UMC Conferences’ ‘Dismantling Racism’ Takes Many Approaches

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A United Methodist Insight Exclusive | July 2, 2025

Since its 2020 start, The United Methodist Church’s "Dismantling Racism: Pressing On to Freedom" campaign continues to bear fruit—hopefully, “fruit that will last.” (John 15:16)

The Council of Bishops and general program agencies led the initial launch. Read part one of this four-part series: "UMC’s Dismantling Racism Campaign Still Rising 5 Years Later." But jurisdictions and annual (regional) conferences have elevated it through a variety of creative anti-racism programs and initiatives to engage their willing churches and leaders in the overall campaign.

Their efforts have included:

  • Surveys and audits to assess racial attitudes and improve conference policies and practices.
  • Special gatherings for dialogue and training plus print, video and online resources.
  • Group tours to learn about racial history sites and experiences.
  • Advocacy to protect and support immigrant and refugee neighbors.
  • Training and resources to help pastors and congregations succeed in cross-racial or cross-cultural appointments.
  • Civic advocacy to influence public policies related to racial justice.
  • Measures to rectify racial inequities in clergy compensation and church financial commitments.
  • New staff and programs to enhance multicultural and racial inclusion ministries.

Here, listed by jurisdiction, are some key actions happening currently or in recent years among conferences. Not included are seven conferences featured in our part-two series article, “Conferences Form the Heart of UMC’s ‘Dismantling Racism’.”

North Central Jurisdiction

After the denomination inaugurated its Dismantling Racism campaign in June 2020, the North Central Jurisdiction College of Bishops issued a seminal statement. And at a virtual North Central Jurisdictional (NCJ) Conference in November 2021 about 250 delegates overwhelmingly approved a “Covenant to Build Beloved Community,” invoking United Methodist baptismal vows to commit to anti-racism and LGBTQIA+ inclusion. Several conferences refer to these stated commitments as inspiration for their efforts.

During the July 2024 Jurisdictional Conference, NCJ delegates received a commissioned racial audit report. Members of the NCJ bishops conversed with Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) delegates to learn if and how progress is happening in accessibility, belonging, inclusion, diversity and equity.

East Ohio Conference 

The East Ohio Conference United Methodists Stand Against Racism web page provides official anti-racism statements and resources for clergy, laity and all age groups. Also, the conference shares a director of Multicultural Ministries with the West Ohio conference in Will Fenton-Jones.

Iowa Conference

The Iowa Conference Anti-racism Leadership Team sees its purpose as helping Iowans to become anti-racist at all levels of ministry through comprehensive changes. Members can participate in the #IAUMC Stands Against Racism campaign by actively challenging racism in their communities. The Rev. Betty Kiboko was appointed as the conference’s first director of multicultural and anti-racism ministries in May.

Anti-racism actions and other information are reported in two online news digests: Advocacy News and Antiracism News. Many of those actions center on advocacy for immigrant safety, justice and hospitality, as members participate in protests and visits to state legislators at the Iowa capital in  Des Moines.

The first day of the 2025 Annual Conference featured an evening of “prayerful discernment, powerful storytelling and courageous action,” with the theme, “For Such a Time as This…” Hosted by Bishop Kennetha J. Bigham-Tsai, members explored how the conference can respond faithfully and urgently to the realities facing immigrants in their communities.

Michigan Conference

All Michigan Conference appointed clergy must complete at least one of the conference’s Anti-Bias/Anti-Racism (ABAR) Education and Training modules each year.  The 2025 Annual Conference explored its dismantling racism priority, led by the Anti-Bias/Anti-Racism Working Group formed in 2020 by Bishop David Bard. It also celebrated the preparation and progress of churches engaged in cross-racial/cross-cultural appointments.

