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The Rev. John L. McCullough was awarded the Council of Bishops 2012 Ecumenical Award May 1 at the United Methodist General Conference in Tampa, Fla.  The award, given every four years, recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions to strengthen Christian unity and interreligious relations.

“John McCullough brings commitment and great energy to international, national and regional ecumenical work, ” said Bishop Sharon Rader, ecumenical officer of the United Methodist Council of Bishops. “Under his leadership, Church World Service (CWS) has strengthened its international reputation as an innovative, adaptive and transformative leader in its programmatic fields. ”

McCullough is President and CEO of CWS, an international humanitarian agency that works with partners to eradicate hunger and poverty and to promote peace and justice around the world through programs of sustainable development and humanitarian assistance, advocacy for social justice, and services to immigrants and refugees. Many United Methodists annually partner with CWS through the CROP Hunger Walks, which are community-wide events sponsored by CWS and organized by local congregations to raise funds to end hunger in the United States and  developing countries around the world.

By Rich Peck

May 1, 2012 | TAMPA, Fla. (UMNS)

Pan-Methodist church leaders join together at the 2012 United Methodist General Conference in Tampa, Fla. From left are: Bishop Sharon Zimmerman Rader, United Methodist Church; Bishop Thomas Hoyt Jr., Christian Methodist Episcopal Church; the Rev. W. Robert Johnson III, African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church; and Bishop John F. White, African Methodist Episcopal Church. A UMNS photo by Mike DuBose.

After several hundred years of separation, members of six Pan-Methodist denominations have committed to ministry together.

The United Methodist Church is the last of the denominations to adopt the full communion agreement, which was celebrated May 1 during the 2012 General Conference.

The affirmation establishes a new relationship among the African Methodist Episcopal, African Methodist Episcopal Zion, African Union Methodist Protestant, Christian Methodist Episcopal, Union American Methodist Episcopal and United Methodist denominations.

Bishop Sharon Zimmerman Rader, ecumenical officer for the United Methodist Council of Bishops, noted that acknowledging past difficulties is part of the process. “We believe this is a significant moment in all of our histories,” she said during a news conference preceding the celebration.

A UMNS Report
By Rich Peck*

Saturday, April 28, 2012 | TAMPA, Fla. (UMNS)

 A delegate picks up and holds a stone in the center aisle  during an April 27 "Act of Repentance toward Healing Relationships  with Indigenous Peoples" at the 2012 United Methodist General  Conference in Tampa, Florida. A UMNS photo by Paul Jeffrey.

“There’s a lot of history that has been concealed; you have to go and dig it up,” said the Rev. George Tinker, a citizen of the Osage Nation and a professor at Iliff School of Theology in Denver.

Tinker began that excavation by recalling the 1864 massacre at Sand Creek, where John Chivington, a Methodist pastor, led 700 Colorado territory militia in the killing and mutilating of some 165 peaceful Cheyenne men, women and children.

Tinker also told a lesser-known Methodist chapter of that tragic event.

After refusing to meet with Cheyenne leaders, John Evans, a Methodist serving as governor of the Colorado territory, ordered the massacre.

In spite of that action, Evans is celebrated as the founder of the University of Denver, Northwestern University and Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, a city named for the Methodist leader.