Published in NEWSpirit newspaper, Summer 2023 issue. The United Methodists of Eastern Pennsylvania and Greater New Jersey are committed to “Ending the Sin of Racism,” a clarion call answered in both conferences by some promising initiatives. They include coaching, giving …

TV news features EPA Lay Leader teaching computer skills to seniors
Philadelphia’s WPVI-TV News featured Eastern PA Conference Lay Leader William Thompson in a recent story about his decades-long business of teaching basic computer skills to seniors. It’s part of the ABC station’s series “The Art of Aging.” “Love them or …

EPA Awardees Honored for Evangelism, Urban Ministries
About 30 people gathered April 22 for the 2023 Eastern PA Annual Conference awards ceremony at Christ United Methodist Church in Fairless Hills—a 30-minute, video-recorded ceremony where plaques and framed certificates were given out and brief remarks were shared. A …

EPA, GNJ CoNAMS share friendship beyond borders
Both the Eastern PA and Greater New Jersey annual conferences in May will begin with a traditional ceremony acknowledging the land we occupy as once owned by Native American people, particularly the Lenni-Lenape nation who inhabited land in what is …

Latino Commission’s Holy Convocation inspires prayer, unity
From all regions of the Eastern PA Conference, members of its Latino/Hispanic Commission came together to strengthen their unity in the Holy Spirit at their annual Holy Convocation on Saturday, April 15, at Casa del Rey UMC in Allentown, PA. …

Home From School: The Children of Carlisle: EPA CoNAM to show documentary April 30
In 2012 the United Methodist Church’s General Conference held an Act of Repentance with Native Peoples, challenging the church to implement actions that demonstrate a genuine attitude of repentance and healing. A key element of this repentance is learning and …

POWER Interfaith to host Phila. mayoral candidates forum April 16
POWER Interfaith will convene leaders from 60 Philadelphia area congregations to talk with the city’s 2023 mayoral candidates April 16, at 3-6 p.m., about what it will take to make their communities safer. The interfaith anti-racism social change organization’s Faith …

Justice for Our Neighbors needs Spanish-English interpreters now!
Justice for Our Neighbors of the Delaware Valley (JFON-DV), which provides affordable immigration legal services to low-income clients in our region, urgently needs Spanish-English language interpreters now to help busloads of migrants arriving in Philadelphia seeking asylum. The small agency, …

Bishop mourns fatal police violence, calls for justice, grace, love
Bishop John Schol expressed in a letter to EPA & GNJ United Methodists Saturday the anguish many felt when viewing the video of Tyre Nichols being brutally and fatally beaten by Memphis, Tenn., police officers. “It was painful to watch,” …

EPA clergy of color invited to renewal retreat in June
Just weeks after an Annual Conference focused on the theme “Possibility,” Eastern PA clergy of color will get to explore their own possibilities of learning self-renewal and restoration through a joyful, guided process of spiritual and emotional nurture. And they …