News and Views

The Federal Government's partial shutdown is being felt throughout the country and especially in the BWC. Here's how some churches are starting to respond.

  So, how did we get here? Here's a brief timeline of what The United Methodist Church says about homosexuality, and how the Commission a Way Forward was created and what it did.  General Conference 1968: The United Methodist Church was born by a union of The Methodist Church and...

Young adult ministry can be hard, but help is available. The Innovation Hub, part of a project from Wesley Theological Seminary, is offering help and resources. Erik Alsgaard has more.

If clergy are addicted to hurry and overdosing on over-commitment, then this year’s Clergy Pre-Advent Day Apart was an intervention. Erik Alsgaard explains in this report.

The Rev. Mark DeVries, an expert in sustainable youth ministry, presents a workshop at Bethany UMC in Ellicott City Oct. 20. The definition of youth ministry, according to Mark DeVries, is “one failure after another, with enthusiasm.” DeVries, the founder of Ministry Architects in...

When fighting racism, sexism, xenophobia, misogyny and other “isms,” United Methodists are at a distinct advantage. That was evident during the reCall Summit in October.

By Erik Alsgaard                     Lovely Lane UMC: Baltimore City Station, the historic birthplace of Methodism in the United States, voted Oct. 21 to become a Reconciling Community. The move, said the church’s pastor, the...

By Erik AlsgaardUMConnection staff Church members and civic leaders pray on the front porch of the new UMC House at Van Buren UMC in Washington, D.C. Photo by Erik Alsgaard. Every Sunday morning for months, Pastor Lucinda Kent stopped in the breezeway between the parsonage and church at Van...

With the Special Session of General Conference less than five months away, Bishop LaTrelle Easterling has a message for her flock: be informed, be engaged, be pro-active. The four-day meeting, Feb. 23-26, will take place in St. Louis, Mo., to receive and act on a report from the Commission on a...

By Erik Alsgaard Members of the Perryman community participate in a candle-light prayer vigil at Cranberry UMC Sept. 21 following the mass shooting at the Rite Aid Distributoin Center one mile away. Photo by Erik Alsgaard. For the Rev. Tiffany Patterson, it was déjà vu all over...