Faith Stories

The Rev. Elaine A. Heath, former dean at Duke Divinity School and abbess at Spring Forest in Hillsborough, N.C., stands amid some of the crops at the farm portion of the 23-acre property that also contains two homes, large outdoor tables for community meals and a stage for entertainment. The monastic community is in stark contrast to Heath’s difficult childhood. Photo by Jim Patterson, UM News.

Pastor creates the community she longed for as a child

The Rev. Elaine A. Heath overcame a difficult childhood to make a successful career as a church leader and educator. Her latest incarnation is as the abbess of a new kind of Christian community.

Faith Stories

The Rev. Elaine A. Heath, a United Methodist elder and founder and “abbess” of Spring Forest, visits a herd of goats at the “intentional faith community” in Hillsborough, N.C. Spring Forest combines elements of monasteries and nunneries, regenerative farming, communes, churches and small businesses. Photo by Jim Patterson, UM News.

Growing a new kind of Christian community

Spring Forest in Hillsborough, North Carolina, is part monastery, part collective farm and part any number of other things.

Local Church

United Methodists stand in front of the new Mont Morija United Methodist Church in Golf Plateau III, a fast-growing district of Lubumbashi, Congo. The new building can accommodate 800 worshippers. Photo courtesy of the Jerusalem District.

Family donates funds to build South Congo church

The new United Methodist sanctuary with room for 800 worshippers is helping grow membership and ministries in the South Congo Conference.

Church Leadership

The Rev. Michael Adam Beck leads The United Methodist Church’s Fresh Expressions movement. In his new book, “Never Alone,” the pastor of St. Mark’s United Methodist Church in Ocala, Fla., says Fresh Expressions can help create community for people suffering from loneliness. Photo courtesy of the Rev. Michael Adam Beck.

From prisoner to pastor

The Rev. Michael Adam Beck knows all about being lonely, and he thinks he can help a lot of other people like him get to a better place.

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