faith stories

Bishop Hans Växby, who served as a beloved leader in the Nordic and Baltic countries for 12 years before leading Eurasia for another seven, passed away on March 30 at age 80. Photo courtesy of the Council of Bishops.

Bishop Växby, post-Cold War leader, dies at 80

United Methodists remember Bishop Hans Växby as a servant leader who helped rebuild the church in Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine and Russia after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

Bishops

Bishop Benjamin A. Justo, who led the Baguio Area in the Philippines until 2008, is being remembered for his guidance, integrity and wit. He died March 28 at age 84. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.

Bishop Justo remembered as ‘pillar of faith’

Retired Bishop Benjamin A. Justo, who led the Baguio Area in the Philippines until 2008, died March 28 at age 84.

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.

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