In The News

African Regionalization Support Not Unanimous

African Regionalization Support Not Unanimous

African Regionalization Support Not Unanimous By Forbes Matonga (This week, UM News ran two commentaries from United Methodists from Africa dealing with pivotal issues that will be before the upcoming General Conference in Charlotte. We encourage United Methodists to...

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Why We Will Be in Charlotte

Why We Will Be in Charlotte

Why We Will Be in Charlotte By Thomas Lambrecht Two recent stories from United Methodist News deserve a response. The first was a news article about the announced intention of Good News and the Wesleyan Covenant Association (WCA) to participate in the upcoming General...

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Unpacking Disaffiliation

Unpacking Disaffiliation By Thomas Lambrecht By my count, as of December 31, 2023, 7,651 churches have disaffiliated from The United Methodist Church in the U.S. since 2019. This represents 25.8 percent of the number of churches that were listed by the denomination in...

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Extending Disaffiliation Options

Extending Disaffiliation Options By Thomas Lambrecht The main agenda items for the Renewal and Reform Coalition at the 2024 General Conference meeting in Charlotte, NC, April 23-May 3 relate to providing new disaffiliation pathways for churches and annual conferences...

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“Mainstream UMC” Condemns Nigerian Bishop

  “Mainstream UMC” Condemns Nigerian Bishop By Thomas Lambrecht ​​​​​​​In a recent fundraising piece, the self-identified centrist caucus group “Mainstream UMC” condemned the United Methodist bishop of Nigeria, Bishop John Wesley Yohanna. Its principal accusation...

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Downsides of Regionalization

Downsides of Regionalization By Thomas Lambrecht The last Perspective spoke about the unfairness of “regionalization” in its treatment of Africa and other parts of the church outside the U.S. As I wrote, “The top agenda item for the 2024 General Conference in April...

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Regionalization: the New Colonialism?

Regionalization: the New Colonialism? By Thomas Lambrecht The top agenda item for the 2024 General Conference in April for most progressives is to adopt “regionalization” as the new mode of United Methodist governance. This proposal would be a dramatic shift in how...

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Start Off 2024 with an Act of Rebellion

Start Off 2024 with an Act of Rebellion By David F. Watson There’s nothing more central to the postmodern Western mind than radical autonomy. Put more simply, we can express the common mindset of our age as something like, “I’ll do what I want and be who I want. I’ll...

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Leave Your Stuff Behind

Leave Your Stuff Behind By Maxie Dunnam Tucked away in the Old Testament story of Joseph’s journey into Egypt is a verse packed with far more meaning than appears on the surface. It teaches an eternal truth that we’d do well to consider as we enter the New Year....

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Faith in a Time of Transition

Faith in a Time of Transition By Thomas Lambrecht Advent is a season of preparing to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ and preparing for his coming again. Advent reminds us that we are in the time “between the times.” We are in the time between Jesus’ first and...

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Mary’s Devoted Heart

Mary's Devoted Heart By Dick McClain Growing up, I don’t recall having heard a sermon on Mary, the mother of Jesus. She did get dusted off every December for the Christmas pageant. But apart from her annual appearance reincarnated in the form of a budding young...

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Marks of a Methodist 6: Perfection

Marks of a Methodist 6: Perfection By Thomas Lambrecht This edition of Perspective concludes our survey of the marks or characteristics of a Methodist, as put forward by Bishop Gerald Kennedy in his 1960 book of that name. We have seen that the marks of a Methodist...

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