Finding Fairness
By Thomas Lambrecht -- In this season of our denomination’s life, Methodists of goodwill should advocate for a fair exit process and terms for local churches and clergy desiring to realign. Many annual conferences in the U.S. have adopted fair processes for...
Harbinger? Asbury, Jesus People, and a Timeline of Crosscurrents
Harbinger? Asbury, Jesus People, and a Timeline of Crosscurrents Hughes Auditorium at Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky. February 2023. Photo courtesy of Suzanne Nicholson. By Steve Beard -- After two weeks of an extraordinary spiritual stirring on the...
Focus 2: What Makes a Successful General Conference?
By Elizabeth Glass Turner - How can we move toward a common goal successfully together? That endgame may mean significantly different things to various factions in St. Louis. The problem isn't that we can't work together. It's that we're working towards different...
Focus 1: Devotional – A prayer for hope
By Richard Allen (1760-1830) - O, my God, in all my dangers, temporal and spiritual, I will hope in thee who art Almighty power, and therefore able to relieve me; who art infinite goodness, and therefore ready and willing to assist me. O, precious blood of my dear...
Focus 1: Which Way Forward? Modified Traditional Plan
By Thomas Lambrecht “I look upon all the world as my parish,” famously said John Wesley. As we gather in St. Louis, The United Methodist Church – one aspect of Wesley’s spiritual legacy – is in ministry in 60 different nations around the globe. Within the last 20...
Is Mainstream Selling Us Downstream?
By Chappell Temple - I've been getting their emails and letters almost every day, so it seems. In preparation for the upcoming General Conference of The United Methodist Church in St. Louis, a group advocating for one of the plans being proposed has been more than...
Revival and revisiting barrenness
- By Stephen Seamands “Sing, O barren one who did not bear; burst into song and shout you who have not been in labor ... The children of the desolate woman will be more than the children of her that is married ... Enlarge the site of your tent ... do not hold back;...
Are Traditionalists Only a Small Group Within the Denomination?
By Thomas Lambrecht - Recent communications from proponents of the One Church Plan have attempted to portray traditionalists and evangelicals as a small group within The United Methodist Church seeking to divide the denomination. In 2016, moderate leaders suggested...
