The United Methodist Reporter has maintained a long and fruitful relationship with our friends at the United Methodist News Service (a division of United Methodist Communications), and we’re pleased to highlight their offerings from time to time. UMNS is compiling a list of reports from annual conferences throughout the world. Click here to check it out.
Read More...Welcome to the Reporter Blog!
This is the place to find interesting news briefs, links to stories we found interesting in other newspapers, and a few fun items that we thought you might enjoy!
A Word from the New Editor
June 7, 2013 Posted by 1 Comment
Dear friends, On behalf of my partners at CircuitWriter Media LLC, I want to thank you for all the words of encouragement and support regarding the recent news that we would be continuing the tradition and legacy of The United Methodist Reporter. We recognize the seriousness and responsibility of this task, and we ask for your prayers and patience as we work to be a voice for independent news and commentary in the United Methodist Church. In the hours since we announced that the work of UMR would continue through [...]
Read More...A view of General Conference, from the ‘muddled middle’
May 8, 2012 Posted by 2 Comments
By Elaine Robinson, Special Contributor… Is there anyone who is satisfied with General Conference? I spent much of those 10 days watching, either in person or by live streaming, and I feel as if I was witnessing the rise of a disappointing new dance: The Backslide. Akin to the Moonwalk, it seems to slide endlessly backward, all the while going nowhere. Those who know Wesleyan theology recognize backsliding as the condition of sin in which believers forget to rely on grace (and the Means of Grace), failing to listen for [...]
Read More...A plea for perspective after disappointment of GC2012
May 7, 2012 Posted by 1 Comment
Everybody take a deep breath. It’s going to be okay. As the mushroom cloud surrounding the end of General Conference slowly dissipates, United Methodist leaders across the nation (I don’t [...]
Read More...Restructuring effort goes down, General Conference adjourns
May 4, 2012 Posted by 2 Comments
Efforts to restructure general agencies of the United Methodist Church came crashing down Friday when the Judicial Council declared unconstitutional Plan UMC, the compromise legislation passed at General Conference. The dramatic decision was announced in the waning hours of General Conference, whose delegates had labored first in committee, then in plenary session, to agree on a way to streamline church agencies and focus them on supporting the effort to bolster vital congregations. The decision wipes out the centerpiece reform of this quadrennial gathering, one that evolved from the Call to Action [...]
Read More...Judicial Council wipes out UMC agency restructuring
May 4, 2012 Posted by Leave a Comment
The Judicial Council of the United Methodist Church this afternoon declared unconstitutional Plan UMC, the compromise effort to restructure church agencies. The dramatic decision was announced at General Conference, where delegates had labored first in committee, then in plenary session, to agree on some way to streamline church agencies and focus them on supporting the effort to bolster vital congregations. The decision wipes out the centerpiece reform of this quadrennial gathering, one that evolved from the Call to Action initiative that began soon after General Conference 2008. Delegates heard the [...]
Read More...GC gives $5 million for training central conference clergy
May 4, 2012 Posted by Leave a Comment
By Vicki Brown, Special Contributor… Lay people with no theological training lead more than 800 churches in Mozambique, and that is one example of the need for the $5 million Central Conference Theological Education Fund, said Bishop Joaquina Nhanala, episcopal leader of Mozambique. General Conference 2012 approved the creation of the fund this week and a commission to oversee it. On Friday, a budget that included $5 million from World Service funds for the next four years was approved. “The church is growing in Africa and we have a great [...]
Read More...After prayer, gay rights protest ends
May 3, 2012 Posted by 7 Comments
A gay rights protest on the General Conference floor today ended after bishops agreed to let an openly gay pastor offer a prayer. The Rev. Frank Wulf, a delegate from the California/Pacific Conference, was invited to the podium. “Oh God rest upon this General Conference, give us wisdom to understand, to interpret, to know each other,” he said. “But most of all God, give us hope for the future, hope that the good news of your gospel may break forth upon us.” Demostrators filed out of the hall, singing, after his prayer. [...]
Read More...Delegate hit by car returns to plenary floor
May 3, 2012 Posted by Leave a Comment
Jessica Ireland, the General Conference delegate from Iowa who was hit by a car yesterday, appeared at the plenary session today in a wheelchair. “It’s not a way to become [...]
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UMC facing ‘slow, agonizing, organizational death’
By Maria Dixon Hall, Special Contributor… The other day, in an attempt to get some distance between me and the traumatic event now forever etched in my brain as General Conference 2012, I decided to brave the Texas heat and work on my flowerbeds and ideas for the lawn. Isisas Barrario, my faithful landscape and lawn man for over eight years, stood by me in the heat as we discussed what to do about the yard. It’s important to know that when Isisas and I first met, I was single, working [...]
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