Some 13 months before the United Methodist Church’s top legislative body, the General Conference, decides whether to break up the worldwide denomination, pitched battles are taking place between church authorities and dissident congregations and groups at both ends of the…
New ‘non-binary’ category almost a non-event for United Methodists
What if United Methodists faced a potential conflict and nobody cared? That seems to be the case with a new “non-binary” category for local church membership reports. Something that would have caused massive fireworks in the past has been announced…
Now there appear to be three paths for once-united Methodists
For more than half a century, leaders of The United Methodist Church have seen the denomination as a “big tent,” a place where different theological and ecclesiastical identities could co-exist and perhaps even co-mingle as a single entity. Now that…
Visionaries seek new creation from United Methodist chaos
In 1784, the Methodist Episcopal Church was formed in the fledgling United States of America at a gathering that became known as the Christmas Conference. This year, The United Methodist Church, descendant of that first denomination, faces a Christmas of…