Facing Your Jericho
Facing Your Jericho By Stephen A. Seamands Jericho is staring Joshua in the face, with its imposing, impenetrable walls towering over him. This was a fortified city if there ever was one, armed with all the sophisticated weaponry of that day. It was in lockdown...
Prison Ministry Transformation
Prison Ministry Transformation By Joey Butler (UM News) – “I was in prison and you came to visit me.” — Matthew 25:36 When he was 18, Dusty Merrill decided that he wanted to go to prison. Of course, that decision was made a little easier because he could leave...
Seeking Higher Ground: Conversations in the UMC
By Carolyn Moore - As Annual Conference season approaches, conversations are guaranteed to start heating up. Amidst high emotions, Rev. Carolyn Moore, lead pastor of Mosaic Church in Evans, GA, reflects on discussions she would like to see the United Methodist Church...
Conferences Play Hardball with Exiting Churches
By Thomas Lambrecht - Much has been made of the ability of congregations to leave The United Methodist Church with their property through a negotiated settlement with their annual conference. Some bishops are saying that the Book of Discipline already provides an exit...
VIDEO: Rob Renfroe takes on bishops who support the “One Church Plan”
Message by the Rev. Rob Renfroe, president of Good News, at the Confessing Movement luncheon of the Texas Annual Conference taking on the bishops who put forth the "One Church" Plan. "It has to be very frustrating for centrists and progressives to come up with an...
Your Tithes and Gifts Are Not Enough
By Thomas Lambrecht- Every Sunday, all around the world, faithful United Methodists give their tithes and gifts to the church. But apparently it's not enough to secure them a seat to observe the proceedings of one of the most important General Conferences in the...
An Unwilling Undertaking: Happy Aldersgate Weekend
By Chappell Temple - I feel for the guy. For he certainly wasn’t the first fellow ever to go rather begrudgingly–or as he put it, “very unwillingly”– to church. After all, in terms of his pastoral career trajectory, it hadn’t gone exactly as he might have hoped it...
Judicial Council Allows Alternative Proposals
By Thomas Lambrecht - In a decision released today, the Judicial Council ruled by an 8-1 margin that “Petitions to the special session of the General Conference 2019 may be filed by any organization, clergy member and lay member of the United Methodist Church as long...
Anti-American Methodism: Bishop Ough vs. We the People
By Jason Vickers - In his 1989 landmark work, The Democratization of American Christianity, Nathan Hatch, Professor of history at the University of Notre Dame, examined the spread of Christianity in early America, arguing that the groups that flourished were the ones...
Leadership or Manipulation?
By Thomas Lambrecht - The bishops have been asked to lead. Apparently, to some bishops that means strong-arming a progressive agenda that has already been rejected by a previous General Conference. In its recent gathering, the Council of Bishops - behind closed doors...
What the Bishops Really Did
By Thomas Lambrecht - Since the Council of Bishops finished their decision-making process on May 4 outlining their proposal for a Way Forward for the church, there has been much confusion. Part of the confusion stems from the careful language used by the bishops in...
Controversy over Results on UM Constitutional Amendments
By Thomas Lambrecht- On Monday, May 7, the Council of Bishops announced [link] that two of the five amendments to the United Methodist Constitution approved by the 2016 General Conference were defeated by the votes of the annual conferences. In order to amend the...
