Bishop Bruce R. Ough helped launch a new book—Celebrating God's Love: Living Into Christian Unity and Interreligious Relationships—in Berlin, Germany, during the United Methodist Council of Bishops meeting earlier this month.

Ough contributed a chapter in the book, which was edited by Dr. Donald E. Messer, a Dakota Wesleyan University alumnus and the university’s former president. (Bishop Ough is currently a trustee of the university, located in Mitchell, South Dakota.)

Messer addressed the Council of Bishops, warning about schisms threatening a breakup of The United Methodist Church and increasing political pressures in the United States that encourage enmity among Muslims, Jews, and Christians.  

In the study book designed for laity and clergy, Ough joined two other United Methodist episcopal leaders, Bishop Rosemarie Wenner of Germany and Bishop Warner H. Brown Jr. of San Francisco, in emphasizing that it is “obligation, not an option,” for Christians to maintain God’s gift of unity and to always work to “enhance inter-religious relationships.”

Both Ough and Messer champion ways that churches can work in ecumenical and interfaith ways to promote international peace, justice, and health care. Messer chairs the United Methodist Global AIDS Fund, and Ough was elected president of the Council of Bishops, beginning in 2016.  

The book can be purchased in either hard copy or electronically through Cokesbury or Amazon.