PlainSpoken

Church membership is important. Sometimes our local church membership rolls look much different than the reality of a Sunday morning. When churches vote to leave the UMC and members suddenly show up that haven't been to church in years who is really at fault? And should we be mad at the Annual Conference for trying to contact members directly? Here is a short video directed at that very subjec...

At the 2016 General Conference, it was agreed by those assembled that African United Methodism, where the most explosive growth in membership is, would finally receive more bishops to help oversee the growth. However, financial realities have resulted in those in authority openly speaking about reneging on this commitment in order to continue siphoning money to areas on the denomination that are s...

Rev. Joe DiPaolo is the head pastor at FUMC Lancaster in Pennsylvania. He published an article last year, detailing the behavior of the Commission on General Conference, from which he had resigned after they seemed to conduct the business of their committee without fulfilling basic mandates. Jeffrey reached out to him out of a desire to flesh out the tradeoffs of confidentiality and other dynamics...

We continue our look at the various Annual Conferences across the United States, this time we look at the Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church. This conference was recently sued by 38 churches within the conference who are attempting to leave the denomination but were disheartened by what they saw as unfair conditions placed on leaving. Unlike most Annual Conferenc...

Rev. Jay Therrell has been at the forefront of advocacy for churches who want to disaffiliate from The United Methodist Church for years. He stands at the helm of the Wesleyan Covenant Association, which is acting to serve as a "midwife" for the Global Methodist Church. Jay is often maligned for representing part of the 'Reform and Renewal' coalition. In this conversation, Jeffrey...

Pastor Jeffrey takes time to update the connection on what is going on in the Great Plains Annual Conference, according to select leading voices there. We look at some of the financial figures, names & dates, and render some conclusions for other conferences to draw. Kansas & Nebraska Methodists seem to have worked out a better way to navigate these trials. Let those who have ears to hear....

On March 2, 2023, Bishop Thomas Bickerton of the New York Annual Conference, President of the Council of Bishops, released a "State of the Church" that said a lot, explicitly and implicitly, about how he and the leadership of The United Methodist Church are currently understanding the division in this denomination. Jeffrey took some time to isolate some selections from the presentation to...

Weekly Methodist news update for the week of March 10th 2023. An Arkansas church splits into three, The connectional table plans for budget cuts, liberals try to analyze conservatives disaffiliating, the gap between Methodists & difficulties faced by Methodist pastors are some of the things Pastor Jeffrey tackles in this video. Show Notes: Arkansas Church Article: https://www.arkansasonline.co...

What things are happening in the United Methodist Church this week? Pastor Jeffrey dives into a few of the things that you should know about. Show Notes: The UMC Should Not Be A Unitarian Confederacy Article: https://juicyecumenism.com/2023/03/03/umc-should-not-be-unitarian-methodist-confederacy/ Black Clergy Vow To Forge Their Own Path Article: https://religionnews.com/2018/10/09/black-clergy-cri...

The Lewis Center for Church Leadership recently released a report on the characteristics of the churches who are disaffiliating from the United Methodist denomination. This report concludes that these churches are: * Mainly Male Led * Majority White * Overwhelmingly Southern What is the implication that this study is making? Why are these some of the specific things that the study was looking for?...

Methodist Weekly News Update for February 24th, 2023. In this video Pastor Jeffrey discusses disaffiliation and how to do it with integrity, an update on St. Andrew UMC in Plano Texas and the way they attempted to leave the UMC, an update on what is going on with the Asbury Revival/Outpouring, the three jurisdictional resolutions that were recently adopted, a history of disobedience to the book of...

In 2018, Rev. Robert Barnes filed a complaint against the newly-elected bishop, Karen Oliveto, not for being an openly avowed and practicing lesbian, but for preaching doctrines against Jesus. For a write-up at that time, consult: https://juicyecumenism.com/2018/12/07/united-methodist-heresy-complaint-filed-karen-oliveto/ This conversation covers the handling of the complaint process by the bishop...

