Departing from the Faith
Departing from the Faith By Rob Renfroe “Jesus did not die for your sins.” That is the message a professor at United Methodist Iliff Seminary posted two days before Good Friday earlier this month. Professor Miguel De La Torre titled his article “What if Crucifixion Is...
United Methodist Disaffiliation Success Stories
United Methodist Disaffiliation Success Stories By John Lomperis Congregations who wish to disaffiliate from The United Methodist Church (UMC) have a historic, rapidly expiring opportunity to keep their church buildings and parsonages. Despite the historic nature of...
Constitutional Amendments Up for Vote
During this 2017 annual conference season, there are five constitutional amendments that will be voted on by the members of the annual conferences. A two-thirds vote by the aggregate total of all annual conference members is needed to ratify the amendments for them to...
UM Church’s “Supreme Court” Prepares to Hear Major Case: Questions and Answers
The United Methodist Church's Judicial Council, essentially its Supreme Court, will hear oral arguments on Tuesday morning, April 25, 2017, regarding the legality of the Western Jurisdictional Conference's election of an openly lesbian and married clergywoman to be a...
Three Days
By Walter Fenton- Good Friday Sometimes the sordid episode is almost too hard to believe. The fear, the hatred, the rage, the brutality, the blood, and the death - sometimes it is too horrible to fathom. But there is Jesus, on the cross, bleeding and dying, right at...
Invoking the Holy Spirit
By Walter Fenton- "The Holy Spirit had swept across the room; its power and presence real and obvious. It was a sacred moment on holy ground," wrote the Rev. Kent Ingram and Emily Allen about the election of the Rev. Karen Oliveto, an openly married, lesbian, as a...
“People will Die”
By Walter Fenton- Moderates and conservatives long ago gave up on any hope the UM Church's General Board of Church and Society (GBCS) would demonstrate any fairness or impartiality when it comes to non-liberal plans for health care, tax policy, education, energy...
Satellite Congregation Votes to Leave UMC
By Walter Fenton- A congregation in Wichita, Kansas, that averages 350 in worship has voted to leave The United Methodist Church. As a satellite campus of Asbury UM Church, the congregation announced its decision on Sunday, March 19. "Some pastors and people are weary...
The UM Church Membership Conundrums
By Walter Fenton- Methodists down through the decades are famous for being "methodical" and giving attention to detail. From the very beginning, John Wesley baked into the Methodist system a regular accounting of membership and attendance in small groups. In order to...
Misunderstandings and Mischaracterizations
By Walter Fenton- As the Commission on a Way Forward moves beyond preliminaries to the hard task of proposing a plan for the church's consideration, it is worth trying to clarify what United Methodists in the renewal and reform groups regard as misunderstandings or...
Commission on a Way Forward press release – Meeting 2
March 2, 2017 Atlanta, Ga.: Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia this week, the Commission on a Way Forward continued to make progress towards completing the groundwork for their task, building relationships, engaging in learning, information gathering, working and worshiping...
Rescuing children in Sierra Leone
By Phileas Jusu- Mohamed Emmanuel Nabieu was 8 years old when his father was shot during a rebel attack and he was separated from his mother during the Sierra Leone civil war. After living on the streets for four months, workers from the United Methodist Child Rescue...
