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MFSA News
Indiana is home to the newest MFSA Chapter
On Oct. 29, the Methodist Federation for Social Action recognized Indiana MFSA as a full MFSA chapter, committed to be a people of faith who work nonviolently to end oppression and injustice in all of its intersections while practicing radical hospitality and inclusivity.
Three Indiana Methodists, retired elder Rev. Dan Gangler, and United Methodist Deaconesses Beth DeHoff and Lisa Meidi Miller, started exploring the establishment of a new Indiana MFSA chapter last year, and they hosted an information luncheon at the Indiana UMC Annual Conference in May 2025. In September, the fledgling group held its first business meeting. This garnered enough MFSA memberships and commitments to support a chapter that the group was able to apply to be a chapter of MFSA shortly after, and that was approved by the MFSA board.
Statement on the Ratification of UMC Constitutional Amendments
The Methodist Federation for Social Action celebrates this week’s historic news that all four constitutional amendments adopted by the 2020/2024 General Conference have been ratified by the annual conferences of The United Methodist Church.
This moment reflects decades of faithful advocacy by countless United Methodists who have worked to build a church rooted in justice, equity, and God’s unconditional welcome. These amendments strengthen our shared life together: affirming that no one can be excluded because of gender or ability, naming and confronting racism and colonialism as sin, empowering regional decision-making across our global connection, and expanding pathways for clergy leadership.
Our History is A Blueprint for Hope
I have always been enamored with stories. I love listening to them, telling them, and dreaming them up. My earliest memories are of the stories my grandparents told me about their childhoods and their experiences in life. I was especially connected to the stories my grandfather told. It was almost as if a light twinkled in his eyes and he came to life in a new way. I realized quickly that stories are the way we remind ourselves of what we believe, where we come from, and what makes us who we are.
It goes without saying that we live in an incredibly turbulent and dangerous time in world history. People are polarized and separated from one another. Western democracies are facing significant threats. A government that is supposed to serve and protect people is doing immense harm to the most vulnerable among us. It is incredibly easy, with all that is going on, to want to take a step back, numb our minds, and dissociate from a world that seems to cause incessant pain. Yet we must persevere. We must remember who we are. Storytelling itself, then, becomes a form of resistance when we refuse to let systems of power erase the truth of God’s justice and take away our joy. Our stories can be our blueprint for hope.
Introducing Camille Bianca Manangan, one of MFSA’s new Organizing Associates
Hello! My name is Camille Bianca Sumera Manangan (Cam) (she/her/hers) and I am excited to be part of MFSA. I graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Legal Management from the University of the East – Manila. I began my Juris Doctor studies at San Sebastian College Recoletos – College of Law, but was unable to complete the degree because I was called to serve as a Global Mission Fellow in the United Kingdom. I also had the privilege of serving as an intern with the General Board of Church and Society, and I am currently a board member of the General Commission on Archives and History’s Center for LGBTQ+ United Methodist Heritage. These experiences have shaped my passion for faith-based advocacy.
Introducing Connor Prusha, one of MFSA’s new Organizing Associates
Hello! My name is Connor Prusha (he/him/his), and I am one of the new Organizing Associates at MFSA. I completed a B.A. in Communication Studies at Baldwin Wallace University and went on to graduate with a Master of Public Administration from Bowling Green State University (OH). I am currently completing my Master of Divinity at Drew Theological School and am a Certified Candidate for Ordained Ministry in the East Ohio Conference. I have a passion for connecting and resourcing United Methodists and local churches through the connectional structures of our church, which I live out by serving as Lead, Philanthropy with United Methodist Communications.
We Are Not the First to Resist—But We Must Be the Next
There’s a long line of justice-seekers behind us. People who marched, organized, wrote, prayed, and risked everything—because they believed the world could be different.
More than a century ago, MFSA—then known as the Methodist Federation for Social Service—helped draft the 1907 Social Creed of the Methodist Episcopal Church. It called for child labor laws, safe working conditions, the abolition of sweatshops, and a living wage. Faithful resistance.
