Room for Traditionalists?
Room for Traditionalists? By Thomas Lambrecht The 2020/2024 General Conference has just concluded its ten-day run in Charlotte, North Carolina. A summary of some of the actions taken by the conference are available in last week’s Perspective, “A Tale of a New Church.”...
A Tale of a New Church
A Tale of a New Church By Thomas Lambrecht The story of the 2024 General Conference meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina, is the story of a new church being born. Two years ago this month, the Global Methodist Church was born, and it is growing and maturing quickly....
Hard to Admit I’m Wrong
By B.J. Funk -- You and I are cofounders of the “Can’t Admit When I’m Wrong” club. One of us realized its truth first, but I can’t recall if it was you or me. It’s almost unfair how we were selected because, at the time, both of us were terribly young and in control...
The M28 Difference
By Eddie and Allyson Willis -- On a July morning in the mountains at Lake Junaluska, North Carolina, young people and their leaders from youth ministries around the Southeast have just finished breakfast and are gathered outside the entrances of Shackford Hall in the...
Analyzing Disaffiliating Churches
By Thomas Lambrecht -- A recent report by Lovett Weems of the Lewis Center for Church Leadership purports to examine the 2,000 or so churches that disaffiliated from The United Methodist Church by the end of 2022. The Weems report was supposedly intended to discover...
Methodist Heritage: Bishop Matthew Simpson
By James V. Heidinger II -- It would not be long before I began hearing much about Matthew Simpson, the renowned son of Cadiz, Ohio. He was a nationally-recognized Methodist bishop and then president of Indiana Asbury University (now DePauw University). He was also...
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...
