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A prophet is not necessarily someone who has a supernatural vision of the future. He may simply be a person who can see certain trends in the present, understand the underlying issues and therefore attempt to predict how things may go in the future. Here are some trends I see in the American Church and how I see the future developing. The first thing is the disintegration of denominationalism. It used to be that the different Protestant groups were distinct in their theology and their style of worship. There were boundaries. You pretty much knew what to expect in a...

When it comes to the holy trinity of art, architecture, and religion, few buildings are more significant than the 1898 Methodist Church in Norwalk, Connecticut. Anchoring a main street, the Romanesque-style church features a stained-glass rose window designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany himself. The founders of American Methodism preached there. Given its prominence and pedigree, should the church's governing body be allowed to sell the building for development, as it is currently trying to do? The U.S. Constitution, according to many observers, says yes, but historic preservationists beg to differ. Who decides? In cities nationwide, churches are struggling to maintain...

Gov. Sam Brownback endorsed Texas Gov. Rick Perry for president on Thursday, citing Perry's record on creating jobs and reducing taxes. "Rick Perry is the right leader for this moment in history," he said in a prepared statement. "I think he's really got the right message that it's about jobs, it's about job creation and it's about getting the atmosphere right," Brownback said. "They've maintained and created a very positive, growth-oriented atmosphere in Texas that we've got to get back to in the United States." Perry's campaign issued a statement calling Brownback "one of the most respected voices for conservatism...

Hundreds of United Methodist clergy are expressing deep concerns over a pledge made by a large group of fellow ministers to marry same-sex couples. They argue that if the pledge is carried through, the future of the denomination is in jeopardy. "We do not know how many, if any, marriages or 'holy unions' of same-sex couples will be performed by UM clergy in the near future," reads a letter, currently signed by more than 400 pastors, to the Council of Bishops. "But we do know the destructive effects that will result in our local churches and throughout the denomination if...

In the early 1900s, many Americans — from ordinary citizens to those in high office — were frightened by the perceived threat from the Roman Catholic Church. Their fear had tragic consequences.The mind-set is all too familiar: A radical religious group, lurking inside the country, owing loyalty to a foreign power, threatens America. No one denies that its members have a right to worship as they please, but good Americans, patriots, feel compelled to call for curbs against the menace they present. Because of the number of Americans sharing these fears, calls for restrictions on the religion are voiced openly...

More than 200 United Methodist clergy in Illinois have pledged to flout church policy and bless unions for same-sex couples, putting their jobs, homes and callings in jeopardy if couples take advantage of their offer.Methodists in the Northern Illinois Conference also called on the global church to impose no more than a 24-hour suspension for clergy who defy the policy.Elders, deacons and pastors took their stand after civil unions in Illinois became legal this month. But they said their determination to support same-sex unions has been fueled further by a church trial last week in which a jury found a...

MILWAUKEE, (AP) -- Methodist pastors who have increasingly defied a church ban on marrying gays were dealt a setback Wednesday when a colleague was found guilty in a church trial of marrying a lesbian couple in 2009. A 13-person jury of clergy peers unanimously convicted The Rev. Amy DeLong of Osceola. The jury found the 44-year-old not guilty of a second charge of being a "self-avowed practicing homosexual." That vote was 12-1. After the verdicts were announced Wednesday afternoon, church officials began hearing a second round of testimony to help jurors recommend a penalty that could range from suspension to...

MILWAUKEE (AP) -- A growing number of pastors in the United Methodist Church say they're no longer willing to obey a church rule that prohibits them from officiating at same-sex marriages, despite the potential threat of being disciplined or dismissed from the church. In some parts of the U.S., Methodist pastors have been marrying same-sex couples or conducting blessing ceremonies for same-sex unions for years with little fanfare and no backlash from the denomination. Calls to overturn the rule have become increasingly vocal in recent weeks, ratcheting up the pressure for the Methodist church to join other mainline Protestant denominations...

