Can These Bones Live?
By Kimberly Constant -- Ezekiel stood, looking out across a valley filled with bones that stretched as far as he could see. Bones that were brittle. Bleached by the relentless sun and worn down by the ravages of time. Bones which represented the once proud nation of...
Bishop Mark Webb Joins Global Methodist Church
By Walter Fenton, Global Methodist Church - United Methodist Bishop Mark J. Webb, the former leader of the UM Church’s Upper New York Episcopal Area, has resigned from the episcopacy and withdrawn from the denomination. Webb has joined the Global Methodist...
Why the “local option” is not the answer
By Rob Renfroe - Recently a progressive United Methodist pastor said to me, “I don’t understand why you can’t accept the local option. It lets pastors who want to marry gay couples do so. But it doesn’t compel people like you to perform such ceremonies. It allows...
Respect or Contempt
By Rob Renfroe - Soon we will know which plan or plans the United Methodist Council of Bishops will recommend to the extraordinary General Conference in St. Louis. In just a matter of months we will learn how the Council proposes to resolve our denomination’s...
Suffering for the Sake of Christ
By Courtney Lott - Hannah Cho grew up in North Korea, a country where Christians suffer the widest extent of persecution in the world. Along with her husband, Cho was mercilessly tortured for her faith in internment camps. “My mother only taught me one prayer,” she...
Liberty’s Hero: Frederick Douglass
Liberty's Hero: Frederick Douglass By Steve Beard - Frederick Douglass grew up under the perverse shackles of slavery on a plantation in Maryland 200 years ago. He never knew the identity of his father, barely saw his mother, and witnessed unspeakable violence and...
The Future to the Present
By Stephen A. Seamands - “Easter was when Hope in person surprised the whole world by coming forward from the future into the present.” — N.T. Wright It makes all the difference in the world whether someone is dead or alive. That’s why, according to New Testament...
Exploring Possible Futures
By Heather Hahn - The Commission on a Way Forward is fleshing out the details of three possible models for how the denomination treats LGBTQ inclusion. The multinational group, appointed by United Methodist bishops, held its seventh meeting behind closed doors January...
