How We Open Our Hearts to God
By Coretta Scott King (1927-2006) - Throughout the epic freedom struggle of African Americans, our great sustainer of hope has been the power of prayer. We prayed for deliverance in a dozen African languages, chained to the holds of slave ships, on the auction block,...
Reformed Church in America begins amiable separation
By Thomas Lambrecht In October 2021, after 16 months of Covid-related delay, the General Synod of the Reformed Church in America (RCA) adopted a plan to allow traditionalist congregations to disaffiliate over the church’s gridlock over LGBTQ ordination and same-sex...
Archive: Evangelism with the Never-Churched
Archive: Evangelism with the Never-Churched By Jack Jackson - Last Christmas season, my family walked through the downtown community where we live. In one of the store windows we passed were a small set of woodcarvings that included a baby, two adults right next to...
Vision for United Methodist renewal and reform
THE HISTORY OF GOOD NEWS By James V. Heidinger II (2013) The first issue of Good News magazine was published in 1967. Charles W. Keysor, a Methodist pastor in Elgin, Illinois, published the first issue of the digest-size magazine for Methodist evangelicals out of the...
The Legacy of Theological Liberalism
By James V. Heidinger II Recently a pastor wrote in a conference paper a defense of United Methodism’s being a “liberal” denomination. He insisted the “L-word” was not bad. For support he cited Webster’s Dictionary which defined liberal as “generous, openhanded,...
Your Life, God’s Gift
By Rob Renfroe We Christians believe the most remarkable things. Incredible things, really. We believe that God exists. That’s our most important belief. But it’s not the most surprising or incredible. We believe that God came to earth. We believe that he came to...
Why I Remain a United Methodist
By James V. Heidinger II Each week, word comes of persons who have decided to leave The United Methodist Church and it’s happening too frequently across the church. Sadly, many who leave have been lifetime United Methodists. They have served, given, prayed, attended,...
Believe, Experience, Grow
By Rob Renfroe The bad news, as you know, is that the United Methodist Church is declining. Membership, attendance, and giving have all decreased. In fact, membership in the United States is at its lowest point since The Evangelical United Brethren and The Methodist...
