Extending Disaffiliation Options
Extending Disaffiliation Options By Thomas Lambrecht The main agenda items for the Renewal and Reform Coalition at the 2024 General Conference meeting in Charlotte, NC, April 23-May 3 relate to providing new disaffiliation pathways for churches and annual conferences...
“Mainstream UMC” Condemns Nigerian Bishop
“Mainstream UMC” Condemns Nigerian Bishop By Thomas Lambrecht In a recent fundraising piece, the self-identified centrist caucus group “Mainstream UMC” condemned the United Methodist bishop of Nigeria, Bishop John Wesley Yohanna. Its principal accusation...
A Bishop Says Goodbye to The United Methodist Church
Firebrand Magazine: May 1, 2022, was the official launch of the Global Methodist Church. This begins a season of transition for many pastors and churches. UMC Bishop Mike Lowry has stated that, effective on that date, he withdrew from the UMC Council of Bishops to...
Lloyd Lunceford Church Trust Law Webinar
Do United Methodist congregations own their buildings? What is a trust? Can the United Methodist trust be revoked? Is there a legal process for disaffiliating from the UM Church separate from what is in the Book of Discipline? When might it make sense to use the legal...
Our Very Human God
By Kenneth Tanner Our closest galactic neighbor, Andromeda, is 2.5 million light-years away. She dwarfs our galaxy and contains a trillion stars. The energy that fuels all those stars and has kept them in a spiral for 13 billion years is measurable, but who has the...
How Prayer Helps a Hurting Heart
By Scott McDermott Learning how to pray when our life is hurting is one of the most important lessons we can ever learn in life, yet so few of us have been taught just how to do it. Personal pain is a part of everyone’s experience. As Jesus teaches, the storms of life...
Iconic brushstrokes from Ukraine
By Steve Beard As I watched the evening news during the haunting first few weeks of the scorched-earth invasion of Ukraine, I could not help but see Kateryna Shadrina’s vibrant image of the Madonna and Child superimposed over the video footage on television of mothers...
Lenten Underground
By Steve Beard It was standing-room-only for the noon Ash Wednesday service at my local church. Ushers were pulling folding chairs out of a closet and people were sitting in the hallway outside the sanctuary. Parishioners were literally standing against the back and...
