News

The General Board of Higher Education and Ministry (GBHEM) recognizes that the coronavirus pandemic will cause financial hardship for many graduate and undergraduate students. In response to the economic impact of the global pandemic, the GBHEM Office of Loans and Scholarships has made some important updates to its policies. New...

Update April 20, 2020: The United Methodist University Senate executive committee has voted to allow official United Methodist seminaries and non-United Methodist seminaries to offer coursework via distance learning through the end of the 2020 summer session without jeopardizing their status with the University Senate. The extension of this authorization...

Joyful singing filled the air in Gitega, Burundi on Saturday, Feb. 29 as 192 pastors graduated from the country’s first Course of Study program.  It was a day of celebration, not only for the pastors, but for the entire Burundi Annual Conference, which is recovering after more than a decade...

Updated April 30, 2020: In accordance with Nashville Mayor John Cooper’s four-phase plan for reopening Davidson County, GBHEM staff will continue to work from home through at least Friday, May 29. The agency is carefully monitoring this evolving situation and following the recommendations of local health officials. Using this news...

Rev. Dr. John Wesley Z. Kurewa was a champion for Africa University and a leading voice in its founding. With his passing on Feb. 15, the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry (GBHEM) has lost a valued member of our higher education family. Many GBHEM staff worked closely with...

The General Board of Higher Education and Ministry (GBHEM) is excited to announce a series of new partnerships that will allow licensed local pastors to earn college credit for the Course of Study training program. Beginning this spring, GBHEM and Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia, will collaborate to provide Course...

On Jan. 11, the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry (GBHEM) said goodbye to board member and friend, Rev. Dr. Lisa M. Scott-Joiner. She passed away at the age of 57 in St. Louis, Missouri. Scott-Joiner was appointed to the GBHEM Board of Directors in 2017 and served as...

In an effort to further serve students and higher education partners, the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry (GBHEM) Office of Loans and Scholarships now offers fund administration services to annual conferences. This includes oversight of the scholarship application and allocation processes for conference-based scholarships. The North Carolina Conference...

Rev. Greg Bergquist, GBHEM General Secretary Friends, A halo of possibility is always right beside us. Dr. Stuart Kauffman, a theoretical biologist and complex systems researcher, believes that alongside the other general laws of physics should be something he calls the “Adjacent Possible Theory.” The idea of the “adjacent possible”...

At their annual January meeting, members of the National Association of Schools and Colleges of the United Methodist Church (NASCUMC) voted to change the membership policies governing their organization. “With this vote, we’ve begun an approximately six-month-long process to broaden our membership and open our organization to educators in the...