In my article last month about the historic vote by Presbyterians to endorse the ordination of gay and lesbian ministers, I issued a challenge to the Methodist Church, the last mainstream denomination holding out on full acceptance of LGBT people. It seems there were already Methodists taking up the challenge to make their denomination more welcoming. Just days after the Presbyterians moved to approve gay and lesbian clergy, the Washington Post reported that “the Baltimore-Washington Conference of the United Methodist Church narrowly approved a groundbreaking same-sex marriage resolution.� The resolution, passed at the church’s annual local conference, would amend the...

Same-sex marriage is illegal in Minnesota but 70 United Methodist clergy in the state have signed a statement saying they will marry gay couples. "We joyfully affirm that we will offer the grace of the Church’s blessing to any prepared couple desiring Christian marriage," reads the statement introduced this week at the 2011 Minnesota Annual Conference. "We are convinced by the witness of others and are compelled by Spirit and conscience to act. We thank the many United Methodists who have already called for full equality and inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in the life of the...

In announcing a Lenten fast “for a moral budget,” many Religious Left officials are arguing against federal budget cuts but are silent about ongoing federal support for organizations like abortion provider Planned Parenthood. According to Democratic and Republican sources quoted by the Washington Post, both the Planned Parenthood funding, as well as Medicaid funds for abortions in the District of Columbia, figured prominently in budget negotiations. Religious groups participating in the “budget fast” include the United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries, The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Hunger Program, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Lutheran World Relief, Sojourners and World...

The Journey Home with Marcus Grodi LIVE - Mondays 8 PM ET Encore – Tuesday 1 AM ET & 9 AM ET, Thursday 2 PM ET, Saturday 11 PM ET This exciting call-in program examines why so many people, including fallen away Catholics and individuals from other denominations, are being drawn home to the Catholic Church.

The Christian tradition that emerged from John Wesley’s eighteenth-century Methodist movement has developed several branches. One of them is called the Wesleyan Church, and I was born into a family in that denomination. My parents met at a Bible college in Oskaloosa, Iowa. My father was studying to be a minister, and my mother was there to pick a husband out of the pool of future preachers.Dad’s family was predominately Wesleyan. As Wesleyans, we believed in being born again. We boiled it down to the ABCs. A: Accept Jesus as Savior. B: Believe He died for you, personally, on...

A Texas couple and the head of an Oregon charity secretly sent millions of dollars to an Iranian bank and to a contact in Iran for nine years, violating the U.S. embargo on the Middle East country, according to a federal indictment. The indictment describes an alleged scheme in which the Texas couple got tax exemptions for their donations to the Portland-based Child Foundation charity. The head of the charity, Mehrdad Yasrebi, allegedly funneled money that was meant for food and other assistance to his cousin and to a bank controlled by the Iranian government. Working through Iranian corporations and...

I am a Methodist, my parents were Methodist, my grandparents were Methodist. When I heard Glenn Beck say that some churches have a radical left-wing progessive agendas that matched our current administration's views, that they are working with the left, I thought, no, not the Methodist Church. But then I looked up the website of the NAACP and union fronted One Nation Working Together.org. Going down the list of partners I saw unions, the NAACP, black, muslim and socialist organizations and The United Methodist Church General Board of Church and Society (I can't find it there now). I looked up...

A Methodist preacher is preparing to sue his own church over claims it is using charitable donations to pursue a campaign of discrimination against Israeli Jews. The legal dispute has been prompted by a controversial resolution passed at the Methodist Conference which called for a boycott of some Israeli goods. If the legal action is successful, it would likely bring to an end all similar campaigns that boycott Israeli goods and services. David Hallam, who preaches in Methodist churches around Birmingham, has accused his own church of wasting funds to pursue a vendetta against Israel. There are no Methodist churches...

Clarisse is a snake, found in the Fossil Butte region of Wyoming, perfectly fossilized in limestone and the only one of her kind known to be in existence. Palentologist Hussan Zaher found her, and he brought her to Houston in hopes of learning more about her. He brought his precious find to The Methodist Hospital and subjected her to a detailed CT (computerized tomography) scan in hopes of finding where Clarisse fits along the timeline of evolution. [You need Flash installed to watch this video] ...CT scan technician Pam Mager conducted the scan on a 64-slice scanner that is capable...

