Fair for Some, Fair for All
Fair for Some, Fair for All By Simon Mafunda The recent commentary written by Christine Schneider for UM News of March 28 needs to be addressed. It directly responds to a commentary by Rob Renfroe, the president of Good News, who...
Fondly Remembering Carolyn Elias (1931-2024)
Fondly Remembering Carolyn Elias (1931-2024) The Good News staff and board of directors were saddened to hear of the passing of our longtime friend and treasured colleague, Carolyn Parrish Elias (1931-2024). The Good News Board of directors presented its eighth annual...
Celebrating Saint Brigid’s Day
Celebrating Saint Brigid's Day By Steve Beard -- In Ireland, the first day of February is St. Brigid’s Day, as well as the ancient Celtic festival of Imbolc, marking new birth and the threshold of spring. It was recently christened as an Irish government...
How We Got Here: The History of UM Conflict (Part 2)
By Thomas Lambrecht -- In Part 1 of this series, the roots of our United Methodist conflict were examined, including what led up to the 2019 special General Conference. Part 2 covers the response to the 2019 General Conference and the events leading up to the present...
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...
E. Stanley Jones and power of God
The prolific Methodist evangelist E. Stanley Jones (1884-1973) was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1963. As a missionary in India, he became a close friend of Mahatma Gandhi. Jones even wrote a biography of Gandhi – one that inspired Martin Luther King, Jr. and...
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...
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...
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...
