In the interest of accuracy, Good News wishes to briefly respond to a false allegation by retired Bishop William Lewis against our ministry in a story filed by Cynthia Astle on her website UM-Insight. The February 27 story includes the following unsubstantiated claim: “The WCA and Good News are being funded by the IRD, which is funded by right-wing billionaires like Scaife, the Kochs and Ahmanson,” Bishop Lewis said. (The WCA stands for the Wesleyan Covenant Association and the IRD stands for the Institute on Religion and Democracy. As for Lewis, he retired as a bishop from the Dakotas 22 years ago.)
In the 50 years of its ministry, Good News has been voluntarily funded by mainstream clergy and lay people in the pews who hold to a classical evangelical and traditional vision of United Methodism. Bishop Lewis falsely claimed that we have received funding from our colleagues at the IRD. We have not. Nor have we ever received funds from any of the billionaire foundations Lewis mentions. A simple inquiry to fact-check would have insured that this false allegation and unsubstantiated reporting never took place
By way of clarity, Good News has been a charter member of the Evangelical Council of Financial Accountability (ECFA), an agency that provides accreditation for Christian nonprofits for compliance with established standards for financial accountability, fundraising, and board governance.
The goals and vision of our ministry have never been secret. Good News has faithfully participated in every denomination-wide dialogue on the issues facing The United Methodist Church. Our perspectives, opinions, and alliances have always been matters of public record.
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The same article claims that the bishops are settling on option 2, but like the church they are heavily divided, just in the opposite direction of the delegates to the general conference. In another article quoting bishop Ough the key word seems to be contextualization (ie option 2). Progressive websites have made it clear that option 2 is only a stepping stone to full gay inclusion. The publically stated goal is to use option 2 to drive out enough conservatives from the denomination so that the progressives can take over. The only question now is who will propose an alternative that must limit the power of bishops to ignore the book of discipline and take away their power, or will Adam Hamilton and his group be able to fool enough people into thinking the Christian thing is to just get along. Expect heavy and well funded campaigning on this point . I understand they are already sponsoring a resolution to every annual conference this year. I have real doubts that the squishy middle of our church will stand up. I pray for the best, but am preparing for an early retirement.
Based on the latest reports on the UMC website about the COB meeting in Dallas, those who espouse a traditional Othodox view of scripture have been thrown under the bus. I feel like I’m on a raft caught in the current about to head over Victoria Falls. All the while most United Methodists remain blissfully ignorant of what is about to happen to our denomination
I think we can look forward to a lot of false statements over the next few months. Better get used to it.
Cynthia’s article is now gone from her website with neither explanation for its removal nor apology for its content.
Before she deleted the article, she added a few paragraphs at the end stating that IRD and Good News deny the allegations made by retired Bishop William Lewis. Then she provided links to the IRS Form 990’s for Good News and IRD, along with a conspiratorial note that these non-profit forms did not contain sufficient information to prove that the allegations were not true. She then took a swipe at WCA questioning why their form was not publicly available on these sites (clearly not realizing that the website contained forms only up through 2015). (As an aside, I had no problem tracking down the WCA info showing $0 for contributions and expenses in 2015 which is probably why it wasn’t on the other website.) She concluded by not too subtly implying that both organizations could potentially be hiding something since neither publicly releases their donor lists. In other words, there was no apology or correction.
Only a few people in the Pew knows what is going on. Only Church pastors and some staff know and Church officials that has kept up with the COB & Way Forward to their position and representation status are aware. Most Churches are not informed and will be surprised when 2019 get here.
Gird up your loins. Don’t bolster a Progressivist strategy by offering quibbles to defend Good News. Get out from underneath the bus. Get ready to say an unyielding NO to the Progressive agenda that intends the overthrow of traditional understandings of Scripture. The only viable Way Forward is to remain resolute, as Tom says, willing to endure hardship, and unwavering in commitment to historic orthodoxy and Scriptural holiness. “Resist, steadfast in your faith.”
Let our brothers and sisters in Christ from Africa offer some missionary work in the North American UMC:
http://www.umc.org/news-and-media/yambasu-urges-biblical-faithfulness-in-sexuality-debate
This states that the Commission on a Way Forward dropped Option #1. The two options listed here are a local option plan and a three branch church plan —- either of which would be a DISASTER for the church.
But, the biggest disaster and disgrace is the leadership of our church contemplating plans that contain a rejection of God’s plan for marriage and sexual morality.
http://www.umc.org/news-and-media/commission-on-a-way-forward-clarifies-values-as-it-presents-two-sketches-to
I brought this topic up after worship in a small class,and not to my surprise all did not see any problem w/ full inclusion. One even defended the move with the abolishment of slavery.
While I’m new to this congregation having left my home church down the road for their similar attitude, we will find it near impossible to change their view