For Immediate Release
April 8, 2019
ATLANTA – The United Methodist Church Council of Bishops President Bishop Ken Carter today said bishops of the church are committed to the unity of the church and to the mission of God who breaks down barriers and transcends languages.
"The faithfulness, unity and fruitfulness of the church form a whole. We cannot be one without abiding in Jesus; we cannot be spirit-filled without loving our neighbor; we cannot experience revival as we sow divisions in the body," Bishop Carter said.
He was speaking at the Methodist Mission Bicentennial Conference, sponsored by Global Ministries in collaboration with Candler School of Theology of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. The conference is celebrating Methodism's mission heritage and looking at the future of Methodist mission.
This bicentennial recognizes the 200th anniversary of the founding of the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, a forerunner to The United Methodist Church. The Missionary Society was formed in New York City in response to the mission work of John Stewart, a freeborn African-American, among the Wyandotte Native American people in Ohio (see photo at right).
"On behalf of the Council of Bishops of The United Methodist Church, each of whom has made a promise to unify the church and to support the mission, I celebrate this bicentennial of Methodist mission," he said.
Click here to read Bishop Carter's full statement.
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Media Contact: Rev. Dr. Maidstone Mulenga
Director of Communications – Council of Bishops
The United Methodist Church
[email protected]
202-748-5172