The Rev. Gregory Kendrick and members of Wesley Park UMC in Wyoming, Michigan, reported on the intentional journey they have taken to become a welcoming, inclusive, diverse congregation with a cross-racial appointment. The Rev. Seok Nam Lim said the ABAR training helped him “face the racism he has experienced serving in European-dominant churches with boldness and without fear.... I am not sure how I could sustain ministry in my cross-cultural context without it.”

In addition, the conference will launch in September a team prepared to offer resources and training to help persons overcome trauma-inducing experiences, including racism and hate crimes, as well as gun violence, natural disasters, acts of terrorism, harassment and misconduct. 

Minnesota Conference

The Minnesota Conference, whose leaders in 2020 made commitments in a Cabinet Statement on Racial Justice and Reconciliation. A 2023 conference racial audit that included survey questionnaires, church visits and face-to-face discussions, led to a new initiative titled ABIDE (accessibility, belonging, inclusion, diversity and equity). Four ABIDE Summits, a cohort-based nine-month learning series, began last September and ended in May.

Minnesota also welcomed the Rev. Brittany Radford as its new director of racial equity and justice in February 2025. Having that cabinet-level full-time position was one of four major diversity, equity and inclusion resolutions approved at the 2022 Annual Conference, which also included the racial audit. 

In addition, the conference Church and Society board offers grants up to $300 to help churches purchase books for racial justice group studies to grow their awareness and response to racism. And one church will receive a $3,000 grant, according to Radford, to develop a speaker series around justice, immigration and racial reconciliation.

West Ohio Conference 

The  West Ohio Conference  Diversity and Inclusion Lead Team partners with Connectional Ministries and the Office of Diversity and Inclusion to strategize about how the conference, its leaders and churches can better navigate differences, make structural improvements and “expand into a more missional mindset.”

West Ohio recently began collaborating with East Ohio in multicultural ministry staffing and programs. The two conferences jointly hired Will Fenton-Jones as director of multicultural ministries in January 2025 and then welcomed author John Elford to discuss his book, Our Hearts Were Strangely Lukewarm: The American Methodist Church and it's Struggle with White Supremacy.

A diverse cohort of 39 members of both conferences read and discussed How to Fight Racism by Jemar Tisby. They then traveled to Montgomery, Alabama, in September 2024 for a Micah 6:8 Love Your Neighbor Tour, “an immersive journey through American history from the perspective of Black and Brown sisters and brothers.”  

In addition, West Ohio Cultural Coaches help the conference “better work across differences.” Funded by a General Commission on Religion and Race grant, they equip leaders and churches to use the Intercultural Development Inventory, an assessment tool that helps individuals and organizations understand how they "interact and function across diversity." 

Wisconsin Conference 

The Wisconsin Conference’s Radical Inclusion & Racial Justice theme guides the Bishop’s Anti-Racism Task Force in training and resourcing leaders to dismantle racism. At the 2023 Annual Conference an improvisational theater performance involved volunteers and the plenary gathering in exploring ministry issues arising in a cross-cultural setting.  Also, a nine-week Building Beloved Community video series offers personal reflections shared by a diverse group of Minnesota United Methodists.

Northeastern Jurisdiction

Preceding the events of 2020, the 2016 Northeastern Jurisdictional Conference achieved a first by electing two African American female bishops. Jurisdictional delegates also approved an unprecedented resolution titled “Call to Action for Racial Justice.” It mandated all 10 Northeast conferences to pursue strategically “an inclusive, diverse, equitable and anti-racist church and world” through “tangible accomplishments that bring about meaningful transformation.”

Conferences have since provided regular updates on their efforts. The 2022 Northeastern Jurisdiction Call to Action for Racial Justice Report  includes their 2017-2020 reports and 2021-2024 plans, which dovetail with the denomination’s five-year Dismantling Racism campaign.

