Praise the Lord and pass the pumpkins

Oct. 23, 2023 | UM News

Local students form a chain for the unloading of pumpkins at Grace Avenue United Methodist Church in Frisco, Texas. Photo courtesy of Grace Avenue United Methodist Church.

Texas goes big with most things, including pumpkin patches. First United Methodist Church of Georgetown, Texas, is in its 26th year of welcoming the community for pumpkin sales, photo-ops and other events. Professional photographer Andy Sharp captured the unloading of about 2,500 pumpkins on Oct. 11. Grace Avenue United Methodist Church in Frisco, Texas, has been recognized by D Magazine of Dallas as having one of the area’s outstanding fall pumpkin patches. Grace Avenue’s Pumpkins on the Prairie debuted in 2002. The church shared images from Oct. 16, when about 150 local students helped unload pumpkins.

First United Methodist Church in Georgetown, Texas, is the backdrop for a man wheeling pumpkins. The church is in its 26th year of having a fall pumpkin patch. Photo by Andy Sharp.

Wagons are among the vehicles employed for moving some 2,500 pumpkins at First United Methodist Church in Georgetown, Texas. Photo by Andy Sharp.

A small boy gets in the spirit at the pumpkin patch of First United Methodist Church of Georgetown, Texas. Photo by Andy Sharp.

Grace Avenue United Methodist Church’s Pumpkins on the Prairie has become a major fall event in Frisco, Texas, with local students helping get the pumpkins in place. Photo courtesy of Grace Avenue United Methodist Church.

Debuting in 2002, Grace Avenue United Methodist Church’s Pumpkins on the Prairie has been ranked as one of the best pumpkin patches in the Dallas area. This year, about 150 local students helped with unloading pumpkins for the church’s event. Photo courtesy of Grace Avenue United Methodist Church.

Passing pumpkins can be a good workout, as local students found out in helping with Grace Avenue United Methodist Church’s Pumpkins on the Prairie. Photo courtesy of Grace Avenue United Methodist Church.

Pumpkins of various sizes and colors abound at Grace United Methodist Church’s Pumpkins on the Prairie. Photo courtesy of Grace Avenue United Methodist Church.

Happiness is having straw to fling at the First United Methodist Church of Georgetown, Texas, pumpkin patch. Photo by Andy Sharp.

Sign up for our newsletter!

Subscribe Now

Congregations

Members of Marvin United Methodist Church in Winston-Salem, N.C., pose during a bowling outing. Marvin United Methodist Church received a $100,000 grant from neighboring Sherwood Forest United Methodist Church to help make repairs on its building. Photo courtesy of Marvin United Methodist Church.

Church merger results in win-win-win-win

In North Carolina, United Methodists are making good things happen from an unhappy decline in membership in some of its churches.

Global Health

Marie Otshumba, one of the beneficiaries of The United Methodist Church’s Maternal, Newborn and Child Health program, holds son Amisi alongside nurses at Lokole United Methodist Hospital Center in Kindu, Congo. After five years of repeated miscarriages, Otshumba said the prenatal care she received through the church program transformed her pain into joy. Photo by Chadrack Tambwe Londe, UM News.

Prenatal care transforms grief into joy for Congolese mothers

In Congo, The United Methodist Church’s health program is restoring hope to women who had suffered repeated miscarriages.

Social Concerns

United Methodist youth leaders hold up a joint statement they prepared at the end of a training workshop in Uvira, Congo. The participants committed to promoting and restoring peace in their communities. Photo by Philippe Kituka Lolonga, UM News.

Church trains young people to promote peace

Supported by the United Methodist Board of Church and Society, the training aims to transform young people in eastern Congo into agents of peace in a region destabilized by war.

Related Tags

Sign up for our newsletter!