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 […]
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, […]
(This post originally appeared on my Facebook – facebook.com/j.lemastersmith on February 1, 2023, all reference are from the UM Book of Discipline 2016). The rumors circulating around getting rid of Jesus or scripture or some other aspects of life are still false, but there is a section of the Discipline these rumors use to root […]
As we keep going down the rabbit trail of disaffiliation questions, another question came to me about welcome. Can we (United Methodists) deny people access to worship? The answer is NO. Yet historically we have, based on race, color, national origin, economic status, relation/connection to community, marital status, and many other reasons. We have done […]
(This post originally appeared on my Facebook – facebook.com/j.lemastersmith on January 15, 2023, all reference are from the UM Book of Discipline 2016) One of the myths circulating regarding The UMC split is that churches need to leave so they can have control of their property and the conference cannot snatch it out from under […]
(This post originally appeared on my Facebook – facebook.com/j.lemastersmith on January 10, 2023, all reference are from the UM Book of Discipline 2016). We all know The United Methodist Church is dealing with some significant issues right now. Yet, there is a great deal of misinformation going around, preying on the reality that we don’t […]
With the pandemic beginning to taper off, I am finally getting to offer in-person courses again (I know the proper protocols to maintain safety, am encouraging people to only sign up if vaccinated, mask up, and maintain distance). Some of my favorite in-person courses are United Methodist Studies courses offered in my district for lay […]
Jonathan LeMaster-Smith 