Following Jesus, Loving People, Sharing Grace shares the core of Arkansas’s United Methodists
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (August 28, 2025) – Bishop Laura Merrill recently announced a new integrated communications campaign to allow Arkansas’ United Methodists to share their identity, marked with unity and diversity, as followers of Jesus Christ. The “Following Jesus, Loving Others, Sharing Grace” (#FollowingLovingSharing) campaign was announced at the 2025 Arkansas Annual Conference in Hot Springs in June 2025, and it will officially launch statewide on October 1, 2025. This identity campaign is funded by the generosity of long-time members of First United Methodist Church in Little Rock, Rush and Linda Harding.
“In the midst of the current crisis and division, we feel called to share the love and hope we have found as people of Jesus Christ in a clear, new way. The voices and hearts of United Methodists in Arkansas are speaking in this campaign, to claim who we are and invite others to a welcoming, life-giving journey,” shared Bishop Merrill.
Mr. Harding added, “Linda and I share Bishop Merrill’s vision for the United Methodist Church. We celebrate our diversity and our being inclusive. We want to help send the message that the United Methodist Church does not discriminate and that we embrace Christ’s mandate to “love your neighbor” with no conditions.”
The goals of the campaign are to:
· Deepen Arkansas United Methodists’ identity and increase engagement with the new vision statement, conference-wide.
· Build public awareness and trust in the Arkansas Conference as a grace-filled, community-rooted body of Christ.
· Expand the reach and relevance of United Methodist ministries across Arkansas.
The #FollowingLovingSharing campaign will include outdoor advertising, streaming video, digital media, public relations, and grassroots communications. All corners of Arkansas will be touched by this campaign, and different strategies will be employed to include the diverse audiences of the church.
“The success of this campaign lies with every Arkansas United Methodist,” said Amy Ezell, director of connectional ministries. “We hope every church will tell the story of how they are #FollowingLovingSharing and invite others to join them.”
For more information about #FollowingLovingSharing or ARUMC, visit https://arumc.org/ or the news story by United Methodist News found here.
About the Arkansas Conference of the United Methodist Church
The Arkansas Conference of the United Methodist Church is the organization responsible for coordinating more than 400 United Methodist churches and ministries and more than 500 clergy throughout Arkansas, “working together to build vital communities of faith by following Jesus, loving people, and sharing grace.”
The Conference, led by Bishop Laura Merrill, who was elected to serve in Arkansas in 2022, is part of the South Central Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church and comprises more than four hundred congregations across the state of Arkansas.