Click Here for Global Connection Archive
 

United Methodist News Service coverage of the response in Haiti

Feb. 18-March 2, 2010 United Methodist News Service Recent headlines: • Agency aids Haitian medical evacuees • United Methodists keep focus on Haiti • Haitian adoptions require moral discernment full story

Rethink Church campaign captures advertising awards

March 2, 2010     News media contact:   Diane Degnan * 615-742-5406*   Nashville United Methodist Communications Office of Public Information   NASHVILLE, Tenn. —  Advertising produced on behalf of The United Methodist Church has won regional and local Emmy and ADDY awards, United Methodist Communications has announced. full story

Methodists in Chile assess quake toll

March 1, 2010 United Methodist News Service Methodists in Chile are beginning to assess damage after the massive Feb. 27 earthquake. Bishop Mario Martinez of the Methodist Church in Chile said on Feb. 28 that church buildings in the districts of Chillán, Los Angeles, Segunda de Temuco and Primera y Segunda de Santiago suffered major damage from the earthquake. He had no news of injuries or deaths. full story

Megachurch revitalizes downtown congregation

Feb. 26, 2010 United Methodist News Service KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The megachurch has come to the city, bringing new life to a historic downtown sanctuary. United Methodist Church of the Resurrection, a 12,000-member congregation based in nearby Leawood, Kan., established a third campus at the Grand Avenue Temple, a United Methodist Church which has been at the same location since 1866. The result is the older church, which in recent years has lacked a self-supporting congregation even as its Lazarus Table ministry reached out to the homeless, is undergoing a spiritual and physical renewal. The new congregation, Resurrection Downtown, averages 240 worshippers each week, and is developing vital evangelism, music and small group ministries. The commitment of members of the Church of the Resurrection goes beyond time and treasure. Six couples sold their homes and moved downtown. full story

United Methodists applaud health care summit

Feb. 26, 2010 United Methodist News Service   At the end of the day, the health care summit held in the nation’s capital Feb. 25 produced “more heat than light,” said Bishop Gregory Palmer, president of the United Methodist Council of Bishops. United Methodist lawmakers and church leaders reacting to the forum applauded President Barack Obama’s effort to debate health care reform in public, but are unsure whether any progress was made. full story

The Last Guard: United Methodists stay with toughest Katrina cases

Feb. 26, 2010 United Methodist Reporter NEW ORLEANS — As the recovery work from Hurricane Katrina drags on into its fifth year, most relief money and volunteer help has shifted from places like New Orleans to more media-saturated, current disaster regions like quake-affected Haiti. Many people even find it hard to imagine that post-Katrina recovery work is still taking place. The most destitute families in Louisiana and other hurricane-affected regions, however, have yet to receive help: Some 2,500 family units in New Orleans and surrounding areas still live in trailers provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA); others have not yet returned from nearby states where they fled to escape rising floodwaters. Entire blocks of houses in New Orleans’ impoverished neighborhoods are still boarded up in disrepair. A few die-hard United Methodist volunteers, however, have not yet given up on “the least, the last and the lost” hit hard in 2005 by back-to-back hurricanes Katrina and Rita. United Methodists, in fact, are the last guard of post-Katrina recovery work. full story

Contemporary church begins in coffee shop

Feb. 24, 2010 United Methodist News Service KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Both worship services at Broadway United Methodist Church are as traditional as the majestic stone structure and the 100-year-old sanctuary. When the congregation decided to evangelize people looking for a different spiritual experience, members wanted to do more than just add a contemporary service. They started a new worshipping community with its own pastor and own identity in the coffee shop at Broadway. full story

General Board of Higher Education and Ministry launches mobile Web site

Feb. 24, 2010   News media contact: Vicki Brown *  615-340-7383  * Nashville, Tenn. General Board of Higher Education and Ministry The General Board of Higher Education and Ministry is the first United Methodist general agency to provide a Web site that is specifically designed to be accessed from cell phones and other  mobile hand-held devices such as iPhones and BlackBerries. full story

COMMENTARY: Physical challenges prompt father’s questions on grace

Feb. 24, 2010 United Methodist Reporter As someone often torn between strict law and “mushy” grace, John Meunier wonders how his son’s autism will affect his son’s journey in faith. full story

Young clergywomen blaze new trails

Feb. 19, 2010 United Methodist News Service After a recent worship service at Branches United Methodist Church in Florida City, Fla., the Rev. Audrey B. Warren returned to the sanctuary to turn off the lights. There, draped in Warren's stole and with the microphone in hand, was 4-year-old Cassandra. "I didn't catch what she was saying, but I have to believe that she was 'playing pastor,' " Warren recalls. "If that is not progress ... I don't know what is. How amazing for young girls to dream of being pastors." At 26, Warren herself belongs to a distinct minority: young women who are lead pastors. full story

Sharing abundance: Food ministries fight hunger in America

Feb. 19, 2010 United Methodist Reporter Department of Agriculture statistics show the number of U.S. households lacking enough food “for an active, healthy life” is at its highest level in at least 15 years. In a nation of staggering abundance, too many still go without adequate food or shelter. Across the U.S., United Methodist churches are stepping up to help out the least of these. full story

COMMENTARY: Sins of nomission afflict many churches

Feb. 18, 2010 United Methodist Reporter A large number of United Methodist congregations are struggling with money, members, commitment and leadership. Many of these churches aren’t doing anything wrong — in fact, they aren’t doing much at all. And that’s the trouble. full story

AGING WELL: What to tell grown children about aging grandparents

Feb. 18, 2010 United Methodist Reporter It can be difficult to be stuck in the middle of adult children and ailing parents, says Missy Buchanan. It’s vital to have honest dialogue with your children about the affects of aging. full story

Lenten self-denial aids Côte d’Ivoire

Feb. 17, 2010 United Methodist News Service United Methodists are being encouraged to respond to a Lenten/Easter challenge to help Radio Methos, the church’s newly launched radio station in Côte d’Ivoire. The goal is $70,000, the cost of broadcasting for one year. full story

WESLEYAN WISDOM: Finding our way into a new UMC future

Feb. 17, 2010 United Methodist Reporter The challenge of United Methodism today is to make a paradigm shift and redefine some of the attitudes and structures entrenched in our 20th-century ethos. We have arrived at a “perfect storm” of the reality about the relationship between the local church and the larger connection. full story