| British, U.S. pastors to exchange pulpits SAVAGE While many in the conference are headed  to England this summer to join the observance of the 300th anniversary of the birth of John Wesley, the Rev. Galen Menne is headed there for another reason. He and his wife Carolyn Menne will be exchanging pulpits with the Rev. Denis Vernon and his family, which consists of wife Rosemary, and daughters Fiona, 9, and Bethany, 6. The Vernons are from Surbiton Hill Methodist Church, near London. The two families will take over each others homes, cars and pastoral duties for six weeks, beginning in July. Communicators visit oldest black church WASHINGTON, D.C. In February, Mt. Zion UMC in  Georgetown hosted members of the local chapter of the ecumenical Religion Communicators Council. They came to tour the oldest African-American church in the District of Columbia in celebration of Black History Month. Mt. Zion UMC was founded in 1816. One-third of the population of Georgetown, a major port for the slave and tobacco trade for the newly created city of Washington, was black, half freedmen, half slaves. Fifty years later, during the Civil War, the church was a stop  on the Underground Railroad. In addition to being a house of worship and a community center, the church was sometimes the only place African Americans could learn how to read,said Carter Bowman, the churchs historian. The 187-year-old church was recognized as a historic landmark in 1975. Layman, 88, leaves legacy of helping ASHTON Childrens wards in Ashton area hospitals will cherish the doll houses that Albert Warren Browning, 88, contributed during his lifetime. An active layman at Ashton UMC for over 50 years, he died Feb. 1. Browning sang in the choir for 44 years and was a member of the administrative board and other committees in the church. He was a lay speaker for 30 years. He was also a volunteer chaplains aide at Montgomery General Hospital for five years. Als love of the Lord would never let him sit around and not minister to others. His final ministry was sending cards to the church members and friends on our prayer calendar to let them know that prayers were being said for them, said Ashton member Janice Hite. Every church online, district reports WILLIAMSPORT The Rev. Ken Lyons, Cumberland-Hagerstown District superintendent, recently announced that every church in his largely rural district is now online. Every pastor or church can now be reached by e-mail. What a big accomplishment, he said.  Lyons expressed appreciation to the district council on ministries for providing financial aid to congregations that could not afford new computers on their own. The greatest advantage of being online is that we can stay informed and connectional, Lyons added.
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