NOV/DECCIRCUIT PUBLISHED BY THE WEST VIRGINIA CONFERENCE OF THE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
Vol 2 / Number 9
“It’s about doing life together with Christ at the center of it,” said Johnson. “Jesus and the disciples were not ministry colleagues they were family.”
IGNITED TO SERVE
Beth Johnson serves food to the Ignite family.
“We believe young people long to belong to something,”
Florence, Kentucky. Tall and youthful, with a shock of
said the Rev. Matthew Johnson, co-leader of Ignite
brown hair and dark, square-framed glasses, he manages
Morgantown, a new ministry based out of Suncrest
to flip burgers and greet everyone who walks past his grill
United Methodist Church designed to reach college
station.
students and young adults.
“When I first started coming, Matt and Beth remembered “We want to create a family connected by purpose, not
my name and my major,” said Lindsay Estill, a student
just blood.”
from Fairmont, about 20 miles south of Morgantown. “That sounds like a small thing, but it means a lot.” That
Johnson, 33, is an ordained United Methodist pastor and
level of interest in her as person at other churches and
church planter. Before coming to Morgantown in 2013 to
campus ministries wasn’t always present, said Estill.
start Ignite, he helped launch a new faith community in
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