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February 2019

February 2019

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Features

Four Ways to Fit Yoga Into Your Day

January 23, 2019

Four Ways to Fit Yoga Into Your Day

#1 Breathe When we slow down our breath, we help signal to our bodies that all is well. This can decrease our stress response, lower our blood pressure and calm our minds. Take a moment wherever you are to notice your breath. Feel free to close your eyes if it helps you to focus.  Notice ...

Let Us Hold Fast to Hope

January 23, 2019

Let Us Hold Fast to Hope

By Brian Hammons As a lay delegate to General Conference, I’ve been reading a lot to prepare for the upcoming special session on February 24-26. Scripture has been a big part of that, seeking God’s guidance in grace and truth. One passage that I have used frequently over the years keeps ...

Meeting God on the Mat

January 23, 2019

Meeting God on the Mat

Jill Wondel is a yoga teacher, who has been practicing for 16 years and teaching yoga for 12 years. Her specialty is holy yoga, combining prayer and poses to calm the mind and focus on God. We caught up with Wondel to chat more about yoga's benefits, for both body and soul, and how to ...

Pan-Methodist Emancipation Proclamation Celebration

January 23, 2019

Pan-Methodist Emancipation Proclamation Celebration

Missouri Bishop Bob Farr opened his sermon at the Pan-Methodist Emancipation Proclamation Day service with a confession: Prior to his participation in the service his previous year, the concept of celebrating emancipation day was never on his radar.    “I learned so much being here last ...

Precautionary Measures

January 23, 2019

Precautionary Measures

People don’t typically volunteer at a church with the intent of stealing from it. But in desperate times, they put some of their groceries on the church debit card one week, intending to pay it back without anyone noticing. Then they do it again. Then they take some money to make a payment...

News and Updates

Calendar of Events

January 24, 2019

Calendar of Events

Rural Ministry Now Saturday, February 9 at 9:30 AM to 2:30 PM Location: Emerson Fields, 35932 US Hwy 63,  Excello, MO 65247 Contact: John Pinkston, (816) 520-7841, johnpinkstonii@gmail.com Rural churches are vital to their communities but sometimes struggle to know how to best engage and ...

Ways to Read the Missouri Methodists

January 24, 2019

Ways to Read the Missouri Methodists

Individual Mailed Subscription This magazine is automatically sent to all clergy and selected church leaders, but is also available to anyone for $20 per year. Send checks payable to the Missouri Conference to Susan Brandes at 3601 Amron Court, Columbia, MO, 65202.  Bulk Subscriptions ...

Laity Voices

Working Towards Resolution

January 24, 2019

Working Towards Resolution

By Amy Thompson The General Conference of the worldwide United Methodist Church has called a Special Session. It will take place for a few days at the end of February in St. Louis. Methodists from the Missouri Conference and the Illinois Great Rivers Conference will be providing radical ...

Letters from the Editor

Twittering Away Your Reputation

January 23, 2019

Twittering Away Your Reputation

For years I’ve been running with a group of people who meet at 5:30 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. In the cold, dark winter mornings the group gets small. This year Christmas morning and New Year’s Day happened to fall on a Tuesday, and we bottomed out to about half a dozen. When you’re ...

From Bishop Farr

Leadership Practices for a Healthy & Happy New Year

January 23, 2019

Leadership Practices for a Healthy & Happy New Year

By Cody Collier There is a true crisis concerning the physical, mental and spiritual health of leaders serving the church today. Rae Jean Proeschold-Bell and Jason Byassee’s timely book, Faithful and Fractured, believes it stems from the stressors pastors face today and the expectations ...

Now Read This

Addressing Atheism

January 24, 2019

Addressing Atheism

At a time when many United Methodists are struggling with the question of whether they can understand each other and get along, Rev. Greg Weeks has set his focus on reconciling two broader groups – atheist and Christians.       Weeks is senior pastor at Manchester UMC in St. Louis. Last ...

Missouri United Methodist Foundation

Blessings Flow: C2FM Gains Momentum

January 23, 2019

Blessings Flow: C2FM Gains Momentum

The Clergy and Church Financial Ministry – C2FM – is providing a new level of educational and financial resources in support of Missouri’s pastors and congregations. Two recent developments affirm the progress and value of the program:      Missouri donors have responded to the Lilly ...

Music Matters

Lead So You Can Be Followed

January 24, 2019

Lead So You Can Be Followed

Are you leading music in a way that can be followed? As we all know, the goal of leading song in a worship service is to engage congregation members to sing along. One challenge that the modern church faces is a lack of participation in corporate singing. Let’s look at some of the reasons ...

Wesley in the World Today

Wesley on Schism

January 23, 2019

Wesley on Schism

Last month we looked at the question of how Christians should disagree with one another and learned that Wesley believed our controversies should be carried out in a spirit of love and mutual respect. But how should those controversies be resolved? What if they prove to be intractable?    ...

Parting Shot

Parting Shot

January 24, 2019

Parting Shot

In Confessions, Augustine wrote: “[People] go abroad to admire the heights of mountains, the mighty waves of the sea, the broad tides of rivers, the compass of the ocean, and the circuits of the stars, yet pass over the mystery of themselves without a thought.” Augustine held that if you ...

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