When the Eastern PA Annual Conference returns to meeting in-person at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks May 18-20, it will also recapture the spirit and tradition of onsite, collective engagement in mission. But to do that requires that …
United Methodists collect 180,000 total pounds of donated food in Super Bowl challenge
The biggest team with the biggest score that emerged from the NFL Super Bowl, Feb. 12, were the United Methodist churches of both competing areas that together collected about 180,000 pounds of donated food to fight hunger in their communities. …
A challenge to collect the most donated food before Super Bowl
Just as the NFL’s Super Bowl begins play on Sunday at 6:30 PM, a much bigger and friendlier United Methodist competition will end—a competition that highlights not football but food banks. It’s the donated food collection competition between the Eastern …
Mission to Mama Land: Church bonds with UM orphanage in Sierra Leone
A “dream team” from First UMC Lancaster landed in Sierra Leone, West Africa, Feb. 1, on a mission to visit a children’s village known affectionately as MamaLand. The Rev. Dorcas Kamanda, an elder in Eastern PA, birthed the fledgling home …
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, …
World Methodist Council nominations sought
Bishop John Schol seeks persons—clergy, lay adults and youth—to nominate for membership and leadership on the World Methodist Council, for the remainder of its current term, 2022-2024, and also for 2024 to 2030. The Eastern PA and Greater New Jersey …
Church hosts MLK Jr. Day of Action to End Gun Violence
On a cold but sunny Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Jan. 16, volunteers gathered on a street in Lansdale with T-shirts, rebar, PVC frames and mallets to install a Memorial to the Lost for the 66 lives taken by gun …
Support groups: a new chapter in youth ministry
I have been in ministry with youth, young adults and families for over 25 years; and over time I have seen ministry with young people change as their needs have changed. Still, I felt there was more we could do. …
UMC scholarships aid EPA students pursuing careers of service
Seventeen Eastern PA Conference students are among over 2,000 United Methodists who received a total of $4 million in financial assistance in 2022 from the denomination’s Office of Loans and Scholarships. The total awarded to EPA recipients was $20,800. “These …
Church’s ministry serves 30,000 breakfasts, opens warming center
New ministry aided by EPA Wholeness Center grant Anchor Lancaster, a ministry at First UMC Lancaster, served 30,000 hot breakfast meals in 2022. The breakfast ministry, which serves every weekday, including holidays, was recognized as “the best non-profit in Lancaster.” …