Sign “A Call to Grace”
Over 1,100 United Methodists from around the world have already signed a letter calling upon the Church to provide a pastoral response to the COVID-19 pandemic and calling upon bishops and annual conferences to help churches that long-ago expressed their desire to leave The UMC to utilize the legislative mechanisms open to them right now.
To read the letter and add your signature, click below.
Petitions have already been filed to make changes in the United Methodist Church at the 2020 General Conference. We will discuss some of those proposals at our meeting on Thursday November 14. Rev. Hilary Marchbanks, Jay Brim, Joy Butler, and Rowland Curry will describe some of the proposals, as well as what we can be doing in our churches between now and May 2020. Join us to learn more about the challenging future in our denomination!
The meeting will be at Saint John’s United Methodist Church, at 2140 Allandale Road in Austin.
Snacks and mingling begin at 6:30 pm, followed by the program at 7 pm.
In February 2019 the United Methodist Church, assembled in St. Louis at a special General Conference, adopted the Traditionalist Plan which strengthened the anti-LGBTQ stance of the denomination. In the months since, there has been intense discussion about the future of the church. Several groups have drafted plans dealing with changes to the denomination’s laws, the Book of Discipline. In May 2020, the global UMC will have a General Conference in Minneapolis where it will consider further changes.
If you are interested in the discussions about the future of our denomination, stay alert!
Progressive Resources:
United Methodist News Service: https://www.umnews.org/en/
Mainstream UMC: https://mainstreamumc.com/
UMC Next: https://umcnext.com/
Hacking Christianity: http://hackingchristianity.net/
UM Insight: https://um-insight.net/
UM Forward: https://um-forward.org/
| Judicial Council Meets
The United Methodist Judicial Council met last week and issued decisions on a number of cases before them. Legislation setting special provisions for United Methodist churches deciding to leave the denomination took effect immediately at the end of the special General Conference last February, the church’s top court has ruled. |
| Mainstream UMC Meets With Central Conference Bishops
Mainstream UMC Co-Founders, Rev. Dr. Nanette Roberts and Rev. Dr. Mark Holland, were able to bring their appeal for a moratorium on trials directly to Bishops from the central conferences (those outside the US) on Friday November 1. Fifteen of the central conference Bishops from Africa, Europe, and the Philippines gathered just ahead of the full Council of Bishops (COB) meeting that began Sunday in Lake Junaluska, North Carolina. |
| COB President Suggests Moratorium on Church Trials
UMC Council of Bishops president Kenneth H. Carter suggests a moratorium on church trials related to LGBTQ individuals, while at the same time loosening the denomination’s trust clause to allow congregations to leave with property. |
| New Jersey Annual Conference Charts Way Forward
By an overwhelming majority, the Greater New Jersey Conference in a special session on October 26 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. |
Rio Texas Methodist Federation for Social Action