With Faith, Pondering Death
With Faith, Pondering Death - By Terry Mattingly - There was nothing unusual, in the early 1970s, about a student hearing one of his professors preach during chapel. But one sermon – “How Would You Like to Die?” – impressed the seminarian who would later become...
Offer them Christ
Offer them Christ - By Rob Renfroe - I had a strange reaction as I read a United Methodist News article about a youth conference held this summer. The theme of “Youth 2023” was BOLD – Being Ourselves, Living Different. It was sponsored by Discipleship Ministries and...
Revisiting The Character of a Methodist
By David F. Watson - In his influential tract “The Character of a Methodist,” John Wesley describes the kind of person he hopes God will produce through the Methodist movement. True Christianity, according to Wesley, consists not simply in belief or good works, ...
Train Up a Child
By Shannon Vowell - Jesus is crazy about kids. He talks the talk: “See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven” (Matthew 18:10). “Whoever welcomes one of these little...
Time For Your Church to Leave the Denomination?
By Thomas Lambrecht - This is a time fraught with anxiety and frustration for many United Methodists. Some progressives are exasperated that they are unable to fully affirm LGBTQ ordination, same-sex marriage, and various gender identities. Some traditionalists are...
Mt. Bethel UM Church and North Georgia Conference Remain at an Impasse
Statement from Mt. Bethel UM Church, Marietta, Georgia: The Mt. Bethel members authorized by the church’s Administrative Council to mediate, along with legal counsel, met [August 28, 2021] in good faith with legal representatives of the North Georgia Annual Conference...
Bright Light In Montgomery
By Steve Beard - The sun was bright and unforgiving as I paid my respects at the gravesite of Hank Williams on a bluff in Montgomery, Alabama. A cowboy hat would have helped. The heat was a far cry from the dreary night of January 1, 1953, when much of the South was...
Prayers When Things Are Dark
By Tish Harrison Warren - It was a dark year in every sense. It began with the move from my sunny hometown, Austin, Texas, to Pittsburgh in early January. One week later, my dad, back in Texas, died in the middle of the night. Always towering and certain as a...
