News

  The Greater Northwest Area Abundant Health ministries is hosting a presentation on community gardens on Tuesday, Jan. 24 from 6 to 7 p.m. PST (5 p.m. Alaska, 7 p.m. MST). The featured speaker will be Tom Kroen from Tualatin United Methodist Church in Oregon. Tom serves as a team leader for the Community Garden located at Tualatin United Methodist Church which contains both plots for individual families and a large garden that provides fresh produce to the local food pantry. Tom will share ...

 The Oregon Health Authority (OHA) has released a request for grant applications from community and faith-based organizations that are partnering – or are willing to partner with – marginalized communities within Oregon to help the OHA reach its strategic goal to eliminate health inequities by 2030. Specifically, OHA names the need for community-based and faith-based organizations who will work with: communities of color, tribal communities, disability communities, immigrant and refugee ...

Physical distancing and days filled with zoom calls and/or virtual school have given way to more and more in person gatherings, but for many something still seems to be missing.  As many businesses reopen and activities resume, there is a common longing among our communities for true connection.  The sacred spaces of our camp and retreat ministry sites are a powerful space to connect with others, the natural world, and God.  Are you and your ...

by Sally Blanchard After 110 years West Salem UMC congregation has closed, but volunteers continue serving the community through the church building. The congregation was organized in 1910, conducting services in a one room schoolhouse and community center. In 1921 Mrs. Joseph T. Hunt donated two lots that were later sold for the lots where the church is now located. Rev. Alexander Hawthorne was pastor of the church between 1921 and 1923 and headed the drive for building funds. Construction ...

  Appointments for the OREGON-IDAHO ANNUAL CONFERENCE effective July 1, 2020 Elaine Stanovsky, Presiding Bishop The Greater Northwest Area, The United Methodist Church   CONFERENCE RELATIONSHIP CODES:   AM--Associate Member DC--Deaconess DM--Diaconal Minister DR--Retired Diaconal Minister FD--Deacon in Full Connection FE--Elder in Full Connection FL--Full-time Local Pastor LM--Certified Lay Minister OA--Associate Member, Other Conference OE--Elder Member of Other Annual Conference or Other ...

Therefore, as a prisoner for the Lord, I encourage you to live as people worthy of the call you received from God. Conduct yourselves with all humility, gentleness, and patience. Accept each other with love, and make an effort to preserve the unity of the Spirit with the peace that ties you together. You are one body and one spirit, just as God also called you in one hope. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and [Parent] of all, who is over all, through all, and in all. God ...

…those who had gathered together asked Jesus, "Lord, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel now?" Jesus replied, "It isn't for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has set by his own authority. Rather, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." After Jesus said these things, as they were watching, he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight. ...

When it comes to migrant workers in Oregon, financial stability has never been a reality and the COVID-19 crisis has only made things worse for several families served by the Western Farm Workers Association. Merry Goldthorpe, a volunteer with the Western Farm Workers Association and a member of Beaverton-Westside United Methodist Church, has watched as migrant families in the area have struggled even more deeply during this pandemic. A single father who worked as a carpet cleaner in the nearby ...

When news that Clarkes-Mulino UMC’s Rev. Tom Truby passed away this week after a prolonged illness, church members knew exactly what to do – even though it means they can’t gather in person right now to honor the life and legacy of Rev. Truby. Due to COVID-19 concerns about large group gatherings, the church knows its impossible to hold a memorial service in the space right now. But it’s not impossible to honor Truby, who served Clarkes-Mulino since 2007 and continued to do so this last year as...

Editor's note: KH's initials are being used in this story to protect his privacy. When Rev. Nancy Slabaugh Hart moved to Madras in 2017, she was pleasantly surprised to know the church was partnering with Central Oregon Community College to provide educational programs at the minimum-security Deer Ridge Corrections Center, but chaplaincy wasn’t what she was after. “I certainly have the skill to be helpful. But, I wanted to help the men in the education department with a wider range of options—...