“If you live on the street and all your possessions are in a paper bag, what are the odds you have the documents you need to prove who you are? And if you don’t have them, what are you supposed to do?” — Cathy O’Sullivan, a volunteer with Foundry United Methodist Church’s ID Ministry.
NEWS AND FEATURES
Ministry helps people obtain IDs
WASHINGTON (UM News) — Thanks to a paperwork error made more than 50 years ago, Deborah Holston has been unable to secure proper identification. Without an ID, she can’t qualify for housing assistance, get a job or receive Supplemental Security Income benefits. Now, with help from Foundry United Methodist Church’s ID Ministry, she is close to getting her ID. The church ministry helps more than a thousand people each year obtain the documentation they need. Mary Jacobs reports.
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Judicial Council
Church court releases fall docket
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The United Methodist Judicial Council has released a six-item docket for its fall session. The United Methodist Church’s top court plans to meet in person in October at Africa University in Mutare, Zimbabwe. Briefs are due Aug. 30 and reply briefs are due Sept. 9.
See docket
South Carolina Conference
Grant helps church restore historic sanctuary
ORANGEBURG, S.C. — Trinity United Methodist Church has hosted leaders such as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and served as a headquarters of Orangeburg’s civil rights movement. Now, thanks to a $750,000 grant from the National Park Service, the church is about to begin another phase of restoration. Jessica Brodie has the story.
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New England Conference
Church becomes ‘water library’
MORRISVILLE, Vt. — Though United Community Church of Morrisville was unaffected by recent flooding, its surrounding community was hard hit. The municipal water supply was rendered unsafe. The church turned itself into a “water library,” housing donated clean water brought from stores or drawn from wells. “We called it a library because people brought what they could and took what they needed for free,” wrote the Rev. Becca Girrell in a report to the New England Conference, adding that the church gave out 2,150 gallons of water in one week.
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First United Methodist Church of Santa Monica
Remembering Camp Colby
PALMDALE, Calif. — United Methodist Camp Colby, which closed recently, is being remembered as a place of deep faith, connection and spiritual growth in community and nature. First United Methodist Church of Santa Monica member Joyce Landsverk and her sister, Donna Everhart, reflect on their time at Colby since the 1950s.
Read story and see camp photos
UM News: Camp offers migrant youth fun, friendship
KABC-ABC7
Historic cross stolen in California
PASADENA, Calif. — A cross that was rescued from the rubble of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake was stolen from St. James United Methodist Church. It was the centerpiece of St. James, which was designed around the cross in 1941. Burglars smashed windows to get inside, police said. Christiane Cordero has the story.
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COMMENTARIES
UM News includes in the Daily Digest various commentaries about issues in the denomination. The opinion pieces reflect a variety of viewpoints and are the opinions of the writers, not UM News staff.
What we can learn from ‘Ted Lasso’
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (UM News) — When he began watching the popular series “Ted Lasso,” the Rev. Chase Crickenberger only expected an entertaining sitcom. What he found instead was a philosophical and theological treatise disguised as a comedy. “Christian perfection is the hopeless optimism of Ted Lasso,” he writes. “Although we acknowledge we won’t be fully perfect in this life, we always strive to get closer to the good.”
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Church and Society
Korean Peninsula needs a peace treaty
WASHINGTON — Marking the July 27 anniversary of the armistice agreement that put the Korean War in ceasefire mode 70 years ago, the Rev. Dr. Liberato Bautista offers his reflection for peaceful coexistence in the Korean Peninsula, Asia Pacific region and the world. “My fears lie in politics and economics being relegated to war. And peace relegated to culture,” he writes.
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