Community

Ukrainian children perform during a festival in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. United Methodists in Romania and other neighboring countries continue to provide support for Ukrainian refugees more than three years after Russian armed forces invaded Ukraine. Photo by Aaron Roberts, ALR Photography.

Helping Ukrainian refugees make new homes

Art and music programs for children, language courses and waterproof Bibles are some of the assistance being provided to Ukrainians by nearby nations, many times facilitated by United Methodist churches and individuals.

Church Leadership

Participants sing during opening worship at the 2023 special session of the National Association of Korean American United Methodists at Korean First United Methodist Church in Wheeling, Ill., on Oct. 2. The Southeastern Jurisdiction has scheduled its first Asian American Ministers Gathering in May to bring clergy together for fellowship, resources and ministerial support. Pictured from left are Bishops Dottie Escobedo-Frank and Hee-Soo Jung, Dana Lyles and the Revs. MiRhang Baek, Prumeh Lee and Ju-Yeon Julie Jeon. File photo by the Rev. Thomas E. Kim, UM News.

Gathering aims to help Asian American clergy thrive

Southeastern Jurisdiction brings Asian American ministers together for fellowship, resources and ministerial support.

Faith Stories

The Rev. Elaine A. Heath, former dean at Duke Divinity School and abbess at Spring Forest in Hillsborough, N.C., stands amid some of the crops at the farm portion of the 23-acre property that also contains two homes, large outdoor tables for community meals and a stage for entertainment. The monastic community is in stark contrast to Heath’s difficult childhood. Photo by Jim Patterson, UM News.

Pastor creates the community she longed for as a child

The Rev. Elaine A. Heath overcame a difficult childhood to make a successful career as a church leader and educator. Her latest incarnation is as the abbess of a new kind of Christian community.

Faith Stories

The Rev. Elaine A. Heath, a United Methodist elder and founder and “abbess” of Spring Forest, visits a herd of goats at the “intentional faith community” in Hillsborough, N.C. Spring Forest combines elements of monasteries and nunneries, regenerative farming, communes, churches and small businesses. Photo by Jim Patterson, UM News.

Growing a new kind of Christian community

Spring Forest in Hillsborough, North Carolina, is part monastery, part collective farm and part any number of other things.

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