Iowa Episcopal Area

The Rev. Catie Newman prays with John W. Weaver in front of a neighbor’s wind-damaged home while a United Methodist volunteer team makes emergency repairs to his roof in Marion, Iowa. Weaver’s mobile home was severely damaged during a derecho windstorm Aug. 10. Newman is the disaster response coordinator for the Iowa Conference.

Church leads storm recovery in Iowa

United Methodist volunteers are coming from all over Iowa and other states to help following an Aug. 10 derecho windstorm that left a 700-mile path of destruction.

Social Concerns

The Rev. Anna Blaedel (at microphone) speaks during the Iowa Annual Conference in June 2016. Blaedel is facing a church trial after being charged under the ban against ordination of a “self-avowed practicing homosexual.” File photo by Arthur McClanahan, Iowa Conference.

Iowa clergyperson to face trial

The Rev. Anna Blaedel is charged with violating The United Methodist Book of Discipline as a “self-avowed practicing homosexual.”

Local Church

Members of a United Methodist delegation from Iowa and staff from Africa University pose in front of the Ubuntu Center, a retreat and meeting facility at the United Methodist-related institution in Mutare, Zimbabwe. Photo by Eveline Chikwanah.

Bishop visits AU center she helped build

Bishop Laurie Haller led an Iowa delegation to visit Africa University’s Ubuntu Center, the product of a fundraising effort she led while she was a district superintendent in Michigan.

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