There should be some form of patent on the name "Methodist." Someone should sue within the Methodist councils, using Wesley's Plain Account of Christian Perfection as a basis for rejecting non-Methodism and those who don't want to follow it.
I have recently been in a small group studying the catechisms of Martin Luther. The larger Lutheran (ELCA) group in the U.S. has also been going down the "progressive" political drain. At a recent regional Lutheran meeting, the bishop got up and gave a rousing call for "Change!" in the church, asking the entire assembly to shout out, "The church must change!" I shouted out, "The church must never change!" -- to the appalled looks of those seated nearby.
This is the point: technology changes. Outward circumstances change. But the gospel does not change. The hearts of man have not changed, and cannot change without surrender to Truth. Truth does not change. The Reformation was not about change in the sense of going "forward" to something new under the sun; it was about stripping away the frills and corruptions and returning to the origins of the Apostolic faith.
There is nothing inherently good about change for its own sake. Like abortion, change has been enshrined as an absolute value by the useful idiots, who fail to recognize that it only means destruction of their freedom and elevation and enrichment of the elites, at the expense of the common man. Christ came to lift up our hearts, minds and souls, unifying Christians regardless of our income, sex, or ethnicity. Marxism divides and enslaves.
Those who know our denomination know that the northeast, the great lakes, and the west coast regions are those that are dying. They are also radically liberal and in need of dying.
Those that are gaining are in Africa, and in the conservative congregations and districts of the south, west, and Midwest.
Fortunately, those who vote once every 4 years on our church law are selected in proportion to church membership.
IOW, as the liberal regions die off, they also lose their voice, their vote, and their place at the table.
This action by this wayward New York Bishop is because he is LOSING, and not because he is winning.
The Reformation was not about change in the sense of going “forward” to something new under the sun; it was about stripping away the frills and corruptions and returning to the origins of the Apostolic faith.
...if it makes you feel good, keep believing that...doesn’t make it true, however...
there are a number of Methodist churches around which are not members of the UMC.