Students preparing to be educators gathered in a classroom at Widener University Center for Education in Chester February 12 to learn the tragic history of The Loss of Turtle Island. They engaged in an interactive, visual exercise that demonstrates the …
CoNAM helps college students, faculty feel the Loss of Turtle Island
During National Native American Heritage Month in November, students and faculty at Lebanon Valley College (LVC), in Annville, PA, participated in a unique, interactive learning experience that taught them the history of a tragic loss. That loss resulted from “the …
Learning poignant lessons of Native American culture, history
Drew seminary student connects with Native American Ministries In the summer of 2022, Drew Theological School led students on a trip to the Blackfeet Nation in Browning, Montana. I had just completed my first year as a Masters of Divinity …
Color of Compromise book study to explore church’s ‘complicity in racism’
Some Eastern PA Conference members and others, perhaps from Greater New Jersey and elsewhere, will embark this month on a challenging literary expedition through Jemar Tisby’s acclaimed 2019 book The Color of Compromise: The Truth About American Church’s Complicity in …
Learn to prepare for a Congregational Racism Audit
For churches seeking a path toward ending the sin of racism, looking inward may be a good first step. Eastern PA’s Healing the Wounds of Racism core team will help churches prepare to take that step with a workshop titled …
Sharing the Journey to end the sin of racism
EPA&GNJ staff leaders met April 27 at EPA’s Carson Simpson Farm Camp & Retreat Center to learn about each conference’s work to end the sin of racism and to explore how they might work together in affiliation. “We saw significant …
Moving Forward on Two Journeys to End the Sin of Racism
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 …
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 …
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 …
Juneteenth: Hope for the future wrapped in a history lesson
Juneteenth, historically celebrated on June 19, will be observed as a federal holiday this year on Monday, June 20. It commemorates the delayed emancipation of enslaved African Americans in the U.S. But more than 150 years after the first Juneteenth …