News

There will be a free, twenty-minute virtual worship experience available for clergy and local IAUMC churches for April 11, 2021 - the Sunday after Easter Sunday. The Simpson College Youth Academy community will be providing the service, as an effort to support clergy in resting following Lent and Easter.  The service will include worship music, Scripture from the lectionary (John 20:19-31), and reflections and blessings from high school students in response to the text. It will be a Youtube ...

After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the tomb. Look, there was a great earthquake, for an angel from the Lord came down from heaven. Coming to the stone, he rolled it away and sat on it. Now his face was like lightning and his clothes as white as snow. The guards were so terrified of him that they shook with fear and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Don’t be afraid. I know that you are looking for Jesus ...

WASHINGTON, D.C. - President of the Council of Bishops of The United Methodist Church Bishop Kenneth H.  Carter has urged Christians to rely on the power of Easter to overcome the forces of death, division, darkness, and despair in the amidst of the COVID-19 global pandemic.   In the Easter message to The United Methodist Church, Bishop Carter noted that, “Easter is the moment when who we are, what we believe and what we do becomes clear. Easter is the power of the crucified and risen Jesus over...

The 40-day season of Lent began on February 26 and Bishop Laurie, clergy, and friends of The Iowa Annual Conference have written short devotionals for each day to help us journey through this season together.  If you would like to receive these daily in an email, subscribe here. They will also be published in the News and will be included in our Weekly 360 e-news each Friday during Lent.  Monday, April 6, 2020 Scripture: Six days before Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, home of Lazarus, whom ...

God's Love Never Ends from Iowa Annual Conference on Vimeo.   Listen to the Bishop Laurie's message for Holy Week 2020 Grace to you and peace on this Palm Sunday. Lament is a common word that we are using in these days to describe our coronavirus world. Lament in the Bible has always been a deep expression of grief and sorrow for someone who has died or for something that is gone. In the midst of the deadly effects of the virus and our attempts to stop its spread, we lament all that we have ...

The 40-day season of Lent began on February 26 and Bishop Laurie, clergy, and friends of The Iowa Annual Conference have written short devotionals for each day to help us journey through this season together.  If you would like to receive these daily in an email, subscribe here. They will also be published in the News and will be included in our Weekly 360 e-news each Friday during Lent.  Monday, March 30, 2020 Scripture: On the first day of the week, as we gathered together for a meal, Paul ...

The 40-day season of Lent began on February 26 and Bishop Laurie, clergy, and friends of The Iowa Annual Conference have written short devotionals for each day to help us journey through this season together.  If you would like to receive these daily in an email, subscribe here. They will also be published in the News and will be included in our Weekly 360 e-news each Friday during Lent.  Monday, March 16, 2020 Scripture: Now, dear friends, I am requesting that we love each other. It’s not as ...

The 40-day season of Lent began on February 26 and Bishop Laurie, clergy, and friends of The Iowa Annual Conference have written short devotionals for each day to help us journey through this season together.  If you would like to receive these daily in an email, subscribe here. They will also be published in the News and will be included in our Weekly 360 e-news each Friday during Lent.  Monday, March 9, 2020 Blessed are all who fear the Lord,     who walk in obedience to him. You will eat ...

The 40-day season of Lent began on February 26 and Bishop Laurie, clergy, and friends of The Iowa Annual Conference have written short devotionals for each day to help us journey through this season together.  If you would like to receive these daily in an email, subscribe here. They will also be published in the News and will be included in our Weekly 360 e-news each Friday during Lent.  Monday, March 2, 2020 Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, how he had killed all Baal’s prophets ...

The 40-day season of Lent begins on February 26 and Bishop Laurie, clergy, and friends of The Iowa Annual Conference have written short devotionals for each day to help us journey through this season together.  If you would like to receive these daily in an email, subscribe here. They will also be published in the News and will be included in our Weekly 360 e-news each Friday during Lent.  Wednesday, February 26, 2020 I give you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, so ...

To the Clergy of The Iowa Annual Conference, The 40-day season of Lent will be beginning soon and Bishop Laurie invites clergy of The Iowa Annual Conference to prayerfully consider writing a short devotional to help members and friends of the Conference journey through this season of spiritual refocusing and renewal.  Every morning during Lent, these short devotionals are delivered via email to every person who has subscribed to help facilitate their journey during the 40 days. You are invited ...