Nome, Alaska, February 13, 2012--Nome usually has long, cold winters, and Christopher Steppe, a United Methodist young adult missionary in the Alaskan city, thought he had packed enough heavy gear when he headed there from his native Virginia last September: plenty of hoodies, thermals, scarves, gloves, and even a heavier coat than he would have used back home. Not enough, and especially not when unusually early snowfall blanketed the subarctic region on the Bering Sea.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Children | Communities | Mission opportunities | Missionaries | Natural disasters | United Methodist Church | Youth | Focus on Leadership Development | United States |
Date posted: Feb 17, 2012

Today's youth are often confronted at every turn with peer pressure to take drugs and engage in destructive behaviors. The latest podcast from the United Methodist Special Program on Substance Abuse and Related Violence's "Speak About It!" series features a substance-abuse ministry in the North Carolina Annual Conference's Rockingham District that is empowering youth through positive activities and programs to stay away from behaviors that may lead to drug use.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Children | Communities | Health | Poverty | Youth | Urban | Focus on Ministry with the Poor | Focus on Global Health | United States |
Date posted: Feb 13, 2012

February 9, 2012, New York, NY--For the second year in a row, top leaders from the General Board of Global Ministries met with representatives of the Methodist Church of Great Britain to continue conversations with a goal of being more effective partners in mission. The two-day meeting took place in London at the British Methodist headquarters. The United Methodist group was led by Thomas Kemper, general secretary, who said it had been a useful meeting and "showed the growing collaboration between the UMC and British Church in its international mission work."
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Global connections | International affairs | Mission opportunities | United Methodist Church | Wesley | Focus on Congregational Development | United Kingdom | United States |
Date posted: Feb 09, 2012

When Gary retired from his work as a human resources trainer and teacher in the year 2000, he thought his career was over. Little did he know, his life's work had just begun. Now, at 63 years old, Gary says, "I can't wait for the next 10 years."
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Communities | Ethics | Justice | Missionaries | Focus on Congregational Development | United States |
Date posted: Jan 25, 2012

Jamila Hunter from Brooklyn, New York, served with Hyde Park Community United Methodist Church in Cincinnati, Ohio, for the first of her two years as a US-2. US-2s are missionaries between the ages of 20 and 30 who teach, learn from, pray with, and advocate for people in communities seeking transformation and justice in the United States.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Children | Communities | Education | Missionaries | Prison | United Methodist Church | Youth | Older adults | Focus on Ministry with the Poor | United States |
Date posted: Jan 20, 2012

With alcohol use a persistent problem on many US college campuses, the United Methodist Special Program on Substance Abuse and Related Violence (SPSARV) released an informative podcast for its "Speak About It!" series on Spartanburg Methodist College's alcohol education and awareness program to curb underage drinking on campus.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Education | Health | Youth | Focus on Global Health | United States |
Date posted: Dec 15, 2011

I sent Patrick Friday an email, suggesting that we meet for breakfast in the cafeteria for a conversation about social media and mission. Patrick suggested, instead, we should chat, pray, and invite others to join us at a Google+ "hang out." A couple of emails later, Patrick and I logged on to Google+ for our "hang out," a four-way videoconference with Patti Bacher in De Pere, Wisconsin, and Mi Rhang Baek in Madison, Alabama.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Communities | Evangelism | Global connections | Mission opportunities | Missionaries | United Methodist Church | Focus on Congregational Development | Asia and the Pacific Islands | Bulgaria | Cameroon | Europe | Honduras | Lithuania | Malawi | Russia | Senegal | United States |
Date posted: Nov 23, 2011

In Christian lingo, "to discern" means to perceive God's call or spiritual direction. This week, a class of seven young adult US missionaries, US-2s, are meeting in New York to be in community and to discern their call to work for justice one year into their two-year missionary service.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Mission opportunities | Missionaries | Youth | Focus on Leadership Development | United States |
Date posted: Oct 28, 2011

I have two small children--a five-year-old daughter and a son, age two. When my daughter was only a few months old, I joined the Henderson Settlement's Maternal Infant Health Outreach program (MIHOW). I usually visit the settlement once a month to get diapers, wipes, and other baby things. It means a lot to have a helping hand these days. I don't think the outreach workers realize just how much they help others and how greatly appreciated they are.
Source: New World Outlook
More about: Children | Communities | Education | Family | Poverty | Women | Focus on Ministry with the Poor | United States |
Date posted: Oct 27, 2011

Walk together in God's mission with our scholars. Give to your utmost ability. As we invest in their education and leadership, churches and communities shall help transform the world. By God's grace and sitting around the Lord's Table We bear witness to multiple ministries everywhere.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Ecumenical | Finance | Health | Poverty | Focus on Leadership Development | Focus on Ministry with the Poor | Focus on Global Health | Brazil | Liberia | Philippines | United States |
Date posted: Sep 28, 2011

Mark Stransky brought a tape measure as a symbol of transformation and hope. As the director of housing at Crossroads in Marion, Virginia, Stransky said that volunteers and community members find grace while repairing houses together. "What the tape measure doesn't measure is the hearts of the people serving on the projects," Stransky said.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Children | Communities | Education | Evangelism | Health | Immigration | Justice | Missionaries | Refugees | Focus on Leadership Development | Focus on Global Health | Mexico | United States |
Date posted: Sep 22, 2011

On a recent visit to Susanna Wesley House in Baltimore, Maryland, three of the house's nine housing units were found to be empty. This was a positive sign. It meant that three families had recently made a successful transition from supportive housing to their own residences in the community.
Source: New World Outlook
More about: Children | Christian love | Communities | Education | John Wesley | United Methodist Church | Welfare | Wesley | Women | Methodism | Focus on Ministry with the Poor | United States |
Date posted: Sep 13, 2011

This coming Saturday will mark 10 years of the September 11, 2001 attacks. The reactions that followed this event radically changed our world and the context of Mission. As we take time together to reflect and pray we are mindful of other instances of violence, including the recent shootings in Norway and all the places and people in the world who suffer violence in this very hour.
Source: GBGM Mission News
More about: Children | Conflict | GBGM events | Global connections | Health | Human rights | Hunger | International affairs | Peace | Poverty | Prayers | Violence | War | Statements | Focus on Congregational Development | Focus on Ministry with the Poor | Focus on Global Health | United States | Afghanistan | Iraq | Norway |
Date posted: Sep 09, 2011