Mission News
Something to smile about
1/31/2024
BY MEREDITH DAVISON AND CAITLIN DRYKE This past fall, Smiles of Faith, a mobile dental clinic, began seeing patients for free dental care. It was a day that had been in the works for a long time. Dr. ...
Oklahoma City church finds a way to serve unhoused and underserved neighbors, rain or shine, with outreach foundation
1/3/2024
There’s a distinct emotion that you can only access when you’re engaged in loving service to people who are invisible to most of society. Maybe it’s a certain species of joy. Perhaps it’s a fraternity...
Churches team up to abolish medical debt for Western Oklahomans
11/9/2023
Five million dollars of medical debt has been abolished for the western half of the state of Oklahoma, including Oklahoma County. And it all began with paying off the church mortgage. In January of ...
VIM group serves Rio Bravo child care center
11/9/2023
By Tabitha Beckman On October 15, the day after the special called conference, a group of OKUMC conference members and a few members from Arkansas and Texas conferences went down to Rio Bravo, Mexico ...
Project partners mission-minded churches with families in need
7/13/2023
The mission is to connect “1 family and 1 church for 1 purpose.” This is where the name for 111Project originated. Churches, community service organizations, and other nonprofit agencies communicate ...
Doing good in Kingfisher
5/4/2023
Kingfisher UMC found a new opportunity to reach out to neighbors in novel ways. In May, they put their love of community into action. Through their “Do All the Good You Can” campaign, the congregation...
For I was hungry
1/11/2023
Part of the process of becoming a member of the United Methodist Church is professing to faithfully participate in the life of the church through prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness. More ...
OKUMC partnerships make merry
1/11/2023
In mid-December, Skyline Urban Ministry surprised its patrons when they came in for their monthly food resource pickup. In addition to food resources and an eye clinic, Skyline also offers a style ...
Two Countries, Two Cultures, One Faith
1/11/2023
How US and Mexican churches partner to help children flourish Bishop Nunn, members of the Cabinet and other leaders from the Oklahoma Conference visited Manos Juntas (Hands Together Ministry) in Rio ...
Restore Hope Ministries Blesses 400 Plus Families
12/6/2022
In the days before Thanksgiving, dozens of community volunteer groups joined together at Restore Hope Ministries to prepare and distribute over 400 Thanksgiving baskets to families in crisis. ...
United Women in Faith’s Weekend of Action
12/6/2022
Toole Tyme at Cookson Hills Ministry Center by Tabitha Beckman Every year women and men from around Oklahoma gather in Cookson, near Lake Tenkiller, to help Cookson Hills prepare for their Christmas ...
City’s Skyline Receives Aid
11/10/2022
Skyline Urban Ministry started in 1968 to bring churches and other agencies together to serve the poor and needy in Oklahoma County and beyond. The nonprofit organization serves by offering a free eye...
Grant expands opportunities to learn English in Southeast Asia
8/17/2022
One of the best avenues for better jobs and job security in Southeast Asia is knowing how to speak English. However, learning English can be expensive, and the school most people would attend is too ...
Lazarus Community grows from ministry pitch to ministry plant
7/13/2022
By Alanna Ireland A church in Northwest Oklahoma City is finding new life with Christians wanting to live out their faith in their daily lives alongside those recovering from homelessness. The Lazarus...
General agency seeks participants for environmental ministry
4/6/2022
Global Ministries, the mission arm of the United Methodist Church, is inviting U.S.-based United Methodists to participate in EarthKeepers, a training program to help people launch and grow ...
Lydia Patterson Institute Welcomes New President
4/6/2022
News Release | Lydia Patterson Institute EL PASO, TEXAS – The Lydia Patterson Institute (LPI) Board of Directors has named Carla Cardoza as President. Cardoza began her new role at LPI March 21. An ...
Conference offers guidelines for church donations to UMCOR
1/10/2022
By Wayne Wilczek OKUMC Director of Accounting Prompted by late season tornadoes in December 2021, the Oklahoma Conference released suggested guidelines for church donations to the United Methodist ...
