In The News
UMCW in the Lowell Sun
October 10 , 2009
United Methodist Church of Westford Celebrates 30 Years of Music
By Debbie Hovanasian
Excerpt from the Sun article --
"In a little part of Westford, along a millpond and inside a late-1880s Gothic-style church, a special sound has been happening for the past 30 years. It's a sound that has drawn people to the traditional white clapboard New England church in Graniteville - and kept them there..."
April 15, 2009
Staying the Course - Rev. Flug Runs Boston Marathon
By Debbie Hovanasian
Excerpt from the Sun article --
"Rev. Flug is running to support this summer's mission trip to Maine for the parish's Senior High Youth Fellowship. The numbers of youth who want to make the trip grows each year, as does the need for funding.
"It's really the high point of our year. We always get a big boost in the number of students asking, 'How can I go next year?'" Flug said. "The adults will stand up and publicly thank the group. It really touches people."
March 1, 2009
Downturn Places New Focus on Prayer, Religion Throughout Greater Lowell
By Debbie Hovanasian
Excerpt from the Sun article --
"...The Rev. William Flug of United Methodist Church of Westford (UMCW) said....he's proud of how members of UMCW who still have their jobs are stepping up support of local food pantries and other charities. He stresses that he wants everyone to remember what it's like to struggle financially and gain more empathy for the poor.
"I know that we will get through this, but it is my hope that all of us learn that poor and marginalized people live like this all the time -- to them, this is standard. I hope that we remember that, and that we make different choices in the future."
November 22 , 2008
UMCW Receives New Stable for Live Nativity Thanks to Eagle Scout Project
By Debbie Hovanasian
Excerpt from the Sun article --
"...It was central to the Live Nativity -- described by some as a "living post card" -- that has been staged annually at the church by the United Methodist Youth Group. For 25 years the "stable" had sheltered the Holy Family, the Wise Men, the shepherds, angels, a live donkey and even sheep. This year, thanks to an Eagle Scout project by youth group member Josh Martin, 16, the young people reenacting the Nativity -- including Martin -- will be sheltered by an entirely new structure..."
September 20, 2008
A Ramp To A Wider World
By Debbie Hovanasian
Excerpt from the Sun article --
"...Betty Mae Rollins, a wheelchair-bound woman in her 60s living alone, was virtually a prisoner in her own home. Without a handicap ramp to the outside, she had been out of her house only once in a couple of years. For a group of youth and adults on a summer mission from the United Methodist Church of Westford, building Rollins that ramp was a no-brainer..."
March 15, 2008
Going the distance
By Debbie Hovanasian
Photo by Lowell Sun
Excerpt from the Sun article --
"As the Rev. Bill Flug, new pastor at the United Methodist Church of Westford, works in the sun-filled office attached to the 19th-century white clapboard church, the music streaming from his computer is jazz from Station WWOZ out of New Orleans...."
February 16, 2008
Annals of a Church
By Debbie Hovanasian
Excerpt from the Sun article:
"In nearly seven years of writing about the history of the United Methodist Church of Westford, Bob Oliphant got a true taste of Westford's Graniteville from the mid-1800s and into the new millennium....(and) the New England Methodist Conference Commission on Archives and History recognized Oliphant for the best local history of a New England Methodist Church..."
December 22, 2007
Angels! Shepherds! Live!
By Bridget Scrimenti
Photo by Lowell Sun
Excerpt from the Sun article --
"Nestled in a wooden manger, parents hold an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes. Bearing frigid temperatures, they stand near sheep and a donkey, while the occasional "bah" mixes with the sweet sound of Christmas carols. You see the angels and the shepherds," said Larry Guilmartin. "It gives you a sense of what the real Christmas may have been like. The live Nativity scene is a longstanding tradition at the United Methodist Church, and has evolved into a cherished community event..."
UMCW in the Westford Eagle
December 18 , 2008
Eagle Scout Rebuilds Nativity Scene
September 13, 2008
Teens Return from Mission Work
Westford Eagle Article
By Kathleen Kirwin / Staff Writer
March 5, 2008
Habitat Breaks Ground
Westford Eagle Article
By Kathleen Kirwin / Staff Writer
Photo by Westford Eagle
Feb 21, 2008
New Methodist minister outlines goal
Westford Eagle Article
By Kathleen Kirwin / Staff Writer
Photo by Westford Eagle
January 10 , 2008
UMCW's Bob Oliphant Receives United Methodist History Award