| Church needs wiser response to evil Sorry to say but the corporate United Methodist Church and its leaders did not represent me or my views during our recent conflict with Iraq. The churchs preoccupation with pacifism causes me great concern. What would have been The United Methodist Churchs position during the Revolutionary War? What was The United Methodist Churchs position during the Civil War? Is this preoccupation with pacifism one of the major reasons it took the United States so long to realize the truth about Hitler and Nazi Germany? If so, shame on us. History will repeat itself for those who fail to learn its teachings. If it takes wars to defeat terrorism, tyranny and oppression, and to elevate truth, justice and freedom, we must prevail. In the future, I implore the leadership of The United Methodist Church to choose a wiser, long-term position one that I am convinced is a more responsible position to help resolve the struggles of mankind against evil. Rev. John R. Coleman
Timonium UMC Financial breach must be addressed Our theme for annual conference this year, Repair the Breach: Restore Gods Community, speaks to the great problem of racism. There is another breach that has developed between the conference and the local church. Now is the time to address this issue before the conference gets into serious financial trouble. We know we have a problem. At conference we will hear another statistical report that will tell us that our state of decline has continued. We will hear how the current medical insurance costs are escalating and it will require a large influx of new money. We will hear that this years apportionment totals are substantially below last years. We will hear that we need to approve a capital fund campaign to raise $12.7 million. We will hear that we must raise the budget at a rate well above the consumer price index and increase the amount each local church must give in apportionments, while passing along at least a 15 percent increase in medical costs. Can the breach be repaired? Should the local church continue to choose between apportionment payments and effective ministry in the local community? Too many churches are already facing that unnecessary choice. The Stewardship Transition Team is trying to provide some help. They have identified the need to train and resource the local church in the area of stewardship. Yet, the Capital Funds proposal is still a top-down approach that will not work. They have tried to solve the problem, but it does not go far enough. The conference needs to resource the local church in the area of stewardship with no strings attached. Instead, the conference says we want to help the local church raise money but the bottom line is that we still expect the local church to raise $12.7 million for the conference. Why cant the bottom line be, Let us, as a conference, help you, the local church, get your financial house in order? Let us make it easier for the local church to do the ministry that needs to be done. Let us, as the conference, start investing in the local church and become its servant. Then we will begin to see the repairing of the breach. As a result well see local churches willingly and eagerly investing in the mission of our conference through apportionments in ways we have never seen before. It will be much easier later to raise the $12.7 million. We have a desperate need to change the way we have done business. There is still great passion for the ministry of The United Methodist Church. We want to turn our church around. There are many places where disciples are being made and lives are being restored. The only way those things can continue is if we confront the breach and find a way to repair it. Rev. Barry Hidey
Pastor, Bel Air UMC Conservative stance is too narrow James Heidinger II, president of Good News, understandably takes exception to the criticism voiced by a number of us in a previous issue of the UMConnection. But surely he knows that our intent is not to silence anybody. Rather, it is to call them to a different spirit. From the beginning, the Good News movement, and the related IRD and Confessing Movement, have been a divisive force in the life of The United Methodist Church. They have sought to undermine the leadership of bishops and the denominationwide agencies that express the common purposes and missions of the church. They have worked to diminish the mutual trust that is important at every level of the churchs life. Most recently that has been evident in their own efforts to silence Bishop Joseph Sprague and their earlier attacks upon others with whom they are in disagreement. We believe their voice of theological conservatism has a positive contribution to make, even though we disagree with many of their conclusions. We grieve over their readiness to dismiss all those who do not accept their more narrow theological stance. We can all learn from the wisdom of John Wesley, who voiced a spirit of mutual acceptance and intellectual humility. Wesley writes that to be ignorant of many things, and to mistake in some, is the necessary condition of humanity, and every wise man therefore will allow others the same liberty of thinking which he desires they should allow him... . (From Wesleys sermon on Catholic Spirit) Rev. Bill Holmes, retired
Bishop Forrest Stith, retired
Rev. Phil Wogaman, retired | 
Login/Register to leave comment