Eastern Pennsylvania Conference

The Eastern Pennsylvania Conference launched A Path Toward Wholeness in 2022, extending its ongoing Call to Action efforts to more systemically dismantle the sin of racism in the church and in society. Those efforts, led by its Commission on Religion and Race and Healing the Wounds of Racism group, have included:

  • Teaching churches to do racism audits and have conversations about race and reconciliation.
  • Anti-racism learning and dialogue events, including book studies, required training for pastors and certified lay ministers, and a weekend retreat for youth of color to explore their racial identities and relationships. 
  • Annual cross-racial/cross-cultural ministry training and resources for pastors of color and their lay members.
  • Efforts to birth and revitalize predominantly Black and Hispanic churches and missional faith communities.
  • Increasing the numbers of racial-ethnic clergy and the racial diversity of conference leaders.
  • Rectifying historic racial inequities in clergy appointments and salaries, apportioned church financial commitments, and conference budget allocations.

Greater New Jersey Conference

The Greater New Jersey Conference embarked on a “Journey of Hope” plan in 2020, taking measures to help “end the sin of racism.” They included:

  • Training and deploying facilitators to lead difficult racial conversations among congregations.
  • Increasing the presence of People of Color in conference leadership roles.
  • Helping racial-ethnic congregations grow in worship, ministry and finances.
  • Using its Bridges program, funded by Lilly Foundation grants, to teach community relationship building through cultural competency and sharing of life stories.
  • Updating conference policies and procedures to reflect racial justice, equity and inclusion.
  • Investing $4.1 million in debt forgiveness, equitable salary support and adjustments in apportioned contributions for racial-ethnic churches.

The conference also invested funds for Native American sacred land/church preservation and is transferring the land of closed churches back to the local, indigenous Lenape nation.

Greater New Jersey and Eastern PA conferences began affiliating many of their programs and staff in 2023, including their similar anti-racism campaigns. The two are now sharing their journeys of hope and their paths toward wholeness together.

New England Conference

The New England Conference Commission on Religion and Race leads its anti-racism work, including:

  • Small grants, totaling over $30,000 so far, for “ministries of justice in marginalized communities and education about systemic oppression.” The funds come from the United Methodist Foundation of New England, expressing its desire to “work on healing the harm that centuries of systemic racism has caused in our communities.”
  • Anti-racism training that is mandatory for all appointed and assigned pastors every four years. Also, “Anti-racism Resource Days” to facilitate conference-wide usage of an Implicit Bias and Courageous Conversations curriculum created by the General Commission on Religion and Race.
  • Encouraging and aiding congregations to research their church property records to discover and report any history of redlining or race covenants that restricted the sale or occupancy of land based on race or ethnicity, and “sundown towns,” which excluded African Americans from residing in in all-white municipalities or entering them after dark. 

This year Religion and Race introduced the conference to A Long Talk About The Uncomfortable Truth, “a 21-day anti-racism activation experience designed to empower participants with knowledge and skills to combat racism in their daily lives.”  Their stated goal is to "put an antiracist in every pew."  The group’s leaders also led a session during Annual Conference, which ideally happened on June 19, the Juneteenth federal holiday.

New York Conference

Like New England and other conferences, New York has focused much of its attention recently on justice and protection for immigrants and refugees seeking asylum. Also both New England and New York have Immigration Task Forces, plus chapters of the national, United Methodist-affiliated Immigration Law & Justice Network that helps immigrants receive affordable legal counsel, advocacy and support as they seek legal status in the United States.

The New York Conference Commission on Religion and Race has also provided Anti-Racism Training Events that explore: witnessing against hate violence; anti-racism preaching; a history of prejudice, discrimination and violence against Asian Americans; the nature of White supremacy; and community organizing strategies to address institutional racism.

Peninsula-Delaware Conference

The Peninsula-Delaware Conference’s Commission on Religion and Race long has offered anti-racism resources and  Nurturing Wholeness and Community biannual seminars to help clergy and laity foster overall inclusiveness. Now it joins its partner Baltimore-Washington Conference in waging the 2025 Hate Divides. Love Unites campaign, a “public witness for dignity, justice and collective liberation.” Churches are using banners and signs, worship resources, small groups, and community events to promote their unity and common message.

