose to include the term reconciliation in its title, it should be realised that the word reconciliation was not always associated with forgiveness.

“But for others, it meant political tolerance so that democracy could be consolidated,” said Abrahams.

“There’s so much work to be done in South Africa to bring about healing and transformation. And again, from my experience, I know that reconciliation and true transformation can be a messy business, and you need to be prepared to get your hands dirty,” said Abrahams.

June 2023, Geneva, Switzerland: WCC president H.E. Metropolitan Dr. Vasilios of Constantia and Ammochostos of the Church of Cyprus moderates a Pilgrimage plenary on Reconciliation underway at the World Council of Churches central committee, which gathers in Geneva on 21-27 June 2023, for its first full meeting following the WCC 11th Assembly in Karlsruhe in 2022. Photo: Albin Hillert/WCC

Reconciliation in conflict areas is not easy continued...

Rev. Ryscilla Shaw of the Anglican Church of Canada, a central committee member, said that the Anglican Church in Canada “came as a tool of the colonizers into the promised land.”

Shaw said, “We, as a tool of the colonizer, killed the prophets. As a tool of the colonizer, we laid waste to the civilizations that were there, in a land flowing with milk and honey.”

She said the church was complicit and participated in benefiting from “the theft of land and in the destruction of language, culture, ceremony, medicine, wisdom, community.”

Children taken from homes

Indigenous children had been taken from their homes.

“Anglican, Catholic, and United Presbyterian clergy baptized the children. As the church, we promised to take care of these precious children of God. In participating in this genocidal structure. We did not. We failed the church. We failed the Jesus way – the way of love.”

Shaw said that churches are building momentum for future work.

“And in our context, both the settlers and the Indigenous peoples need to heal. We have a collective responsibility because we travel this common river of life together. So instead of being chaplains for the empire, let us as churches be the conscience of the people.”

Patriarch Theophilos, Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, said in a video message from the Holy Land that the church is the living witness of the divine-human encounter.

“And we seek to foster the world of reconciliation. In our services, we understand well the constant need for forgiveness, healing broken relationships, replacing justice, and restoring proper relationships between individuals and the community.

“And this work is always at the core of our life. The church is on this spiritual mission for the wellbeing, not just of the Christian community. But for all our people who make up our region’s multicultural, multi-ethnic, multi-religious landscape.”

Theophilos said that commitment was not shared equally in his area.

“There continue to be radical groups whose sole intent is to bring about the extinction of the official presence in the Holy Land,” he noted, explaining the campaign of intimidation or assaults that take place daily and go unpunished.

“Reconciliation requires, for example, the will to reckon with the wrongs that occur. Those who commit such crimes against the Christian community must be held responsible,” said Theophilus, with reconciliation requiring responsibilities.

“Those who commit such crimes against the Christian community must be held responsible for their actions by society and the government.”

Read more here https://www.oikoumene.org/news

WMC Consultation on Migration in Manila September 4-7, 2023

Registrations are still open for the 2. Consultation on Migration which takes place from September 4 to 7, 2023 in Manila, Philippines. Participants will engage in a creative process of listening and learning, grounded in worship, bible studies and theological reflection, to explore ways how to engage in ministries with migrants and refugees and to prepare for the World Methodist Conference 2024 under the theme “On the Move”. Here is the registration link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSear5ziSuFTu5ZcV1RDsxhqGjB9qdrHrqIdsIJCVCKsHYcsZw/viewform?usp=sf_link

Contact Geneva Secretary Rosemarie Wenner (rosemarie.wenner@emk.de) for further information.

Gurteen Agricultural College celebrates 75 years

In 1947, the Methodist Church in Ireland committed itself to the welfare of rural communities in Ireland and elsewhere by establishing an agricultural college at Gurteen1 in Co Tipperary, Ireland. A group of local business people and farmers collaborated to buy a small farm and to establish the College under the leadership of the Revd Wesley G. McKinney, the first Principal. The college was to be based on Christian principles and to facilitate ‘the care, conservation and development of the land and quality of rural life’. This was a prophetic and courageous venture by a minority church community, but ‘small is beautiful’ and the College has prospered under successive Principals,2 and enjoys an ever-growing student body which has included some who have gone on to play significant roles in Irish public and political life.

