Unpacking Disaffiliation By Thomas Lambrecht By my count, as of December 31, 2023, 7,651 churches have disaffiliated from The United Methodist Church in the U.S. since 2019. This represents 25.8 percent of the number of churches that were listed by the denomination in 2019. Dr. Lovett Weems, of the Lewis
Today’s Reading: Read Numbers 3:1-9; 4:46-50 In Leviticus 8:1-14, we learned all about the requirements for being a priest. Now as the Israelites are about to start their journey, God identified exactly who the priests would be. The Levite tribe was chosen and instructed to get direction from Aaron and
Religion as a Cultural and Political Identity Republicans like the *idea* of religion, without the actual religion part. Why I’m Not an Exvangelical Carey Nieuwhof explains why he’s not an Exvangelical. 7 Parenting Errors That Can Influence Adult Children to Leave the Faith …here are seven parenting errors that can
When we read the stories of Jesuit priest Alfred Delp, celebrating mass in shackles in Tegel prison in Berlin in the fall of 1944, of Archbishop (later Cardinal) Francis-Xavier Nguyễn Văn Thuận, celebrating the Eucharist in solitary confinement in Vietnam with a drop of wine and a little bit of
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The UM Church Adjusts to Fewer Bishops By Thomas Lambrecht In the aftermath of losing one-fourth of its congregations and members in the U.S., The United Methodist Church anticipates a number of adjustments to its ministry and structure. For example, UM News Service has reported that since 2016, general
Today’s Reading: Read Leviticus 11:1; Leviticus 11:45 Let’s play a guessing game. From this list choose the one thing that is different than the others: yellow, orange, blue, one. Which one did you choose? Yellow, orange and blue are all colors, one is a number. One is the word that
What does it mean to claim the US is a Christian nation, and what does the Constitution say? Many Americans believe the United States was founded as a Christian nation, and the idea is energizing some conservative and Republican activists. But the concept means different things to different people, and