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United Methodist Women have been in mission for children, youth and women for over 150 years. Many individuals think of being in mission as building schools, feeding the homeless, or providing quality daycare in the United States or other nations. The very tangible things that can be felt and seen; a product at the end of the day. These are important mission projects but there is more to mission than just the tangible.   United Methodist Women understand that many times there are systemic ...

When the youth group at Hampton United Methodist Church realized that there was a need in their community for items that couldn’t be purchased with food stamps, they decided to do something about it.   That was back in 2013, and the Hampton Clean Up Closet has been in operation ever since.   It all started with a mission trip, and the youth decided that they could do something to help people in poverty in their own community. The adults in the church quickly helped them find ways to make it ...

The Storm Lake United Methodist Church is now in its fourth year with BLESS, a special program that provides school supplies for children in the area. An acronym for Bless and Love Everyone School Supplies, the program has been a blessing indeed for everyone it has touched. Listening to the Lord It all started when Storm Lake member Sarah Low found out that parents were coming to the church asking for help purchasing school supplies, but there were no funds available to purchase them. As an ...

By: Linda Rowe Bloomfield, Iowa For those who have traveled to Nigeria in the past as part of the Iowa Nigeria Partnership (INP), and all those who have contributed in any way, here is the latest update. We are now part of the In Mission Together program and are continuing with some of the ministry Iowa started.   My fourteenth trip to Nigeria since 2005 was very eventful as always. I traveled with Dorothy Halvorsen from the Great Plains Conference and Kathryn Witte, the coordinator for The ...

By: Pastor Amy Johnson, Osceola United Methodist Church Some days, we wake in the morning with a plan. Tuesday was a full day: check messages, attend a member funeral, help with the church luncheon, prepare for worship, write the next funeral and weddings. Somehow, though, God has a way of reminding me that ministry happens in unexpected ways. At 8:30, as I was about to gather the pies I baked to take to the dinner I received a text from my secretary, Anna Frohling.  "Can you have the kids ...

Disaster Response in Glenwood and Pacific Junction from Iowa Annual Conference on Vimeo. Updated May 24, 2019 "This to me has been what it means to be the church and to be part of the connection," said Pastor Kimberly Bowles. "The calls from clergy across the conference saying, 'What do you need? What can we do? How can we help?" It's everything that I believe the church should be. To see your neighbor in need and say, 'What can I do?.'" Pastor Kimberly Bowles isn’t surprised at the way the ...

Virginia Lynn, 93, has lived in Hamburg, Iowa, her entire life and not once experienced the floodwaters that have hit the town. Until now.   Lynn moved to the Park Washington Plaza apartments in July from the home she raised her family in after her husband passed away last January.   “I kept telling everybody I was so blessed because after I lost my husband my kids took me to visit, I sold my house and then I moved,” she said. “It’s just mind-boggling to me. I have literally lost everything. It’...