EPA’s Board of Benefits will sponsor its annual Pre-Retirement Workshop on Thursday, March 30, at 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., at Olivet UMC in Coatesville. The informative workshop is for clergy and staff who will retire in 2023 or within …
When the past just doesn’t work anymore
No one pours new wine into old wineskins. —Luke 5:37 In my role as bishop of EPA&GNJ, I lead or serve on the board of directors of eight nonprofit organizations. These include annual conferences, foundations, universities, social service organizations and …
Learning for Leaders – 2023 Conference-Wide, Author-Led Book Studies
Learning for Leaders 2023 Conference-Wide, Author-Led Book Studies Generosity, Stewardship, and Abundance: A Transformational Guide to Church Finance by Lovett H. Weems Jr. & Ann A. Michel Session 1: April 12 | 11:00 AM – 12 noon via ZOOM Theological …
2023 Laity Academy – Session 1 (Virtual)
EPA’s Laity Academy invites all EPA and GNJ members to two weekend learning events this year—one online and one onsite. Ruth Hendrickson, who has for years taught Laity Academy courses on prayer, will teach a course via Zoom based on her new book Positioned, via Zoom April 28-29.
A path to answered prayer: Pastor invites all to 40-Day Lenten prayer challenge
People often wonder if God is listening to our prayers, if God hears us, and most important, if God will answer. The Rev. Nova Villa Vitug-Thomas, pastor of Ignite United Methodist Church of Kenilworth, is giving us all an opportunity to …
2023 Annual Conference to resume onsite mission efforts
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 …
Register by April 1 to start Pathways in May
“I shall not fear the battle…nor wander from the pathway if thou wilt be my guide.” (From “O Jesus, I Have Promised,” UM Hymnal, #396) More than 50 EPA congregations are currently involved in the Pathways to Congregational Fruitfulness & Health guided …
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. …
Managing the fast pace of change
“Your word is firmly fixed in heaven.” —Psalm 119:89b “The only constant in life is change,” Heraclitus, a Greek philosopher of the sixth century BCE, taught us. But when is too much change just too much for a system to …
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 …