News

A Story Needing to Be Told

By Chaplain Sarge Wright John Taylor, now a retired United Methodist minister living near Shingle Springs, California, has been a longtime friend and colleague. He has a zest for living and an intense life mission that has been both interesting and productive.   John was introduced to Heifer Project International by the Rev. Bill Beck in 1970. His first service opportunity was to deliver pregnant cows to Korea in 1971. This experience introduced John emotionally to HPI, but also led...

Is Your Church 'Walking With the Poor'? Add to ACS Display

The Conference Committee on Children and Poverty invites you to prepare a visual display (one per church) exhibiting the ways your congregation is walking with the poor. It will become part of a larger display at Annual Conference Session. Each year CCCP looks for ways to highlight the work of congregations which are effectively walking with the poor – something which goes beyond writing checks or sending kits (though these are important), and extends to working in partnership with the...

Congregations - Help Illustrate Your Work With Poor, for Display at ACS

Each year at Annual Conference Session, the Conference Committee on Children and Poverty looks for ways to highlight the work of congregations which are effectively walking with the poor. Beyond writing checks or sending kits (which also are important), walking with the poor means working in partnership with the poor in your area to build the Beloved Community. This year, CCCP invites you and your congregation to prepare a visual display (one per church) exhibiting the ways your congregation...

Cal-Nev Churches Fight Diseases of Poverty Through Health Kits for Haiti

It's another example of Ministry in Action. Pioneer United Methodist Church in Auburn packed 1,000 health kits for Haiti in one hour on March 20 – then sent them to the UMCOR West Depot in Salt Lake City, in a shipment that also contained kits from Grass Valley, Napa, Lincoln, Carson City, Sparks, and Lake Tahoe churches in the California-Nevada Annual Conference. Campbell UMC has undertaken the mission of collecting 1,000 health kits for Haiti, as well!   See the Ministry in...

Healthcare Bill's Passage Called 'Huge Step' Toward Affirming UM Social Principles

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The chief executive of the United Methodist General Board of Church and Society (GBCS) says the U.S. House of Representatives took a "huge step" toward affirming the denomination's Social Principles when it passed health-insurance reform legislation on March 21. Jim Winkler says the House action affirms the United Methodist Social Principles that declares health care is "a basic human right."   The House passed the U.S. Senate version...

Leader Chosen for 'Healthy Families, Healthy Planet' Initiative

10 United Methodist annual conferences to work with General Boards of Church and Society and Global Ministries in international family-planning project. WASHINGTON, D.C. - Katey Zeh, a native Georgian, has been hired by the United Methodist General Board of Church and Society (GBCS) as the part-time consultant for "Healthy Families, Healthy Planet." She will serve as educator, advocate, and organizer for the initiative, which is a year-long effort to build a strong constituency of...

Christmas Eve Broadcast Is First Planned for UMC Radio in Côte d'Ivoire

United Methodist Church radio in Côte d’Ivoire, West Africa will broadcast for the first time on Christmas Eve 2009 - amplifying hope in a country still healing from a recent civil war. Through December 11, you may leave an inspirational quote, Scripture, testimony of God's grace, or another positive message for playback on air. Visit AmplifyHope.org for information on how to leave your message of hope and to learn more about the radio initiative. ...

Church Launches Advent Ad Campaign

Nov. 24, 2009 | NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) What if you went shopping for hope instead of giving in to hype this Christmas?   How much difference could you make in the world?   The United Methodist Church encouraged people to think "outside the gift box" to make Christmas more about substance and less about stuff as it launched its Advent advertising campaign airing on CNN Headline News Nov. 24-Dec. 27.   The Rethink Church commercial features a homeless woman...

Shoreview UMC Joins San Mateo Neighborhood in Feeding Program

By Bruce Pettit CA-NV Annual Conference Communications Commission Shoreview, a neighborhood on San Francisco Bay in the city of San Mateo, wondered a few years ago whether the United Methodist Church was a good neighbor. Shoreview UMC's congregants are primarily Tongan and Samoan. Members had brought to the area some traditions from their home countries - such as outdoor pig-roastings, and unsupervised children at play - and neighbors were complaining about such things as odors, noise, and...

Take GBOD Online Survey on Effect of Economic Crisis

The General Board of Discipleship wants to know how the current global economic crisis is affecting practices of worship across The United Methodist Church. In particular, the board is trying to learn how the crisis affects staffing, programming, and the purchase and use of resources by local congregations, Annual Conferences, campus ministries, and other faith communities within the denomination that gather for worship.   To this end, GBOD is conducting a research survey - the findings...

