Human sexuality amendments fail

During morning plenary, delegates voted down two amendments to the Social Principles that sought to acknowledge members of the United Methodist Church disagree on homosexuality. Tita Parham and Kathy Gilbert are covering this story for UMNS; I’ll talk with them on tonight’s GC2012 Radio podcast.

I went out to the hall during the break and caught a couple of reactions from delegates.


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Social Concerns
Cheryl Lowe (left) and Andrea Gauldin-Rubio, both United Methodists, hold their signs based on Scripture and the teachings of John Wesley at the Hands Off! rally on April 5 outside the courthouse in Waynesville, North Carolina. They were among many United Methodists who used their lunchtime during the nearby Peace Conference to attend the nonviolent rally decrying government overreach. Lowe is a member of Mt. Pleasant United Methodist in McLeansville, N.C., and Gauldin-Rubio is the director of Christian education at Bunker Hill United Methodist Church in Kernersville, N.C. Photo by Heather Hahn, UM News.

Churchgoers rally against government overreach

United Methodists at the Peace Conference joined in one of the nationwide protests against the Trump administration’s impact on government services and human rights.
Social Concerns
The John Henry Ensemble, led by the Rev. John Henry on trombone (left), plays a jazz concert on the evening of April 5 during the Peace Conference in Lake Junaluska, N.C. Henry, a United Methodist pastor and director of the music program at A&T University in Greensboro, N.C., also sang and played trombone during the conference’s worship service. Photo by Crystal Caviness, United Methodist Communications.

Building peace in a dangerously polarized US

A United Methodist Peace Conference drew some 200 clergy and laity to discuss breaking down national divisions. Some joined a Hands Off! rally that drew a cross-section of people.
Social Concerns
The Rev. Rachel Cornwell, wearing glasses at center, joins with the Rev. Donna Claycomb Sokol, wearing a clerical collar at left, and other D.C.-area pastors in a time of prayer and protest on Ash Wednesday on Capitol Hill. The gathering was organized by Repairers of the Breach, led by Bishop William J. Barber II, who called on faith leaders to stand together in prayer and moral resistance against injustice. United Methodist churches in the U.S. capital and beyond are doing what they can to help federal workers, contractors and others affected by the cuts and layoffs led by the Trump administration, some of which federal courts have already paused. Photo courtesy of the Rev. Rachel Cornwell, Dumbarton United Methodist Church.

Churches confront mass federal layoffs

Pastoral care, prayer and protests are some of the ways United Methodist congregations are supporting church members and others affected by the Trump administration’s drastic cuts.

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