October 21, 2005

NEW YORK – Louisiana United Methodists who have lost touch with their pastors and other church members because of the recent hurricanes now have a way to connect.

The link is being made possible through the efforts of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, United Methodist Communications and the denomination's Louisiana Annual (regional) Conference.

Beginning Oct. 17, church members can contact InfoServ, a part of United Methodist Communications, and receive information on how to reach their pastors. InfoServ can be reached by calling (800) 251-8140, sending an e-mail to inforserv@umcom.org or logging onto http://www.umcom.org/ online.

The two agencies also are working together to help congregations get in touch through Internet groups. Once a pastor requests this service, church members can go to the "Find-A-Church feature at http://www.umc.org/ and sign on.

Extending such a service to the Mississippi and Texas conferences is being explored.

United Methodist News Service