The United Methodist Church is navigating a historic schism, a division into two groups caused by a disagreement about ideas.
On May 7, the Alabama-West Florida Conference of the UMC approved final “disaffiliation” of 193 congregations, bringing the number of defections to 240 since 2021.
The Gospel Projects Youth Athletic Club has been doing things differently since 1958.
“This program is about the Lord Jesus Christ,” said Todd Brainard, pastor at Milton’s Grace Bible Church. “That has been our focus from Day 1. We’re not perfect, but we do our best to create a good environment for our kids and their parents to experience God’s love and Christian fellowship.”
The Rev. Deacon John Kendall of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Milton has been in and out of prisons for years now; twice a week these days.
Kendall, an ordained vocational deacon in the Episcopal Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast, leads worship services at the Blackwater River Correctional Facility in East Milton and the G.K. Fountain Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama.
The people who developed the Coming Clean addiction recovery program at West Florida Baptist Church aren’t trained substance abuse counselors, but they are qualified.
The first time you meet Micah and Chelsea Gay, pastors of High Praise Church in Crestview, it feels like you’re relaxing with longtime friends.
The young couple are authentic and welcoming as they talk about their love for the local church and reaching people for Jesus.
It was the worst news I could get as an atheist: my agnostic wife had decided to become a Christian. Two words shot through my mind. The first was an expletive; the second was “divorce.”
I thought she was going to turn into a self-righteous holy roller. But over the following months, I was intrigued by the positive changes in her character and values.
A “welcome” sign that was for sale started a series of events resulting in a Milton foster home getting a free, brand-new roof last week.
“I call these ‘God moments,’” said Liz Gibson, founder and president of For the Children of Milton, a not-for-profit corporation that owns and operates a foster-care facility at the end of Whitmire Road.
Not all members of First United Methodist Church of Pace agreed with leaving the UMC umbrella, including its pastor, Mark Lilly.
When the leaders of his congregation elected to “disaffiliate” and rebrand as Grace Methodist Church in November, Lilly and members of his staff accepted the challenge of building a new UMC congregation.
Student athletes can lead busy lives. From keeping up with homework to attending practice to their home life, the responsibilities they have can be quite demanding.
For some athletes at local high schools, they have found an outlet through the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA).
