Church and Society Spring 2025 Board Meeting Highlights

Two weeks ago, the GBCS 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.

Rev. Mark presided over a full 3-day GBCS board agenda for members to connect more deeply with one another, to strengthen the work and ministry of the board, to align mission and resources, to review missional impact including relationships with the five ethnic caucuses, and to affirm the ongoing support of the GBCS mission.

“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.

The Board Meeting Opens and Closes with Worship Services

Before the official meeting began, Rev. Allison Mark and the Faith United Methodist Church in Torrance, CA hosted a worship service Sunday morning, March 16th. GBCS General Secretary Bishop Julius C. Trimble delivered the sermon “Does God Answer Prayers?” (Isaiah 58:1-12), reminding us there is one prayer that God always answers with clarity and certainty: “Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace, thy justice, thy healing”.

Closing the meeting during the March 19 worship service at the Faith United Methodist Church, Bishop Dottie Escobedo-Frank, resident bishop of the California-Pacific Annual Conference including the Los Angeles area, offered the sermon on “Signs,” (Matthew 16:1-4), calling on the importance for people of faith to awaken and act in response to the urgency of the moment.

Board Members Witness the Work of Local Justice Organizations in Action

During planned field visits, board members traveled across Los Angeles to witness the work of United Methodist Churches and justice-focused organizations in action. Visits included:

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.

The Board Joins the Call to Boycott Chevron Oil Company

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.

In a written response the board stated, “We stand in solidarity with the United Methodist Kairos Response, and other United Methodists in this boycott campaign, until the company terminates all contracts with Israel that allow it to profit from the military occupation of Palestine and ceases operations in the gas fields off the coast of Palestine/Israel.”

Chevron Corporation is an American multinational energy company specializing in oil and gas. The company operates natural gas extraction and pipelines off the coast of Palestine/Israel, making it a significant partner in the military blockade of Gaza and the exploitation of Palestinian land and resources.

General Secretary and Staff Report Increased GBCS Social Witness Effort

Bishop Trimble, Church and Society General Secretary provided agency remarks focusing on the continued strength of GBCS, increased operational programming, enhanced communications, carefully managed finances and steady support to amplify the understanding and use of the newly adopted United Methodist Social Principles, the lifeblood of UMC’s social conscience and civic action, across the UMC global connection.

Trimble noted that United Methodists are responding to the work of GBCS. The trust that was exhibited in last year’s survey has been reflected in a willingness to engage, as United Methodists submitted 25,436 messages to 518 federal elected decision makers in 2024, representing an increase of 22 percent over 2023.

Aimee Hong, Assistant General Secretary of Programs, provided programmatic highlights of 2024. She shared 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, such as Pages for Progress and various peace and justice seminar groups.

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.

Since September 2024, Rev. Bautista has addressed various themes in his interventions at the UN and civil society gatherings, including climate justice, migration justice, gender justice, religious liberty, peacebuilding, digital and communications justice, interreligious cooperation, global citizenship, family life, responsible and accountable multilateralism, sustainable development, financing for development, human rights, and the shrinking of public space for civic and democratic discourse.

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. She also highlighted how our attention to impact in a faith-based setting means we are concerned both with moving the needle on public policy, while also valuing the long-term relationships that form and shape people’s faith journeys over years.

According to Bishop Trimble, Church and Society’s role as a partner in justice work will stay the course to educate, equip, connect and provide opportunities for advocacy on peace, poverty, health, climate, migration and immigration through a racial equity lens as United Methodists engage in acts of personal, social and civic righteousness.

“Our mission in ministry is as essential as ever, equipping the church through faith-based initiatives, to interrupt systems of exploitation, oppression and destruction that are denying people around the world the ability to live and lead flourishing lives,” Trimble said.

The Next GBCS Board of Directors Meeting is Planned for October 2025