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.
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Bishops plan to explore 'new forms of unity'
By Heather Hahn
May 9, 2019 | CHICAGO (UMNS)
Faced with the fallout of a divisive General Conference, United Methodist bishops said they would join other church members in exploring new possibilities for the denomination’s future....
“There is a sense among the council that we are in untenable times,” said the Council of Bishops in a May 9 statement to the church. “To this end, the council is exploring models and plans of new forms of unity.” ...
Read more: Bishops Meet, Plan, and Ask Judicial Council For Ruling
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The Peril of All These Secret Meetings
by Cynthia B. Astle
May 9, 2019
When I was a cub reporter, my editor laid one hard and fast rule on me: whenever any three of our town’s five council members were gathered anywhere, I was to be there with them. Being young and ignorant, I asked why.
“Because three out of five council members makes a quorum, which means they can take official action,” he said. “Any council action taken in the dark is bound to line somebody’s pockets, and it won’t benefit the people.”
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Christy Thomas, retired UM clergy and columnist, writes on UM-Insight that the UMC does not have a future. And it is because of the rigid binaries of biblical literalists when it comes to sexuality. She writes:
No. There is no future to the UMC.
It’s as simple as that.
No, because those “Bible believers” who have taken over The UMC have also shaken their fist in the face of God and declared God a heretic and unacceptable in their church. Why? Because God doesn’t create only in “male or female” categories. Therefore, God has no place in a “Bible-believing” church.
For “Bible-believers,” only a rigid sexual binary, i.e., everyone is either unmistakably male (and desires only women for life partners) or entirely female (and desires only men for life partners), is acceptable. There can be no blending or spectrum of either sexuality or sexual desire in their world....
Read more: 'Does The UMC Have A Future?' Christy Thomas says No
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What's next for The United Methodist Church? UM-Insight is carrying two perspectives, one by retired bishop Michael J. Coyner, and the other by Adam Hamilton, pastor of the Church of the Resurrection in Leeward, Kansas, and one of the organizers of next month's gathering at that church. Bishop Coyner asks a number of intriguing questions, while Rev. Hamilton reports on the interest and excitement of two recent gatherings, which "included traditionalist and progressives, evangelicals and liberals, pastors of small churches and pastors of some of our largest churches, members of the LGBT community, people of color"--all opposed to the outcome of the General Conference and interested in the future of the UMC.