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....
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...
Good Friday
By Shannon Vowell Sunrise that day: Your own Creation displaying glory. But no joy for You; You stumbled, pain-wracked, through the story To see it to its bitter end, To see it through... No hope, no friend Could there attend You as You faced What no one else could...
The Life and Faith of Jackie Robinson
By George Mitrovich Good News, May/June 2005 Jackie Robinson, who broke baseball’s color barrier in 1947 with the Brooklyn Dodgers, posthumously received the Congressional Gold Medal, the nation’s highest civilian honor. The presentation of the Gold Medal to Rachel...
On a Hill Far Away
By Steve Beard I was in elementary school when I first grasped that the death of Jesus was a big deal. On Good Friday, my mom and dad signed me out of class in time for the noon church service. It was somber and stiff and formal – but I was out of school for the rest...
Separation Timeline (and Other Questions)
By Thomas Lambrecht The third postponement of General Conference until 2024 and the announced launch of the Global Methodist Church on May 1, 2022, have set off a storm of interest and controversy. Faced with the reality that a new denomination is moving forward...
Archive: How the Irish spread the gospel
Dr. George G. Hunter III is the founding dean of the E. Stanley Jones School of World Mission and Evangelism at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky. Now retired, he is the author of numerous books dealing with evangelism, mission, church growth, and...
Christians and the News Media (part 1)
Christians and the News Media (part 1) - By Thomas Lambrecht I was trained in seminary under the slogan that we need to “preach with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other.” In other words, it is important to relate biblical faith to the everyday lives...
Colonialism in glass houses
By Rob Renfroe Covid vaccination for United Methodists in the United States is an issue of choice – not of convenience. Inoculation availability in the U.S. is widespread and accessible. This is not the case for all United Methodists in other countries. While it can...
“Appalled” UM leaders denounce vaccine initiative
By Thomas Lambrecht There is a very old saying, “No good deed goes unpunished.” It seems that is the case regarding the vaccine initiative promoted by the Renewal and Reform Coalition. Led by the Wesleyan Covenant Association, Good News, the Confessing Movement, and...
How We Open Our Hearts to God
By Coretta Scott King (1927-2006) - Throughout the epic freedom struggle of African Americans, our great sustainer of hope has been the power of prayer. We prayed for deliverance in a dozen African languages, chained to the holds of slave ships, on the auction block,...
Reformed Church in America begins amiable separation
By Thomas Lambrecht In October 2021, after 16 months of Covid-related delay, the General Synod of the Reformed Church in America (RCA) adopted a plan to allow traditionalist congregations to disaffiliate over the church’s gridlock over LGBTQ ordination and same-sex...
