(By John Stonestreet & G. Shane Morris, Breakpoint). Who is Jesus? It’s a foundational question, and one many Christians struggle to answer. In Matthew 16, Jesus asks His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” “Some say John the Baptist,” they replied, “others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the…
(By Walter Fenton, Good News). Uniting Methodists is a new caucus group that has entered as a “new voice” in the battle over the United Methodist Church’s sexual ethics, teachings on marriage, and its ordination standards. It joins a long roster of groups formed by concerned United Methodists over the years to lobby official church bodies like…
(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…
(By John Lomperis, Juicy Ecumenism). This Sunday, June 4, the Northern Illinois Conference commissioned for deacon’s orders someone who was reportedly the “first openly non-binary trans person” for ministry in the United Methodist Church. And the full inclusion of such persons in ordination could potentially be mandated in every region of our denomination if the United…
(By Dale M. Coulter, First Things). The last time we saw such a massive shift in Protestantism was in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when the Holiness and Pentecostal movements spawned over ten major denominations. When one adds to this the formation of the Wesleyan Church (1843), the Free Methodist Church (1860), and the…
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…