A Love Story
A Love Story By Bonnie McClure Can I tell you a love story? Lately, I’ve been thinking about different types of love. Culturally, we are trained quite extensively on familial love – the love we have for family, and romantic love – the love we have for a partner or...
Killing Stone to Baptismal Font
Killing Stone to Baptismal Font By Steve Beard Remarkably, after 45 seasons CBS’s “Survivor” is still a certifiable television hit. Millions of viewers tune in to watch the travails of contestants in a Robinson Crusoe-style tropical setting. Coral reefs, whitecapped...
The God Who Sews
The God Who Sews -- By BJ Funk -- God just made creation, gives man the opportunity to name all of the animals, places restrictions on which tree was prohibited for food, and watches Adam and his wife attempting to cover their naked bodies with makeshift clothes. Leaf...
What the Regionalization Agenda Tells Us about the Future of the UMC, Part 1
What the Regionalization Agenda Tells Us about the Future of the UMC, Part 1 -- By Thomas Lambrecht -- In a recent article, Mainstream UMC (a centrist advocacy group within The United Methodist Church) outlines the case for the regionalization of the church. They...
Surf City Disaffiliation or Eviction?
Surf City Disaffiliation or Eviction? -- The Los Angeles Times recently published a comprehensive 2,000 word piece about the excessively costly disaffiliation process for traditionalist United Methodist congregations in Southern California. It is worth reading...
Engaging an African Bishop
Engaging an African Bishop -- By Thomas Lambrecht -- A recent commentary by Bishop Mande Muyombo (North Katanga Area in the Congo Central Conference) sets forth his understanding of where things are and where things are headed for The United Methodist Church in...
Methodist Heritage Archive: Brother Stanley
Methodist Heritage: Brother Stanley -- By Edmund Robb III -- Good News Archive, July-August 1976 -- TIME magazine, Oct. 20, 1948: “A grand old man among U.S. missionaries is a rugged Methodist preacher named Eli Stanley Jones. Baltimore-born Missionary Jones went to...
The Best and Worst of Disaffiliation
The Best and Worst of Disaffiliation -- By Thomas Lambrecht -- As we reach the end of the regular annual conference season, the prospect of over 20 percent of United Methodist congregations disaffiliating from the denomination has aroused varying responses, from...
