Fellowship

Mission and Ministry
The Rev. Betsy Singleton Snyder offers a blessing to Julia Sugarbaker, a mini goldendoodle, at Pinnacle View United Methodist Church in Little Rock, Ark. Snyder and co-author Gayle Fiser have written a book on how churches can start successful pet ministries. Photo from video by Lilla Marigza, UM News.

How churches can adopt their own pet ministries

A new book by United Methodists shares practical guidance for congregations looking to build community connections by caring for pets and the people who love them.
Local Church
Christ United Methodist Church in Bethel Park, Pa., serves fried fish sandwiches on Feb. 27 during one of the church’s annual Lenten fish fries. The profit the church receives from selling thousands of $16 dinners goes toward feeding local unhoused people and supporting the fast-growing congregation. Photo by Jenn Morgan.

United Methodists hooked on fish fries too

Borrowing from Catholic tradition, United Methodists in Pennsylvania, Michigan, New York and New Mexico are preparing and serving hundreds of fish dinners on Friday nights throughout Lent.
Local Church
A community dinner church offered by Lawrenceville First United Methodist Church, Cannon United Methodist Church, and the Southeast Gwinnett Cooperative Ministry is proving to be popular. Photo courtesy of the North Georgia Conference.

Dinner church sets table for broader ministry

Early last year, the Southeast Gwinnett Cooperative Ministry and Lawrenceville First and Cannon United Methodist churches joined together to offer a community dinner church. A year later, this Fresh Expression of church is bearing fruit.
Evangelism
The Rev. David Petty, shown in the inset image at lower right, plays the Mass Effect video game online. Petty, senior pastor at St Paul’s United Methodist Church in Colorado Springs, Colo., has been in ministry with the gaming community since 2017. UM News screenshot from YouTube.

Online gamer ministry offers unique outreach

When a video game-playing pastor realized the strong communities that gamers were building online, he saw an untapped opportunity for ministry.

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