By Heather Hahn, UMNS – More than 600 U.S. United Methodists spent three days grappling with possible options for forging what they hope will be a more just and inclusive church future. What united those at UMCNext, which met May 20-22 behind closed doors, was their opposition to the Traditional Plan. That legislation, which the […]
LGBTQ Clergy Commissioned
July 16, 2019 By Leave a Comment
By Jim Patterson and Erik Alsgaard – Three LGBTQ clergy were ordained or commissioned as United Methodist deacons by the Northern Illinois Conference (June 2-4), and the Baltimore-Washington Conference (May 29-June 1) ordained an LGBTQ elder and commissioned a gay provisional deacon. The New York Conference (June 9) also ordained an LGBTQ candidate. The conferences […]
Traditionalists Secure General Conference Majority
July 16, 2019 By Leave a Comment
By Thomas Lambrecht – With all the annual conferences in the U.S. having voted, it appears that a sufficient number of traditional-minded delegates have been elected to assure a narrow but clear traditionalist majority at the 2020 General Conference in Minneapolis. These delegates will be able to prevent the overturning of parts of the Traditional […]
Reaching Widows and Orphans in East Congo
July 16, 2019 By Leave a Comment
By Phillippe Kituka Lolonga, UMNS – Unrest and an Ebola outbreak in East Congo have left many women without husbands, and children without fathers. United Methodist women from the Kivu Conference are stepping in to help. The women in the Tabita Group have been called to help the poor and those in need, said the […]
An Old Dog Looks Back
July 16, 2019 By 7 Comments
By Frank Decker – I’ve been telling friends that in a matter of months I plan to “reboot,” not retire. In what is likely to be my final column for Good News, I want to share about something that I wish I had more fully understood when I entered the ministry almost 40 years ago […]
When Church Hurts
July 16, 2019 By Leave a Comment
By B.J. Funk – It seems to be widespread. Pastors know the sting of criticism. Church members know the pain of being disappointed in the person sitting in the next pew. Worship leaders choose beautiful music only to hear the drumroll of gossip over the selection. Administrative assistants stop their work to put out a […]
Let’s Not Repeat St. Louis
May 16, 2019 By 80 Comments
By Rob Renfroe – General Conference 2020 is less than a year away. There is much work to do if we are to avoid a repeat of St. Louis when we gather in Minneapolis. Legislation that can end our fighting needs to be written in the next few months to be properly before the Conference. […]
Global Church Wrestles with Post GC2019 Pain
May 16, 2019 By 1 Comment
By Heather Hahn – About a month after the special General Conference, United Methodist leaders from Austria to Zimbabwe were still reckoning with what happened and expressing pain all around. Members of four denominational leadership bodies took time out of a joint meeting in Manila, Philippines, to plan 2020 General Conference legislation to discuss what […]
Shepherd to the Fringes
May 16, 2019 By 1 Comment
By Steve Beard – “Jesus was not crucified in a cathedral between two candles, but on a cross between two thieves; on the town’s garbage heap; at a crossroad so cosmopolitan that they had to write His title in Hebrew and Latin and Greek … at the kind of place where cynics talk smut, and […]