This year has been one of celebration of 75 years of achievement and success, culminating in a Service of Thanksgiving on Sunday, June 25th. A wide range of past pupils and friends from round the country attended the event. The service was led by the Chaplain to the College, the Revd Steven Foster, and the address was given by WMC Vice President, Gillian Kingston. She reflected on Isaiah 35, noting the life-giving triangle of relationships outlined by the prophet –God, humankind and the created world.

The vision for the College now includes a commitment to the environment, threatened in a way which could not be foreseen in 1947 - climate change is a current reality. The Vice President recalled the South Pacific church leader who reminded the World Methodist Council of this at its meeting in Mexico in 2019: ‘we will be the first climate refugees and we will have no right of return as our islands will be under the Pacific Ocean. She quoted from a letter written in April by the United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, to his great-great-granddaughter, addressing issues of climate change…

You are decades from birth, but I already hear you. The central question from you and all humanity both haunts and motivates me.

‘What did you do to save our planet and our future when you had the chance?’3

Concluding with a reflection on a disturbing incident during which Jesus overturns the tables of money changers in the temple at Jerusalem4, the Vice President asked if we are sufficiently angry at what is

happening in the home our Father God has provided for us, angry enough to protest at the exploitation of people and of natural resources, angry enough to overturn vested interests.

Following the service, a number of trees native to Ireland were planted as part of a Diamond Jubilee grove and there was an opportunity to take self-guided tours round the farm and to view some of the measures being taken in the interests of saving energy and increasing sustainability.

It is most encouraging to see how seriously vital issues of sustainability and of environmental protection are being taken by the young women and men attending Gurteen Agricultural College - a sign of real hope for the future of Planet Earth. Thanks be to God!

Submitted by Gillian Kingston Vice President, WMC

1 Gurteen is an anglicization of the Irish word, Gortín’ meaning ‘little field.’

2 The third Principal, Oscar Loane, married Edith, a daughter of the first Principal, Wesley McKinney. Dr Edith Loane was the inspirational President of the World Federation of Methodist and Uniting Church Women for 1996-2001. Much of her life was centred round the College.

3 https://time.com/collection/earth-awards-2023/6272884/antonio-guterres-climate-change-apology-great-great-granddaughter/

4 John 1:13-17

Vice President Gilian Kingston planting a tree as part of Diamond Jubilee.

Rev. Dr. Hawxhurst to lead Churches Uniting in Christ

Rev. Dr. Jean Hawxhurst has been elected as President of the Churches Uniting in Christ (CUIC), an organization of 10 member denominations, who hold visible unity, racial equity and theological dialogue among their top commitments. She is the United Methodist Church Council of Bishops Ecumenical Staff Officer and a member of the WMC Steering Committee.

CUIC currently consists of 10 churches, including: The African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME), the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (AMEZ), the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church (CME), The Episcopal Church, the International Council of Community Churches, the Moravian Church (Northern Province), the Presbyterian Church in the USA, the United Church of Christ and The United Methodist Church.

CUIC currently consists of ten churches, including: The African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME), the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (AMEZ), the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church (CME), The Episcopal Church, the International Council of Community Churches, the Moravian Church (Northern Province), the Presbyterian Church in the USA, the United Church of Christ and The United Methodist Church.

Rev. Hawxhurst was elected at the CUIC gathering last week in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, during their first in-person plenary since before the COVID-19 pandemic. She is the first United Methodist to lead the organization since its creation. Her term runs for three years.

“The recent plenary in Philadelphia signified a renewed commitment to CUIC that is exciting,” Rev. Hawxhurst said. “I am grateful to be a part of this amazing leadership team, and my prayer is that we will be able to build on previous foundational work toward unity on which we stand in the present time.”

Bishop Jeffrey Leath of the AME Church will serve as Vice President. Rev. Rock Fremont will serve as Secretary while Ms. Juliet Owuor of the PCUSA will serve as Treasurer, with bookkeeping help from Mr. James Tse of the PCUSA.

During the gathering in Philadelphia, representatives from across the United States spent time in worship, discernment, prayer and fellowship over three days of a powerful and positive experience. Participants left with a renewed commitment to stay together. Ms. Martinique Mix of the AME Church encouraged the group to “break, so that we can bend together,” and as they departed amidst hugs and congratulations, it was clear that the Churches Uniting in Christ intend to make that happen.

The plenary in Philadelphia represented a renewed engagement of all ten communions and a determination to continue their work toward visible Christian unity in the United States.

