News

9/20/2023 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE For more information: Contact Mallory Webster, Communications Manager 217-457-4600 [email protected]   On September 20, North Central Jurisdiction Bishops, Assistants to the Bishops, and Directors of Connectional Ministries, joined Midwest Mission in the joy of serving during the College of Bishops meeting.   Those in attendance modeled a missional mindset as they joined together during their meeting and served with Midwest Mission to participate in ...

Submitted by: Mallory Webster, Midwest Mission Communications Manager In July, Midwest Mission, based out of Pawnee, Illinois, opened its second location in Jefferson, Iowa. Midwest Mission is a faith-based non-profit organization that works to provide humanitarian aid both domestically and internationally in the areas of disaster relief, health, education, and microbusiness.   The Iowa location needed an electric pallet jack to easily move pallets in the building. The cost was $6,000. Bill ...

Midwest Mission Sunday is a day to celebrate the joy of serving and encourage churches to do this with their congregations and communities. There is nothing like being the hands and feet of Jesus to lift our spirits and remind us of our calling to serve one another. This year, Midwest Mission’s goal is to have 2,023 people serving on that Sunday and to make an impact from Christ around the world and around the corner. Midwest Mission wants you to help start a revolution to expose new people to ...

Submitted by Amy Johnson, Pastor of Osceola United Methodist Church This past school year, 31% of Iowa schools had a rate higher than 50% of students participating in the free or reduced school lunch program, including all three of the Clarke Community Schools, both East Union schools, both Central Decatur schools, and both Mormon Trail Schools. Our area schools are a hot spot of rural poverty in Iowa. Parents, most having struggled all summer, are preparing to send their children back to ...

The Dawson United Methodist Church in Dawson, Iowa, which closed in June of this year, gave a $5,000 donation to Midwest Mission from their remaining funds. Denise Heinze said before closing that their parish had been very active in United Methodists Volunteers in Mission (UMVIM). It had taken several mission trips around the United States, so they earmarked the money to continue mission work.  In addition to the monetary donation, several tables were donated to the Iowa location for use, and ...

6/23/2023 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE For more information: Contact Mallory Webster, Communications Manager 217-457-4600 [email protected]  Contact Danille Curtis, Iowa Coordinator 515-351-1166 [email protected]    Midwest Mission Opens New Location in Jefferson, Iowa On Saturday, June 17, Midwest Mission staff and volunteers celebrated the opening of its new location in Jefferson, Iowa. Special guests in attendance included Iowa UMC Director of Connectional Ministry, Bill Poland, ...

Patrick Booth, a General Board of Global Missionary serving in Cambodia in Southeast Asia, will be visiting Iowa from May 1 through May 8, 2023. Booth co-directs Project ARK (Advancing Resilient Khmer). Project ARK’S mission is to tackle poverty as a culprit of human tracking by equipping and restoring livelihood and dignity through the construction trade. Patrick is passionate about his ministry and has stories to share of God at work in Cambodia. Although very short notice, Booth would like ...

Submitted by William R Fee On any given Tuesday morning, the lower level of Cedar Falls FUMC is overflowing with women sharing fellowship and treats as they happily cut, match and stitch quilt pieces. This is hardly your typical group of “Church Basement Ladies”; these are the Quilting Warriors of First Church! In 2022 alone, this band of sisters was responsible for approximately 230 quilts. They lovingly stitched over 80 youth quilts and distributed them to our partners in education school, to...

For years the Midwest Mission’s facility in Pawnee, Illinois, has been booked with volunteers—sometimes even one to two years in advance—and cannot add more space at its current site. Because of these restraints, their board of directors sought opportunities to expand their operations in the North Central Jurisdiction. They chose Jefferson, Iowa, as their new location because of Iowa’s Mission Ingathering and its strong historical ties to Midwest Mission. Midwest Mission is a Christian ...

