Editor’s note: This is the second in a five-part series on the Social Principles of The United Methodist Church and how they intersect current issues. In 1989, a United Methodist layman named Bill McKibben wrote a book he called…
Social Principles are basis of UMC opposition to Trump policies
Note: This is the first in a five-part series on the updated Social Principles of The United Methodist Church. Still reeling like many Americans from the “shock and awe” of the first few weeks of the new federal administration,…
‘Woke’ T-shirt gets off to a sassy start
I own an indecent number of social-justice T-shirts. Name a cause and I bet I have a T-shirt to match. At last count, I had at least two dozen shirts with a theme or motto. There’s my indigenous shirt with…
United Methodists express solidarity with immigrants
United Methodists have joined other Christians opposing President Donald Trump’s executive orders on immigration and promising to continue their immigration ministries. Retired Bishop Julius C. Trimble, now top executive of the General Board of Church and Society, published another of…
Bishop’s sermon inspires United Methodist hymn writer
Mark Gruber-Lebowitz of Baltimore is among thousands of Christians moved by the Jan. 21 sermon of an Episcopal bishop asking President Donald Trump to have mercy on vulnerable people — but not in the way some people are moved. The…
Dispute between SMU and UMC body headed to Texas Supreme Court
A five-year-old dispute between Southern Methodist University in Dallas and a multi-state United Methodist Church body over the university’s ownership and governance will come before the Texas Supreme Court for oral arguments Jan. 15. According to a summary on the…
3 killed as Methodist violence flares in Nigeria
Three United Methodists were killed Dec. 15 when a United Methodist Church in northeast Nigeria was attacked allegedly by supporters of the breakaway Global Methodist Church. A few days prior to the attack, a dissident organization that has promoted the…
The new battleground for Methodists is in Africa
Hope and jubilation were palpable at the United Methodist General Conference in Spring 2024. Conservative forces that had hammered away at the denomination for more than half a century had decamped, unfortunately taking with them more than 7,600 local congregations,…
In North Carolina, a Methodist creation care community grows
Author and scholar Elaine Heath says the most challenging question ever put to her inquired, “What does care for the earth have to do with following Jesus?” Heath now uses the question as a reflection tool for her ministry as…
United Methodists stress values, character and duty as election looms
With the U.S. presidential election and down-ballot contests looming, United Methodists are making a final push to encourage their sibling Wesleyans to vote as a sacred duty, using Christian values and character traits as their guide. Officially, the denomination, its…
Lawsuit between SMU and UMC is headed to court again
Southern Methodist University in Dallas is headed back to court seeking to free itself from the authority of The United Methodist Church. Most sources trace this conflict back to actions taken by the UMC in 2019, but a tug-of-war between…
Online gatherings are the place to be for United Methodists
If the great global coronavirus pandemic accomplished anything good, its enforced quarantine taught The United Methodist Church how to use online gatherings more effectively. Hardly any local church or regional unit meeting lacks an online component, whether interactive webinars, livestreamed…