Teaser:Lewis center grows chuches with strategic insightsBy Lesli Bales-SherrodUMConnection CorrespondentThe first step, it's said, is admitting you have a problem. The Lewis Center for Church Leadership, housed at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C., is helping churches do just...
Teaser:Stephen Elliott finds redemption at a local Baltimore shelterBY CHRISTINE KUMAR With one eye open, Stephen Elliott slept for months in the icy, cold streets of Baltimore.As he huddled in corners around the city with the same dirty clothes and an empty stomach, he was afraid to sleep for...
Teaser:Back River UMC delivers hope in brown paper bags By Carrie Madren UMConnection Correspondent It was a clear winter Friday, in the mid-40s, as seven men perched on folding chairs and shifted on tired feet behind a dumpster and metal storage shed. The loose group that gathers every day in...
Twenty-nine people gathered recently at the river at Manidokan, a United Methodist retreat center near Harper's Ferry, to explore God's call and discover new ways of being church."I want the church to talk to me in curious ways," one participant confessed. Curiosity, openness, wonder and mystery...
By Sally VavrekI could offer many, many reasons one should oppose the death penalty, but one not often considered is the redemption that occurs as one lives years with the constant threat of death. I have had the joy of having two friends on death row, both of whom I would call redeemed human...
Jonah 3:1-10; Mark 1:14-20By Mark SchaeferSo, picture this: You're on your way to work and as you approach your workplace you notice someone walking down the street wearing a sandwich board and shouting "Forty days more, and Washington (or Baltimore or Hagerstown, etc.) will be...
One thingFor those thinking about church growth and new ways to tell God's story we offer this, one thing.Book:Mark Batterson is a pastor in D.C. His new book, "Wild Goose Chase," illuminates the soul. Consider this passage from the Introduction:"Celtic Christians had a name for...
BY CHRISTINE KUMARUMConnection StaffScratch the surface of any meaningful discussion on health care and you'll be confronted with some difficult realities.One discussion recently occurred at the Baltimore-Washington Conference Center. Gail Weaver tearfully recalled how her father sacrificed...
Teaser:A new conference center will be built in Maple Lawn.By Melissa LauberUMConnection StaffMeeting in Special Session Jan. 17, members of the Baltimore-Washington Conference voted overwhelmingly to approve the building of a new Conference Center in the Maple Lawn community in Howard County...
Teaser:UMs gather for service and worship during the historic inaguration weekend.To mark the historic inaugfuration of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States, United Methodist churches in Washington, D.C., rolled out a red carpet of radical hospitality, service, learning and...
