News and Views

BWC urges efforts to end gun violence
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From the Gun Violence Prevention team of the Baltimore-Washington Conference  Five people, including four Morgan State University students, were shot Oct. 3 at Morgan State University, a historically Black university in Baltimore. The shooting occurred during a homecoming celebration as...

Calvary UMC Lights up the Holidays
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By Susan Baguette If the walls could talk about the hundreds of hands that have chopped, mashed, and kneaded ingredients to make cheeseballs for Calvary United Methodist Church’s Holiday Bazaar in the past, they would be chattering right now. This Nov. 11 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m,. they would...

Conference leaders learn to be 'non-anxious presence'
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As rates of stress and anxiety grow across the United States, members of the Baltimore-Washington and Peninsula-Delaware Conferences are learning about how to serve as a non-anxious presence in their congregations and communities. The course revolves around the family systems theory on...

Resources of Intimate Partner Violence Awareness Month
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From the Seeds of Security Intimate Partner Violence Network of the Baltimore-Washington and Peninsula-Delaware Conferences Join us across the affiliation, as we mourn lives lost to Intimate Partner Violence (IPV), connect with others working to provide essential resources, celebrate the...

Invitation to Baptism
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Story by Melissa Lauber Photos by Brenda Bowman Wesley Freedom UMC in Eldersburg is a place of invitation.  As a symbol of this, a very large scallop shell stands as a baptismal font at the front of the church. But recently, an ancient-new practice has erupted as 12 young people have been...

Supporting peace one village at a time
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Rev. Neal Christie Village life is at the heart of Wadi Foquin a community of about 1,300 people living only five miles from the bustling Palestinian city of Bethlehem in the Occupied West Bank. Adam Manasra’s family has lived and farmed here for generations. Sponsored by Friends of Wadi...

New academy for church planters begins
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More and more churches close their doors in the United States. Large sanctuaries sometimes only have a dozen bodies in the pews on a given Sunday. The church faces a new era: a country of people less inclined to attend their church than in past decades. The Planter’s Discernment Academy...

Discerning candiates for the episcopacy
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An invitation for episcopal candidates from the Rev. Ianther Mills and Cynthia Taylor, leaders of the BWC delegation As the 2024 Jurisdictional Conference delegation of the Baltimore-Washington Conference begins its work, one of the great responsibilities of the delegation is to identify...

Oak Chapel Hub becomes vital part of community
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By Melissa Lauber On Sunday mornings, the sanctuary at Oak Chapel UMC welcomes 25 families to worship. During the week, that exact same space is used for a different kind of holy work as people from the community and the church offer food to their neighbors in need, many of whom are immigrants...