News

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 ...

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...

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...

January 23, 2019

Meeting God on the Mat

A QA with Jill Wondel, a yoga teacher who specializes in holy yoga as a way to calm the mind and focus on God.

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 ...

January 23, 2019

Precautionary Measures

Safeguarding your church's finances and taking steps to prevent theft.

January 23, 2019

Twittering Away Your Reputation

A biblical perspective on how to watch what you say on social media.

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 ...

January 16, 2019

Important Year-End Report Information: Vital Signs Simplified for 2019

Vital Signs provides churches and Cabinet members with vital data about the health of our congregations. These revised questions more accurately define vitality in worship. Vital Signs questions have been simplified for ...

January 07, 2019

40 Days of Doubt: Devotions for the Skeptic

Have you ever questioned whether everything you believe in as a Christian is false? 40 Days of Doubt explores questions readers may be asking about their faith in 41 (with bonus day) devotions. Why would God care what I...

January 07, 2019

A Big Year for Old McKendree

Missouri’s only Heritage Landmark of the United Methodist Church is celebrating its 200th birthday

January 07, 2019

Background and Harmony Vocals

In the last few installments, we’ve discussed the practical role of instruments in the contemporary worship ensemble. So far we’ve discussed keyboard, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass guitar, and drums. This month ...

January 07, 2019

Beer and Bible

First UMC in Rolla is trying several different approaches to reach out to new people, including small groups that are outside the norm of what many people expect at church. The Beer and Bible small group meets at 6 p.m. ...

January 07, 2019

Check

Last June Rev. Sheila Bouie-Sledge left Annual Conference Session inspired by the urging of Conference leaders for local churches to partner with neighboring schools. She was newly appointed to North Park United ...

January 07, 2019

Congregational Excellence Provides Funds to Kick Start New Places

To encourage and support innovative ways to create New Places for New People, the Office of Congregational Excellence is offering grant opportunities to all Missouri churches. Grants are available for each of the five ...

January 07, 2019

Divisions in Our Denomination: Maintaining Unity and Theological Integrity

By Hal Knight We are approaching a called General Conference in February to address deep divisions in our denomination. There is disagreement over the best way to maintain our unity and theological integrity. It is only...

January 07, 2019

Foundation Scholarships

Growing Resources for Missouri Students Ah, the new year … spring is just around the corner, and a young student’s thoughts turn to … SCHOLARSHIPS! For many students and parents, the search for scholarships is a ...

January 07, 2019

Missouri Deaconesses Participate in National Gathering

They’ve been around in the Methodist Church for quite a while, these women called Deaconess. With roots traced to Phoebe in Romans 16:1, in our Methodist tradition the office of Deaconess was officially recognized as an ...

January 07, 2019

MOAC Announces Staffing Change

The Office of Mission, Service and Justice has named Rev. Lucas Endicott as Senior Mission Strategist. In this redefined role, Endicott will provide daily management for the Mozambique Initiative, Global Connect ...

January 07, 2019

Parting Shot

By Eric Mattson The joy of serving others witnessed by this person’s face captured my attention. The joy of the Holy Spirit alive within produces a glowing radiance in you and me. In Philippians 4:13, the apostle Paul ...

January 07, 2019

Reaching Others In The New Year

By Fred Koenig “I’m not sure how I feel about the Christmas Experience tour...” So opined one of my fellow coworkers here at the Conference office, and I didn’t disagree – I too had mixed feelings about it. For the...

January 07, 2019

The Chaplaincy Connection

How one pastor’s chaplaincy united the church and community around giving back to those who protect them

January 07, 2019

Trying Something New

First UMC in Rolla has accepted that if they want to involve new people in the church, they are going to have to try doing something new. They’re approaching that in several different ways, including a new mid-week ...

January 07, 2019

We Need a GPS Reroute

By Bishop Farr Last fall I heard Australian evangelist Christine Caine speak at the New Room Conference in Nashville, Tennessee. Caine is a popular international speaker. She and her husband, Nick, founded a global ...

January 07, 2019

Witnessing in Our Daily Life

By Amy Thompson A couple of months ago I was serving in the Welcome Center at my church on a Sunday morning. I entered into a conversation with a church friend. She mentioned that she would like to read something about ...

January 03, 2019

New Year’s Message from the Moderators of the Commission on a Way Forward

WASHINGTON, D.C. - As we turn to the new year and the approaching February meeting of the called Special Session of General Conference, the moderators would like to encourage delegates to the General Conference, as well...

