As more and more churches around Portland and in the Oregon-Idaho Conference seek ways to create affordable housing for their communities, a how-to guide has surfaced from two of Portland’s pastors leading the way.

Revs. Julia Nielsen and Andy Goebel of Portsmouth Union Church in north Portland have created a process guide for churches to use if they’re considering building affordable housing on church property.

Portsmouth Union – formerly University Park UMC and St. Johns Community Church – is on the cusp of building a 20-unit, multi-family, affordable housing complex on its property.

Nielsen said she and Goebel have been jumping through a ton of hoops with the City of Portland, banks and other organizations to make sure they’re following the correct guidelines, are submitting the right information to access funding and seeking out additional resources to make this dream a reality.

“You can’t just Google this,” Nielsen said.

Read more of this story on the Conference website.

There are several different ways churches try to be in partnership with their local communities to meet the needs of those in need.

In Madras, the United Methodist Church has put on community meals, held a prom for the local LGBTQ+ community and, most recently, handed out 1,000 pairs of socks – no metaphorical strings attached.

Rev. Nancy Slabaugh Hart, who came to Madras UMC in 2017, had experience working with the philanthropist sock company Bombas from her previous service as a pastor in Great Falls, Mont. She had heard of the company in 2015 and their mission to give away a pair of socks for each pair purchased.

Read more of this story on the Conference website.

On August 20, there will be a day of commemoration. It will not be a celebration, but it will be a reminder for us all. On this day the United States will commemorate the 400th year since African slaves first arrived in the territory which became our nation.
 
Chattel slavery is that system in which people are treated as the chattel (personal property) of the owner and bought and sold as commodities. Because Africans first arrived on American shores as slaves, and the system ensured that they and their children remained slaves, a culture of white privilege and racism became deeply rooted in our nation before we even were a nation. I give a summary of that history later in this article.
 
I am taking this commemoration as an opportunity to kick off a major focus of my columns and work with the Cascadia District this year: an exploration of the issue of racism and white privilege. I believe this is one of the most pressing and critical theological, moral and ethical issues facing the church and our society today.

Read more of Cascadia District Superintendent Tim Overton-Harris’ story on the Conference website.

Bishop Elaine Stanovsky shares her thoughts following recent mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton. She calls for action on top of thoughts and prayers and shares the United Methodist Church’s stance on gun violence and gun laws.

"Fellow followers of Jesus: BE the Church! ACT YOUR FAITH! Bring the good news that God loves you to everyone in your community. Find ways to connect with disaffected, isolated white men on the margins. Build bridges between newly arrived immigrants and members of your community who have lived here their whole lives. Learn about opioid addiction and how to help people out of its grip.

Christians and other thoughtful, compassionate people need to find a way to advocate for policies that protect the public safety in the face of violence that is out of control.  We can’t let ourselves become complacent as gun violence becomes normal. The debate about gun rights and gun control generates more heat than light. As people of open minds, it’s time to test our knowledge and our values about guns, gun rights and gun control against the teachings of Jesus."

Read more of the Bishop’s blog on the Greater NW Area website.

We have magic beans. And, no, we didn’t trade our piano to get these magic beans. Like many churches, we actively support our local food banks with donations of food, cash, and other items. In doing so, we’ve stumbled into another opportunity to help the food bank serve their clients.

The food banks get a lot of beans in bulk, which is excellent. But the problem is that few of the clients want beans in bulk, especially if they live alone. Out of this problem of overabundance, we came up with a novel idea.

The food bank gives us their beans, and we make individual packets of beans for soup. We mix the several types of beans and add in a spice packet. Our local food co-op sells us the spices at cost. We include a bean soup recipe and instructions on how to cook them. We get together for bean soup-making parties, and our last two endeavors have produced over four hundred individual bags of soup.

Read more of this story from Community United Methodist Church in Port Hadlock, Wash., on the PNW website.

The missionary work of the superintendent and members of the Visitation-Evangelism team of the Alaska Missionary Conference over 67 years ago birthed the current incarnation of a United Methodist Church in Fairbanks, known as First United Methodist today.

The first worship service was held at Carpenter’s Hall on March 23, 1952. Reverend A. E. Purviance arrived shortly thereafter, in June of 1952. The first hymnals, Sunday School supplies, church envelopes, communion set and altar-ware were supplied through the generosity of churches in Ketchikan, Seward, Anchorage and Juneau. In September 1952, First Methodist Church, known as “America’s Northernmost Methodist Church”, was officially organized with 80 members, and just two years later reported a total of 320 members.

Being born of missions, First UMC of Fairbanks has never wandered far from its roots as a base of missions. From the early years to today, it has provided a family away from family and a home away from home for the many military families that find duty calling them to Alaska’s Interior. Records indicate that as far back as 1959, the Women’s Society of Christian Service at First Methodist was working with the USO in welcoming service members.

Read more of this story on the Alaska Conference website

General Conference organizers have determined enough improper voting likely took place at the 2019 special session to nullify a key vote on how congregations can leave The United Methodist Church.
 
The Commission on General Conference — meeting behind closed doors during its Aug. 7-9 meeting — reviewed an investigation that found “credible objective evidence” of four ineligible people casting votes using the credentials of delegates who were not present.

The commission did not speak in public about its investigation’s findings and did not provide the names of the accused ineligible voters or the conferences they represented.

Read more of this story from United Methodist News Service.

The United Methodist Church’s conflict over homosexuality is irreconcilable and calls for amicable separation into different denominations, according to a 12-person group of centrists, traditionalists and progressives that began meeting in late June.

“We’ve discovered The United Methodist Church can’t live in the same house together peaceably, but we can live next door to one another,” said the Rev. Kent Millard, president of United Theological Seminary and one of the group’s organizers.

Millard and the others have drafted basic provisions of what they’re calling the Indianapolis Plan, named for the city where they gathered in late June for intensive discussions.

The group hopes to get input from across the church so the plan can be revised and written in petition form by the Sept. 18 deadline for the 2020 General Conference.

Read more of this story from United Methodist News Service.

When a group of preschoolers at Dutilh United Methodist Church in Pittsburgh learned of the long distance that orphans at the Nyadire Mission’s Home of Hope were traveling to school, they agreed to hop into action.

In a display of unconditional love for children they had never met, the 3- and 4-year-olds participated in a hop-a-thon titled “Hop for Hope.” They raised enough money to buy seven bicycles, worth $175 each, for the orphaned children.

In June, a team of volunteers from Pittsburgh delivered the bikes to Nyadire Mission, the oldest United Methodist mission in Zimbabwe. In addition to the orphanage, the mission has primary and secondary schools, a college, hospital, farm and workshop. The Nyadire Connection, a nonprofit founded by a group of United Methodists in Pittsburgh, provides continuing support for the mission. 

The bicycles — Buffalo Bikes from World Bicycle Relief — were assembled in Harare and brought to Nyadire. One of the U.S. volunteers, Mary Beth Zollars, even brought one along in her baggage.

Read more of this story from United Methodist News Service.