Season of Lent
Wednesday Lenten Study
Meal at 6 pm – Study at 6:30 pm
3/4 @ WU UMC
3/11 @ Bethel
3/18 @ WU UMC
3/25 @ Bethel
Did You Know...
Prayerfully yours, Church and Society Team
The United Methodist Church has long adopted statements of social principles, rooted in the church's concern for social justice. The Social Principles are not church law. Instead, they represent the prayerful and earnest efforts of the General Conference to address current issues with a biblical and theological foundation that is based upon our Methodist traditions.
This is the second month that our Church and Society team would like to highlight some of the Social Principles (revised in 2024), as related to current issues that we are experiencing in our country and around the world. Remember that we are a connected church with United Methodists all over the world.
Note: Throughout the Social Principles, the term “we” refers specifically to the General Conference and more broadly to all members of the global United Methodist Church.
This month we highlight the Principle of “Racism, Ethnocentrism and Tribalism”. Quoted statements are from the Social Principles document:
1. Condemnation of Racism: “We condemn racism, ethnocentrism, tribalism, and any ideology or social practice based on false and misleading beliefs or ideologies that one group of human beings is superior to all other groups of human beings.”
2. Rejection of Discrimination: “We utterly reject laws, policies and social practices that marginalize, discriminate and/or encourage the use of violence against individuals, communities or other social groups based on perceived racial, ethnic or tribal differences.”
3. Education and Strategies: “We call on congregations and on pastors, bishops, and other church authorities to educate themselves about the root causes and manifestations of racism, ethnocentrism, and tribalism within communities of faith and to develop strategies for overcoming these kinds of social divisions.”
4. Call to Action: “We likewise urge governments, businesses, and civil society organizations to renounce statements, policies, and actions aimed at promoting exclusion, discrimination and violence.”
Additionally, racism is indirectly addressed in other sections, such as "Environmental Racism" which highlights how marginalized communities disproportionately suffer from environmental degradation and pollution. “The church pledges to resist environmental exploitation and inequality, which often impacts communities of color.”
This social principle provides support to us in living out one of our baptismal vows: "Do you accept the freedom and power God gives you to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves?"
