by Steve | Aug 26, 2016 | In the News
In light of the urgent concerns related to the South Central Jurisdiction (SCJ) petition for a declaratory decision regarding the election of a self-avowed practicing homosexual as bishop, Good News calls upon the Judicial Council to reconsider its decision to postpone that agenda item to the April meeting of the Council. We are in full agreement with the Council of Bishops’ earlier call for expediting this matter. The election of the Rev. Karen Oliveto as a bishop in the Western Jurisdiction makes the questions raised in the SCJ petition highly relevant and acutely consequential in the life of our church at this moment.
Pastors and churches are dealing with the fallout of Rev. Oliveto’s election on a daily basis. We regularly receive phone calls and emails at Good News telling us of faithful United Methodists leaving their congregations or redirecting their tithes and offerings, local churches reducing or eliminating the payment of apportionments, and in extreme cases, local churches preparing to leave the denomination. The effect of the Western Jurisdiction’s defiance of the Book of Discipline will only grow over time, as more and more people become aware of it. To postpone any decision on this matter for six months will only increase the harm done to the ministries of local congregations, annual conferences, and the global church. We fear that the damage done will be irreparable.
Postponement will also increase uncertainty around the legitimacy of Oliveto’s service as a bishop. The possibility of rendering a decision nullifying her election two months into her term of office is much different than taking that action eight months into her term. The disruptive potential to the annual conferences involved, as well as Rev. Oliveto’s personal life, make the case for an early decision, rather than a postponement.
Good News is sensitive to the concerns raised by the Judicial Council that, “Due to the importance of this petition, all interested parties and amici curiae must be given sufficient time to prayerfully consider the issues in order to prepare their briefs.” In their initial announcement of the fall docket, the Judicial Council asked interested parties to prepare briefs as if the deadline of August 26 would hold for briefs related to the SCJ petition. Many persons have been working on briefs in anticipation of that deadline and were prepared to meet it. The Judicial Council could accommodate the need for additional briefing time by simply modifying its deadline, so that briefs on this matter would be due September 23, which would still give ample time for preparation and for the Council to consider the issues raised in the briefs.
While extending the briefing deadline and considering the SCJ petition at its regular October meeting would be the optimal solution due to travel needs, another option would be for the Council to schedule a special meeting in early December to consider the SCJ petition. The extra costs involved would be outweighed by the benefit of having an earlier resolution to the questions raised, the potential calming of the damaging reactions across the church, and the signal that such a meeting would send indicating that the Council grasps the importance and urgency of addressing the spiraling disobedience within our church.
Good News respectfully asks the Judicial Council to assume its responsibilities in maintaining the order and discipline of the church. We fear that a six-month delay will only exacerbate the frustration and division in the church and make a unifying resolution of these issues even less likely.
by Steve | Aug 25, 2016 | In the News, Perspective E-Newsletter
“This denomination that means so much to us finds itself in unsettling times,” says Jennifer Cowart, executive pastor of Harvest Church in Warner Robbins, Georgia. “How can we move forward in positive ways?” she asks in her invitation to United Methodists to attend the 2016 WCA launch event in Chicago. “We are Christ followers who love Jesus and want to stay on task with the Great Commandment and the Great Commission.”
by Steve | Aug 23, 2016 | In the News, Perspective E-Newsletter
Rev. Rob Renfroe, President of Good news, talks about the formation of the Wesleyan Covenant Association (WCA), its convening conference in Chicago on Friday, October 7, 2016, and his hopes for the organization.
In less than two weeks, over 750 people have registered to attend the event.
Laity and clergy wanting to attend the conference can register by clicking here.
by Steve | Aug 19, 2016 | In the News, Perspective E-Newsletter
In this brief video the Rev. Dr. Jeff Greenway, lead pastor of Reynoldsburg (Ohio) United Methodist Church, talks about the formation of the Wesleyan Covenant Association (WCA) and why he will be at the convening conference event in Chicago on October 7. Jeff has been an evangelical leader in the West Ohio Annual Conference, a local pastor, district superintendent, and former president of Asbury Theological Seminary.
In less than 10 days, nearly 700 laity and clergy have registered to attend the WCA launch event.
Earlier this week organizers announced that the Rev. Jorge Acevedo, lead pastor at Grace Church, a multi-site United Methodist congregation in Southwest Florida with six campuses, will be one of its keynote speakers.
Grace Church has grown in its weekend attendance from 400 to over 2600 in the past nineteen years. Rescued from a life of addictions, Jorge’s greatest delight is connecting people to Jesus and the Church. Grace Church is recognized as having one of the largest and most effective recovery ministries in America.
Jorge has become a popular speaker at annual conferences throughout the United Methodist connection. He is the co-author of Sent: Giving the Gift of Hope at Christmas (Abingdon Press, 2015) and the author of Vital: Churches Changing Communities and the World (Abingdon Press, 2013).
People can register for the conference in Chicago by clicking here.
by Steve | Aug 15, 2016 | In the News, Perspective E-Newsletter
Rev. Jeff Greenway
The creation of the Wesleyan Covenant Association continues to stir interest across The United Methodist Church.
In an extensive article for the United Methodist News Service, reporter Heather Hahn interviewed organizers and cited detractors of the new organization.
“This group was not formed to be the start of a new denomination,” the Rev. Jeff Greenway told Hahn. “It was formed to provide a new, broader voice and encouragement to persons who are dedicated to the very best of scriptural Christianity in our Wesleyan, evangelical, orthodox tradition within The United Methodist Church.”
Greenway, the lead pastor of Reynoldsburg United Methodist Church in Ohio, was among nearly 50 United Methodists who met in Houston to give shape and guidance to the organization.
The association is planning a major launch event on Friday, October 7 in Chicago that is open to all United Methodist laity and clergy. The organization reported that registration for the conference is now open.
Hahn reported that Bishop Bruce Ough, president of the Council of Bishops, identified the “emergence” of the association as one of the “recent moves that have ‘fanned the fears of schism.'”
Ough lumped the organization’s creation with annual “conferences voting noncompliance with restrictions related to homosexuality and the election of the denomination’s first openly gay episcopal leader, Bishop Karen Oliveto.”
According to Hahn, Greenway took issue with Ough’s claim. The “group organizers are loyal United Methodists who have kept their ordination vows, paid church apportionments, and worked to keep fellow evangelicals from leaving the denomination.”
Rev. Carolyn Moore
In a gracious, but pointed blog post, Dr. Kevin Watson, a theologian at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology, argued that Ough’s comparing the association’s creation with obvious acts of ecclesial disobedience is “misleading.”
Hahn also reported that the Rev. Carolyn Moore, another association organizer, referenced the impending work of the Council of Bishops’ Special Commission that will bring recommendations on the future of the church to a called General Conference scheduled for 2018.
Moore, pastor of Mosaic UM Church in Evans, Georgia, told Hahn, “We want to give folks a place to land while we wait for the commission to perform its function. We are doing our level best to cooperate with the will of the General Conference, and hope that by banding together we will help others to wait and watch the Lord work, too.”
– Good News Media Service