ELCA pastor drives ‘God talk’ initiative By Susan Hogan* A UMNS Report CHICAGO – Can Christians discuss the language of faith without it becoming a battle over political correctness or theological orthodoxy? The National Council of Churches hopes so. To begin the conversation, its Justice for Women Working Group brought 28 people to Chicago in August for a three-day symposium, “Language Matters.” S. Kim Coffing, the lone United Methodist participant, did not know what to expect. “The issue of how we talk about God and faith stirs up pain for many people,” said Coffing, an executive with the denomination’s Commission...

The following commentary is by Riley B. Case, associate executive director of the Confessing Movement Within the United Methodist Church.Dr. Riley B. Case Dr. Case served many years as a pastor and district superintendent in the UMC’s North Indiana Conference (now the Indiana Conference). He has been a delegate to five UM General Conferences. (Links below have been added by MethodistThinker.com.) — Ed.– I was speaking with a fellow pastor several years ago and inquired whether he and his church might be interested in Good News magazine. He replied “no� because people in his congregation were upset enough with...

A United Methodist congregation should conduct same-sex marriages despite the possibility of negative consequences, according to Bishop Gene Robinson of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire. "I'm here to tell you that when you speak about God's limitless, boundless and unimaginable love, you will get into trouble: I promise you, I know this," Robinson said to the congregation. Robinson both gave a sermon at the invitation of Foundry's Senior Pastor, Dean Snyder, as well as answered questions from church members during an informal session following the Sunday morning worship services. Robinson's sermon was part of a month-long "outstanding preacher" series...

The president of a United Methodist-affiliated seminary says Christians who feel the need to evangelize people of other faiths have “an incorrect perception of what it means to follow Jesus.” The comment from Jerry D. Campbell, president of California’s Claremont School of Theology, was published July 2 by the United Methodist Reporter. “The correct perception [of following Jesus] is much more on [the] side of learning to express love for God and love for your neighbor as yourself,” he told the newspaper. Dr. Campbell’s remarks were reported in an article about Claremont’s plan to become an “interreligious institution” that offers...

The banality of Methodist evil By ROBIN SHEPHERD 04/07/2010 Boycott against goods emanating from settlements shows where the rancid, global campaign against the Jewish state is heading. The decision last week by the Methodist Church of Britain to launch a boycott against goods emanating from settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem will send a shiver down the spine of anyone with a feel for where the rancid, global campaign against the Jewish state is currently heading. The boycott will involve transactions of the church itself, and extends to encouraging all affiliated Methodists to follow suit. The Methodists boycott...

The Methodist Church of Great Britain is currently holding its annual conference in Portsmouth, England. At the conference, which began on June 24, 2010, delegates will vote on a report about the Arab-Israeli conflict titled “Justice for Palestine and Israel.” The 50-plus page report calls on Methodists in Great Britain to embrace the Kairos Document issued by Palestinian Christian leaders late last year and to participate in a boycott of Israeli goods produced in the West Bank. (June 30, 2010 note: This boycott has been affirmed. See update below.) The arguments used to justify these actions are similar to those...

For the second time in less than a year, the United Methodist General Board of Church and Society (GBCS), an official agency of the denomination, has published an article arguing that sexual relationships outside the covenant of marriage are not necessarily improper. “An Ordained Single Woman and the Discipline,” published June 7 as part of the “Sex and the Church” series in GBCS’ weekly Faith in Action online newsletter, contends that sexual relationships should not be off-limits for unmarried UM clergy. Last August, the controversial series featured an article by Unitarian “sexologist” Debra Haffner who wrote that one can have...

Men belonging to the famously clean-living denomination live to the ripe old age of 83.9, research has found, compared with a national average of 77. For women the difference in longevity was even greater with female Methodists dying at 91.1 on average – nine years longer than the 82 years enjoyed by most British women. Last week Stanley Lucas died in Cornwall aged 110, having become not just the oldest male member of the Methodist Church but the oldest man in Europe. Dr Richard Vautrey, vice president of the Methodist Conference, said, “I’m sure there are many different factors at...