The Making of Staging a Miracle - the Video

A four-minute video about the making of the 2009 Staging a Miracle production, A Hand out for Hope, at First United Methodist Church of Sacramento, has been uploaded to the website of the California-Nevada Annual Conference.   Just click on REEL Witness under "Quick Links" on the upper left side of the Home Page at cnumc.org and look for "The Making of Staging a Miracle."   The production had three performances on Saturday, August 8 and there was an encore performance during...

Get to Annual Conference One Day Early, Speak out for Those in Economic Peril

The Conference Board of Church and Society, Council of Churches of Santa Clara County, and California Church IMPACT invite California-Nevada United Methodists to get to Annual Conference in Sacramento one day early - on Tuesday, June 16 – and take part in a huge faith rally, 9 a.m. to noon, to let state lawmakers know that cutting services to those already in economic peril is not a moral way to balance the budget.    "Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and...

Lawmakers Praise Church as Civil Voice on Poverty

By Linda Green* WASHINGTON (UMNS)   National lawmakers this week encouraged United Methodist bishops to keep fighting against world hunger and disease, saying civil voices are necessary to break through partisan politics on issues such as health care and poverty.   "United Methodists have a long history of advocating for the poor and feeding the hungry, both in body and in spirit," Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., told church leaders during their May 5 visit to Capitol...

Valley Choral Society Concert on May 17 to Benefit Habitat for Humanity

Valley Choral Society will perform at Trinity Cathedral Church, Sunday, May 17 at 7:30 p.m., in a concert celebrating "the beauty of our earth and sky, and the joy that family and friends bring to our lives." Music by John Rutter and Mack Wilberg.   All proceeds will benefit Habitat for Humanity.   Tickets are $15/person, $10/person for students and seniors, and will be available at the door - or email tickets@valleychoral.org.   Trinity Cathedral Church is located at 2620...

Bishops Launch Rethink Church With Worker Outreach

By Linda Green* May 5, 2009 | GAITHERSBURG, Md. (UMNS)   Mario Ramirez of El Salvador comes daily to a trailer on a parking lot in this Washington, D.C., suburb looking for work as a gardener or general day laborer.   On May 5, some 15 United Methodist bishops visited the ministry site, called Casa de Maryland, bearing support, fellowship and Holy Communion as part of the launch of a "Rethink Church" campaign taking United Methodist faith out into the world.   Ramirez and...

Faith Group Urges CA UMs to Vote 'No' on Proposition 1C

The California Coalition Against Gambling Expansion - a statewide, faith-based organization "that seeks to prevent the problems caused by gambling" - has joined the California Council of Churches in opposing Proposition 1C on the May 19 ballot, which would restructure the state lottery and change its purpose. CCAGE contends that in so doing Prop 1C also would add to the state debt and would exploit the poor.   The Executive Director of CCAGE is the Rev. James Butler, a United...

Denominations To Rebuild Homes In Neglected Little Woods

NEW ORLEANS (CWS) - One of the still-neglected tragedies of Hurricane Katrina, the historic lakefront community of Little Woods in New Orleans' Ninth Ward, will get a rebuilding boost starting in April, thanks to a first-of-its-kind network of national volunteers spearheaded by humanitarian agency Church World Service. With a one-neighborhood-at-a-time focus, the "Neighborhood: New Orleans" project will repair or rebuild an initial 12 homes on property owned by current or displaced Little Woods...

Words, Photos Show Struggle In Darfur

By Linda Bloom* April 8, 2009 | NEW YORK (UMNS) As journalists who travel the world, Chris Herlinger and Paul Jeffrey know that once you finish telling a story, you have to move on to the next one. But the complex and compelling crisis that enfolds the people of Darfur keeps drawing them back. "The trouble with Darfur is it's the one country you can't move on from - the tragedy there is so great," explains Jeffrey (below), a photojournalist and missionary with the United...

Tragedy in Sudan Moves Conference to Expand Goals

By Annette Spence* March 31, 2009 | YEI, Sudan (UMNS)   The tiny, frail child appeared to be asleep in his hospital bed. It was only when the mother wailed - and the nurse began to tie up the infant's toes - that observers realized what was happening.   The child had just died. The nurse was routinely preparing the body for the onset of rigor mortis. It was a Saturday afternoon in south Sudan, where three United Methodist bishops were visiting the town's only hospital. By the...

Backpack Project Flourishes at New Community UMC

New Community United Methodist Church in Oakhurst, California took an idea from another church and "ran with it" - and thinks it could inspire other UMCs.   Debbie Gudger, an active member of New Community, says that years ago she read in the Conference newsletter about Gridley UMC's backpack project, and suggested it for her church. A Backpack Team was formed in 2003 and has been supplying the Madera County Child Protective Services Department with backpacks filled with supplies for...