Africa Forum
A poster for the launch of United Methodist Africa Forum. (Facebook photo)
United Methodist Africa Forum, a new organization, will hold informational webinars March 20 at 12 noon Central, 1 pm Eastern and March 22 at 7 pm Central, 8 pm Eastern. Register here.
According to an announcement from the Methodist Federation for Social Action newsletter, "United Methodist Africa Forum (UMAF), is a new group from across the African continent dedicated to promoting unity and the future of The United Methodist Church in Africa. UMAF exists to promote African values, and to support mission and ministry within the African context while strengthening connectional relations across the UMC." For more information, go to the UMAF website: www.umcafricaforum.org
Among other concerns, UMAF supports regionalization as expressed in the Christmas Covenant legislation.
Recently studied by the UMC's Standing Committee on Central Conference Matters, the Christmas Covenant is described as "a proposed set of legislation that transforms the current seven central conferences into seven regional conferences and creates a new U.S. Regional Conference. If passed and its constitutional amendments ratified, it would allow all regional conferences to adopt policies and design ministries for their unique missional contexts. This strong regionalization also works towards decolonizing the UMC by establishing structural parity throughout the global church. The Christmas Covenant came from Central Conference United Methodists outside the United States." For more information, go to the website: www.christmascovenant.com