Paul Schenck and his family say grace before dinner at their Manchester Township home in 2007. Schenck will become the first married priest in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg on Saturday. A former Anglican pastor will become the Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg's first married priest when he's ordained Saturday in Springettsbury Township. Paul Schenck, 51, of Manchester Township will be ordained by Bishop Victor Galeone of the Diocese of St. Augustine (Fla.) during a 10 a.m. Mass at St. Joseph Catholic Church. Galeone, a longtime friend of Schenck's, will perform the rite because the Diocese of Harrisburg has...

LAKESIDE, Ohio – In a close vote, delegates at the West Ohio Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church approved the nomination of a gay man as chief financial officer. The nomination of Bill Brownson has been a contentious subject within the regional conference, which includes Columbus, for three months. Affirmative votes exceeded those against by a narrow margin of 28, with 948 votes cast in favor of the appointment and 920 against. Brownson, who is in a long-term, committed relationship, was given the opportunity to address the conference briefly after the vote. “I know this is not about me,”...

The search for the people who killed an 80-year-old woman found beaten under a church pew has gone nationwide. Cross County Sheriff J.R. Smith said possibly two "people of interest" fled the area after the church pastor discovered Lillian Wilson's lifeless body Sunday. Sheriff Smith said investigators know who they're looking for and where they are from, but would not confirm details of the ongoing investigation. The Central United Methodist Church sits along Highway 64 in the small community of Hamlin, west of Wynne, Arkansas. It's where Wilson grew up and where she held her 50th wedding anniversary. The church...

I gave a talk Sunday morning to the men’s club of a large Atlanta Methodist church at the request of an old friend. When he asked me to speak to this group several months ago, I responded with a question which I would ask him repeatedly every time we got together: “They know I’m Catholic, right?” I engage one-on-one with people of other faiths almost every day and always enjoy the dialogue, but this was very different as I would be going on their turf to deliver a talk. I let nagging self-doubt creep in and began to regret my...

Protestant Organist Finds Musical Home in the Catholic Church April 6th, 2010 by Patricia Coll Freeman On the third Sunday in Lent, high in the choir loft of Holy Family Cathedral in Anchorage, a born and bred West Virginian Baptist directed a group of Catholic singers and worshipers through the prayerful notes of the Latin Agnus Dei.But at Pentecost, Gary Marks, the cathedral’s new music director and Baptist-turned-Episcopalian with a Methodist divinity degree, comes home to the Catholic Church guided by the Holy Spirit along the mellifluous thread of sacred music.God’s Musical Direction“The church and music have always been tied together for...

WASHINGTON, D.C., MARCH 29, 2010 (Zenit.org).- This Easter, thousands are planning to become Catholic, including a man who almost lost his life five times. The U.S. bishops' conference shared the story of Jeremy Feldbusch, 30, from Blairsville, Pennsylvania, who is among the thousands preparing to enter the Church Saturday evening. Feldbusch was in the armed services in Iraq, and on April 3, 2003, he was wounded with shrapnel from the conflict, which resulted in blindness in both eyes and traumatic brain injury. He was expected to die shortly after, or if he lived, to sustain extensive brain damage. Doctors put...

Chelsea Clinton, daughter of President Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton will not be having a traditional Christian wedding but are planning a Jewish wedding since her future husband, Marc Mexvinsky is Jewish. The bride and groom announced their wedding in November and are just now talking openly about the groom’s Jewish religion. Much of the talk that is circulating is coming from Jewish Community Centers who are looking eagerly to having a member of President Bill Clinton’s family join their Community. The talk might have started since gossip is that Chelea has been looking for a Jewish rabbi to...

Political Gaps Strain Churches Alan Wisdom February 24, 2010 In a society already ideologically polarized, many believers go to church in hopes of a respite from conflict. But recent surveys show similar political disparities straining the Christian community. There are huge gaps in political affiliation between clergy and laity, especially in the oldline Protestant denominations. The divide between oldline and evangelical Protestant leaders remains exceedingly wide. The much publicized evangelical left, purporting to bridge that divide with a fusion of evangelical theology and liberal politics, remains statistically insignificant. It is little wonder that debilitating conflicts have wracked the oldline denominations,...