Susquehanna Conference 

The Susquehanna Conference’s Commission on the Beloved Community leads the conference’s Dismantling Racism efforts, including a Covenant Against Racism and a multimedia library of Anti-Racism Discussion Resources. Grants are used to educate church leaders about White privilege and implicit bias, and how to disrupt racism and its harm, while forging collaborative relationships and systems of healing and justice.

Members have taken several Pilgrimages of Pain and Hope. In 2024 a group toured the State College, Pennsylvania, area to witness compelling accounts of past and present injustices faced by BIPOC persons. The 2025 Civil Rights Journey in July will explore the history and ongoing impact of the Civil Rights Movement, along with the dual responses--both complicity and challenge--of church leaders to systemic racism and injustice. 

Upper New York Conference

The Upper New York Conference's Imagine No Racism initiative, led by its Commission on Religion and Race, was developed in 2018 in response to the 2016 Northeastern Jurisdiction Call to Action. Its intent has been to stimulate awareness, conversations and ministries that address racism and White privilege in churches and their communities. While it has had some success in that mission, more effort is needed to help churches make viable action plans and real progress, said Religion and Race member Georgia Whitney, a regional coordinator for the initiative.

Churches are asked to assess their anti-racism efforts in charge conference reports. The response rate in 2024 was 73.6%, a 17 increase over 2023 and the highest rate ever, said Whitney. Over 45 percent of churches reported doing some form of specific anti-racism work, compared to 27 percent the year before.

This year a new facilitators training offers a “deeper dive” with a more specialized, scripture-based curriculum for disrupting White privilege, implicit biases and microaggressions. The commission hopes to inspire more people to covenant-based action that moves them past charity work to justice work as a call to transformative ministry.

Meanwhile, the initiative’s initially passive name is now changed to “From Imagination to Action.” Whitney cites a Black participant’s concern that “racism permeates every interaction, structure, and system in our society.  While the name Imagine No Racism carries hope and aspiration, it may inadvertently minimize the persistent struggles that People of Color face. For those who bear the weight of racism, the conference’s challenge isn't to imagine its absence but to acknowledge and dismantle its very real presence.”

Religion and Race also sponsors weekly meditation and prayer video calls online “to support our siblings engaged in anti-racism work,” said Whitney, who coordinates the calls.

Western Pennsylvania Conference

Western Pennsylvania Conference provides anti-racism and inclusion resources including hosting a book study in June. It supports ministries of racial-ethnic congregations and pastors and churches in cross racial/cross cultural appointments. The active Pittsburgh District Anti-Racism Team, one of four district teams, holds training and civic action events to “identify structures that maintain systemic racism and inequality, and to replace them with just, liberating, and life-giving structures.”  

The team honored a revered conference leader at its annual Anti-Racism Award dinner in May. In July it will continue hosting regular prayer vigils in Allegheny County for Black Lives Matter and for Families and Communities of Homicide Victims.

South Central Jurisdiction

Arkansas Conference

The Arkansas Conference’s Dismantling Racism—Building Reconciliation web page promotes three online courses for church leaders, provided by GCORR and beginning with “You Are Here: First Steps for White Christians on Race and Racism.” Included are resources for children and for youth and youth workers.

Great Plains Conference 

The Great Plains Conference Justice and Mercy Team’s 2025-2026 plans for the Beloved Community Fellowship for Racial Justice  are to provide “intensive training and learning from experts for a cohort of United Methodist leaders who are longing to work for racial justice.” Team leaders report that recent discernment led to an important insight: “We recognized that most of our churches were actively engaged in mercy ministry, but very few were engaged in justice ministry. This realization led us to prioritize our support for justice ministry, so that justice might become a defining characteristic of our Great Plains culture.”  

