Same-Sex Wedding Prompts Bishop to Act
Same-Sex Wedding Prompts Bishop to Act By Thomas Lambrecht Bishop Sharma Lewis (Mississippi) has responded to two clergy persons who performed a same-sex wedding in January. The Revs. Elizabeth Davidson and Paige Swaim-Pressley officiated at the wedding ceremony of a...
Two Churches, Two Faiths
Two Churches, Two Faiths By Rob Renfroe In last week’s Perspective I wrote about a professor at a United Methodist seminary whose lengthy article stated that the death of Jesus does not save us. In fact, Professor Miguel De La Torre wrote that such a belief...
Good News President Addresses Judicial Council Decision
The Rev. Rob Renfroe, President of Good News, shares his thoughts on the recent Judicial Council decision and how the UM Church should move forward from here.
Concurring and Dissenting Opinion of W. Warren Plowden Jr., Member of the Judicial Council of The United Methodist Church
Par. 56 Article II. of the Constitution enumerates four specific instances in which the Judicial Conference has “authority” to act. It then enumerates a fifth instance in which the Judicial Council will “have such other duties and powers as may be conferred upon it by...
Misimpressions in Statement from the Western Jurisdiction College of Bishops
By Walter Fenton- "The ruling is long and complicated," wrote Bishop Elaine JW Stanovsky in a statement on behalf of the Western Jurisdiction College of Bishops. Stanovsky was of course commenting on the Judicial Council's recent decision regarding the Western...
Bright Spots in a Confusing Decision
By Tom Lambrecht- Last week's decision by the Judicial Council regarding the election and consecration of an openly lesbian bishop in a same-sex marriage was very complicated and not entirely consistent. The Council strove to tailor its decision as narrowly as...
Good News Statement Regarding the Judicial Council’s Recent Decision
Good News greets with some dismay – as will many men and women in the pews – the Judicial Council’s convoluted and ultimately unsatisfactory ruling regarding the Western Jurisdictional Conference’s nomination, election, consecration, and assignment of Bishop Karen...
Call for Global Prayer and Fasting for United Methodist Church
To United Methodists from the Rev. Dr. Jerry Kulah, Central Conference Coordinator, UMC Africa Initiative (Liberia Annual Conference), and The Rev. Evariste Kimba, Coordinator, French & Kiswahili Region, UMC Africa Initiative (Democratic Republic of Congo). Dearly...
UM Church’s “Supreme Court” Hears Oral Arguments
By Walter Fenton- The Judicial Council of The United Methodist Church heard oral arguments this past Tuesday in the matter of the Western Jurisdictional Conference's nomination, election, consecration, and assignment of the Rev. Karen Oliveto as a bishop of the...
The Rev. Keith Boyette’s Oral Argument before Judicial Council
ORAL ARGUMENT ON BEHALF OF DIXIE BREWSTER My name is Keith Boyette. I am an elder in the Virginia Conference of The United Methodist Church and an attorney licensed to practice law in the Commonwealths of Virginia and Kentucky. I represent Dixie...
Wesleyan Covenant Association Names Boyette First President
The Wesleyan Covenant Association (WCA) has named the Rev. Keith Boyette as their first president. Boyette is a member of the Virginia Annual Conference and founded the Wilderness Community United Methodist Church 19 years ago. For eight years, Boyette served on the...
Judicial Council
Key questions in the Oliveto case On July 15, 2016, during the session of the South Central Jurisdictional Conference, Dixie Brewster, a delegate and lay member of the Great Plains Annual Conference, asked that the delegates to request a declaratory decision from the...