Building Coalitions, Seeking Justice: My MFSA Story
In 1990, I relocated to Buffalo, NY, with my spouse and our 6-month-old daughter. It was my first time serving a church outside my native Puerto Rico. I was assigned to a Latinx congregation that shared a building with a white congregation. For the first time, I experienced the unsettling reality of needing permission for nearly everything.
Very quickly I noticed that our congregation was blamed for anything that went wrong in the building. The white pastor was neither welcoming nor collaborative, and tensions only grew. At that time, I was one of only two Hispanic clergy in the entire conference. A colleague encouraged me to speak with our District Superintendent, and eventually I filed charges. When the news spread, I received a letter from an MFSA leader offering support and reminding me that I was not alone. That encouragement meant a great deal, even as I moved on to a new appointment in Northern Illinois in 1992.
MFSA Remembers Helen Ryde
We mourn the sudden loss of Helen Ryde (they/them), a beloved advocate for justice and a tireless worker for LGBTQIA+ inclusion and racial equity in the church. Helen’s voice—grounded in humility and truth-telling—helped shape the ongoing transformation of both MFSA and the wider United Methodist connection.
As a member of MFSA’s Racial Audit Task Force, Helen approached the work with deep self-reflection, honesty, and courage. They reminded us that racial justice is not only about the goals we set, but about how we show up, how we listen, and how we resist the urge to move too quickly past discomfort.
As we grieve, we are holding Helen’s family—especially their spouse, Kate—in prayer, along with the movement and staff of Reconciling Ministries Network, where Helen poured out so much of their heart and energy.
Organizing Vigils at Detention Centers: A Call to Witness and Action
On Sundays in August, hundreds of people of faith have been gathering at the gates of Florida’s new detention facility, known by many as “Alligator Alcatraz.” Located deep in the Everglades, the site was built hastily on an abandoned airstrip and now cages hundreds of immigrants in inhumane conditions. Reports of broken toilets, moldy food, and sweltering tents make it clear: this is a moral crisis.
Faith leaders in close partnership with Florida Immigrant Coalition and the Miccosukee Tribe joined together for five consecutive Sundays, standing in a small clearing on the side of US 41 outside the entrance of the facility for prayer, testimony, and lament. Their message was simple: no one belongs in cages. Over 280 people attended the August 17 vigil, arriving by bus and carpool from churches and community groups across the state. Diverse voices—Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Indigenous, and people of moral conscience—lifted prayers and poems, refusing to look away from the injustice happening just across the street.
The Intersection of Church and Society
In our current times, I often say community is resistance. Being together in a community with fellow justice-seekers from MFSA gives me hope. As people of faith, we can be counter-cultural to the narrative that often hijacks Christianity and the real message of Jesus.
As an MFSA community, we come together both in-person and virtually to take a stand against injustice, to learn together, and to be agents of change, doing our best to be bearers of God’s peace and justice to the world around us.
Why I Joined MFSA
I’m still here—to continue that love, to help change the church, our state, the nation, and the world. MFSA gives me hope. It connects me to a long and proud history of faithful justice-seekers. It lifts up spiritual leaders who challenge injustice, promote inclusive theology, and offer educational opportunities for all. MFSA advocates for civil rights, addresses inequality in healthcare and poverty, and continues to push our church and world toward justice.
Being part of MFSA means I’m not standing alone. Together, we raise our voices, challenge injustice, and live out our faith with courage. I’m proud to be part of this community.
Racial Audit Implementation Team Update - July 2025
We Have Not Finished Yet...
In the Methodist tradition, justifying grace is one of the ways God’s grace moves in our lives. It refers to the moment when a person accepts God’s offer of forgiveness, and through Christ, is reconciled with God. This is not the end of the spiritual journey, but rather a turning point, a reorientation toward new life, community, and justice. Justifying grace reminds us that while grace is freely given, it calls us into ongoing transformation.
