In September, three groups, including one church in GNJ received grants from the Council of Bishops of The United Methodist Church to strengthen ecumenical and interreligious ministries in the denomination.
St. John United Methodist Church Fordville and Trinity African Methodist Episcopal Church in Bridgeton received one of the grants for $1,000. The two neighboring churches that serve the Bridgeton area split from each other 175 years ago. St. John has a Native American congregation and Trinity has an African American congregation. According to Cynthia Wilkes-Mosley from St. John’s, the two churches have several ministry projects planned to help pull the congregations back together.
“The two churches are coming together through shared food drives, youth groups and educational programs, and they have added another neighborhood church to make their efforts even stronger and more sustainable,” said GNJ Bishop John Schol. “This grant will greatly help them further these efforts and allow them to make a significant impact on the youth in their community.”
The other projects that received Council of Bishops grants are Columbia Wesley Foundation Methodist Student Network in South Carolina who is working with the Hillel Foundation and the Muslim Student Association and the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry which is working together with the National Association of Schools and Colleges of The United Methodist Church (NASCUMC) to bring together university presidents in order to teach the value of interfaith leadership formation on their campuses.
Earlier in 2019, another GNJ United Methodist, Rachel Callender, received the Bossey Scholarship from the Council of Bishop’s Ecumenical Grant and Scholarship Program.
For more information about the Council of Bishops ecumenical grants and scholarships, go to their website: www.unitedmethodistbishops.org/ecumenical-grants-scholarships.