Redefining Glory
By Rob Renfroe In 1875 a remarkable woman was born. Her name was Mary Bethune. Both her parents had been slaves. At the age of 5 she began working in the fields. But she took an interest in her own education. And she found a way to attended a small, one room,...
Moving Forward
By Keith Boyette In his book The Patient Ferment of the Early Church, Alan Kreider makes the case that Christians dramatically impacted the Roman Empire through their persistent, faithful living out of the lifestyle God calls them to in Jesus Christ. The world was...
Judicial Council
Key questions in the Oliveto case On July 15, 2016, during the session of the South Central Jurisdictional Conference, Dixie Brewster, a delegate and lay member of the Great Plains Annual Conference, asked that the delegates to request a declaratory decision from the...
Constitutional Amendments Up for Vote
During this 2017 annual conference season, there are five constitutional amendments that will be voted on by the members of the annual conferences. A two-thirds vote by the aggregate total of all annual conference members is needed to ratify the amendments for them to...
UM Church’s “Supreme Court” Prepares to Hear Major Case: Questions and Answers
The United Methodist Church's Judicial Council, essentially its Supreme Court, will hear oral arguments on Tuesday morning, April 25, 2017, regarding the legality of the Western Jurisdictional Conference's election of an openly lesbian and married clergywoman to be a...
Three Days
By Walter Fenton- Good Friday Sometimes the sordid episode is almost too hard to believe. The fear, the hatred, the rage, the brutality, the blood, and the death - sometimes it is too horrible to fathom. But there is Jesus, on the cross, bleeding and dying, right at...
Invoking the Holy Spirit
By Walter Fenton- "The Holy Spirit had swept across the room; its power and presence real and obvious. It was a sacred moment on holy ground," wrote the Rev. Kent Ingram and Emily Allen about the election of the Rev. Karen Oliveto, an openly married, lesbian, as a...
“People will Die”
By Walter Fenton- Moderates and conservatives long ago gave up on any hope the UM Church's General Board of Church and Society (GBCS) would demonstrate any fairness or impartiality when it comes to non-liberal plans for health care, tax policy, education, energy...
