Get Your Spirit in Shape - United Methodist Podcast United Methodist Communications

Mental wellness is a spectrum where each of us resides. Creating inclusive and diverse spaces so all of us can feel safe regardless of where we fall on the spectrum is a primary focus at First United Methodist Church in Holland, Michigan. First UMC’s director of education Jill DeJonge shares her own story of growing up with mental health diagnoses, along with practical tips that range from creating a zen zone for kids to how to have challenging conversations about mental health, all intended to nurture our mental wellbeing inside the church.

More information and a full transcript of this conversation are available here.

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“Never waste a good crisis,” Winston Churchill was quoted as saying. In Brian McLaren’s new book, “Life After Doom,” the pastor, author and American theologian urges us to confront the multifaceted crisis facing the world, especially climate change, political polarization, religious supremacy and growing economic inequality. With The United Methodist Church navigating its own crisis during the past few years, McLaren encourages those of us in the church to use the opportunity of all of these challenges to become something we wouldn’t have become any other way and to remember our Wesleyan heritage to claim our role to promote love and justice in the world.

More information and a full transcript of this conversation are available here.

Have a question or comment? Email us at gysis@umcom.org

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Jessica Vittorio is a lawyer by trade, someone who spends her workdays amid conflict and difficult settings. As a lay delegate at the upcoming General Conference, the lifelong United Methodist knows the business of the church also can be challenging at times. But what she has found while preparing for the denomination’s largest legislative gathering is that General Conference is where we can remember our connectionalism, often engaging in difficult, yet vital conversations, as we recognize our relevance in the world.

More information and a full transcript of this conversation are available here.

Stay updated on the 2020 General Conference at this link.

Have a question or comment? Email us at gysis@umcom.org

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In late 2023, the Rev. Emily Carroll from Shady Grove United Methodist Church in rural Louisiana, traveled to the United Arab Emirates to meet up with 100,000 attendees of the United Nations Climate Change Conference. Rev. Emily shares about her experience, the hopeful takeaways and what we all can do to be better stewards of God’s creation, because, as she puts it, this conversation affects all people.

More information and a full transcript of this conversation are available here.

Have a question or comment? Email us at gysis@umcom.org

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A nomadic life may conjure images of aimlessly traveling with no sense of destination. For lifelong United Methodists Tammy and Rodney Ripley, who have been NOMADS for several years, their lives are far from aimless and destinations are denomination-related churches, camps and other sites where the couple joins fellow retirees to offer hope in the way of construction and other general repairs.

More information and a full transcript of this conversation are available here.

Have a question or comment? Email us at gysis@umcom.org

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The phrase, “thin places,” dates back to the ancient Celts who used it to describe those times when we feel closest to the God, as if the veil between the natural world and spiritual world becomes very thin. The Rev. Jane Ellen Nickell discusses how to discover these sacred spaces in our own lives where we can encounter God in a real and near way.

More information and a full transcript of this conversation are available here.

Have a question or comment? Email us at gysis@umcom.org

Connect with The United Methodist Church by visiting UMC.org.