Like other annual conferences the Kentucky Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church is in the process of dealing with local churches that want to disaffiliate from the denomination. In this video Pastor Jeffrey looks at how the annual conference in this state is approaching and dealing with the process and the reaction of their Bishop, Leonard Fairley. Show Notes: 2023 Hopeful Future Video...

Asbury Theological Seminary is currently in the midst of a revival that started February 8th. Pastor Jeffrey was able to speak with Dr Jonathan Powers, a professor at Asbury, about what has been happening and continues to happen as the revival continues. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Are United Methodist Central Conferences allowed to disaffiliate? Previously we looked at a letter sent to the Philippines Central Conference by the Council of Bishops clarifying if they could use paragraph 2553 to disaffiliate from the denomination. In this video we take a deeper dive into if disaffiliation is even an option for Central Conferences. Show Notes: Liberal Bishops Have Redefined Unit...

In this episode, I cover: 0:00 - Intro 1:30 - Revival at Asbury College/Seminary 4:20 - John Lomperis in the Crosshairs 10:35 - North Georgia WCA Churches File Against Conference 12:55 - Synopsis on National Center for Life & Liberty (NCLL) 18:08 - Lonnie Brooks on the Impending Centrist vs Progressive Battle 22:05 - Open Meetings in the UMC 28:19 - The Hope of Transparency Links: Lambrecht on...

While other annual conferences are going through the process of disaffiliation and have been doing so for the last year, but the Annual Conference in West Virginia seems to be taking a different route. In this video we dive into what is going on in West Virginia and how it compares to other United Methodist Annual Conferences in the United States. Show Notes: WCA Disaffiliation And The Coming Drop...

This brief report details the latest development in The United Methodist Church's different treatment of non-Americans from churches in the continental United States. Namely, United Methodist churches in the central conferences have been told that they cannot disaffiliated from the denomination. I briefly try to explain the logic of such a decision and how it results in some misleading stateme...

The disaffiliation process in the North Georgia Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church has been "put on hold" until the 2024 General Conference due to claims of misinformation being circulated to the local churches. It seems one of these documents was obtained by the Annual Conference and what was perceived as misinformation or half truths was corrected. In this video Pastor Jeff...

The North Georgia Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church chose to "pause" the process of disaffiliation from the denomination at the end of 2022. In a press release the outgoing Bishop, Sue Haupert-Johnson, sites instances of "misleading, defamatory, and false statements and materials" being disseminated throughout the conference. In this episode we look into those claims...

In November the Arkansas Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church failed to ratify the disafilation requests of three local congregations. This has resulted in the split of one of the churches and lawsuits being filed in the others. In this video we take a deeper look at what is going on in Arkansas. Show Notes: Ready to Harvest Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjydU... 3 Church Disa...

Odell Horne, Jr. has been a thought leader in The United Methodist Church for some time, particularly through United Methodist Men. He is a member of the North Georgia Annual Conference. He is particularly concerned with issues of racism, multiculturalism, neocolonialism, and ethnocentricism. He is a free thinker and has a passion for truth. I had been wanting his perspective on a number of things...

Odell Horne, Jr. has been a thought leader in The United Methodist Church for some time, particularly through United Methodist Men. He is a member of the North Georgia Annual Conference. He is particularly concerned with issues of racism, multiculturalism, neocolonialism, and ethnocentricism. He is a free thinker and has a passion for truth. I had been wanting his perspective on a number of things...

Rev. Dr. Vilanculos is the Rector of the United Methodist University in Mozambique. He has worked closely with denominational authorities for some time, and is one of the minds behind the Christmas Covenant. Over the course of two different conversations, he and I explore the dynamics at play in southeastern Africa in the UMC and how it is that a better future might be leveraged in the present for...

Collins as a missionary for the General Board of Global Ministries (GBGM) of The United Methodist Church. He is from Cameroon, but he serves within the Democratic Republic of Congo alongside area bishops to serve local populations in the name of Jesus. He is educated in many fields, and his perspective is one informed by academia and work within the institution of the UMC. Take some time to learn...