Be the change!

Bishop Gregory Palmer urged the congregation at Foundry United Methodist Church in Washington, DC to “be the change you want to see.” The Baltimore-Washington Conference has taken the quote from Gandhi as their theme during the inauguration of Barack Obama. About 40 churches in the conference are opening their doors to show “radical hospitality” to the millions flooding into the city. At Foundry, more than 90 United Methodists from New Jersey, Ohio, Texas, North Carolina, Iowa and Georgia are sleeping on the Sunday school classroom floors. At the moment, they are enjoying oven baked chicken, mashed potatoes, mixed vegetables and chocolate cake in their red, white and blue decorated fellowship hall. Watching over them is a life-size cardboard cut-out of a smiling Obama. As one young man said, “I’m here to see history.” United Methodist News Service will be in DC throughout the MLK holiday and inauguration, stay tuned for more details.


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General Church
The Rev. Paul Seay. Photo courtesy of the author.

Leadership Gathering should focus on local church

United Methodist leaders have benignly neglected local congregations for too long, a pastor writes. Any effort to revitalize the denomination must focus on them.
General Church
The Rev. Dr. Luan-Vu “Lui” Tran. Photo courtesy of author.

A vision for funding regional conferences

Each regional United Methodist conference should contribute according to its capacity. Equal constitutional authority doesn’t require equal financial obligation, writes an assistant chancellor.
General Church
The Rev. Dr. Lloyd T. Nyarota and The Rev. Albert Otshudi Longe. Photos courtesy of the authors.

An invitation to reflect on the denomination’s future

Two participants in the coming Leadership Gathering raise questions about The United Methodist Church’s structure, leadership and evangelism that could help frame discussions about the denomination’s future.

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