In January 2023, a team from the Bloomfield area returned to El Negrito and Subirana, Honduras. Clayton Eakins led this team of eight. Clayton, Marisela Sanchez, Mary Jo Johnson, Donna Olinger, and Linda Rowe were returning, and for the other three, it was their inaugural trip. The additional members were Clayton’s wife, Rhonda, Vince Tyson, and Rosalee Russell. The joy of the journey began the moment the van pulled up to the Honduran church when the children and adults came out of the woodwork ...

Reprinted with permission from Midwest Mission. This is Lois.   One of her bucket list items was to serve at and visit Midwest Mission. During the week of October 10, Lois, 93 3/4 years old, got to check off that item, serving with complete joy throughout the week.   Although this was Lois’ first trip to serve at Midwest Mission, she has been serving with Midwest Mission for a long time. Lois and her granddaughter use their God-given talents to make sewn items for Midwest Mission kits.    “My ...

 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  Midwest Mission, located just outside Chatham, IL, is working to provide disaster relief to those affected by Hurricane Ian. “Our Cleaning Kit supplies have been depleted. After sending relief to 14 US disasters this year, including the most recent flooding in Kentucky and St. Louis, we need help replenishing so we can get supplies to our partners who are ready to deploy the requested supplies,” says Executive Director Chantel Corrie.  “While we typically have 3,000 ...

The Midwest Mission Distribution Center (MMDC) aims to pack 8,400 rice meal bags that will feed 50,400 people in Ukraine, and is on the road packing meals at various locations throughout the midwest. Ankeny First United Methodist Church's Christian Life Center (CLC) hosted an event on August 27 where volunteers assembled 6,400 meal packs, getting them closer to their goal. The Ankeny event was open to anyone wanting to participate in a hands-on mission event. More than 175 individuals stopped ...

Submitted by Beverly Nolte Bruna Farat, serving as a United Methodist Church missionary in Costa Rica, has just celebrated her commissioning as a missionary in June with leaders of Global Ministries. Her family, husband Nouhou and two-year-old daughter, Hadassa, moved to Costa Rica nine months ago from Brazil where she was born, grew up and served in various ministry roles.    Working with three small rural churches she has faced many challenges but is thanking God for each of the churches and ...

July 26, 2022 | ATLANTA For release: IMMEDIATE  Media Contact: Dan Curran for Global Ministries/UMCOR 770-658-9586 [email protected]  The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) and Church World Service (CWS) today launched a new joint menstrual hygiene kit initiative to provide essential health and dignity products to vulnerable communities across the U.S. The kits will be purchased and assembled by volunteers and supporters, and then distributed by UMCOR and CWS programs. The joint ...

Submitted by Beverly Nolte, UMVIM Co-Chairperson  The Iowa United Methodist Volunteer in Mission Committee (UMVIM) has been restarted to offer assistance in making your mission work journey successful!. The Iowa United Methodist Volunteer in Mission Committee has all the information you need to successfully prepare, plan and pursue any mission experience. With a vote pending, Sandy Ashley and Beverly Nolte will serve as co-chairpersons through July 1, 2023. ​Phil Rogers is a liaison with ...

Bruna Farat Kakale sends the following update while serving three churches in Cost Rica. During the Lenten season, we had weekday and weekend activities. Every Wednesday and Thursday, we went to a church to hold a special service where we discussed the importance of following in the footsteps of the Lord, denying oneself, giving, forgiving, and understanding the sacrifice of Jesus for humanity. This time with the churches reminded me why God called us and why we are taking the gospel from one ...

Midwest Missions is sending their truck to the 2022 Iowa Annual Conference session on June 4-5 for drive-up and drop-off donations to "Fill The Truck!" Specific items they are asking for are donations of gently used non-electric tools, liquid dish soap, liquid laundry detergent, and liquid all-purpose cleaners. They will also be accepting any other donations they normally accept. Midwest Missions has a list of those items and kits on their website. In addition to the Midwest Missions' Fill the...

