(By Walter Fenton, Good News). In yet another bid to overturn The United Methodist Church’s sexual ethics, the Denmark and California-Pacific annual conferences are asking the Judicial Council to rule out of order a key provision in the Book of Discipline. According to motions approved by the two regional bodies, the 1972 General Conference delegates violated the…
(By Walter Fenton, Good News). Writing to churches and clergy in the Iowa Annual Conference about financial challenges the conference faces, new Bishop Laurie Haller wrote, “Some of our clergy and congregations are making the decision to withhold apportionment payments to protest those who advocate for full inclusion of LGBTQ people in The United Methodist Church….
(By John Lomperis, Juicy Ecumenism). [On Friday, July 7, 2017] I and others received official notification that our denomination’s [the United Methodist Church] supreme court, the Judicial Council, had unanimously decided to reject the request from the Western Jurisdiction bishops to reverse their April ruling against the attempt by this increasingly schismatic, numerically tiny region of…
(By Walter Fenton, Good News). A resolution recently presented to the clergy session of the West Ohio Annual Conference speaks volumes about the self-declared “United Methodist Centrist Movement.” The resolution made four requests of conference pastors and the two at the top of the list are telling: “Refrain from making complaints against colleagues in matters…
(By John Lomperis, Juicy Ecumenism). The bishops of the United Methodist Church’s theologically radicalized, numerically tiny Western Jurisdiction recently submitted a formal petition to our denomination’s supreme court, the Judicial Council. These bishops are requesting that the Council reconsider and reverse its recent April decision against the Western Jurisdiction’s attempt to elect openly partnered lesbian activist…
United Methodist Top Court Makes Clear: “Openly Homosexual and Partnered” People Cannot be Clergy, Bishops (By John Lomperis, Juicy Ecumenism). Today the Judicial Council of the United Methodist Church issued a complex, highly anticipated decision provoked by openly partnered lesbian activist Karen Oliveto of San Francisco. Last year, the rapidly declining Western Jurisdiction, home to…
(By Walter Fenton, Good News). A congregation in Wichita, Kansas, that averages 350 in worship has voted to leave The United Methodist Church. As a satellite campus of Asbury UM Church, the congregation announced its decision on Sunday, March 19. “Some pastors and people are weary of all the defiance and unaccountability in the denomination,” said…
(By Walter Fenton, Good News). Two large local United Methodist churches in the Mississippi Annual Conference have taken congregation wide votes to leave the denomination. Ninety six percent of the parishioners at Getwell Road UM Church in Southaven and 99 percent at The Orchard UM Church in Tupelo supported separation on Sunday, February 5. The senior…
By Good News. The Rev. Dr. Karen Oliveto, senior minister of Glide Memorial United Methodist Church in San Francisco, has been elected as a bishop by the Western Jurisdiction of The United Methodist Church. She is the first openly married lesbian to be elected bishop within the denomination. After two other candidates withdrew concluding the…
By Emily McFarlan Miller, Religion News Service. At its quadrennial meeting last month, the United Methodist Church decided not to take up contentious LGBT issues. But that’s not stopping its regional conferences from making decisions on their own. Two U.S. jurisdictions will consider three openly gay candidates for bishop next month. The Rev. Karen Oliveto, the Rev. Frank…