By Linda Bloom* The denomination’s top court has decided that a United Methodist bishop in southwest Texas must rule within 60 days “on the merits” of a process-related question regarding the elimination of a lesbian clergy candidate, Mary Ann Kaiser, from the...
By Erik Alsgaard UMConnection Staff The office for the chaplain at American University is in the basement of the Kay Spiritual Life Center, better known, perhaps, as the “Flaming Cupcake” because of the sculpture on the roof. The office environment looks pretty much like one...
UMCOR Mobilizes Disaster Response in Philippines November 10, 2013—In the wake of Typhoon Haiyan, the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) is actively mobilizing resources to respond to this latest and largest in a series of disasters to hit the Philippines over the past 12...
Bishop David Frederick (Fred) Wertz died Oct. 16, less than two weeks after his 97th birthday. He was the longest-serving surviving bishop in The United Methodist Church, having been elected to the episcopacy in 1968. D. Frederick Wertz was elected to the episcopacy by the Northeastern...
Sharon Leela Rohan Singh was born Dec. 26, 1929, in India, the daughter of a Methodist minister. There she and Noel Beecham, born in New Delhi in a strongly Christian family, married in 1965. They came to the United States in 1969 where he studied theology at Howard University School of...
By Erik Alsgaard According to published reports, nearly 7,000 people were listed as being homeless in Washington, D.C., in a 2012 survey. More than one in 10 – 12 percent – were veterans. For the Rev. Helen Fleming, pastor of Douglas Memorial UMC in Washington, D.C., that was...
By John W. Coleman Like too many girls, Ariel Gilliam, a shy 8-year-old, was used to being bullied at school. She would keep to herself mostly, but then “act out” with aggression when she’d had enough, according to her mother. So it was no surprise that learning to...
Year 1: Sandy recovery — The work of many hands Sandy assumed several forms – tropical storm, hurricane, even “superstorm” – as it charted a path of destruction from the Caribbean to New York State at the end of October 2012. Whatever the description, the...
Evelyn McIntosh, 92, the wife of the late Rev. Donald McIntosh, died Oct. 25, 2013, in Boca Raton, Fla. A funeral service was held Nov. 1 at the Trinity UMC in Berne, Ind., with her nephew, the Rev. David Dyck, officiating. Evelyn Neuenschwander was born Jan. 3, 1921, in Freeman, S.D., to Elmer...
By Elliott Wright* NEW YORK, NY — Efforts are underway to expand, strengthen, and promote United Methodist ministries with the poor in the United States. This intensified work includes connecting local models of successful ministries that cross class, ethnic, and racial lines to...
