“Residents of the Ganta City in Nimba County are now fleeing the city due to the Ebola-related health risk.” – The the Rev. James Labala, United Methodist pastor, in a telephone interview about the Ebola crisis in Liberia.
Ebola quarantine sparks violent protests
MONROVIA, Liberia (UMNS) — Protesters hurled rocks and stormed barricades in an effort to escape the West Point neighborhood that was cordoned off after a quarantine aimed at containing the spread of Ebola. A United Methodist pastor was among those unable to leave, reports Julu Swen, communication director for the Liberia Annual (regional) Conference of The United Methodist Church.
Marching for climate change action
NEW YORK (UMNS) — United Methodists are among those planning to march in midtown Manhattan on Sunday, Sept. 21, to call for renewed action on climate change. Participants in the People’s Climate March hope to send a message to world leaders gathering for a U.N. summit two days later.
Ferguson: ‘We are all accountable’
WASHINGTON (UMNS) — “I don’t know all the details or all the truth about the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. What I do know is that we are all accountable for his death and accountable to the African-American young people in our communities everywhere,” Los Angeles Area Bishop Minerva Carcaño, president of the United Methodist Commission on Religion and Race Board of Directors, writes in a commentary calling for “actions of social holiness.”
New curriculum for local pastors
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) — A new curriculum for local pastors focuses on transformative leadership, while online interactive classes will provide easier access for educational opportunities, especially for part-time local pastors who have regular employment outside the church.
Impact of a drive-thru prayer ministry
IVYLAND, Pa. (UMNS) — St. John’s United Methodist Church in the Eastern Pennsylvania Annual (regional) Conference embarked on a new ministry recently: Drive-thru Prayer. Ruth Portzline, a certified lay minister at the church, describes how prayer volunteers gather each Wednesday afternoon under a canopy outside the church to offer prayer to folks who drive by.
Correction
An Aug. 20 digest item concerning the Saddlebag Award winner said the award was for 2013. The award is for 2014.
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