December 11, 2018

Delivering Christmas invitations and cheer by the truckload

National Christmas tour coming to Kansas City on December 17

November 30, 2018

Applying Advent

By Fred Koenig One came and said to him, “Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?” And he said, “You know, the commandments and all of that. Do those. Say, did you know that my mom was ...

November 30, 2018

C2FM

Making a Difference for Missouri Clergy & Churches Since 2016, Missouri’s United Methodist clergy have benefitted from a new resource called C2FM the Clergy & Church Financial Ministry administered by the Missouri United...

November 30, 2018

Keyed Up

By Ryan McLouth In the last four issues, we’ve been talking about the standard role of instruments in the contemporary worship ensemble. So far we’ve discussed acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass guitar and drums. ...

November 30, 2018

Kindness, Confidence Encouraged

Missouri Conference Welcomes Two New District Superintendents with Installation Services By Fred Koenig You only get installed as a District Superintendent once. Rev. Melissa Dodd had a few ideas about what she wanted ...

November 30, 2018

Love Divine

By Hal Knight Love was at the center of John Wesley’s theology and ministry from beginning to end. It was at Oxford in 1725, 13 years prior to his famous Aldersgate experience, that Wesley became convinced that to be a ...

November 30, 2018

National Workshop on Christian Unity Coming to St. Louis

By Fred Koenig Next spring Missouri Methodists will have a unique opportunity to participate in a conference in St. Louis that aims to bring Christians of different faiths together for a time of learning and faith ...

November 30, 2018

Parting Shot

By Eric Mattson The ongoing practice of photography is like creating a mirror made up of images. Imagine gazing at a glass mirror fractured into a web of cracks. By viewing the mirror at different angles, the ...

November 30, 2018

POV: Conversations About Human Sexuality

By Kim Jenne Over the course of three weeks in late autumn, nearly 85 members of Church of the Shepherd engaged in a structured, conversational experience called Point of View (POV) designed to foster conversation and ...

November 30, 2018

Progress in Puerto Rico

By Lucas Endicott “We’re seeing God at work.” Pastor Alex Gerena of the Methodist church in Ezperanza, Puerto Rico recently reflected on the year since Hurricane Maria devastated the island. On September 20, 2017, ...

November 30, 2018

Radical Hospitality

By Jill Wondel In the summer of 1996 I gazed out the window as my plane landed in Kiev, Ukraine. It wasn’t my first international trip, but it was the first trip I would take to a country entirely foreign to me, the ...

November 30, 2018

Responding to Community Need

By Fred Koenig Court Street UMC in Fulton is addressing food security, with some literacy and community engagement added as well. How they got there wasn’t according to plan, but it progressed naturally. In 2016, ...

November 30, 2018

Sharefests Bring Givers Together in Seven Locations

By Sidney Owens This year brought many new and exciting adventures for Festival of Sharing. For six weeks during September and October there were seven Sharefests across Missouri: Kansas City, Tipton, Macon, Cameron, ...

November 30, 2018

Taking On Big Challenges In A Small Church

By Fred Koenig Gaye Lynn Blankenship knows that much of rural Missouri is plagued with substance abuse. Alcoholism, opioid addiction and methamphetamine use top the list of social problems. She knows her Dent County ...

November 30, 2018

The Beauty of Our Story

In Christian tradition, beauty, goodness and truth are known as the “transcendentals.” They help us transcend beyond our own physical world to something much more spiritual; something deeper within all of us; something ...

November 30, 2018

UMM Look to the Future

By Fred Koenig The new leadership team of the Missouri Conference United Methodist Men are anxious to go to work to help support a vital future for UMM groups across the state, but before they make plans, they are going...

November 30, 2018

Wrapped in Prayer

By Fred Koenig Sometimes having a physical, artistic representation of a metaphor helps bring home the message. Webster Hills UMC was doing just that when the church came together to wrap the church in prayer one Sunday...

November 09, 2018

Bishops authorize preparation of legislation on full communion with Episcopal Church

The Council of Bishops of The United Methodist Church has authorized the preparation of legislation to deal with the full communion proposal between The United Methodist Church and The Episcopal Church. The bishops took...

October 31, 2018

2019 Special session pre-registration now available

Nashville, Tenn. - Guests and observers to the 2019 Special Session of the General Conference, The United Methodist Church’s top legislative assembly, may now pre-register online. General Conference will meet in St. ...

October 25, 2018

Remarks from Bishop Cynthia Harvey and Bishop Ken Carter to the Judicial Council of The United Methodist Church on October 23, 2018

The Book of Discipline as a “Revelation of the Holy Spirit”: A Sacred Mission, Our Theological Task and A Way Forward Bishop Cynthia Harvey: The question before us is in response to the request made by the delegates of...

October 22, 2018