The Methodist Church is prepared to be absorbed by the Church of England if that is the price of unity, Britain’s most senior Methodist said yesterday. The Rev David Gamble, president of the Methodist Conference, told the General Synod of the Church of England, meeting at Church House, Westminster: “We are prepared to go out of existence, not because we are declining or failing in mission, but for the sake of mission.� Methodists were “prepared to be changed and even to cease having a separate existence as a Church� if that served the needs of the Kingdom of God. The...

DALLAS (AP) - A sheriff's dispatcher says fires have struck two more rural east Texas churches, just hours after investigators announced that a blaze last week marked the eighth arson against a house of worship in the state this year. A Smith County sheriff's dispatcher says fire struck a Baptist church near Tyler Monday night. Another hit a church about 3 miles away. The fires come the same day the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives announced a blaze that happened last week was the seventh east Texas church fire of 2010 to be deliberately set.

Virginia bishop Charlene Kammerer urges everybody to read and study this toxic letter here: http://www.vaumc.org/Page.aspx?pid=1016 The letter itself is here: http://hopeandaction.org/main/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Adopted-Pastoral-Ltr-GRC-11_03_09-no-line-s.pdf Full text: God’s Renewed Creation: Call to Hope and Action A Pastoral Letter from the Council of Bishops of The United Methodist Church1 God’s creation is in crisis. We, the Bishops of The United Methodist Church, cannot remain silent while God’s people and God’s planet suffer. This beautiful natural world is a loving gift from God, the Creator of all things seen and unseen. God has entrusted its care to all of us, but we have turned our backs...

Chelsea Clinton is Methodist. Her new fiancé is Jewish. From Ivanka Trump to Ed Koch, Jewish Americans talk to The Daily Beast’s Samuel P. Jacobs about the question every mother-in-law wants answered. “The great thing about America is everyone wants to marry a Jewish boy.” —Harvard professor of Yiddish literature Ruth Wisse All summer long, Chelsea Clinton and Marc Mezvinsky were dogged by rumors of an engagement. A Martha’s Vineyard wedding was in the works—and then it wasn’t. Over Thanksgiving, the couple at last made it official. So now that the former first daughter has finally announced her plans to...

Methodist Bishops Urge Surrender in Afghanistan Mark Tooley November 25, 2009 The following article originally appeared on the Front Page Magazine website, and is reproduced with permission. Nearly half of the bishops of the United Methodist Church, America’s third largest (though declining) denomination, are demanding that the U.S. withdraw from Afghanistan by next year. “We believe there is no path to military victory in Afghanistan,” harrumphed the bishops in their November letter to President Obama. But it’s not clear that these bishops ever wanted a “victory” in Afghanistan. After 9-11, the Council of Bishops declined to condemn al Qaeda or...

Several commemorative events will be held in Augsburg, Germany, over the next two days to celebrate the signing of a landmark ecumenical agreement ten years ago between representatives of the the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and the Roman Catholic Church. It was on Oct. 31, 1999, that the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (JDDJ), considered one of the most significant agreements since the Reformation, was signed by church officials from the Vatican and the Lutheran World Federation, which claims to represent 66.7 million of the world's 70.2 million Lutherans. Members of the World Methodist Council later adopted the...

October 26 October 26David TwellmanFormer United Methodist

Offering a new perspective on the reality of aging denominations, The United Methodist Church studied the death rates of Methodists and the general American population and found that the church is dying faster. The death rates for members of the nearly 8 million-member denomination are about a third higher than the national average, according to the "Pockets of 'Youthfulness' in an Aging Denomination" report. In 2005, the United Methodist death rate was 134 percent of the U.S. death rate among those 15 years and older. Among UMC's 62 annual conferences, or regional bodies, in the United States, 34 of them...

Cardinal Francis George / Bishop Mark Hanson Washington D.C., Sep 30, 2009 / 02:49 am (CNA).- Catholic, Lutheran and Methodist church leaders will mark the tenth anniversary of a joint agreement on the Doctrine of Justification in a meeting in downtown Chicago on Thursday. A service including Evening Prayer and tributes to the joint declaration will be held at Old St. Patrick’s Church, a press release from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) reports.The Vatican and the Lutheran World Federation signed the Joint Declaration on October 31, 1999. It was the product of nearly 35 years of Lutheran-Catholic...

