By Melissa Lauber UMConnection Staff One cookie at a time, members of Mowatt UMC in Greenbelt are addressing bullying in the community and creating a bridge of caring and Christ’s love that stretches into the community. It’s a good story of ministry bubbling up from people of...
By Melissa Lauber UMConnection Staff BFaltimore-Washington Conference Bishop Marcus Matthews has appointed the Rev. Ginger Gaines-Cirelli as the lead pastor of Foundry UMC in Washington, D.C., effective July 1. Gaines-Cirelli, who is currently pastor of St. Matthews UMC in Bowie, takes over...
By Melissa Lauber UMConnection Staff The United Methodists at Esperanza Middle School in California, Md., have learned over the last year to do “church in a box.” It’s not always easy, but it’s always meaningful, say the more than 90 members who meet in the Middle...
By Andy Lunt Director of Vibrant Communities During the 10 years from 2002 through 2012, average worship attendance in Baltimore-Washington Conference churches declined almost 18 percent. Professions of faith – representing new believers – were down more than 25 percent...
By Melissa Lauber UMConnection Staff magine if the church listened to its poets. Imagine if we lived in the modernized music and message of the Psalms, moved to the cadence of our hymnody and let ourselves be challenged by the interior rhymes of sacred spoken words. It’s easy to...
By Erik Alsgaard UMConnection Staff As of December 31, 2013, 30 churches in the Baltimore-Washington Conference were behind in paying their pastor’s and lay employees’ health insurance premiums. The total arrearage: $275,053. As of the emd of December 2013, 41 churches were behind...
By Melisssa Lauber UMConnection Staff In Maryland, 5.8 million people are considered disabled; West Virginia has 1.8 million people who have disabilities; and in Washington, D.C., there are 632,000 people living with disabilities, the U.S. Census Bureau reports. These numbers rise annually...
By Melissa Lauber UMConnection Staff When the Ecumenical Institute in Baltimore honors people for their extraordinary ministry with their Making a Difference Award, the award is a loaf of bread and a bottle of wine. When Grace Ellen Gibson Callwood received the award Jan. 4, she got juice...
By Linda Worthington UMConnection Staff astors and lay leaders of three small churches gathered at the Baltimore-Washington Conference Mission Center for a special presentation Jan. 9. They came to receive grants from the Eugene Otto Memorial Fund. Years ago (no one seems to remember quite...
Dear Friends, Since he first penned the words, “It was the best of times and it was the worst of times. It was the age of wisdom. It was the age of foolishness,” people have adopted Charles Dickens’ words to describe the season through which they’re living. Celebrating...