Looking for a United Methodist missionary to support? Interested in helping a “new” missionary begin a mission career? Want to reach out and touch three small, rural Costa Rican churches as they restart worship and church activities? With the approval of Global Ministries, our Mission Education Committee offers United Methodist missionary Bruna Farát Kakalé, a young Brazilian woman with mission experience in Chile, Venezuela, and Niger. She has worked with indigenous people, supported local ...

Iowa United Methodists are active in mission and outreach within and beyond their communities. Does your congregation have or support a local program to give hunger relief locally? A food bank? Serving community meals? Filling backpacks with healthy snacks? Every year, a portion of the giving received at our annual Ingathering is given back to programs right here in the state to help with various hunger-related projects. If your church is involved with a hunger project or wishes to begin a ...

Douglas Williams, who served here in the Iowa Conference before going to Argentina as a Global Ministries missionary sent an email notifying that a big hail story went through  on February 23, 2022 in Mendoza causing a room and wall to collapse at Colegio Alberto Schweitzer.  Dear Friends, Mendoza is known for its generally great weather, but when it gets bad it gets really bad.  We have two events that stir up without a lot of notice. Rain/hail storms and the Viento Zonda which are high winds...

By Beverly Nolte Hurricane Laura slammed the Lake Charles/Sulphur, LA area making landfall on August 27, 2020. Marching in after was Hurricane Delta on October 9, 2020, followed by a deep freeze of 16 degrees, the coldest in Louisiana in 119 years on February 15, that burst pipes throughout the area. Then by a deluge of 18 inches of rain in two days on May 17-18, 2021. And a tornado struck in October 2021, which left around 12 homes uninhabitable and exacerbated the already hundreds of persons ...

Your opportunity to serve with a United Methodist missionary can become a reality! A Brazilian, Bruna Farát da Silva Mahamane Kakalé, now serves as a United Methodist missionary in Siquirres, Costa Rica. She is one of the newest assigned missionaries serving with Global Ministries. Kakalé is asking YOU and YOUR CHURCH to financially and prayerfully share in her mission work. Accepting Jesus Christ as a child, Kakalé vowed to follow Jesus faithfully with a desire to become a missionary. This ...

Giving Tuesday is almost here, but where should you give your time or resources if you want to support United Methodist Ministries? The Iowa Conference has three ideas. 1. Give Local Talk with your pastor or your missions committee to see where your local United Methodist Church needs donations the most. You might find that they need volunteers for a meal coming up, or that they need to purchase coats for the homeless or school children in your neighborhood. This could be a one-time gift or ...

In Mission Together (IMT) is the new Iowa Conference mission focus, taking the place of the Rainbow Covenant. IMT celebrates building relationships with people/programs/projects while prayerfully doing mission together at the local, conference, national and international levels. Partnering and volunteering helps us to better understand each other as we share time, talent and presence together in missions. By being faithful givers of financial resources and in-kind giving, we continue to provide...

In the fall of 2017, a store in Floyd, Iowa, closed that had been a local gathering spot for people to have coffee, refreshments, do puzzles, play cards, and just socialize. Members of Floyd, Grace United Methodist Church realized that many of those people who came to coffee would miss the socialization time it had provided.   “They were elderly people, recently widowed, those who couldn’t drive out of town or had experienced the loss of family. They enjoy these times together,” said Wynona ...

The Mission Education Committee has a new leader in Sue Hattel of Dubuque. Sue will serve as the chair of this committee and as the Iowa Conference Secretary for Global Ministries. She had held this position about 12 years ago so with her interest in mission is willing to assume this role again. Sue is a laywoman who attends St. Luke’s UMC in her home city. The contact information for Sue is: [email protected], 563-599-4497. In Mission Together (IMT) is the new mission focus of the Iowa ...

Rev. Douglas Williams, a former clergyman from the Iowa Conference, has been serving as a United Methodist Missionary in Argentina. Williams has many friends and supporting churches in Iowa and was here in 2018 for itineration. Due to Covid-19 and the travel bans, he has been unable to return to visit his supporting churches.  Now there is an opportunity to meet with him in a program from Global Ministries called “#StillinMission.” These are monthly episodes that feature United Methodist ...