Methodists Celebrate Ramadan CHRISLAM COMES TO OMAHABythelastcrusade.org The First United Methodist Church in Omaha, Nebraska hosted an interfaith prayer vigil on Sunday, August 23. The vigil was neither held in preparation of feast days of St. Louis, the heretic fighting King of France, who died during the Second Crusade, nor of St. Bartholomew the Apostle, the first Christian missionary to India.The ceremony was rather conducted in celebration of the first day of Ramadan, the ninth month of the Muslim calendar, when the Angel Gabriel revealed the first verses of the Qur’an to the prophet Muhammad.The vigil was held at...

“Good morning sir, how are you this fine day?” With that one text from his 22-year-old intern’s boyfriend, Republican state Sen. Paul Stanley’s professional and personal life began to unravel, as his sexual liaison with his intern became public. And the hypocrisy of the “family values” 47-year-old married lawmaker with two children came to light. Stanley announced his resignation from his office on Tuesday, effective August 10, amid growing calls for the hypocritical lawmaker to step down. Stanley issued a short statement saying, “Due to recent events, I have decided to focus my full attention on my family and resign...

The call was made in the report ‘Hope in God’s Future’, received by the annual Methodist Conference on Wednesday. The report encourages people to repent in particular for their complicity in systems that exploit creation and prey on the powerless, but also offers advice on how Christians can make positive lifestyle changes. Rev David Gamble, the President of the Conference, said the report sent out a challenge to the Church to tackle the issue head on and commit to “significant action” over the next few years. “The first step in making a difference is the recognition of what we’ve done...

Shrinking mainline Protestant denominations are turning to marketing to help stem decades of membership losses and stay afloat. The United Methodist Church recently unveiled a $20 million rebranding effort aimed at attracting younger members to the large but diminishing Protestant group. The new ads will appear over the next four years as part of the denomination's "Rethink Church" campaign. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has invested nearly $1.2 million over the past two years launching a similar branding effort based on the theme, "God's Work, Our Hands." The denominations are trying to bounce back from losses that began...

I've always suspected that George W Bush wasn't really a big fan of Christian fundamentalists: he's an evangelical with Catholic leanings, not a Bible-basher. Now my suspicions have been confirmed by a new book about the worldwide religious revival called God is Back by the Economist's John Mickelthwait and Adrian Wooldridge.What did Bush really think of Bible-bashers?In the 2000 campaign, they report, Bush was visiting the Boeing Plant in Washington State when he was asked whether his enthusiasm for free trade with China might cost him the Christian vote. The reporter who asked him the question was from a...

In June 1828 Joseph Smith, Jr., the founder of Mormonism, joined the Methodist Church [probationary class] in Harmony, Pennsylvania. This was a strange thing for this prophet of a new religion to do, and seriously challenges the story he put out ten years later about the origin of his work. That later story claims that in 1820 Joseph Smith had seen two glorious personages, identified as the Father and the Son, and was informed that the creeds of all the “sects,” or various denominations, “were an abomination” and he was twice forbidden to join any of them. In retelling this...

The United Methodist Church's top court recently ruled that clergy, both active and retired, cannot perform same-sex marriages or civil unions. Performing such services is "a chargeable offense," Bishop Beverly J. Shamana ruled last Friday. UMC's Judicial Council affirmed her decision. The council further ruled that an annual conference, or regional body within the UMC, "may not negate, ignore, or violate provisions of the Discipline with which they disagree, even when the disagreements are based on conscientious objections to the provisions." The council’s ruling was on a resolution passed by the California-Nevada Annual Conference last year, months after the California...

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, April 16 (Compass Direct News) – Buddhist mobs attacked several churches in Sri Lanka last week, threatening to kill a pastor in the southern province of Hambanthota and ransacking a 150-year-old Methodist church building in the capital. On April 8, four Buddhist extremists approached the home of pastor Pradeep Kumara in Weeraketiya, Hambanthota district, calling for him to come out and threatening to kill him. The pastor said his wife, at home alone with their two children, phoned him immediately but by the time he returned, the men had left. Half an hour later, Kumar said, the...