After a delay prompted by COVID-19 public health concerns, Annual Conference organizers have released the date for this year’s Annual Conference. Now a one-day event limited to Annual Conference members and essential conference staff and volunteers, organizers have designated Saturday, Aug. 1, 2020, as the date for the 2020 South Carolina Annual Conference session.
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By Jessica Brodie. After months shuttered because of coronavirus, South Carolina United Methodist churches got the green-light to resume in-person worship last month. Some chose to resume June 14, the date churches were authorized to begin holding in-person worship gatherings, while some chose later dates, and some still remain entirely virtual. Still others are forgoing indoor worship to hold outdoor-only services in church parking lots or nearby parks, citing safety reasons.
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By Jessica Brodie. Everything slated for 2020 in the UMC now appears to be pushed to 2021.
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By Jessica Brodie. Flames might have demolished an Epworth Children’s Home building, but an outpouring of love, support and generosity is soothing the burn.
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By Jessica Brodie. United Methodists were among hundreds who marched in downtown Columbia June 20 in an Interfaith Peace Walk for racial justice and reconciliation.
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By Jessica Brodie. COVID-19 slowed down ministry efforts in many local churches across the nation. But at Brookland United Methodist Church, it served as a jumpstart for a brand-new alternative contemporary service.
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African-American clergy in the Carolinas will get an opportunity for respite through a new webinar designed to address stress and self-care in the face of the racial disparities and other injustices arising during the pandemic.
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At least seven United Methodist churches in South Carolina are included on a list recently released by the Wesleyan Covenant Association of congregations that affirm the group’s statements on biblical authority, faith and moral principles.
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The Advocate is seeking submissions for another racial narrative project
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The 2020 Carolinas Black Clergy Leadership Retreat, “Crossroads: Where Faith and Innovation Meet,” has been rescheduled for Aug. 24-28 at Kingston Plantation.
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United Methodist Church leaders launched a plan of action to galvanize church members and others to actively stand against racism in the wake of the death of George Floyd and protests across the U.S.
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Oh, Lord, I beg: What do I do? All I can do is love. All I can do is pray. All I can do is try to love instead of fear, to speak out when I’m feeling cowardly. By Jessica Brodie.
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Forty-five years ago, against the advice of his Motown record executives, Marvin Gaye released the song “What’s Going On.” What’s going on is that we can’t breathe. The weight of oppression and injustice is suffocating. By Bishop L. Jonathan Holston.
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‘What Would Granny Say?’ available as paperback, eBook A month after its latest book launched, the Advocate Press has sold out of its first press run and is now in…
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Various council members, elected officials, religious and community members joined together in Bennettsville, SC, May 18 to pray for the community.
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By Jessica Brodie. A white flag hangs outside many of the homes in a remote village outside Chuisajcaba, Guatemala—a town with many already in poverty, their situation exacerbated because of a nationwide coronavirus lockdown. “Help,” the flag cries wordlessly. “We have no food.” Thanks to the efforts of one United Methodist ministry, Healing Guatemala, led by South Carolina pastor Dr. Luke Rhyee, the people are starting to get some much-needed assistance. Still, the needs are great—and grow greater every day.
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By Jessica Brodie. For the fourth month running, United Methodists are embracing new ways to be the church in the midst of a pandemic that has shuttered businesses, schools and other large gatherings in the interest of public health and safety.
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The South Carolina Conference has created a comprehensive resource to assist churches as they prepare for the resumption of in-person worship and other gatherings, following the lifting of restrictions scheduled for June 14. By Dan O’Mara.
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A pledge to be safe and follow Methodism founder John Wesley’s urging to “do no harm” amid the coronavirus pandemic has prompted Asbury Hills to cancel its summer camp plans this year.
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By Jessica Brodie. Toni Roberts Norris Taylor has a passion for Christ and helping other people and churches be all that God is calling them to be. Before the coronavirus pandemic, she was already leading a weekly Bible Study class, Sunday school and small groups in-person. But when the COVID-19 lockdown forced churches and other ministries to stop meeting in-person, Taylor stepped out in a new way, taking her faith online.
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