Despite the pandemic, United Methodist missionaries remain deeply engaged in work around the world. Normally, many of them “itinerate” each year to visit the churches and individuals that support them in ministry. COVID-19 has stopped most travel, but that doesn’t mean the missionaries aren’t available to meet virtually because they are #STILLINMISSION. Each month, UMC Global Ministries hostS four missionaries in a conversation with laity and clergy throughout the church to share the joys and ...

Submitted by Beverly Nolte Originally scheduled for December 19, 2020, Pastor Aaron Limmo and Maya Dinga were prepared to travel to South Sudan to purchase humanitarian items for those affected by the Indian Ocean Dipole floods in 2019. Word from South Sudan two days prior to departure told of in-fighting among tribal groups in Mabaan County where they were to visit. The decision to postpone the trip was made. Now, after indications of stability and peace efforts, the men have rescheduled ...

Submitted by Cherie Miner, Director, Mobile United Methodist Missionaries (MUMM) [email protected] As your church prepares for summer, remember that Mobile United Methodist Missionaries (MUMM) is here to help. Although Coronavirus canceled our plans last year, we’d like to forge ahead this summer, albeit with some changes.   If you’re not sure what MUMM does, take a look at this short video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZZa37gE-nM&feature=youtu.be   Feel free to share it during ...

From Rev. Doug Williams serving in Mendoza, Argentina The Albert Schweitzer School finished the school year on Dec. 8 with in-person final classes as ordered by the governor of the province. Our churches are still only worshipping virtually through Mendoza had a gathering in the plaza in front of the church to sing Christmas songs. In San Juan, we had a special gathering Saturday in the sanctuary to record the Sunday service at which we presented Maria Milagros who was born during our lockdown. ...

By: Beverly Nolte United Methodist Missionary from Iowa, Douglas Williams continues his ministries in Argentina during this COVID-19 pandemic.  Several missionaries heavily supported by Iowa churches are Katherine Parker (Nepal), Dr. Emmanuel and Florence Mefor (Zimbabwe) and Jane Kies (Zimbabwe). Larry Kies (Zimbabwe) recently retired and now serves as adjunct professor at Africa University. Global Ministries continues commissioning new missionaries to be from “everywhere to everywhere!” One ...

Rust College is the oldest of 11 HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) related to the United Methodist Church. The Iowa Annual Conference has had a special relationship of encouragement and support with Rust College for many years and would like to introduce or reintroduce the Iowa United Methodist family to why Rust is so unique.      Rust is located in northern Mississippi and serves a student body where a significant percentage of students are the first in their families to ...

Submitted by Linda Porter The women of Archer United Methodist Church met September 2, 2020, for the first time since March, 2020. A portion of our program was devoted to our activities we had accomplished during the pandemic. One of our dear members, nonagenarian Betty Johnson, crafted several quilts which she had lovingly stitched throughout the spring and summer. She graciously decided to donate each baby quilt, doing so in her typical quiet and unassuming manner, by giving them to another ...

Larry Kies, a United Methodist missionary with the General Board of Global Ministries and an Iowa native who serves as technical advisor to the Africa University Farm in Zimbabwe, Africa and was scheduled to present at the Teaching Session at the Iowa Annual Conference in June 2020 and to visit supporting churches in Iowa during the summer of 2020. Both have been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and travel bans but with the support of Global Ministries, Kies will be able to "Virtually Visit...

Submitted by Linda Rowe*   A group of 11 Davis County residents led by Clayton Eakins returned once again to the area of El Negrito, Honduras, for a United Methodist Volunteers in Mission (UMVIM) trip in January. Team members were: Eakins, Steve and Donna Olinger, Linda Rowe, Butch Priester, Steve Davidson, Penny Warren, Julie Griffin, Marisela Sanchez, Lynn Roberts, and Mary Jo Johnson.   “Sitting outside in a church service the last night we were there, I looked around at all that has happened...

