Moral leadership, social change, and the common good
Progressive Christians seeking to find your way in a turbulent world, these books are for you. My writings are intended to challenge and edify. Not convinced? To quote LeVar Burton on Reading Rainbow, “You don’t have to take my word for it!” Just check the end of year lists! My book Reckoning Methodism, published in … Read more
Learning about the diaconate of all believers is best done in community. The ministry of the diaconate is a call to all Christians—lay and clergy; commissioned, consecrated, and ordained. Diakonia is a call to serve others in Jesus’s name. Here is a everything you need to lead a group study of diakonia. All of these … Read more
What takes three and a half years, four leaders, nineteen additional contributors, and grants and staff time from multiple supportive institutions? Answer: A groundbreaking book on the diaconate! The diaconate is the ministry of service. Christians are sent by Christ to serve others, emissaries of God’s good news to the poor, spoken through actions of … Read more
The Revised Social Principles document approved by General Conference 2024 provides vital support for the UMC’s creation justice ministries. Read my assessment and discussion of items for further reflection and continued work in the United Methodist Creation Justice blog. 1. How should science, reason, traditional wisdom, and theology informour shared work of creation justice? 2. … Read more
Please join us for a book launch party and celebration of the new book series: T&T Clark Enquiries in Embodiment, Sexuality, and Social Ethics. The author is El/yse Ambrose. The Editorial Board consists of Kate Ott, Monique Moultrie, and Darryl W. Stephens. Registration for June 28 event. Link to purchaseand 20% discount code: GLR BD8 … Read more
Although their “marriage” was never very intimate, the failing merger of The United Methodist Church and the Methodist Protestant Church of Côte d’Ivoire raises significant questions regarding the “worldwide nature” of the UMC and its global ambitions. Read more in this article featured on UM & Global.
As of January 1, 2025, deacons in the UMC will have full sacramental authority. General Conference voted 65% in favor of this change (May 2, 2024, Calendar item 554). This petition emerged from GBHEM’s ministry study (2020 ADCA, pp. 1003ff), which made several recommendations to General Conference regarding deacons. https://www.resourceumc.org/en/content/general-conference-2020-advance-daily-christian-advocate. A new day for ordained … Read more
General Conference begins tomorrow. United Methodists from around the world will convene their much anticipated and multiply delayed legislative assembly, postponed since 2020. This gathering will not be business as usual. The end is near for The United Methodist Church, at least as we have known it. I offer these prayers on the eve … Read more
Now available in paperback! Reckoning Methodism: Mission and Division in the Public Church is a timely appraisal of White church and society in the United States. This book seeks historical clarity, collective repentance, charismatic learning, and institutional courage as United Methodists reckon with inherited animosities, divisions, and racism. Reckoning Methodism is available at Amazon, B&N, … Read more
It is Black History Month, and The United Methodist Church still has a lot of work to do. The current Social Principles document includes a robust statement against racism. The section, “Rights of Racial and Ethnic Persons,” clearly defines personal and systemic racism, “recognize[s] racism as sin,” encourages “oppressed people . . . to demand … Read more