Horizon Texas Conference

The new Horizon Texas Conference, arising from the 2024 merger of the former Central, North and Northwest Texas conferences, hired Major L. Boglin to serve as Director of Diversity and Cultural Engagement, assisted by the Rev. Andrew Fiser as associate director. Dr. Boglin led a workshop at the 2025 Annual Conference titled “Complete Unity: Bridging the Chasm Between Cultural Differences.”  

“In the new Horizon Texas Conference, which encompasses a wide range of rapidly diversifying communities within its geographic bounds, it is a missional imperative that we bring on the best experts and leaders to guide our work in pursuing and embracing diversity,” said Bishop Ruben Saenz Jr.

The predecessor North Texas Conference in 2022 announced results of a Racial Equity Audit that offered “a clear-eyed view of ourselves and how we are doing related to racial equity and inclusion by looking at data as well as listening to the voices of laity and clergy.” The conference then began a Congregational Journey Toward Racial Justice  and provided on its website a page of copious Anti-Racism Resources. 

The former Central Texas Conference’s Justice & Mercy Team hosted an End Racism in Our Lifetime webpage providing resources and action steps toward that goal. And its My Story creation offered videos of clergy and lay members’ personal stories of racism experienced and overcome—"stories intended to inspire and help lead viewers to work for equality for all.”

Oklahoma Conference 

The Oklahoma Conference’s  Ethnic Local Church Concerns web page includes many multimedia anti-racism resources for information and inspiration. The Shattering the Stained Glass Window Booklet contains essays by the Minority Local Church Concerns Committee, with topics that include remembrance of the Tulsa Race Massacre and Native American Victims of American Indian Board Schools.

And in Peacemaking Through Anti-Racism, published during Black History Month in February, the Rev. Bessie Hamilton, Associate Director of Connectional Ministry for New Faith Communities and Multi Ethnic Initiatives, issues a timely call for peacemaking as “a personal responsibility, a spiritual practice and a vision for the future.” She recommends anti-racism steps that include:

  • Self-education using available resources.
  • Building relationships with people from different racial and cultural backgrounds.
  • Advocating for change, using one’s voice and influence to challenge discriminatory policies and practices.
  • Taking time to reflect and repent, while acknowledging one’s biases and committing to ongoing growth and transformation.

New Mexico Conference 

The New Mexico Conference’s four missional priorities include:

• Cultivating Justice and Diversity: A call to amplify different voices as we work toward justice and equity in our communities.

• Enhancing Border Relationships: A call to build bridges and address shared human needs across the southern border and any borders that divide us. 

With immigrant safety and hospitality growing in importance, the conference website contains an Open Letter Regarding Ministries of Mercy and Compassion along the Texas Border penned in March 2024 by Bishop Robert Schnase, former leader of the New Mexico and Rio Texas Conferences, which are now led by Bishop Carlo Rapanut.

Southeastern Jurisdiction

Alabama-West Florida Conference

The Alabama-West Florida Conference offers members a multimedia listing of Dismantling Racism Resources. The conference also lists resources for Hispanic / Latino Ministries and Native American Ministries.

Florida Conference

The Florida Conference Task Force on Anti-racism, established in 2020, used a conference-wide anti-racism opinion survey to forge a comprehensive plan to become an “anti-racist conference.” Its strategies included: district anti-racism teams with representatives in each church; training and accountability measures for churches and clergy; encouraging involvement public policy witness; and cultivating a beloved community outreach and nurturing approach.

The Revs. Lee and Jana Hall-Perkins, task force consultants, report:

  • Passage of an “Equity in Congregational Development” resolution in 2022 to increase church planting and congregational support in communities of color. Over $2.8 million has been invested in ministry grants, capital improvements and efforts to close salary gaps among BIPOC churches and clergy.
  • Launch of a new Spanish-speaking congregation.
  • Expanding the required quadrennial ethics training for pastors to include racial ethics.
  • Equipping clergy in new appointments with antiracism tools and sermon resources.
  • A Board of Ordained Ministry language task force and bilingual candidacy retreat to address language barriers in the clergy candidacy process.
  • Scholarships for candidates of color from the Office of Clergy Excellence.
  • Training for churches receiving cross-racial/cross-cultural appointments.
  • Anti-racism retreats for the appointive cabinet and for new provisional elders and deacons.
  • A comprehensive analysis of clergy compensation by race, status and tenure, which revealed systemic inequities. 
  • A public policy witness partnership with the 11th Episcopal District of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church to combat voter suppression and promote voter engagement.
  • Public statements and pastoral letters addressing police brutality and anti-immigrant rhetoric, particularly against Haitians.
  • Monthly “Anti-racism Table Talks” as webinars and podcasts; and monthly online prayer gatherings to support persons doing anti-racism work.
  • A racial healing cohort for BIPOC clergy.
  • A four-week Bible study during Black History Month, in partnership with the King Center in Atlanta.
  • Beloved Community dinners at annual conference sessions to explore topics such as white nationalism and immigration while fostering fellowship.

The Task Force concluded its formal work June 30, 2025, but members were invited to continue their efforts by joining the conference’s Commission on Religion and Race or Social Justice Committee.

Kentucky Conference  

The Kentucky Conference website promotes District Anti-Racism & Cultural Competency Trainings, plus Advocacy and Justice resources and Multicultural Ministries. In 2020-2021 the conference provided resources to generate discussion of racial concerns and relationships, with the theme "Do You See What I See? How Race Relations Cause Us to See Things Differently."  Included were aids for Bible study, worship and dialogue, plus webinars.

Mississippi Conference

The Mississippi Conference’s End Racism For Good initiative sponsored a Freedom Trail Revival in 2024, which gathered members to experience worship in different Black churches and historic settings like Rust College in Holly Springs and Gulfside Assembly in Waveland. Presentations during the worship services discussed Mississippi’s historic and ongoing struggles with racism and honored heroes of that struggle. Speakers urged attendees to unite as United Methodists of all races and return to their communities “empowered to stand up to racism where we find it and to stand for the radical good news of Jesus Christ for us all.” 

North Carolina Conference  

The North Carolina Conference identifies anti-racism as a priority commitment and offers anti-racism resources including strategies, stories and resources for training “anti-racist disciples” and leaders and congregations who want to foster systemic change. The “Deep Reckonings” podcast offers stories of persons’ transformative experiences with culture, race and racism.

New resources include Inclusiveness grants for comprehensive plan to help congregations and groups develop effective multicultural programs, and a recorded recent webinar on welcoming immigrants, titled “Hope and Action: Resourcing Congregations for Hospitality.”

The conference’s Gateway District has an active Dismantling Racism Team that offered in February and March a five-session, inspirational learning experience open to everyone that uses the faith-based, anti-racist H.E.A.R.T. curriculum.

North Georgia Conference   

The North Georgia Conference offered a Racial Justice and Healing Academy from 2022 to 2024 designed to help members of four cohorts pursue racial justice and healing in their churches and communities. The six-session training equipped participants with tools and encouragement to “lead, start, continue or join local racial justice and healing efforts.” The conference also supports Black Congregational Development and ministry with immigrant neighbors.

South Carolina Conference

The South Carolina Conference offers a “Response to Racism” page of resources including ideas and opportunities for small group conversations, cross-racial exchanges, district meetings, “healing through preaching,” and “accountable honesty in society.”

South Georgia Conference

The South Georgia  Conference website features resources for ministry with Cross-Racial / Cross-Cultural appointments and Immigrant Neighbors.

Tennessee-Western Kentucky Conference   

The Tennessee-Western Kentucky Conference names “Disrupting & Dismantling Racism & Discrimination” as one of its five conference priorities and offers links to denominational resources, as well as web pages in Spanish and Korean languages. The  Anti-Racism Coalition co-sponsored a retreat titled The Long-Haul Journey for Justice and Love in November 2024. The conference also partners with Black, Hispanic/Latino and Native American ministries.