A community worship service was held at Mother Bethel AME Church, after walking there from Historic St. George’s UM Church, in remembrance of the forced exit of Black members led by Richard Allen and others. The Rev. Mark Kelly Tyler of Mother Bethel welcomed the worshippers. Bishop Jeffrey Leath of the AME Church offered a sermon calling CUIC to say “good morning” to a new time of dedication to the vision of racial equity that is foundational to the commitment of the member churches of CUIC. CME Bishop Teresa Jefferson-Snorton, a former President of the group and also a member of the WMC Steering Committee officiated at the Eucharistic table.

Read more of this story at https://www.unitedmethodistbishops.org/

Rev. Dr. Jean Hawxhurst

What is World Methodist Evangelism?

One of the exciting aspects of the global Wesleyan Methodist family is that it is not a static or dying movement. Over the 50+ years of World Methodist Evangelism’s ministry, new expressions have emerged, and new people have come into relationship with Jesus. Amidst of all of this, World Methodist Evangelism works to connect, equip, and encourage networks of Christian leaders in the Wesleyan Methodist family to build faith- sharing movements around the world. We praise God that the Holy Spirit continues to bring healing, grace, and transformation through the work of all the people in this growing worldwide family!

Considering some of the recent changes in the Wesleyan Methodist movement, many have begun to ask how World Methodist Evangelism fits into the work of the World Methodist Council and the member denominations it serves. Here is a short list of frequently asked questions to help you learn a bit more about World Methodist Evangelism.

1) What is the relationship between World Methodist Evangelism and the World Methodist Council?

World Methodist Evangelism is an affiliate organization of the World Methodist Council. The Executive Director of WME is a member of the Steering Committee of the WMC, with voice but no vote. Other affiliate organizations include The World Federation of Methodist and Uniting Church Women and Wesley Men (World Federation of Methodist and Uniting Church Men). Representatives of these organizations are also affiliates with a voice but no vote.

2) Is World Methodist Evangelism part of a particular Wesleyan Methodist denomination?

No. World Methodist Evangelism is NOT part of a denomination. WME is an independent, non-profit organization governed by an autonomous Board of Directors. The Board of Directors is drawn from across the Wesleyan Methodist movement, including the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the African Methodist Episcopal Church Zion, the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, the Free Methodist Church, the Korean Methodist Church, the Methodist Church Nigeria, the Methodist Church of Southern Africa, the United Methodist Church, and the Wesleyan Church.

3) Is the disaffiliation process in the United Methodist Church affecting World Methodist Evangelism?

No. Because World Methodist Evangelism is independent from the United Methodist Church, WME is NOT affected by that process. WME has no role in or connection to the internal working of any of the Wesleyan Methodist denominations.

4) How does World Methodist Evangelism receive its funding?

World Methodist Evangelism receives NO official funding from any of the denominations in the Wesleyan Methodist family. WME also receives NO budgeted funding from the World Methodist Council. World Methodist Evangelism is responsible for raising all its funding and is completely dependent on the generosity of individuals, local churches, and grants from other organizations.

5) Who does World Methodist Evangelism serve?

World Methodist Evangelism serves the worldwide Wesleyan Methodist family of Christians. This includes the member denominations of the World Methodist Council. It also includes a wide variety of other Methodist Wesleyan denominations and networks who share a historical connection to the Methodist movement launched by John Wesley, but who are not part of the WMC. These would include bodies such as The Salvation Army, The Free Methodist Church USA, The Wesleyan Church USA, the Wesleyan Holiness Connection, the Foundry Network, and the Global Methodist Church.

6) Who leads World Methodist Evangelism?

World Methodist Evangelism has a staff of four from across the Wesleyan Methodist family, including three fulltime and one parttime positions. WME also engages four individuals from outside the organization as team leaders for specific projects. Executive Director, Kimberly Reisman is a United Methodist elder. Other WME staff are laity from the Methodist Church Brazil and the Global Methodist Church. Our team leaders are elders from the United Methodist Church, the Methodist Church in Romania, and The Wesleyan Church.

We are excited to work among such a dynamic, growing family of Christians who follow Jesus in the company of the Wesleys. When the gospel is preached “with a Wesleyan accent” it is strong and compelling and WME is blessed to be part of what the Holy Spirit is doing around the world through the Wesleyan Methodist movement.