The time has come to turn in your first IN MISSION TOGETHER missions reporting form for your church. This replaces the Rainbow Covenant form and it’s a new way of reporting. We hope you’ve attended one of the many explanation and training meetings that have been held around the Conference. You’ll be reporting both your GIVING and your SERVING information.   The new In Mission Together report form that replaces Rainbow Covenant is here.   In Mission Together encourages United Methodist Churches ...

Mobile United Methodist Missionaries (MUMM) has been working within the Iowa Annual Conference for 22 years with a  mission to make disciples of Christ in rural Iowa. In that time, they’ve helped communities recover from disasters and rebuild; offered Bible studies, camp and Vacation Bible School (VBS); helped families with basic needs and shared God’s love through everything they do. Currently, they serve in the Southeast, South Central and Southwest districts. MUMM has been largely supported ...

This year, the Collegiate United Methodist Church and Wesley Foundation are hoping to give hundreds of families in Ames a very special Christmas present with its Advent-Christmas offerings. “Our goal is to send every child within the Ames Community School District back to school after Christmas break without any meal debt,” says Jodi Smith-Risdal, Chair of the church’s Sending to Serve cluster. “When we started this campaign, that was right around $47,000, so this is a pretty big ask. It’s ...

Mission Ingathering, formerly known as Thanksgiving Ingathering, marked forty years of making a difference on Saturday, November 2.  “The Mission Ingathering is a way for Iowa United Methodists to address humanitarian problems locally and around the world, including hunger, poverty, and disaster,” according to the Ingathering statements.  It’s a way “to show the love of Christ to the world’s people by ministering to their needs.”   What began as a small collection of blankets, kits, animals, and...

Iowa Justice for Our Neighbors (JFON) will celebrate its 20th anniversary this month, and you are invited. The board of Iowa JFON is encouraging everyone to join to learn about its history as well as the plans for the future of JFON in our state.  Iowa Justice For Our Neighbors is a non-profit organization, welcoming low-income immigrants of all faiths into churches and communities by providing free, high-quality immigration legal services, education, and advocacy.  Established by the United ...

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 ...

A team of nine Conference Center staff members spent a morning volunteering at Meals From the Heartland and packaged 4,104 meals on Jan. 29. "Our mission is to empower people to save the starving, so it's those people who come in and give up their time to package meals, just like you did today that make this organization go," said Susan Bunz, Executive Director of Meals From the Heartland. "Last year we engaged over 75,000 volunteers, we would never be able to do what we do without the people ...

The Altoona United Methodist Church has a tag line that reads "your place to connect." The church is doing just that by sharing their love and resources with others through missional giving.   “Unlike most United Methodist churches we have a special emphasis on missions,” said Pastor John Gaulke. “We do a Thanksgiving dinner every year and give all the proceeds away to missions.”   Barely paying bills to helping others Altoona UMC did not always have the funds to help others. More than 20 years ...

By Brian K. Oliver* What do 100 servings of lasagna, an Iowa made grain bin, and a play about a missing Boston cream pie have to do with helping people in Haiti with safe housing?  Everything, if you are at Christ United Methodist Church’s dinner theater to raise funds for the South Tama County Huts for Haiti project. The Huts for Haiti project began with Saint Patrick’s Catholic Church in Tama and other area churches, including Living Faith UMC in Tama and Christ UMC in Toledo, were soon ...

By: Lynn Calvert, Iowa Conference UMW President It all started with an idea….a dream really. How to get women and youth of all ages to participate in an ACTION project, to understand that United Methodist Women are relevant at all ages, to learn from each other and appreciate all of God’s gifts to each of us.  To demonstrate Faith, Hope and Love in Action!! The plan became clear to offer an Intergenerational Mission Trip in 2017 for individuals in 6th grade and older.  On March 11, 2017, a ...

by Roxanne Strike Sometimes, it’s easy to feel forgotten. Small, rural churches in Iowa can sometimes feel like they’re on the brink of closure, forgotten by their communities. In the US, some communities even feel forgotten, stuck in time as the world flies past them. That feeling is sometimes what brings communities together.   Webster United Methodist Church in Eastern Iowa employs a less-than-full-time pastor. The rural church, though small, continues to be mighty and fights on for its ...