Virginia Conference   

The Virginia Conference’s Commission on Ethnic Minority Concerns and Advocacy collaborates with racial-ethnic groups and churches to provide education, advocacy and accountability for inclusivity in conference structures and processes. The Rev. Lan Davis Wilson, hired as the conference’s new “director of belonging and advocacy” July 1, will seek to advance that work.

Western North Carolina Conference

The Western North Carolina  has a Justice & Reconciliation team to coordinate its Equity and Justice efforts and offers a “Racial Healing and Reconciliation Reference Guide” for local churches to use in pursuing racial reconciliation ministry.

Western Jurisdiction

The Western Jurisdictional Conference in July 2024 reinforced its commitment to Indigenous people and places by adopting and agreeing to fund a detailed plan from the Committee on Native American Ministries.

The plan for Indigenous Ministries details four basic principles: 

  1. Tell the truth and acknowledge harms that have been done in order to realize true freedom.
  2. Identify and engage in actions to enable healing and healthy relationships.  
  3. Consult with Indigenous leaders to determine just property and asset rights.  
  4. Identify, develop and resource Indigenous leaders in ministry to help serve their churches and communities.

Read “Indigenous Ministries plan adopted for the Western Jurisdiction.”

California-Nevada Conference  

The California-Nevada Conference, through its Committee on Ethnic Ministry and Outreach, connects with its rich diversity of members and churches via seven racial-ethnic committees serving African-American/Black, Filipino American, Hispanic/Latino, Hmong, Native American, Tongan and Pacific Islander constituencies.

The Compassion and Justice Ministry also seeks to engage local churches in social justice advocacy and mission, including ministries with persons who are poor and marginalized.

California-Pacific Conference

The California-Pacific Conference’s Justice & Compassion Essential Ministry Team exists “to empower, connect and resource laity, clergy, congregations and communities as they meaningfully engage in ministries of justice and compassion.” The conference also has an Immigration Strategy Group and Hispanic/Latino & Border Ministries.

Desert Southwest Conference

The Desert Southwest Conference’s Commission on Religion and Race announced in January 2025 availability of trainers equipped to provide Anti-Racism Training in local churches. After providing education in cultural competency and counteracting bias (“Seeing People as They Are”) for several years, the new training opportunity aims to help “raise the level of education and understanding around racial equity, equality, and justice and its intersectionality,” said commission chair the Rev. Sylvia Harris.

The 2025 Annual Conference included a public witness and a morning prayer vigil to  respond to immigration-related protests and recent federal enforcement actions. Meanwhile, the conference’s Asylum/Refugee/Immigration Task Force released a Call to Action: Walking with Migrant Communities Toward Justice and Hope, declaring that “we do not act with resignation but with bold and active faith.”

Mountain Sky Conference

The Mountain Sky Conference has a Racial Justice Movement and Ministries Task Force that issued a Call To Action in December 2024 in anticipation of new and changing laws and policies affecting immigrants and communities of color. The conference’s Inclusive Ministries office works with groups “who have traditionally been marginalized by the dominant culture in the United States.”  

Ethnic Ministry Grants of up to $1,000 are available to racial-ethnic churches and ministries for mission. The House of Prayer for All People ministry and devotional tool helps congregations "assess, develop and create a culture where all people feel welcomed, seen, empowered, and included." The Belong in Worship Resource is designed to help churches reduce microaggressions in ministry.

Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference

The Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference offers Anti-Racism Resources  for eliminating racism. As part of the Greater Northwest episcopal area, the conference offers resources and training designed to “support individuals and congregations in expanding their understanding of racism, discerning their commitment to anti-racism, and taking action to move church and society toward beloved community.”

Insight Editor Cynthia B. Astle contributed to this report.

In the coming finale of this series, Editor-at-large John W. Coleman features local United Methodist churches that have made “Dismantling Racism” an integral part of their ministries.

The Rev. John W. Coleman serves as Editor-at-Large for United Methodist Insight.