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Nestled on the eastern slopes of the Cascade Mountains, Suttle Lake Camp is a special place where the vivid green of Western Oregon mingles with the sunny beauty of the east side. For more than one hundred years the camp has been sacred space for many as they have taken time to renew their spirits and nurture their faith under the towering Ponderosa pines and Douglas fir trees.  Grounded in Christian hospitality and learning, the camp provides year-round Christian programs for all ages as well ...

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 ...

Youth workers - staff and volunteer - in the Oregon-Idaho annual conference will be gathering on Zoom (link below) on Wednesday, January 18 to make connections and discuss hopes for the future. The group will explore and share the needs and opportunities of youth and youth workers across the connection.   During the 2022 Annual Conference where $12,000 was budget to go towards youth ministries and the ever-emerging world allows for greater opportunities for youth ministries to collaboratively ...

When Rachel Ayers, the lead teacher of the Silverton Community Transition Program, needed a new home for the program, she knew that Silverton United Methodist Church would be the perfect fit.  “I am often moved to tears by this partnership,” said Ayers. The Silverton Adult Life Skills Transition Program serves special needs adults ages 18 to 21 in the surrounding community, teaching them important life skills like cooking, budgeting, and how to live and work in the community. The program helps ...

For years, Kuna United Methodist Church in Kuna, Idaho, has worked with local stylists to offer free back-to-school haircuts for kids. These usually happened on a weekday. This year, the haircut event was combined with a church BBQ and game night on the Sunday evening just before the first day of school.  Despite temperatures approaching 100 degrees, three stylists from Dapper Dan’s, a local salon/barbershop in Kuna, set up outdoors under shade canopies with fans. Whole families enjoyed dinner ...

Portland Area Youth Workers will be hosting a regional youth event on Sunday October 9th. Live Action Clue is a fun event where youth participants become detectives and try to solve a mystery, interviewing the six suspects from the popular board game. It's a wild and fun race to the finish and there are prizes for the winners. This is the first time our area youth will come together in person since 2019 and we can't wait to restart this yearly tradition! The event is at Salmon Creek United ...

This year marks 100 years since outdoor ministry began at Suttle Lake Camp. A Labor Day Weekend event will celebrate the generations of campers and leaders that have passed through the forest 14 miles west of Sisters, Oregon in the Deschutes National Forest. Beginning as an outdoor adventure for Methodist Church of Madras members in 1920, the first of many Epworth League Institutes in 1922 provides a beginning marker for ministry to youth and adults over the century. From that outpost beginning,...

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 ...

What’s the name of the camp that’s made for you and me?  C-A-M-P  H-O-P-E! One of the best kept secrets in the Oregon-Idaho Camp and Retreat Ministries is Camp Hope. Camp Hope, offered every summer at Camp Magruder, is a ministry space for adults with intellectual disabilities to experience God’s love in a camp setting. Campers are given the chance to participate in crafts, music, games, boating, beach time, worship and fellowship. For this group of campers, they may not have been able to ...

There are two general education scholarships available through the Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference and applications for the 2022-2023 academic year are open now. Oregon-Idaho Conference Undergraduate Leadership Award ($800) A scholarship is awarded to one undergraduate student from each of the four districts of the Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference, a total of four $800 scholarships, annually. Applicants are evaluated primarily on their leadership or potential leadership skills. Financial need is ...