United Methodist
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United Methodist Views and Actions on the Israel-Palestine Conflict
As the conflict in Israel/Palestine continues to grow, I wanted to share the United Methodist views and resources on this matter so that clergy and laity can better educate their congregations and communities. First, we do not tie the current state of Israel to the historic/biblical expression of this, nor do we believe that this Continue reading
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Updates on Trial for Bishop Carcaño
(An earlier version of this appeared on my Facebook page on July 13, 2023) In United Methodist News in the past week, a Trial Date has been set for Bishop Carcaño, who has been under suspension for over a year..This trial is a church trial, not a US court trial. It has similarities, but is Continue reading
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WNCC Petition 18: A reactionary historical repeat
I am headed up to Lake Junaluska on Wednesday, and I am glancing over the petitions again, and one comes back to me that bothers me. I am not usually one to encourage votes one way or another, but this one is something I passionate about, due to my work. Petition 18: Voting at Church Continue reading
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Disaffiliation Rumors, Myths, and Opportunities – #11: Three General Conferences?
A version of this post first appeared on my Facebook Page on March 22nd, 2023. A UM News Article about some Judicial Council rulings. They came down in one decision. The first ruling is that we can have elections if there are vacancies in the delegations for whatever reason. The second, and more interesting thing Continue reading
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Disaffiliation Rumors, Myths, and Opportunities – #10: The Western North Carolina Lawsuit
This originally appeared on my Facebook page on March 21, 2023 The lawsuit filed by several churches in the Western North Carolina Conference to sue the conference and Bishop has been dismissed. It has been dismissed, from my understanding, on grounds that the UMC has it’s own mechanism for handling the issues at play and Continue reading
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Disaffiliation Rumors, Myths, and Opportunities – #9: Eurasia
A version of this post originally appeared on my Facebook Page on March 21, 2023. UM News reported that the Eurasia and Estonia United Methodists Churches have begun the process of leaving the denomination. However, if you recall, there was a Judicial Council ruling that stated that Annual Conferences could not leave as a whole, Continue reading
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Disaffiliation Rumors, Myths, and Opportunities – #8: The Lewis Center Report
There is a report going around from the Lewis Center ( a church and ministry research and leadership development center at Wesley Theological Seminary). It gives us a quantitative look at some of the aspects of the disaffiliating churches so far. Here is a concise summary from the report (full report linked here): The areas Continue reading
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Disaffiliation Rumors, Myths, and Opportunities – #7: Voting
This post originally appeared on my Facebook (Facebook.com/j.lemastersmith on February 14, 2023). Two questions that regularly come up are: 1) Do we have to vote? 2) Do we have to have speakers from both sides come? Short answer: no. Long answer: No one is required to vote. Voting is only required if you are strongly Continue reading
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Disaffiliation Rumors, Myths, and Opportunities # 6 – Appointments, Communications, and Rural/Small Churches
This post originally appeared on my Facebook page, facebook.com/j.lemastersmith, on January 30th, 2023 Another rumor circulating is that The UMC does not care about the small and rural church (you could also include immigrant, ethnic, and inner-city churches, but I also know less about those systems). Some responses: “We ask for a licensed local and Continue reading
Jonathan LeMaster-Smith 