OKUMC VIM to hold Mission Leadership Training
12/13/2021
Leaders in the Oklahoma Conference will host a Mission Leadership Training on Feb. 26, 2022 at OKC-New Hope. The keynote speaker will be Rev. Lucas Endicott, the associate director of mission, service...
Cookson Hills addresses needs despite challenges
1/11/2021
Every year Cookson Hills Ministry Center near Lake Tenkiller hosts a Christmas store for local needy parents and grandparents to sign up and pick out Christmas gifts for their families. Even during ...
Registration open for UMVIM courses
1/11/2021
Registration for missional leadership training is now open through the United Methodist Volunteers in Mission. Winter Mission Academy The Winter Mission Academy will be held online Feb. 1-12 with ...
Application for Global Mission Fellows US-2 launches Oct. 12
10/2/2020
The Global Mission Fellows Program will launch its US-2 application on Oct. 12. The US-2 track is for young adults ages 20-30 who are authorized to work in the United States, including citizens, DAPA ...
Conference co-sponsors free web series training for faith leaders
9/4/2020
The Oklahoma Conference has joined with Crisis Care Ministries and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Oklahoma to present a new webinar series. “Caring for Your Congregation and Community ...
Conference clergy respond to fears about coronavirus
3/6/2020
Clergy in the Oklahoma Conference are responding to concerns about COVID-19, the official name for the coronavirus. Rev. Jeremy Basset, director of the Office of Mission, released a statement on March...
Statement from the Office of Mission regarding COVID-19
3/5/2020
With rising concern about the impact of the current coronavirus (COVID-19), Conference staff recently listened in to a webinar hosted by our travel insurance company, AIG Travel. This excellent ...
Mission partnerships take center stage at VIM event
2/8/2020
By Tabitha Beckman Mission partnerships and missional focal issues were at the heart of a recent informational event in Oklahoma City. The Together in Mission event, put on by Oklahoma United ...
Epworth Villa seniors prepare for the winter chill
12/13/2019
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma—With winter around the corner, the Residents of Epworth Villa held their annual fall clothing drive. This bi-annual event allows residents to clean out their closets and give ...
Ministry in a Minute
11/1/2019
Leaders in the Oklahoma Conference joined together to participate in Soda Steve’s Root Beer Run, a race whose proceeds help benefit the Office of Mission. The event was held Oct. 12 at the Fin and ...
Global Mission Fellows Program seeks applicants
10/5/2019
The Global Mission Fellows Program, a two-year mission opportunity for young adults through United Methodist Global Ministries, is accepting applications for the 2020-2022 Class of Global Mission ...
Quayle, Skyline partner to open thrift store in northeast OKC
10/5/2019
Rev. Erica Thomas was sitting in a Goodwill Industries board meeting in early 2018 when she realized there were no thrift stores in northeast Oklahoma City. The observation inspired her to start a ...
Missions, data, and listening to youth
6/14/2019
A casual conversation with Rev. Dr. Amy Valdez Barker By Meagan Ewton Rev. Dr. Amy Valdez Barker is the executive director for the Global Mission Connections Unit at Global Ministries. She sat down ...
Pastors, conference await more storms after near-historic floods
5/24/2019
By Meagan Ewton As severe weather continues to disrupt the Midwest, residents of Oklahoma are facing near-historic levels of flooding and preparing for the aftermath. As of May 23, the Oklahoma ...
Oklahoma delegation covenants with conferences in Bolivia and Chile
5/3/2019
By Tabitha Beckman At the end of March, a Delegation from the Oklahoma Conference of the United Methodist Church traveled to South America to covenant with the United Methodist conferences in Bolivia ...
Counting on connection
11/2/2018
By Meagan Ewton Andre Contino wears a clergy collar to his downtown office in Oklahoma City every Wednesday, where he offers prayer and communion to more than 100 people gathered in the parking lot ...
Disaster response transitions to “blue sky time”
11/2/2018
By Jeremy Bassett, Director of Office of Mission Some five years ago, together with multiple partners, our Annual Conference’s Disaster Response ministry geared up for the work needed following ...
