Congregational Life

Congregational Life's focus is on creating and revitalizing congregational cultures that are deep in faith and engaged in evangelism, developing new churches and faith communities and assessing and reconfiguring local churches. Here you will find information on accessibility ministries, age-related ministries, forms, congregational development and redevelopment, laity and other resources.

News & Announcements

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Planting justice and harvesting hope for NIJFON

Northern Illinois Justice for Our Neighbors (NIJFON) has been blessed with a $25,000 gift from Berry Memorial UMC in Chicago through the sale of the church’s historic building. A…

DYK - Connecting the dots

John Wesley’s ability to knit together groups of people through faith and call them into action remains a constant in our DNA as Methodists today. Today’s virtual church, forced upon us by the COVID-1…

Pastor embraces technology for ministry during pandemic

Pastor Toni Lucas was in her third year serving Albany in the DeKalb District and her fourth year as a pastor when the pandemic hit and Illinois’ stay-at-home order began…

Churches respond to call to denounce racism

For too long, in so many of our churches and communities, racism has been willfully ignored—and even perpetuated. The Bishop's message, building on generations of antiracism work in…