How We Got Here: The History of UM Conflict (Part 1)
By Thomas Lambrecht The current state of separation and disaffiliation in The United Methodist Church has roots stretching far back into Methodism’s history. Profound disagreements about theology, spirituality, and hot-button social issues have been brewing within...
The Early Growth of the Global Methodist Church
By Keith Boyette The process of church disaffiliation has completed its second wave, with churches disaffiliating through special sessions of their annual conferences in the fall. This piecemeal process of disaffiliation is not what we had hoped for when I joined...
“Majesty” and Jack Hayford’s Heart of Worship
By Steve Beard Over the last 40 years, one of the most popular and memorable modern day hymns is “Majesty, Worship His Majesty” written by Jack Hayford. Congregations from all denominations around the globe have sung it with reverence and gusto. It is included in The...
Distrust Locks Down North Georgia Conference
By Rob Renfroe -- On December 28, 2022, the exiting bishop of the North Georgia Annual Conference and her appointive cabinet sent a very clear message to the churches, pastors, and laypersons of that conference. The message was: We don’t trust you. I initially chose...
Bishop Scott Jones Joins Global Methodist Church
By Walter Fenton, Global Methodist Church -- United Methodist Bishop Scott Jameson Jones, the former leader of the UM Church’s Great Plains and Houston Episcopal Areas, has resigned from the episcopacy of the church and withdrawn from the denomination. Jones was...
The Time is Now
By Rob Renfroe -- Over the last few months I have had the privilege of speaking to more than a dozen churches and conferences in six different states and once to brothers and sisters in Europe, the Middle East, and the Philippines via social media. What I enjoy most...
North Georgia Blocks Church Disaffiliation
By Thomas Lambrecht In a provocative, year-end proclamation as she was walking out the door to her new assignment in Virginia, Bishop Sue Haupert-Johnson defiantly led the North Georgia Conference to stop all local church disaffiliations. The “pause” announced by the...
Community Rallies Around Barbershop Evangelist
By Mike DuBose -- Friends, family, and his beloved church community are coming together to make sure Jake Sherrell gets his flowers while he yet lives. Sherrell, 96, runs North Nashville’s Bel-Aire Unisex Salon where he’s brought to Christ hundreds who have sat in his...
Making A New Disciple
By Phillip C. Thrailkill It’s a romantic ballad from 1970, but John Denver’s “Follow Me” has a chorus that echoes many of the themes of being a disciple: “Follow me where I go, what I do, who I know/ Make it part of you to be a part of me/ Follow me up and down/ All...
When Women are Called by God
By Carolyn Moore I’m beginning to think it was a sign from God. Maybe that’s because it was in fact a sign. It was standing in front of The Holy House of Prayer of Jesus Christ, a little building with burglar bars on the windows situated deep in the heart of one of...
New Bishops Elected
From United Methodist News In November, United Methodists in the United States elected 13 new bishops during their gatherings around the denomination’s five U.S. jurisdictional conferences. Jurisdictional leaders recommended electing 14 new bishops; however, the...
Extrapolating a New UM Direction
By Thomas Lambrecht -- With the recent election of 13 new bishops, the active Council of Bishops will be made up of one-third new members on January 1, 2023. As such, they will play a powerful role in setting the direction of The United Methodist Church into the...
