“All creation is the Lord’s, and we are responsible for the ways in which we use and abuse it,” reads our UMC Social Principles (2012). The world marks Earth Day each April 22, which we observe today. View God’s Gift of the Earth: …
Recent disasters cry out for our response
News reports of horrific earthquakes in Ecuador and Japan (along with historic flooding in Houston) rivet our attention to the scenes of destruction…
Let us be open to new things
A certain man was troubled with dizzy spells, redness in his face and bulging eyes. Every day when he went to his office, he experienced these things. Weekends were not so bad, so he concluded his work was causing his physical discomfort.
Bishop seeks help, prayers for Ecuador
By Michelle Maldonado and Joey Butler April 18, 2016 | UMNS In the wake of a 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck coastal Ecuador on April 16, Bishop Silvio Cevallos of the Evangelical United Methodist Church of Ecuador asks that people “continue …
Conference Youth Rally, April 24, to celebrate God’s love
“Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:7) Eastern PA Conference Youth Rally Sunday, April 24, from 3 to 7 PM, at Hopewell UMC in Downingtown. NOTE: Due to illness, Todd Waites had to …
Repentance for the Carlisle School’s lost children
During its opening worship service on June 16 the Eastern PA Annual Conference will become one of many United Methodist conferences to perform an Act of Repentance toward Healing Relationships with Indigenous Peoples. The Rev. Thom White Wolf Fassett, our …
District Prayer Posts lift General Conference in prayer
Churches in two Eastern PA Conference districts hosted broadly intercessory prayer services recently, welcoming more than 70 people in total who gathered to pray for the United Methodist Church’s General Conference 2016. The last of six district “Prayer Posts,” leading …
LifeTree Cafés bearing fruit in Western districts
Congratulations and prayers for our two Lifetree Cafés that are bearing fruit in the Southwest and Northwest Districts. The Lititz Lifetree Café is a collaborative effort of UM churches in that area–including Lititz and Manheim: Faith UMCs–that meets and welcomes …
Church leaders call for end to gun violence
An annual Good Friday demonstration against gun violence on March 25, that involved several Philadelphia United Methodist churches, is featured in a UM News Service article about a General Conference proposal to address the national problem…
Trainer congregants play good Samaritan to crash victims
By Patti Mengers, Delaware County Daily Times
Sunday morning services took on a new meaning April 3 for the faithful of Trainer United Methodist Church. They spent the day playing host to more than 200 passengers displaced from an Amtrak train bound for Savannah, Ga., that derailed after striking a backhoe on the tracks near Booth Street in Chester just before 8 a.m. Two Amtrak workers were killed and close to 40 people were injured.
The train came to a halt about 300 yards behind the church that is on the 3700 block of West Ninth Street in Trainer. Marcus Hook Trainer Fire Marshal Tony Capasso saw it as a potential place of sanctuary for the stunned travelers. At about 8:45 a.m. he contacted Trainer Borough Council President Jean Beck who in turn called the church’s administrative board chairperson, Marie Bowman. Read more…
NOTE: The local CBS station also aired a TV news report on the Amtrak crash, including an interview with the Rev. James Ford, pastor of Trainer and Trinity UMCs. And the News Journal online news outlet, delawareonline.com, produced a short video interview with Sandy Hulton, a lay member of Trainer UMC, who recounts how the church served its Amtrak passenger guests.
Also see what a Delaware County Daily Times editorial said about the much-appreciated hospitality Trainer and Trinity UMCs offered to the Amtrak crash survivors in Editorial: Delco opened its arms to train wreck victims.