Musicians partner with camp, church to spread gospel in verse

Ripe Creatives, a collective of young, dynamic, Christian poets, singers and rappers, has been delighting and discipling campers and staff at EPA’s Carson Simpson Farm Christian Center in Hatboro this summer. And they will bring their message-rich music—sung and spoken—to …

Merged churches inspire hope through mission center

“Hope Starts Here,” penned in colorful letters, is a small sign on the door of a big room where food is prepared at Mission First, a ministry located at the former First United Methodist Church in downtown Pottstown. And that …

Phila. pastor hired to lead Urban Ministries

Terry Bridges, lay-supply pastor of Midtown Parish UMC in Philadelphia, will become the Eastern PA Conference’s new part-time Coordinator of Urban Ministries Sept. 1.  Having served as a minister in Philadelphia Baptist churches for nearly 20 years, Bridges began assisting …

2021 Urban Ministry Awards

Members of the West Lebanon Mission Link receive a Herbert E. Palmer Urban Ministry Award for their collaborative food pantry ministry that also received an Urban Commission grant. Presenting the award to the Rev. Bruny Martinez (center) were (from left) the Revs. David Eckert and Myra …

Seeking gun violence remedies, policing reforms

For the Rev. Myra Maxwell, a pastor in Philadelphia, the city’s escalation in shootings and murders hits hard and close to home. She has lost a family member and friends to violence.

The City of Brotherly Love recorded 499 homicides last year, a 40 percent increase from 2019 and the second most since 1960…