The Rev. Dr. Chris Momany was born in Benton Harbor, Michigan and grew up in the Peace Temple United Methodist Church. He is a graduate of Adrian College, Princeton Theological Seminary, and Drew University. His speaking, teaching, and writing focus on history and human rights. His book on the Wesleyan ethic of love and justice is titled Doing Good: A Grace-Filled Approach to Holiness (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2011). Chris’s book on ethical theory and the abolitionist movement was released in 2018: For Each and All: The Moral Witness of Asa Mahan (Nashville: Foundry Books). Chris has been active in Historians Against Slavery, an organization that explores history to fight human trafficking.

From 2004 until 2019 Chris wrote for the Daily Bible Study of The United Methodist Publishing House. He has also served in leadership among the National Council of Churches and between 2012 and 2020 was a member of the “writing team” that crafted an updated version of the United Methodist Social Principles.

Chris’s latest book profiles five Methodist abolitionists and their witness against slavery: Compelling Lives: Five Methodist Abolitionists and the Ideas That Inspired Them (Cascade, 2023). This book is the third release within a highly regarded series on Wesleyan and Methodist Explorations.

In 2015 Chris helped discover a long-lost, handwritten journal. This artifact, penned during the 1830s and 1840s, documents a ship used in the transatlantic slave trade. Chris is helping to lead a multiracial team of scholars who are telling the story of this ship and working for racial justice today. The “Dialogue on Race and Faith” team journeyed to Benin in December of 2022 to explore historical sites and to begin repairing relationships. Chris is an editor of and a contributor to the book about this effort: Awakening to Justice: Faithful Voices from the Abolitionist Past (InterVarsity Press, 2024).

Our men's and women's prayer breakfasts will be held on Saturday, March 9, 2024, at 9:00 am. The women’s prayer breakfast will be held in the lobby; the men’s prayer breakfast will be held in Simpson Hall.

The women’s prayer breakfast group is engaged in the study of What the Women Saw, a six-part study of who Jesus is through the unique perspective of women in the Bible. As you study the lives of Mary, Martha, Mary Magdalene and others, you will learn from their faith and failures and be reminded that Jesus cared for and valued the women he was surrounded by. He equipped them, listened to them, walked with them, healed them, and empowered them. And he does the same for you.

The men’s prayer breakfast group is studying The End of Me by Kyle Idleman in which he examines Jesus's Sermon on the Mount and unpacks many counter-intuitive truths: brokenness is the way to wholeness, mourning is the path to blessing, and emptiness is required to know true fullness. Ultimately, you will discover how Jesus transforms you as you begin to live out these paradoxical principles. You can sign up for these events on the back of your green Connection Card.

Would you be willing to serve coffee and cookies between services? We have lost several helpers in the past couple of years and need more volunteers to continue this ministry. If you would like to be a part of the Hospitality crew, please contact Mary Faupel at (269)381-7216 or email at lmfaup@yahoo.com.

ISAAC is broadcasting a Virtual Fireside Chat with Layla Saad, author of the best-seller Me and White Supremacy. Our own Dr. Deb Lindstrom will plan a "watch party" at either WUMC or her home on Saturday, March 16, from 1 pm - 2:30 pm.  

Deb has requested 10 of the books for WUMC congregation members to read, and 10 journals to respond to the writing prompts at the end of each chapter (which are very short chapters). This is an opportunity for everyone at WUMC to learn more about institutional racism and white supremacy and for White congregation members to think about the implicit bias that we have grown up with (and sometimes are not aware of having). "I read the book a few years ago, but I will be reading it again and journaling this time," said Lindstrom.

It will be helpful for anyone attending the virtual fireside chat to read the first few chapters before March 16, but after the fireside chat, Deb would like to meet as a group to talk about how we each experienced the book.

If you are interested in learning more about this opportunity, please email Deb Lindstrom at debralindstrom2012@gmail.com.

Phyllis and Landon reaching waaaaaaaaaaaaay back to get that needed item!

The kiddos are so excited to help wash potatoes for the Third Sunday Lunch! Especially Emersyn!

NOW she's excited! A little "hot potato" makes everything better!