As a member of the original Racial Audit Task Force, I learned a lot about the history of MFSA. I studied documents, read interviews with those involved in the past, and helped conduct a survey of current participants.
Racial Audit Implementation Team Update - June 2025
Reflection on Repentance
The MFSA Anti-Racist Audit Implementation Team has spent considerable time exploring what repentance, as an organization and institution, can and ought to look like as we seek to guide MFSA toward living into and meaningfully addressing the findings of the MFSA Anti-Racist Audit.
Racial Audit Implementation Team Update - May 2025
Reflection on Theme 1
Theme 1: MFSA prioritizes white comfort, focusing on “white saviorism” and being “the good white ones”. This behavior results in performative allyship. It commodifies and renders People of Color invisible.
It’s been one year since the historic General Conference
As United Methodists head into Annual Conference season, we’ve been reflecting on what it means to work for justice in a world often marked by struggle and resistance.
More than a century ago, amid rising movements for labor rights and social reform, Methodist Federation for Social Action (MFSA) was born from a vision—a belief that faith calls us not to stand by passively and get pushed around, but to engage deeply, to lift up the voices of the marginalized, and to challenge the systems that perpetuate injustice.
The Stone Has Been Rolled Away
The tomb is empty—but the work is not finished.
Easter morning breaks not with trumpets or thrones, but with Mary, grieving, exhausted, still carrying the scent of death in her hands. And yet, she is the first to hear the news: He is risen.
Resurrection doesn’t erase suffering—it honors it.
It doesn’t bypass the cross—it rises from it.
Jesus returns not to cast blame, but to call us forward: to Galilee, to the streets, to the margins, to the work.
The stone has been rolled away not just to reveal an empty tomb, but to open the way to a new world.
Holy Week in the Shadow of Empire: “This Is a Good Friday Moment”
We find ourselves again in the shadows of empire, where Jesus whispered his last words, “I am thirsty,” and “It is finished,”—Love meeting the full weight of oppression.
As we move through Holy Week—through betrayal, mock trials, public executions, and systemic violence—we are not merely recalling an ancient story. We are witnessing it unfold in real time.
In a political climate marked by growing authoritarianism, anti-immigrant policies, anti-Black and anti-POC violence, anti-trans legislation, voter suppression, and the coordinated rollback of hard-fought civil rights, we recognize the signs. This is a Good Friday moment.
Leadership at the Basin
On the night of betrayal, Jesus doesn’t posture with power—he kneels with purpose. He takes off his robe, wraps a towel around his waist, and washes the feet of his disciples. Including the one who will betray him. Including the one who will deny him. Including the ones who will scatter and hide.
This is the kind of leadership the Church—and the world—desperately needs right now.
Not leadership obsessed with control or comfort. Not leadership that avoids conflict or cowers behind polite neutrality. But leadership that risks proximity to pain. Leadership that bends low in humility, that sees dignity in every person, and that uses its power not to dominate but to liberate.
Waiting in the Tension
By midweek, the shadows are already gathering. The palm branches have been waved, the tables turned over. And now the movement slows. We find ourselves in the stillness between Hosanna and Crucify.
Holy Wednesday is a day of tension. Of hushed whispers. Of backroom deals and quiet betrayals. It’s the moment when the cost of justice begins to feel real, when the powers that be start to push back against love that refuses to play by their rules.
Because We Believe... We Act
I went to Mexico recently to drop off supplies for migrant families. Afterward, I stopped by Abby’s Bakery, a small business that had just been raided. It was closed. Families were traumatized, scared. I held them in prayer that day—and I still do.
This work of loving our neighbors, especially our migrant siblings, is deeply important to me. The policies we see today are hurting families and entire communities. Sometimes, the fear is so heavy, but we know we are not alone. Many of us will keep showing up. Because we believe… we act.