General Conference
AME General Conference votes to form committee to study LGBTQ issues
By Kathryn Post — July 9, 2021
(RNS) — The committee will examine Scripture and doctrine and will hear testimonies of LGBTQ individuals of African descent.
AME Church bishops address COVID-19, critical race theory as major meeting opens
By Adelle M. Banks — July 6, 2021
(RNS) — ‘We acknowledge the current controversy around Critical Race Theory and acknowledge that healing can only begin when the traumas of the past are recognized,’ the bishops said.
United Methodist bishops cancel virtual special session of General Conference
By Emily McFarlan Miller — March 22, 2021
(RNS) — The special session in May was meant to allow delegates to suspend the rules to allow the use of mail-in ballots to keep the denomination running through its postponed General Conference meeting in 2022.
United Methodists reschedule meeting — and decision on splitting — again
By Emily McFarlan Miller — February 25, 2021
(RNS) — In the meantime, bishops have called for another special session.
Texas United Methodists take up call to replace denomination’s logo over association with racist imagery
By Emily McFarlan Miller — September 23, 2020
(RNS) — One of the United Methodist Church’s regional conferences has taken up the call to replace the denomination’s ‘Cross and Flame’ logo because of its association for many with the racist imagery of a burning cross.
United Methodists would’ve met this week to consider a split. What are they doing instead?
By Emily McFarlan Miller — May 15, 2020
(RNS) — Many US United Methodist leaders see the delay as a blessing, allowing more time and cooler heads to consider a split. Others are concerned about ongoing damage after decades of debate over the role of LGBTQ Christians in the church.
United Methodist bishops ask church court to review proposal to split denomination
By Emily McFarlan Miller — March 12, 2020
(RNS) — If the court rules the plan is constitutional, delegates could take up the proposal, called 'A Protocol of Reconciliation and Grace Through Separation,' at the United Methodist General Conference May 5-15 in Minneapolis.
Why schism? United Methodist leaders explain proposal to split the denomination
By Emily McFarlan Miller — January 13, 2020
(RNS) — Participants offered a behind-the-scenes look at how they arrived at a proposal, announced earlier this month, that would allow conservative United Methodist churches and conferences to split from the denomination over their beliefs barring LGBTQ United Methodists from ordination and marriage.
Why Jewish mediator Kenneth Feinberg wants to save the United Methodist Church
By Emily McFarlan Miller — January 10, 2020
(RNS) — 'I thought that the church and what it stands for and its impact on the day-to-day lives of people was important and that we should step up and try and preserve that, which hopefully we've done,' says Feinberg.
A Dallas United Methodist church will end 2019 affirming all marriage vows
By Yonat Shimron — December 20, 2019
(RNS) — Ahead of a denominational clampdown on ordination and marriage beginning Jan. 1, First United Methodist Church of Dallas will take the bold step of closing 2019 with a service reaffirming marriage vows — both heterosexual and same-sex.
United Methodists float plans to split denomination after LGBTQ vote
By Emily McFarlan Miller — September 19, 2019
(RNS) — The most likely proposals provide for dissenting congregations to exit the denomination, while retaining ties to United Methodist support organizations.
Adam Hamilton on ‘Methodists in the middle’ and what’s next for the denomination
By Emily McFarlan Miller — June 4, 2019
(RNS) — As the United Methodist Church has spent decades wrestling over the inclusion of its LGBTQ members, the Rev. Adam Hamilton, pastor of the largest United Methodist church in the United States, has emerged, as one local radio station put it, as 'the Pied Piper for Methodists in the middle.'
Why United Methodists are watching the results of a denominational court meeting
By Emily McFarlan Miller — April 23, 2019
CHICAGO (RNS) — What might United Methodists' top court decide this week about the Traditional Plan, and what would that mean for the second-largest Protestant denomination in the United States?
What to do about ordination? A gay divinity school student ponders her future
By Yonat Shimron — April 23, 2019
DURHAM (RNS) — Dozens of LGBTQ United Methodist seminary students will graduate next month from the 13 schools affiliated with the denomination. Like Spencer Cullom, who is a lesbian, they face an uncertain future.
US Methodists plot ways to resist new LGBT rules
By Yonat Shimron — April 3, 2019
(RNS) — On Thursday (April 4), a group of 30 clergy, bishops and activists led by megachurch pastor Adam Hamilton will gather in Decatur, Ga., to strategize a future for those churches that cannot remain in a denomination that denies LGBT rights.
