News

Oakland Korean UMC Tithes to Bridge of Love to Angola

Oakland Korean UMC recently presented Bishop Warner H. Brown, Jr., with a $5,000 check for the "Bridge of Love to Angola" mission offering to take place at the Annual Conference Session in Sacramento. The Rev. Kang-Won Lee, pastor of Oakland Korean UMC, says the church wanted to raise enough to present an amount equivalent to the tithe of the $50,000 Bishop Brown challenged the annual conference to raise for the offering.   E-mail Dr. Larry R. Hygh, Jr., director of...

UMCOR at Work in Moore, Okla.

NEW YORK (UMNS) — As recovery begins in Moore, Okla., the United Methodist Committee on Relief explains what it has been able to do so far and what is needed. Support U.S. disaster relief How to volunteer Dealing with disaster  ...

Oklahoma Conference Asks Collaborative Response

OKLAHOMA CITY (UMNS) —"I know you are seeing and hearing news reports about the devastation and want to assist. … Do not self-deploy. Best practices in times of crises call for a collaborative response, so people who can help are directed to where that help and those skills are most needed and will be most effective," wrote the Rev. Richard Norman, disaster response coordinator for the Oklahoma Conference. The confirmed death toll was at 51 with hundreds injured after a...

UMCOR Relief Supplies Needed

NEW YORK (UMNS) — The United Methodist Committee on Relief, the denomination's disaster response agency, has urgent need for relief supplies. UMCOR Sager Brown in Baldwin, La., and UMCOR West in Salt Lake City, Utah, are running very low in their inventory of layette, sewing and bedding kits particularly, but other relief supplies are needed as well. Learn how to assemble kits Church bulletin inserts  ...

Bishop Hayes Invites Grief and Prayer

OKLAHOMA CITY (UMNS) — "What I would like to say to the United Methodist community and beyond is that we grieve with those who have lost life and property not only in Moore and Newcastle but also on Sunday in Shawnee," Oklahoma Area Bishop Robert E. Hayes Jr. told United Methodist News Service. "These storms have devastated our state and have inflicted tremendous loss on our people … and just affected lives in ways we can only imagine." Read full story...

Disaster Response: How You Can Help

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) — As communities in Oklahoma, Texas and other U.S. states reel from the devastation of tornadoes, remember that The United Methodist Church has a system in place for responding. Here are a few of the places to check for information and find out how you can be part of United Methodist relief efforts: UMNS Facebook page United Methodist Committee on Relief Facebook pages or websites for individual conferences. Find a conference Facebook pages...

How to Give in Response to Disasters

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) — The United Methodist Church is well situated to respond to disasters because of its churches in almost every county and community across the United States and the worldwide Methodist connection with annual conferences, central conferences and autonomous partner churches on five continents. Here is how giving works Cash donations encouraged over clothing, other items Volunteers urged to be patient  ...

Oklahoma Tornado Recovery

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:   Psalm 55 verse 22 says to "cast your burden upon the Lord, and God will sustain you; God will never allow the righteous to be shaken." Like you, I have been watching the devastation caused by tornadoes to our brothers and sisters in Oklahoma. At this time, more than 20 people have been found dead including several children.   The faithful United Methodists of the California-Nevada Annual Conference have always...

After Moore Tornado, Volunteers Urged to Be Patient

Concerned individuals who want to help in relief operations in Moore, Oklahoma, are urged to pray and not self-deploy to the affected area, in order to give first-responders time to complete their tasks of rescue and securing the area after especially violent storms yesterday afternoon.   Greg Forrester, executive in charge of US Disaster Response for the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), joined the Oklahoma Conference in urging concerned persons to stay out of the way of...

Fiji and Tonga Mission Journey

On Saturday May 18, from 3p.m. to 7p.m. the First United Methodist Church and First Tongan United Methodist Church of Palo Alto, 625 Hamilton Avenue, Palo Alto invite folks for fellowship, music, dancing, and food as they  prepare for their journey to Fiji and Tonga in July. They are raising money to send approximately 20 United Methodist Volunteers In Mission (UMVIM) missioners for a cultural immersion experience and for an educational service to the middle school at Houma, Tonga, and the...