You can learn more about the WME staff, Board of Directors, and other leaders here: https://worldmethodist.org/our-people/

You can learn more about the overall work of World Methodist Evangelism here: https://worldmethodist. org/

WMC Conference Announcement

President Lasse Svensson and the entire host team of the Uniting Church in Sweden invite you to begin making plans to join the historic 2024 World Methodist Conference in Gothenburg. Registration is expected to be uploaded in the next month so that you may choose the sessions in which you wish to participate. Old friends, new friends, Wesleyans and Methodist from around the world will be present - join them!

Dr. Richards Presented Woodrow B. Seals Award

Dr. Yvette Richards received the 2023 Perkins School of Theology, Woodrow B Seals Award on March 25, during the Perkins Summit for Faith and Learning, in Dallas Texas. “[This]…award is presented annually to a layperson in the United States who exemplifies an exceptional commitment of service to Christ through faith and action in the church, community and the world.” While it was and is a distinct honor, it is no surprise to those who know Yvette that she was selected to be recognized in this manner.

Yvette has put her faith into action. A30+ year member of St. James UMC in Kansas City, she has served as its Director of Community Connections and Missions since 2017. She is a driving force in our church’s ministry, “Connecting people with God in practical ways”.

She has a deep and abiding belief that we can make a difference if we focus on serving our community.

Dr. Richards holding Laity Award

She is a master at collaboration. One effort has resulted in a local business, a laundromat, a non profit and another denomination supporting a “Loads of Love” laundry event. This one time effort (funding washing and drying 400+ loads of laundry) developed into a monthly ministry in 2023 with additional support from an inner-city health center and a local reading program.

She champions United Women of Faith (formally United Methodist Women). Yvette served as Board President of the 800,000+ member international organization from 2012-2016. She Co-Chaired the Human Trafficking Super Bowl Event for 10 years and Chaired the quadrennial Assembly Committee in 2014, and the Legacy and 150th Anniversary Celebration in 2019, focusing on solidifying the future financial support of its programs and the 97 associated mission institutions around the world.

Her involvement knows no bounds. Yvette serves as the Missouri Conference’s Northwest District’s Lay Education Coordinator. She is a National Board Member of Black Methodists for Church Renewal (BMCR), has served on the General Board of Global Ministries; was a Delegate to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, and the Global Issues Chairperson- General Commission on the Status and Role of Women. In her involvement with the World Methodist Council she served as the Nomination Committee Co-Chair and will soon travel to Sweden for conference planning.

Yvette has never been one to sit on her hands. She is ever ready to engage not only with suggestions for improvement, but with a willingness to help make it happen!

Submitted by Norma McKelvy

MCK focuses on Mission and Sustainable Development

The Methodist Church in Kenya (MCK), has a long history dating back to 1862, having branched out of the United Methodist Free Church of England, when the first Missionaries landed at Ribe, in the Coastal Region of Kenya and at a time the Anglican Church Mission Society (CMS) led by Missionaries Dr Ludwig Krapf and Johann Rebman had landed and built the first church in East Africa at Rabai Mission in 1844. It is at Ribe Mission, also in the Coastal Region of Kenya, where the early MCK Missionaries were led by Rev Thomas Wakefield landed on 3rd July 1862.

It was not until 1967 when the Methodist Church in Kenya (MCK), became autonomous from the British Methodist Church. When MCK became autonomous as the Kenya Mission Synod, the first President of the then Kenya Synod and later Conference was Bishop Ronald Samuel Mung’ong’o who served until August 1970.

As the church kept on growing, it became necessary to have Regional Conferences formations to bring fundamental services, benefits and governance structures closer to the congregations. Between 1984 and 2007 four (4) motions were proposed but no tangible action was taken by the Connexional Methodist Church in Kenya. Thirty five (35) years after the first motion to form Regional Conferences was presented without any positive or conclusive resolutions, the Coast Region Community of the Methodist Church in

Kenya took the bold step and established the Coast Region Conference, devolved from the MCK Connexional Conference in January 2019, under its first President, the late Bishop Wellington Sanga Tsuma, who was installed on 26 th January 2019 at Ribe Thomas Wakefield Memorial church.

After the demise of the founding President of the Methodist Church in Kenya, Coast Region Conference (MCK-CRC) on 26 th August 2020, Bishop Charles Fwedeha Makonde was nominated and confirmed to take over the mantle to lead as the second President of the Coast Region Conference.

