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This time of year, Keren Rodriguez is likely to show up for all sorts of appointments with Christmas trees in the back of her car. She’s not trying to carry off that authentic Christmas-tree-smelling air freshener, she’s simply busy helping her congregation at Aloha United Methodist Church provide Christmas cheer to families in need. “I really value the way our faith community shows up,” Rodriguez said. This is Aloha UMC’s second year of giving away Christmas trees thanks to a congregant who ...

Rev. Jefferson Chao is exhausted – but the kind of exhausted that comes from pouring your heart into your community.   He spent the last two weeks working with volunteers to distribute 5,000 backpacks to kids attending more than 50 different schools in Beaverton, Oregon, and he’s helped with the distribution of more than 50,000 pounds of food, COVID-19 vaccine clinics and more. That doesn’t count the months of work that went into making it all happen, either.   “The community is my church,” said...

Earlier this month, the Oregon-Idaho Conference welcomed two new members to the team in order to better serve churches and ministry settings. Rev. Laura Beville of Silverton, Oregon, began her part-time appointment as the Conference’s new ministry resource specialist in the Office of Connectional Ministries on July 1. Beville will continue to serve Silverton UMC part-time as well. Utilizing existing financial resources, Beville’s position was created in the Office of Connectional Ministries ...

 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 ...

  Pendleton United Methodist Church began in 1870 with the first service conducted by circuit rider Rev. H.B. Lane to six people on a sawdust floor in the town’s original courthouse. Later the congregation which now numbered 110 members and 160 children in church school, moved from its second building in order to move away from the brewery that built next door. They built the impressive gothic stone building  which was dedicated in June 1907 with its famed stained glass windows and a modern ...

For Rev. Julia “Jules” Nielsen she sees her gift as a deacon in ministry to be an interpreter of the church language. She said she always knew her leadership qualities would be most effective as a deacon where she could “shake the sandbox” when she sees a need for systemic change. Being a deacon, rather than an elder she said, allows her to “focus on people outside of the church and on the margins.” A deacon in the United Methodist church goes through the same or similar seminary education and ...

  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 ...

Volunteers work in the Common Good Garden at Gresham UMC, where a new partnership has emerged between the church and Doulas Latinas to provide nutritional support. by Sally Blanchard A love of working in a garden and a love for people in their community has grown into a beautiful relationship between Gresham United Methodist Church and Latina doulas. Dr. Sandra Hernandes founded Doulas Latinas International in 2013 because she saw the need for Latina women to have emotional and linguistic ...

By Sally Blanchard Volunteers pack food bags at The Dalles UMC in Oregon. The Dalles UMC is across the street from the high school and organized a successful food backpack program since 2012. They provided up to 165 bags per week of supplemental food for students on the school lunch program in partnership with the Oregon Food Bank food pantry and volunteers from other churches. When the churches had to close their doors in March and most of the volunteers had to stay at home, they came...

Christ United Methodist Church Cedar Mill is moving forward with plans for a 53-unit affordable housing complex on its property that is explicitly LGBTQ friendly. For two years, the church council there has been studying and exploring the possible uses for two lots east of the church building. There is a critical need in Portland, specifically in the Beaverton area where CUMC is located, for affordable housing for senior citizens. Pastor Ric Shewell said the church is now working with SAGE, an ...