UMCOR Responds to Texas Emergency

NEW YORK (UMNS) — After a powerful explosion on April 17 at a fertilizer factory in West, Texas, flattened homes and caused dozens of casualties, the United Methodist Committee on Relief approved an emergency grant to the Central Texas Annual (regional) Conference to assist in relief efforts.   UMCOR also requests people help by donating blood at a local center or by assembling cleaning buckets, which will soon be in great need, and health kits. These relief kits can be shipped to...

United Methodists Respond to Texas Explosion

  As rescue efforts continue, Central and North Texas conferences mobilize to provide information on what people can do in response. Read FULL STORY here.    ...

White House Honors Youth Solar Ministry

A UMNS Feature By Heather Hahn* April 5, 2013 | WASHINGTON   Two United Methodists have taken an idea for bringing light to people living in darkness from their church altar to the White House in less than a year.   Doug McNeil and Jesse Salem — both members of Los Gatos United Methodist Church in California's Silicon Valley — are being honored Friday, April 5, at the White House for founding Lighting for Literacy.   The program is a partnership between the...

Volunteers Forming Team to Fiji

Fiji-bound volunteers are hosting an information program on the mission projects Fiji on Saturday, April 13, 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., at the Centennial United Methodist Church in Sacramento. The program, open to all with an interest in Fiji, is an introduction of the volunteer projects in Fiji, with a focus on the Navuso Farm, and the first of four meetings this team will have before they travel to Fiji, August 20-31. Fijian dishes will be served for lunch.    This program...

Japanese UMC Hosted "Remembering Japan" Event

The Sacramento Japanese United Methodist Church recently hosted an event entitled Remembering Japan: 2 Years Later. This was held to remember the devastating disaster that struck Japan in 2011, to share information about recovery efforts, and to raise awareness of ongoing challenges.   The program opened with musician Mark McLean followed by a musical performance by the Sakura Chorus, the congregation's women's choir. Presentations were given from two UMVIM team members, Yuri...

Work Continues in Haiti

After a mission trip in February 2011 to help earthquake ravaged Haiti, Warren McGuffin, from San Ramon Valley United Methodist Church in Alamo, observed that many of Haiti's children who attended the school they were rebuilding were hungry. Seeing the need, he and the mission team began feeding them. McGuffin was troubled knowing that once he and the team left Haiti, the children would go hungry again. Out of this desire to help meet a need, the Thomas Haiti School Food program was born....

Building a Bridge of Love to Angola Promotional Materials

  Promotional materials for the 2013 California-Nevada Annual Conference Mission Project, "Building a Bridge of Love to Angola: Doing What Matters to God," can be found at www.cnumc.org/Angola. These resources will include a bulletin insert, brochure, sample pulpit, bulletin, and website announcements, as well as sample tweets and text for a Facebook post.   The Conference is embarking on an endeavor that will help empower our brothers and sisters in Angola and aid in...

Building a Bridge of Love to Angola

Doing What Matters to God! It will be an exciting time as we gather this summer in Sacramento for the task of holy conferencing during our 2013 Annual Conference Session. As God's people, called United Methodists of the California-Nevada Annual Conference, we will lay the groundwork and embark upon a special mission project, "Building a Bridge of Love to Angola: Doing What Matters to God," to help empower our brothers and sisters in Angola and aid in the reconstruction of the medical...

Inveneo Partnership Benefits Haiti School

Nashville, Tenn. -- A Methodist school in LeVeque, Haiti has been chosen as one of 40 schools in rural Haiti to receive a solar powered computer lab as part of the Haiti Connected Schools (HCS) Program. The HCS program, created by Inveneo, is one of the largest post-earthquake education-based information and communications technology (ICT) deployments in rural Haiti, providing improved learning tools for teachers, students and local communities. Each school receives a solar-powered computer...

SSP Accepts Registrations for Summer Programs in Central America

The Sierra Service Project (SSP) is accepting registrations for its summer service programs in Guatemala and Nicaragua. Participants immerse themselves in the culture of Nicaragua and Guatemala, two of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere, working alongside community members in both rural and urban settings. These trips are challenging, life-changing and extremely rewarding experiences for mature young people who are eager to grow in faith and understanding....