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 …
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 …
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, …
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 …