Daily Digest - March 31, 2017

“It's helping, not only as a church, but as a community, to elevate the conversations and issues that are affecting our young people today." — The Rev. Charles White, whose church sponsors student debates.

Building harmony through student debate

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) — In these volatile times when race, protest and civil disobedience are headline news every day in the U.S., Gordon Memorial United Methodist Church invited young students in Nashville to talk it out.
Watch video

Observing Holy Week, Easter at home

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) — Holy Week and Easter traditionally provide a wealth of opportunities for remembering, meditating and celebrating at church. Cindy Solomon, writing for Interpreter, offers ideas for what families can do at home to mark this sacred time.
Read story

Q&A on Judicial Council hearing

GLEN ALLEN, Va. (UMNS) — The Virginia Conference is sharing a Q&A prepared by the Southeastern Jurisdiction bishops. It deals with the Judicial Council’s April 25 hearing on whether a gay pastor can serve as a bishop. The decision could affect the standing of Bishop Karen Oliveto, a lesbian married to another woman. Virginia Conference Bishop Sharma Lewis also has written a letter to her conference, calling for prayers for the Judicial Council and the Commission on a Way Forward.
Read Q&A 
Read Bishop Lewis' letter

Commentary: Who 'counts' in ministry anymore?

ADRIAN, Mich. (UMNS) — As the denomination struggles with declining U.S. membership, the Rev. Chris Momany wonders how he should count people involved in his campus ministry. He is the chaplain at United Methodist-related Adrian College.
Read commentary

United Methodist Insurance reports gains

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) — The United Methodist Insurance board, at its March meeting, learned that the number of ministries the nonprofit covers has increased to more than 3,000 local churches and other church properties. In other actions, the board named  Mike Plesko, who had been interim president, as the nonprofit’s president and chief executive officer.  
Read press release

How do United Methodists use prayer beads?

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMC.org) — How do United Methodists use prayer beads? Test your knowledge with this and other questions about the seasons of Lent and Easter. The quiz has a new question each weekday.
Take the quiz

 

LOOKING AHEAD

Here are some of the activities ahead for United Methodists across the connection. If you have a United Methodist event to share, you can add it to the calendar with this submission form.

Tuesday, April 11

The Generosity Ingredient: A Disciple’s Relationship to Money — 9:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m., Central. This new webinar series will help pastors explore how to keep generosity as a key ingredient in the recipe for making faithful disciples of Jesus Christ. This session will explore theology around money and identify sources of defensiveness in conversations about money.  Led by the Rev. Ken Sloane, Discipleship Ministries' director of stewardship and connectional ministries, this is the second of four sessions. The final sessions are April 25 and May 9. Sessions are recorded and available for later review. Details 

See more United Methodist events


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