Fellowship

Local Church
Christ United Methodist Church in Bethel Park, Pa., serves fried fish sandwiches on Feb. 27 during one of the church’s annual Lenten fish fries. The profit the church receives from selling thousands of $16 dinners goes toward feeding local unhoused people and supporting the fast-growing congregation. Photo by Jenn Morgan.

United Methodists hooked on fish fries too

Borrowing from Catholic tradition, United Methodists in Pennsylvania, Michigan, New York and New Mexico are preparing and serving hundreds of fish dinners on Friday nights throughout Lent.
Local Church
A community dinner church offered by Lawrenceville First United Methodist Church, Cannon United Methodist Church, and the Southeast Gwinnett Cooperative Ministry is proving to be popular. Photo courtesy of the North Georgia Conference.

Dinner church sets table for broader ministry

Early last year, the Southeast Gwinnett Cooperative Ministry and Lawrenceville First and Cannon United Methodist churches joined together to offer a community dinner church. A year later, this Fresh Expression of church is bearing fruit.
Evangelism
The Rev. David Petty, shown in the inset image at lower right, plays the Mass Effect video game online. Petty, senior pastor at St Paul’s United Methodist Church in Colorado Springs, Colo., has been in ministry with the gaming community since 2017. UM News screenshot from YouTube.

Online gamer ministry offers unique outreach

When a video game-playing pastor realized the strong communities that gamers were building online, he saw an untapped opportunity for ministry.
Evangelism
The Rev. Tom Berlin (left) presents a copy of his book, “Courage,” to Massachusetts National Guard Chaplain Chad McCabe in the chapel at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington. McCabe, whose unit was assigned to help provide security at the U.S. Capitol after the January riot, contacted Wesley Seminary asking for Bibles, novels and board games for troops stationed there. Photo by Lisa Helfert for Wesley Theological Seminary. Copyright 2021. All rights reserved. Used with permission.

Church responds to chaplain's call to help soldiers

A National Guard chaplain got Bibles, games and 150 copies of a new book about courage when he turned to Wesley Theological Seminary for help keeping soldiers occupied in Washington in the aftermath of the Capitol insurrection.

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