The key MCK-Coast Region Conference function is focused on Mission and Sustainable Development of the church for spiritual, numerical, infrastructural and socio-economic growth. 3rd July 1862 is and shall remain a very significant date in the history of Methodist Church in Kenya and thus highly recognized by the Coast Region Conference formation to the extent of considering commemorative events of Walking in the Footsteps of Rev Thomas Wakefield on the Ribe-Maunguja path, dabbed the Maunguja Walk, in the near future and in the years to come.

Submitted by Bishop Rev Charles F Makonde Presiding Bishop/2nd President

The Presiding Bishop, Bsp Rev Charles Fwedeha Makonde with more faithfuls outside the Ribe Thomas Wakefield Memorial Church, holding a copy of the Methodist Recorder

Hope Rooted in Justice and Peace

As part of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Justice and Peace pilgrimage, I and four colleagues from the WCC visited some of the Sami Indigenous communities in Norway. Their ancestral lands are mostly situated in four countries: Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia.

Our Sami sisters and brothers in the Nordic part of Europe are greatly impacted by “green colonialism.” Countries like Norway are shifting to a green economy for their commitment to climate change, yet at great cost to Indigenous communities like the Samis. In the recent years, the government and multinational companies have built hundreds of wind turbine parks on Sami ancestral lands, forcing out and displacing Sami communities and their reindeer. As their land gets smaller, reindeer trails decrease, with less habitable territory for them and other wild animals.

(Left to right) Nord University professor Asbjørn Kolberg, Sami students Ramona Linnea Victoria Kappfjell Sorfijell and Maajja-Krihke Bransfjell welcome the WCC group to the Sami traditional hut, situated in the middle of the Nord campus. Photo: Joy Eva Bohol

Reindeer herding is crucial to Sami cultural and ethnical identity. Reindeer herders have been bearers of their nine languages and their communities for centuries. This is their cultural livelihood that is passed down from generation to generation.

Exhausted with this ongoing fight with the government and multinational companies, defending their ancestral land and their cultural livelihood, a Sami youth leader, Ramona, shared that she no longer sees herself as a reindeer herder in the future. She added that it is painful for her to admit this, but if things continue as they are right now, it will be difficult for

young Samis to continue their traditions.

HOPELESSNESS SURROUNDS US

Ramona’s story resonates with many young people today, especially Indigenous young people. Hopelessness surrounds younger generations, brought about by systemic injustice at different levels.

The Youth Progress Index Report of 2018 notes that young people, age 35 and younger, are the population demographic most at-risk of socioeconomic exclusion. They are underrepresented in decision-making bodies, which denies them full access to their rights; their inclusion in politics, churches, communities and organizations has become a major challenge. These realities and struggles surged at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and continue.

Going back to Ramona, together with another Sami youth leader, Maaya, at the end of our conversation, they said that they still see hope amid their struggles. As young Samis, both Ramona and Maaya study Sami tradition to help maintain the Sami culture and heritage, including their language, for their generation and the next. With their elders and other generations, the young Samis affirm their agency to speak truth to power and continue to fight for their ancestral rights – at the same time offering their Indigenous wisdom to mitigate climate change. Their community is small in number, but they hope that through sharing their stories for global exposure and solidarity, they will pressure the government and multinational companies to stop building wind turbine parks on their ancestral lands.

Read more of this story at https://umcmission.org/

One of the more than 150 vast wind turbine parks, that stretch throughout the mountain range in Roan. These lands used to be filled with flora and fauna – and the ancestral trails for reindeer herding.

Photo: Joy Eva Bohol

22nd World Methodist Conference

Gothenburg, Sweden 13-18 August

Please send press releases, articles and resources! Submissions should be a page or less (450-500 words), edited and ready to publish. Contact us by Monday, 24 July at communications@worldmethodistcouncil.org if you would like your story to be included in the August edition of the First Friday Letter.

On the Web

This and past First Friday Letters can be found online at FirstFridayLetter.worldmethodistcouncil.org.

The World Methodist Council’s website may be found at worldmethodistcouncil.org

The World Methodist Council’s Conference website is at worldmethodistconference.org

To subscribe to this newsletter, please email communications@worldmethodistcouncil.org.

About the First Friday Letter

The First Friday Newsletter is a monthly publication of the World Methodist Council.

Publisher: Bishop Ivan Abrahams, General Secretary

Communications: Michaela Bryson

All stories and photos, unless otherwise stated, are protected by their respective copyrights. Please do not copy without expressed written permission from the Council.

Follow the Council on social media!!

Twitter Facebook Instagram

@WMCouncil

@World Methodist Council

@wmcouncil