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Daily Digest: September 19, 2014

“Prolonging the lockdown would be unbearable for the market women, taxi drivers and traders who eke out a living from trading.” - Bishop John K. Yambasu, head of The United Methodist Church in Sierra Leone.

Bishop urges cooperation with Ebola lockdown

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (UMNS) — A three-day lockdown begins Sept. 19 in an attempt to stem the Ebola outbreak. Bishop John K. Yambasu, who leads The United Methodist Church in Sierra Leone, says the lockdown will be hard on people but asks for their cooperation.

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Information powerful weapon in Ebola fight

CAMBRIDGE, England (UMNS) — With the lack of a known vaccine for Ebola, information may be the most powerful weapon the global health community has at its disposal. Ken Banks, developer of a free text-messaging system, writes for the website “How We Get to Next” about how The United Methodist Church and others are using technology to distribute vital information in West Africa.

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United Methodists, Moravians consider full communion

NEW YORK (UMNS) — A draft statement “declaring and affirming” full communion between The United Methodist Church and the Moravian Church is being submitted with recommendations to both denominations. The statement was completed when a joint committee met Sept.11-13 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, for the fourth session of the dialogue between the two churches.

Read press release

Resources for World Communion Sunday

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) — United Methodists will join Christians around the globe in observing World Communion Sunday on Oct. 5. On this special Sunday, United Methodist congregations are also asked to collect a special offering to support ethnic undergraduate and graduate students, which often enables first-generation students to attend college.

To download the World Communion Sunday resources

Why are many church choirs dying?

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) — The newly released National Congregations Study finds church choirs are on the downbeat in white Protestant churches across the theological spectrum, reports Cathy Lynn Grossman for Religion News Service. Sales for the music for choral anthems slipped so deeply four years ago that The United Methodist Church’s Abingdon Press stopped buying new anthem music.

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How to draw web searchers to your church

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) — If you want people to find your church website, one of the most important search engine optimization steps is coming up with good title tags. Gavin Richardson offers tips in this column for United Methodist Communications.

Read tips


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