Name That Bishop
By Rob Renfroe -- This editorial will be a bit different. It’s an invitation to play a game titled “Name that Bishop.” Bishops in The United Methodist Church play a critical role. They not only provide administrative oversight and vision for their episcopal areas,...
Fit for a Queen
By Steve Beard -- Richard Griffin, a former member of the royal security detail to Queen Elizabeth II, tells a delightful story about walking with the monarch near her beloved Balmoral Castle in Scotland and meeting two American tourists. “It was clear from the moment...
Vital Wesleyanism
By Donald Haynes- For the first time since the young United Methodist Church struggled with our theology in 1968 and again in 1988, we are once again asking, “What do the spiritual progeny of John Wesley believe?” Just as importantly, however, is the unusual linkage...
Uniting Participants Call for Unity
By Kathy Gilbert- As The United Methodist Church faces a decision on how to include LGBTQ people, those attending a conference grappled with the issue by asking themselves: What would Jesus and John Wesley do? The Uniting Methodists Conference was held November 13-14...
His Eye is on the Sparrow
By Courtney Lott- "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with...
Journey to Pulpit Began in Peril
By Vicki Brown- The Rev. Chi My Nguyen’s journey to become the only Vietnamese United Methodist pastor in Germany began in peril. Nguyen and his wife almost died when they fled Vietnam by boat in 1982. He had become a Christian in 1979 and wanted to have the freedom...
Engaging the Life of God
By Chris Ritter- If there is a spiritual awakening waiting for the United Methodist Church, an essential ingredient of that renewal will be reclamation of Scripture as divinely inspired and authoritative. But there is more. John Wesley was clear that holding right...
New Life for Imprisoned Women
By Phileas Jusu- Encouraged by regional missionary Finda Quiwa to “keep the faith, fight the good fight, and continue to trust in God,” seven inmates of the Freetown Female Correctional Center were baptized and confirmed in The United Methodist Church. The women led...
