News & Information
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 ...
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,” ...
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. ...
Holding on together
Cabinet epistle prescribes remedies to clergy stress, burnout
“In the midst of deeply felt challenges to our health, our churches and our society, it is normal for stress and anxiety to increase.” Thus begins a letter sent recently by the joint EPA&GNJ Cabinet to all clergy and chairs ...
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.” ...
Giving to Advance Specials aids ministries in need
Jesus calls us to go the second mile (Matthew 5:41) in our sacrificial giving. Most Eastern PA churches do just that—giving beyond their apportioned askings to support conference and denominational ministries. And while many also fund causes in their own ...
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