New Hope United Methodist Church Blog

As many of you know, the West Ohio Conference has decided to redraw the districts, going from 16 to 8. These lines have now been drawn. The Brown County churches, it seems, have been lumped with all Adams county churches, as well as parts of scioto and other eastern counties in the Conference.

This represents our current needs as a rural district, to keep us connected with other churches with similar needs as we have.

I have some reservations I have expressed. I feel that our future is not to the East, but rather to the West. Our county has grown tremendously in the past 20 years, and if the present is any indication, communities like Mount Orab, Fayetteville, and others will resemble more the communities in Clermont County to the West than the communities of the East. This is not meant to offend these great people in Highland, Adams, Scioto, etc., but rather a simple statement of demographics.

If this is meant to prepare us for our future, I do not see it. I pray I have missed something, but I remain a little disappointed. However, we will do our best within the decisions and trust that God will see us through. Stay tuned for further details....