"Simple Church is going back to this understanding of living into a relationship that starts with God." — Rick McKinley, New England Conference’s director of congregational development.
Church blends dinner, worship, enterprise
GRAFTON, Mass. — Simple Church, a new congregation formed from the remnants of North Grafton United Methodist Church, blends dinner, worship and a new model for generating revenue — bread baking. The model is catching on with other United Methodists. G. Jeffrey MacDonald reports for Duke Divinity School’s Faith and Leadership web magazine.
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2017 annual conference reports
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) — United Methodist News Service is posting reports from all annual conference sessions. New this week are reports from the Dakotas, East Ohio, Florida, Great Plains, Holston, Iowa, Memphis, New Mexico, Northern Illinois, Oregon-Idaho, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, West Ohio and Western Pennsylvania conferences.
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Learning about God by listening to children
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMC.org) — What can we learn about God and our Christian faith from children? The Rev. Jacob Armstrong of Providence United Methodist Church in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, interviewed 59 children about their faith. The Rev. Joe Iovino talks with Armstrong and Jennifer Rodia, chief communications officer at United Methodist Communications, about those interviews.
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Teens raise over $100,000 to fight malaria
CLEVELAND — Over 10 years, two teens and their younger siblings have raised more than $100,000 to fight malaria, through a combination of lemonade stands, asking for donations rather than birthday gifts and matching funds from grandparents. Molly McNamara and Logan Martens have donated the money mostly to The United Methodist Church’s Imagine No Malaria initiative. Roxanne Washington reports for the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
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How can churches be in ministry with Deaf?
BALTIMORE — People considering ministry with the Deaf often think of sign language interpretation, but there are many models for ministry with the Deaf. The Rev. Leo Yates Jr., a provisional deacon in the Baltimore-Washington Conference who serves as the consultant for the United Methodist Committee on Deaf and Hard of Hearing Ministries, writes about these possibilities.
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AU vice chancellor appointed to STEM task force
MUTARE, Zimbabwe — Africa University Vice Chancellor Munashe Furusa has been appointed to Zimbabwe’s Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development Task Force. The task force goal is to contribute to the transformation of business, industry and commerce for Zimbabwe by leveraging on research and expertise in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM.
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Looking ahead
Here are some of the activities ahead for United Methodists across the connection. If you have a United Methodist event to share, you can add it to the calendar with this submission form.
Wednesday, June 28
Deacon Dialogue 2017: Deacons as Emissaries, Sent by the Spirit — 1-7 p.m., CDT. Loyola University Lake Shore Campus, 6333 N. Winthrop, Chicago. On the eve of the World DIAKONIA Assembly, United Methodist deacons gather to learn about each other’s ministries, and receive both encouragement and challenge for their own ministry. The Rev. Ben Hartley will lead an exploration of emerging interpretation of the Greek word diakonos. This event is sponsored by the United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry and Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. Details
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