World Methodist Council’s new president talks about what holds a fracturing church together
RNS In August, the World Methodist Council, an umbrella group of Methodist denominations, meeting in Gothenburg, Sweden, elected the Rev Debra Wallace-Padgett president of the council. Wallace-Padgett has been a bishop of the United Methodist Church since 2012 and has led both the denomination’s North Alabama Conference and, since 2021, its Holston Conference, in eastern […]
Christian group temporarily opens beaches it has closed on Sunday mornings as court fight plays out
Ocean Grove, New Jersey, US AP For the first time in generations, beachgoers were out on the sand in a New Jersey shore community on the Sunday morning before Memorial Day as a Christian religious group fights the state over its regular beach closures there during Sunday services. The Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, a […]
A US Christian group allows Sunday morning access to a New Jersey beach it closed to honour God
Ocean Grove, New Jersey, US AP A Christian religious group that has closed its beaches on Sunday mornings for generations to honour God is relenting temporarily, allowing beachgoers onto the sand while it fights a court case with New Jersey over whose rules are paramount. The Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, a Methodist group that […]
Essay: Christianity is changing in South Africa as Pentecostal and Indigenous churches grow – what’s behind the trend
DION FOSTER, professor of public theology at the Free University of Amsterdam, looks at changing religious demographics in South Africa in an article first published on The Conversation…
After troubled decade, Kenya Methodists elect new Presiding Bishop
Nairobi, Kenya RNS After forcing out their leader three months ago, the Methodist Church in Kenya elected a new Presiding Bishop on Thursday, raising hopes for a denomination that has faced the threat of schism due to bitter disagreements within its leadership. Rev Isaiah Deye, 61, was elected as the seventh Presiding Bishop at the […]
Postcards: Faith-based volunteers show up to help after Mississippi tornadoes
BOB SMIETANA, of Religion News Service, reports how Christian groups have responded after the devastating tornadoes in Mississippi…
Global Methodist Church releases list of recommended schools for hopeful clergy
United States RNS How does one become a pastor in the new Global Methodist Church? The fledgling Methodist denomination, a home for congregations and clergy that have broken away from the United Methodist Church amid ongoing debate over the role of LGBTQ Christians, has announced a list of recommended educational institutions for candidates seeking ordination as a […]
Meet the organisation preserving and promoting the stories of Black Methodists in the US
RNS When most people think of the United Methodist Church, Carol Travis said, they don’t picture Black people. “People still think that the United Methodist Church is white,” said Travis. “You don’t see enough Black faces even though we have been there from the beginning. We never left.” The congregation of East Calvary Methodist Episcopal […]
Church schism: After years of loud debate, conservatives quietly split from United Methodist Church
EMILY MCFARLAN MILLER, of Religion News Service, reports that after decades of rancorous debate over the ordination and marriage of LGBTQ United Methodists, a schism finally came “without fanfare, but full of hope, faith, and perseverance”…
Church schools: First Pope, now US churches face boarding school reckoning
PETER SMITH, of Associated Press, reports on how US churches are preparing for the handing down of a report looking at the loss of life and the enduring traumas of the US boarding school system…