Under the guiding theme of Sacred Resilience, Disciplined Hope, the Board of Directors of the General Board of Church and Society met in Torrance, California, March 17-19, 2025.
In March of this year, the General Board of Church and Society Board of Directors met in person in Southern California for their second meeting as a newly appointed board. The meeting was hosted by board president, Rev. Allison Mark and the Faith United Methodist Church, a strong ministry with Japanese American and Pacific Islander communities, where Rev. Mark serves as the senior pastor.
Your support of the World Service Fund apportionment supports program-related general agencies, which are especially important to the common vision, mission, and ministry of The United Methodist Church.
“Grounded in our Social Principles, we reaffirmed our commitment to racial equity, environmental justice, immigrant rights, economic dignity, and peace to carry this work back to our churches, conferences, and communities, “said Rev. Allison Mark, Board President of the General Board of Church and Society.
During planned field visits, board members traveled across Los Angeles to witness the work of United Methodist Churches and justice-focused organizations in action.
Baldwin Park United Methodist Church – A welcome center for migrants, where board members met with Pastors Toña and Rafael Rios to learn about the church’s role in providing hospitality and resources to newly arrived individuals and families.
Altadena United Methodist Church – One of the two UMC congregations that lost their buildings in the recent wildfires, Pastor Rev. Andre Wilson and his spouse, Heather Wilson, discussed their continued sense of loss and hope at the opportunity to rethink “how we can reach the people that really need the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
La Plaza United Methodist Church & Museum of Social Justice – Located at the historic Old Los Angeles Plaza, board members toured the museum and met with Domenica Castillo, Executive Director of the Museum of Social Justice, La Plaza’s Rev. Frank Wulf and Rev. Jennifer Gutierrez, the Executive Director of Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE) a regional interfaith organization advocating and organizing for economic justice.
In support of its commitment to human rights, peace, and international law, the board resolved to join an ongoing global campaign to boycott Chevron products.
Aimee Hong, Assistant General Secretary of Programs, provided programmatic results of active in-person and virtual U.S. Congressional meetings, as well as new engagement efforts including The Community, an online platform for peer-to-peer resourcing and collaboration, and educational opportunities.
In addition, for the 2023 Church and Society Grants, there were notable projects including social justice training for women in the Philippines, facilitating peace teams in Nigeria, and addressing sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Looking ahead, there’s excitement for the upcoming summer Ethnic Young Adult Internship Program and the development of educational resources for the Social Principles mini-grant initiative for the Central Conferences in Africa, Europe, and the Philippines.
The Rev. Dr. Liberato (Levi) Bautista, Assistant General Secretary for United Nations and International Affairs (UNIA), offered an update on the GBCS UNIA Ministry, which continues to advance United Methodist social teachings by participating in and speaking on strategic platforms at the UN and UN-related events.
Dr. Jessie Smith, Senior Executive Director of Research, Planning and Spiritual Formation provided an overview of how to understand the distinct nature of evaluating and monitoring faith-based advocacy efforts in terms of measuring long-term impact.
excerpt from a story by Jeffrey Corey, General Church and Society website
The World Service Fund provides basic financial support to program-related general agencies, which are especially important to the common vision, mission, and ministry of The United Methodist Church. Through World Service funding, agencies support annual conferences and local congregations in living out God’s mission for the worldwide Church. General agencies also provide essential services and ministries beyond the scope of individual local congregations and annual conferences through services and ministries that are highly focused, flexible, and capable of rapid response.
