Church Exits, Covid Lead To Steep Budget Cuts
By Heather Hahn, UM News - What does a predicted denominational split and an unpredictable pandemic mean for The United Methodist Church’s bottom line? The General Council on Finance and Administration board grappled with that question as members revisited the...
Planning for a 2022 General Conference
By Heather Hahn, UM News- Organizers are pressing forward with plans to hold what many expect to be a pivotal General Conference in 2022. At the same time, they acknowledge that the pandemic may once again thwart those plans. The Commission on the General Conference...
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, in the fields of oppression, and under the lash. We prayed when we “followed the drinking gourd” on the Underground Railroad. We prayed when our families were torn asunder by the slave traders. We prayed when our homes and churches were burned and bombed and when our people were lynched by racist mobs. So many times it seemed our prayer went unanswered, but we kept faith that one day our unearned suffering would prove to be redemptive.
Civil rights and Dr. King
By Kenneth J. Collins
A year after President John F. Kennedy called out the troops to quell the riots surrounding James Meredith – the first black student to enroll at the University of Mississippi – the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. was arrested on April 16, 1963, in Birmingham, Alabama. Growing up in a Baptist church in which his father was a pastor, King learned early on that the Christian faith is a universal religion that transcends race, ethnicity, gender, social class, or cultural origin.
Modern day martyr
By Maidstone Mulenga
Delegates at the 2012 General Conference of The United Methodist Church May 1 declared the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. a modern-day martyr. The historic vote was in keeping with a decision at the 2008 General Conference giving the German theologian the Rev. Dietrich Bonhoeffer the same distinction.
Good News responds to statement from Bishop Sally Dyck
On June 1, 2011, a civil unions law went into effect in Illinois that provided same-sex couples the same type of legal protections utilized by married couples. According to The New York Times, these rights included "emergency medical decision-making powers,...
Review of Little Red Wagon
By Paula Parker Catastrophes move many to tears and they move others to action. In 2004, Hurricane Charley moved eight-year-old Zach Bonner to help. Using his beat-up toy wagon, he went throughout his Tampa, Florida, neighborhood to collect clothes, food, water, and...
Editorial: What Does Love Require?
By Rob Renfroe
Recently Dr. Timothy Tennent posted an article on seedbed.com entitled “Why the Church is So Concerned with Same-Sex Marriage and Homosexual Ordination.” As president of Asbury Theological Seminary, Dr. Tennent’s article was thoughtful, insightful and reserved. In all of his writings, he has a wonderful way of making his point without belittling or condemning those with whom he disagrees.