By Beverly Nolte   Click here to see more images from the trip! Fourteen Iowans flew south of the border to the land of coffee, corn and tobacco—Nicaragua. From Bloomfield to Lake Park, Gray to Wilton, this United Methodist Volunteer in Mission team was laden with sewing machines, a variety of vegetable seeds, school supplies, a large replica of Noah's Ark, as well as work tools...all part of the luggage. Tucked in between Panama and Honduras, Nicaragua is one of the poorest countries in ...

The Wilton United Methodist Church has continued its mission-minded living into 2017. At the end of Advent season, the church raised more than $7,000 to donate to purchasing water pumps and pump maintenance training. This year, 24 people affiliated with the church volunteered at Sager Brown UMCOR Depot in Baldwin, La., leaving Iowa Jan. 21 and returning Jan. 28. “We have a very committed, mission-oriented church,” Lanette Morgan, team leader for the mission trip, said about the large group. “We...

The United Methodist Church in Wilton, a small town 13 miles north of Muscatine, has a longstanding tradition of fundraising and mission work. The members of the Wilton church have raised money for mission trips and mission work for several decades. This past Advent season, the members once again kept the tradition going.   “The United Methodist Church of Wilton is very passionate about mission work and also very generous in their financial giving,” said Pastor Mike Agnew. “They have been a ...

By: Pastor Lori Shannon Gray United Methodist Church Ah, the joys of an Iowa winter!  In January while many of you dealt with the drudgery of scooping snowdrifts, chiseled ice from your windshields, or watched your breath freeze, I, along with seventeen others, traveled to Samana’ in the Dominican Republic, dined on rice and beans, swatted pesky mosquitos and slathered on sunblock. We represented the United Methodist Volunteers in Mission which annually sends a team outside the United States to...

It’s that time of the year when many of us begin to think about holiday giving. And MUMM is no different. As we travel during the summer, we meet kids whose families are strapped trying to make ends meet. Often that means food is scarce, not to mention clothes, books, toiletries and so many things the rest of us take for granted.  So this time of year, we check back with the churches we partnered with for Vacation Bible School to see if they have families they need help providing for during the ...

From beans to mission: the story of an extroverted church   Evangelism can come in many different forms – some of them quite surprising. For Grand View United Methodist Church in Dubuque, one of those unusual methods of evangelism is in the form of a bratwurst booth at the Dubuque County Fair. “We think that Jesus may not run the brat booth, but he would probably hang out there with the people,” says Reverend Tom Shinkle. “The Brat Haus that we run is not a money-making operation. We’re in the ...

Do you love 5K runs? Do you love food trucks? Do you love to help a good cause? Then you’re in luck, because on Saturday, September 26 at the Valley View Aquatic Center in West Des Moines, all three come together in one great event with The Food Truck 5K. “It’s a 5 ‘o’ clock race, so it’s going to start in the evening. Right before dinner you get a run in, then you get to eat right afterwards,” explains Rev. Jennifer Hibben of Thrive UMC, which is hosting the event. She also notes that “This is...

There are a million ways to make a difference in the world, if you only have the desire and the will to do it. In the case of sixth-grader Hannah Curtis, it just took some pillowcases, a sewing machine, and determination. Listen to Hannah talk about making 500 dresses Click here to see additional images of Hannah and the pillowcase dresses  Hannah loves to sew. And not long ago, when she and her mother were trying to think of a good project to work on, they discovered that many girls in ...

At Aldersgate UMC in Urbandale, a city of some 40,000 people located in the Des Moines metro area, the Advent season came alive in a special way this past year when members of the congregation were called on to bring desperately needed gifts to the local homeless in Des Moines. Aldersgate Lead Pastor Jon Bailey likes to work with the church’s worship committee to find ways to connect the congregation to each sermon series in a tangible way. “The series was supposed to be about focusing on the ...