The Rev. Mutwale wa Mushidi and Kabaka Alphonsine, longtime Global Ministries missionaries in Tanzania, will visit and fellowship with United Methodists in both the Greater New Jersey and Eastern PA conferences from February 17 to March 6. They will visit …

Hearts and Ashes
Yet even now, says the LORD, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; rend your hearts and not your clothing. Return to the LORD, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow …

Want to host an Annual Conference Focus Group? Apply by Feb. 23
The Eastern PA Annual Conference, scheduled for May 21-23 at the Wildwoods Convention Center in New Jersey, will offer small-group gathering opportunities, known as Focus Groups, during three mealtime break periods. Any EPA Conference committee or organization may host a …

Youth Leaders Day ignites shared learning, support for youth ministries
Post-pandemic youth ministry is hard. So hard, in fact, that the leadership of EPA&GNJ Next Gen Ministries recognized the folly of going about it alone. The United Methodist Church of West Chester in EPA became a hub of inspiration on …

Mosaic Ministries Church Info Sessions
Is your church interested in supporting students while in seminary? Would you ever consider hiring a high school or college student for a summer internship, or even take on a seminary student appointment? Do you need help creating those opportunities …

Pastor to lead monthly spiritual retreats for clergy in 2024
The Eastern PA Conference Cabinet and Leadership Development Office sponsored three, one-day spiritual renewal retreats in 2023 to offer needed respite to weary pastors. They were so well-received that the supportive mental and spiritual health initiative will now become a …

NextGen coordinator to share wisdom with peers at Youth Leader Days
Register for IGNITE’s Youth Leader Days now: January 27 at West Chester UMC, in Eastern PA, and February 24 at Aldersgate UMC in East Brunswick, NJ. Michael Nelson, a dynamic youth pastor at Norwood (PA) United Methodist Church and a …

Camps to welcome EPA&GNJ youth to Confirmation Retreats in April
This spring two Eastern PA Conference Camp & Retreat Centers are eager to welcome youth from across EPA and the Greater New Jersey Conference to their 2024 Confirmation Retreats in April, where they can enjoy the beauty and diversity of …

At EPA camps ‘tis the season for discovering faith, beauty and much more
“How many lessons of faith and beauty we should lose,” wrote Thomas Wentworth Higginson in 1861, “if there were no winter in our year!” Our three year-round Camp and Retreat Centers are getting a head start on the big chill, …

Leadership Academy Preaching Institute hires director, coordinator
The EPA&GNJ Leadership Academy’s new Lilly Endowment-funded Preaching Institute (LAPI) hired a new director and coordinator January 1. The Rev. Darryl Stephens, who chairs the Order of Deacons in the Eastern PA Conference and teaches at Lancaster Theological Seminary, will serve as director. …