(ANALYSIS) While insiders grasped the symbolism of this interfaith affirmation, the news at this pandemic-delayed gathering focused, as expected, on biblical authority and sexuality. This General Conference urgently moved to modernize many UMC doctrines and laws after the exit of 7,659 congregations in America’s biggest church split since the Civil War.
Read More(OPINION) Speaking for God can be a messy business. Very messy. No matter how sincere you are, you might turn out eventually to have been wrong. No matter how many Scriptures you cite to prove your point, those who disagree will trot out contrary passages to demonstrate why you’re tragically misguided — if not heretical.
Read MoreFour months after supporting blessings for same-sex couples, the Vatican on Monday declared gender-affirming surgery and surrogacy as violations of human dignity — making them equal to abortion and euthanasia as practices that reject God’s plan. The Holy See’s office that handles doctrine issued “Infinite Dignity,” a 20-page document that had been in the works for five years.
Read MoreAndy Stanley’s sermon on Sunday, which sought to clarify his stance on LGBTQ+ issues, is evoking condemnation from nonaffirming Christian leaders and praise from ones that affirm same-sex relationships.
Read More(OPINION) Lonnie Frisbee may have been largely airbrushed out of the Jesus movement history by some of his former colleagues because his personal story was inconvenient. On separate occasions, Frisbee was fired by Chuck Smith and John Wimber, and afterward was regarded as an outcast by the movement he’d largely started.
Read MoreThe Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church has approved the conditional disaffiliation of 55 churches over human sexuality issues, including same-sex marriages and potential ordination of pastors who identify as LGBTQ+.
Read More(OPINION) In England, proclaiming God’s blessing on same-sex relationships has become the new orthodoxy for clergy with established ties to the powers that be. But that’s not the case in Nigeria and the Global South, where Anglican leaders have urged the Church of England to consider the impact of its actions on believers facing conflict with Jihadi terrorists.
Read More(OPINION) We cannot afford to repeat the errors of the Jesus revolution of the 1960s in the days ahead, as thousands (millions?) of young people (and others) from many different backgrounds begin to pour into our churches, looking for God, looking for hope, looking for meaning, looking for truth.
Read More(OPINION) The “Chain of Discipleship” image showing five Catholics celebrating at a church, including a woman in priest’s vestments and a person in a rainbow-lettered “PRIDE” shirt, rocked Catholic social media — especially when it appeared on the Synod of Bishops Facebook page, linked to the ongoing Synod on Synodality that began in 2021.
Read MoreThe mainline Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) announced this week it will change the way it reports statistical information about the denomination’s membership to now include a category for nonbinary/genderqueer adherents. The Office of General Assembly said the new reporting will more accurately reflect the makeup of the denomination.
Read More(OPINION) For the Rev. Duane Beachey, the central miracle of the early church was its willingness to abolish racial barriers. Too often, Beachey said, although Christians “claim to take the Bible quite literally from Genesis to Revelation, they don’t take the words of Jesus literally most of the time.”
Read More(OPINION) While Canterbury is urging Anglicans to keep “walking together,” the 2022 Lambeth Conference demonstrated that many of the Anglican Communion’s bishops can no longer even receive the Eucharist together because of conflicts over sexuality.
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