Articles about developments of alternatives for the future of The United Methodist Church: discussions of options, other expressions of the Methodist or Wesleyan Way, new alignments, petitions and resolutions approved in annual conferences, etc.
Conference charts 'way forward' with LGBTQ people
By Kathy L. Gilbert
Oct. 28, 2019 | UM News (original story here)
By an overwhelming majority, the Greater New Jersey Conference in a special session voted to allow United Methodist churches to decide how to include and affirm LGBTQ people in every aspect of ministry while still allowing congregations the right to agree to disagree.
Churches can also create covenants about other mission priorities, or choose not to have a covenant at all.
The vote on the 10-point proposal, by a show of voice and hands, came just eight months after a special General Conference passed legislation affirming the church’s current bans on ordaining LGBTQ clergy and officiating at or hosting same-sex marriage and strengthening penalties for violations. Conference officials estimated 80 percent of those present at the special annual conference voted for the proposal, which came from the report submitted by the conference’s Way Forward Team.
Read more: Greater New Jersey Conference Chooses a Way Forward
A heartfelt, emotional, and inspiring Episcopal Address at Greater New Jersey Special Annual Conference.
Episcopal Address | Special Session, October 26, 2019
October 26, 2019 | The Way Forward, Messages from the Bishop
I care deeply about each of you, and I care deeply about GNJ and the church. Today I come before you as a pastor. In 1982 I was ordained, and the church made me an elder. In 2004, the church consecrated me and made me a bishop. As an elder, I chose to be a pastor. As a bishop, I still choose to be a pastor....
At the same time, I am a bishop, and I care deeply about the people of The United Methodist Church and the people in our communities. As a bishop, in the last two weeks, I discussed financial challenges, staffing issues and how to evaluate our resourcing with our congregations. In my role as a bishop, I use a pastoral lens. ....
Today, there are people among us, me included, that believe all people can have loving caring relationships. I believe a man and a woman, a man and a man, a woman and a woman can share love and make a home where God is honored.
Today, there are people among us, me included, that believe God calls people to ministry regardless of their ethnicity, gender, class and sexual orientation. I personally have witnessed God using people in congregational leadership and as clergy persons regardless of their gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, national status and age.
by UM & Global blogmaster Dr. David W. Scott, Director of Mission Theology at the General Board of Global Ministries, October 21, 2019
[This is an analysis of the experience of UMs in the Philippines, with schism, but also with theology and ecclesiology. Here are key paragraphs in a much longer and insightful story:]
To grasp the significance for the UMC connection as a whole of this linking of revival, unity, and mission by Filipinos, consider some of the American alternatives.
Read more: The Filipino UMC Link Between Revival, Unity, and Mission
UMC Schism and the Philippines
by UM & Global blogmaster Dr. David W. Scott, Director of Mission Theology at the General Board of Global Ministries, October 14, 2019
Given how focused US United Methodists are on the possibility of a split in the UMC in the United States, it may come as a surprise to many that the UMC has already experienced splits in other countries in the last 15 years. In 2018, both Nigeria and Burundi reconciled previous schisms within the UMC, and those are just the reconciled schisms.
- BIshop Announces "Guiding Coalition" For Future
- Background: Breaking up would be hard to do
- We're Not in Kansas Anymore
- Will Filipinos Resolve the UMC's Three-Way Standoff?
- Leadership Gathering Holds Conversations on UMC Future
- COR Leadership Institute Focuses on Future of UMC
- 'Reform & Renewal' Forces Acknowledge 20 Percent Delegate Drop
- Black Leaders Meet to Discuss Future of United Methodist Church
- The Current Three-Way Standoff in the UMC
- The winding road ahead for United Methodism
- The Bursting of the Methodist Wineskin
- Reflections on Where We Are
- Western Jurisdiction Holds "Fresh United Methodism Summit"
- African Pastor Calls For Honesty in Global Methodism
- Two Traditionalist Arguments that Fall Flat
- Global? Who You Calling 'Global'?
- Papers, Discussions, Research: UM-Insight.org
- Parody Humor; Venn Diagram; First African Reconciling Congregation
- GC2020: Pick Up a Pen, Start Writing
- The struggle for the perfect plan
- State of the UMC: Bloggers weigh in
- The US & the Central Conferences at the UM Scholars Conference
- Speech: Four Words, Three Rules, Two Standards, One Grace
- Commission on General Conference added to confusion
- Bishop Richard Wilke: A plea to the United Methodist Church
- Diverse group of United Methodists explores separation
- Plans canceled for GC2024 in Philippines
- Connectional Table Approves Legislation Creating New U.S. Structure
- Mainstream UMC Survey Results Show Urgency
- Scholars gather to champion LGBTQ inclusion
- Petition Process Open for 2020 General Conference
- Judicial Council Docket - October, 2019
- Church leaders look at options for future of denomination
- Apportionment collection rates down after GC2019
- Conferences Mull Denomination's Future
- What does it mean to Dissolve The United Methodist Church?
- Where The Money (Doesn't) Come From
- Bishops Release Rulings of Law on Ordinations, Finances
- Two Bishops Offer Plan for UMC Future
- Arbitration: A Possible Help in the Coming Separation
- UMC Bishops pose five questions to Judicial Council on Traditional Plan
- A Letter to Centrists
- General Conference is Broken; Annual Conferences Are Not
- US elections see shift in GC2020 delegates
- 76% of US Annual Conferences Reject Traditional Plan
- How To Restructure The UMC
- "Where Do We Go From Here?"
- June 20 Marks Four Significant Elections