June is World Refugee Month. This is the time of year we acknowledge the courage and resilience of refugees and their enormous contributions to our community. Every minute 20 people leave everything behind to escape war, persecution, or terror. We can also join together and lift...
By Erik Alsgaard Immigration makes headlines in the United States and around the world. With more than 25.9 million refugees and asylum seekers in the world in 2017, how and if people cross borders and for what reasons have become a political football. To help untangle some of the mess that is...
Journeys together are wonderful ways to build community and learn more about who we are in light of the diversity that is incumbent in community. Since 2006, I have had the privilege of leading groups of scholars from Wesley Theological Seminary and St. Mary’s Seminary and University in...
Freddie Brown Sr. once had a front seat to black history. Literally. Erik Alsgaard explains in this Black History Month profile.
By Rev. Leo Yates, Jr.* Questions. There were a lot of questions from the first day of class all the way through the last day of class. Addictions, both substance-related and behavioral addictions, and social support were among the topics of discussion and study during the...
In a dramatically new way of pursuing God’s kingdom, the Baltimore-Washington Conference has issued its inaugural batch of $39,600 in Missional Innovation Grants to 10 recipients.
This year marks the 90th anniversary of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birth, and the 51st year after his assassination on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tenn. As was the case in 1968, the nation and world today are wrought with social, economic, political and religious upheaval. Over the past...
9:00 a.m. The weight of our next steps were made more real as some of those pictured above gave me their valuables for safekeeping. By the time we left the press conference at 10:30-ish, I was in possession of one Bible, three wallets, four cell phones, a wedding ring and a backpack that...
The first official event for the United Methodists engaging in the Love Knows No Borders kickoff event was a visit to Christ Ministry Center led by Rev. Bill Jenkins. Watch the video to learn more about the context of this ministry. This ministry center is a 501c3 with many components to...
I have a confession: this kind of thing makes me very uncomfortable. I have never considered myself a protestor or social activist. While I have marched and helped plan and execute a rally in recent years, I have never participated in an action where civil disobedience was a part of the plan. I...
