White Supremacy Goes International

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The Regionalization of the Bible?

Really? In response to a recent blog by Dr. Stan Copeland of Lovers Lane UMC (https://um-insight.net/general-conference/general-conference-2024/who-really-speaks-for-african-united-methodists-–-r-hetoric/ )  one person wrote that "Africa will not accept the regionalization of the Bible." It would be interesting to know exactly where the idea of "regionalization of the Bible" came from, but a good guess is that it came from Good News Movement propaganda based on recent writings by Rob Renfroe and others.  So it needs to be stated that the regionalization amendments to the UM Constitution do not regionalize the Bible. They place certain types of decisions in the hands of regional and local church leaders in order for those decisions to be made in culturally sensitive and socially appropriate fashion. Specifically regionalization gives to the regions the following types of decisions: 1. Criteria for ordained and licensed ministry:  Regional conferences would set the mi...
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UM Regionalization - Is it Fair?

In a recent editorial Rob Renfroe stated, “ Our friends in Africa with whom we work closely have told us they cannot remain in a church that allows for a contradictory, “contextualized” sexual ethic.” (for the whole piece see  https://www.umnews.org/en/news/traditionalist-caucus-president-speaks-to-criticism_ ) This provides his rational for remaining politically active in the UM General Conference. He's working to guarantee the rights of these "friends" to disaffiliate. Renfroe doesn't tell us exactly who these friends are, the basic idea here is  that by allowing regional decisions on same sex marriage and ordination of LGBTQ persons the UMC is saying that sexual ethics are a matter of cultural context rather than universal divine mandate . And this gets to the core of the Good News and WCA critique of the UMC. They maintain that there is a universal, biblical mandate for human sexual relations that is not subject to historical change and cultural evaluation. Renfro...
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The Real United Methodist Church

There is a substantial difference between the  real  United Methodist Church and the  image  of the UMC asserted by traditionalists anxious to justify their decision to leave it. The real UMC is tens of thousands of congregations and pastors faithfully witnessing to Jesus Christ in the difficult context of contemporary society. In reply to my recent blog post ( https://xroadschristianityandculture.blogspot.com/2022/12/why-remain-in-umc.html ) Kevin B responded on Facebook, " The article is good in mentioning the positive contributions the Methodist connection has made even before the UMC was formed,  but it fails to address the significant and ongoing rejection of Methodist doctrine and practice that has caused this split. " The charge that the UMC has "significant and ongoing rejection of Methodist doctrine and practice" is now a commonplace among the group identifying as "traditionalist" and their associated organizations like the Good News Movement, the...
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