The Rev. Steve Morton, North District Superintendent, will become the Eastern PA Conference’s new Leadership Development Manager July 1. Morton, who has led the North District since 2018, will now help plan and coordinate a leadership development program to equip …
EPA honors churches, leaders for the fruit they bear
“Be purposeful and fruitful.” That creative challenge is in the last line of Bishop John Schol’s April 4 essay titled “ Direction: A Key Ingredient for Successful Leadership – Part 2: Mission.” He reminds us of the Eastern PA Conference’s mission: “Recruit …
Ordinands’ fruitfulness projects respond to individual, church, community needs
As the COVID pandemic in late 2020 took a heavy toll on many lives—including health, housing, businesses, jobs and family incomes—members of Wooddale UMC in East Stroudsburg and nearby rural Analomink UMC saw their communities increasingly in dire need of …
Church celebrates confirmation of 16 youth
”It was my joy to confirm 16 youth from our church who claimed their faith on Confirmation Sunday,” announced the Rev. Candy LaBar, pastor of Wesley UMC Bethlehem. “I wish our confirmands every blessing on this new stage of their …
3 Annual Conference offerings, 3 ways to give
The 2022 Annual Conference, May 20-21, will again receive offerings to provide crucial support to conference youth and young adult ministries and scholarships for higher education—both undergraduate and seminary. While the Annual Conference will take place online for a third …
Black-Brown Youth Retreat explores identity, relationships
“Black, brown, black, brown, black, brown.” That’s how the Rev. Will Brawner instructed the youth at the Black and Brown Youth Retreat, April 1-3, to sit in chairs encircling Gretna Glen Camp & Retreat Center’s largest meeting room. He mixed …
Merged churches inspire hope through mission center
“Hope Starts Here,” penned in colorful letters, is a small sign on the door of a big room where food is prepared at Mission First, a ministry located at the former First United Methodist Church in downtown Pottstown. And that …
Black and Brown Youth Retreat to build cross-cultural bridges
The EPAUMC Black and Brown Youth Retreat, April 1-3, an unprecedented spring gathering of 55 Black and Latino/Latinx young people at Gretna Glen Camp & Retreat Center in Lebanon, is designed to plant fertile seeds of relationship and revival. The …
Laity Session to nominate next Lay Leader, April 2
The Eastern PA Conference Laity Session will nominate a new Conference Lay Leader when it convenes online, via Zoom, on Saturday, April 2, at 10 AM. David Koch (right), Conference Lay Leader for eight years, since 2014, will open the …
Women’s History Month Feature
UM advocacy agency reveals lagging equity for clergywomen
The General Commission on the Status and Role of Women (GCOSROW), created by General Conference in 1972, provides research, advocacy, training, monitoring and educational resources to churches and conference commissions like Eastern PA’s COSROW…