NSO CEO honored for making a difference
10/5/2018
By Meagan Ewton Stacey Ninness, president and CEO of Neighborhood Services Organization, will be honored as one of 50 Making a Difference during the Journal Record’s Woman of the Year Awards Gala on ...
Youth Force welcomes new director
10/5/2018
The Office of Mission is excited to announce that BJ Danner, youth director at Claremore-First, has accepted the volunteer position of Director of Youth Force in the Office of Mission. Following years...
Young People’s Ministry seeks cohort and conference applicants
8/3/2018
By Tabitha Beckman There are many opportunities for college-aged young people in the Oklahoma United Methodist Conference to engage their faith in the world around them through the work of Young ...
New coordinator named in OK-Bolivia partnership
7/6/2018
By Chris Schutz Susan Waite has been named the new partnership coordinator for the longtime Oklahoma-Bolivia partnership with the Oklahoma United Methodist Conference. Waite, a member of OKC-Chapel ...
Until the work is finished
7/6/2018
By Meagan Ewton Adrian Holmes had only helped paint his little sister’s room before, but that wasn’t going to stop him from doing his best to paint a house. Holmes, a seventh-grade student from Moore,...
Partnering in mission for God
3/2/2018
Delegation’s visit will bring news of Methodism in Chile BY CHRIS SCHUTZ An upcoming visit to Annual Conference by Chile’s new Methodist bishop will spotlight Oklahoma United Methodists’ interest in a...
Oklahoman finds home parallels while on mission in Ukraine
1/19/2018
In Perechyn, Ukraine, a weekly small group for women of Roma ethnicity reminded Sarah Nichols of her own church small group in Oklahoma. Sarah Nichols, Executive Director, Young Adult Mission and ...
Wayne teen takes action to help girls globally
12/1/2017
BY CHRIS SCHUTZ WAYNE, Okla. — A program that furnishes girls in impoverished areas with washable feminine hygiene kits captured the interest of a young United Methodist in Wayne. Magnolia Ireland ...
Survey builds on mission interests within congregation
10/20/2017
Match your interests in mission with missionaries in the field by answering a survey for the Oklahoma Conference’s secretary of global ministries, Karen Distefano. She’ll then provide a custom list of...
VIM team to assist missionary in Bethlehem
10/20/2017
On an upcoming trip, Volunteers in Mission from Oklahoma will serve alongside missionary Kristen Brown in Bethlehem. Rev. Brown’s hometown is Tahlequah. The mission will be April 9-20, 2018. If you ...
Conference policy works to protect mission teams
9/29/2017
Your church mission team is returning home after serving internationally, but the plane flight is cancelled due to mechanical issues. How do you get home without additional expense? A team member ...
Cookson Hills family responds to request for specific supplies
9/29/2017
On Aug. 31, five Oklahomans drove from Cookson to Dallas with a trailer full of specific supplies requested to aid Hurricane Harvey victims in south Texas. The storm still spun over the coastline. ...
East Cross team takes on international mission, youths step out of comfort zones
9/8/2017
BY EVAN HOLMES, YOUTH DIRECTOR, EAST CROSS UMC BARTLESVILLE —God moved in the lives of those in Costa Rica, but I saw Him move in the lives of our East Cross students as well when our Volunteers In ...
German missionary visits Ministry Center
9/8/2017
Volunteers in Mission Website--> EUROPEAN WITNESS — Missionary George Miller, who serves in Germany, visits the United Methodist Ministry Center in Oklahoma City on Aug. 7. He discussed his ...
District VIM team marks milestone
7/7/2017
BY TABITHA BECKMAN The Wichitas District celebrates its sixth year of sending Volunteers in Mission teams to Cobija, Bolivia, to serve with members of the Bolivian Methodist Church. During the ...
Retiree project
7/7/2017
Delphine Jewell, left, and Wilma Reppert, residents of Epworth Villa in Oklahoma City, organize clean donated clothing from the retirement community’s twice-annual drive to benefit Skyline Urban ...