JD Vance's New Memoir About His Conversion to Catholicism Shows a Methodist Church on the Cover

The vice president's upcoming second memoir details his return to religion as an adult

By
Meredith Kile

Published on April 1, 2026 03:31PM EDT

Vice President JD Vance; the 'Communion' cover, with a stock photo by Tim Pennington.Credit :
Courtesy of the White House; HarperCollins Publishers

NEED TO KNOW

• Vice President JD Vance is releasing a new book about his return to religion as an adult
• Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith will explore why the vice president initially left Christianity and how he returned to the church later in life by converting to Catholicism
• The cover of the book features a photo of a Methodist church in rural Virginia, not a Catholic one

Vice President JD Vance is releasing a new memoir about his return to religion as an adult ahead of the midterm elections and a possible run for president in 2028.

On March 31, Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, announced the forthcoming publication of Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith, set to arrive this summer.

Why Thousands of Churches Left the United Methodist Church

Did You Know World Communion Sunday supports education, training and mentoring efforts?

Sep 05, 2022

World Communion Sunday supports education, training and mentoring efforts?

The General Board of Higher Education (GBHEM) receives a portion of the World Communion offering to support scholarship programs. In addition to financial assistance for higher education, many of the scholarships incorporate training and mentor programs to enhance self-awareness and develop interview skills. Recipients are mentored into their calling the entire time they receive the scholarship. Mentor and training programs are through leaders from GBHEM and other areas in the denomination.

ABOUT WORLD COMMUNION SUNDAY (WCS)

United Methodist churches observe World Communion Sunday on the first Sunday in October. The observance focuses the attention of United Methodists on the universal and inclusive nature of the church. Offerings collected in United Methodist churches on World Communion Sunday are used to fund scholarships for young scholars and seminarians. Donations equip racial and ethnic-minority students in the United States and international students to transform the church and communities. Half of the proceeds from the offering is for World Communion Sunday Scholars administered by the General Board of Global Ministries. The remaining half is to be used for the Ethnic Scholarship Program and the Ethnic In-Service Training Program, which are administered by the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry.

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Ban of gay clergy divides congregants of United Methodist Church

The vote last month by the church's General Conference has pitted some traditionalists against progressives, sparking fears that the denomination itself could splinter.

The Rev. Roy Grubbs at the Centerport United Methodist Church has heard a range of views from church members. He has had to persuade some to stay to see what comes of the debate. Photo Credit: Heather Walsh 

By Bart Jones bart.jones@newsday.com Updated March 16, 2019 6:00 AM



A new, tougher ban on gay clergy and same-sex marriage has divided the United Methodist Church so sharply that the denomination is in danger of splintering, something that could tear apart dozens of congregations across Long Island.

The vote by the General Conference is evoking strong feelings on both sides: Traditionalists argue the ban aligns with historical church teaching and values, while progressives see the policy as clearly out of step with the times.

On the Island, there are about 80 Methodist churches attended by several thousand members, the church's New York Conference estimates.

A sampling of local Methodists show they, too, are at odds: Some are sorely disappointed in the church, the nation's third largest with 7 million members, and are struggling with whether to join another denomination or to form a new one. Others are determined to stay and fight the policy, put in place nearly 50 years ago but strengthened just weeks ago by the church's international governing body. Still others support the ban.

“It’s almost like the American Civil War, where brother fought against brother,” said the Rev. Charles Ferrera of the United Methodist Church of Patchogue.

“If I didn’t abide by this, it would be like me going into Yankee Stadium in the Yankee dugout wearing a Boston Red Sox shirt," said Ferrera, who considers himself a traditionalist. “Having said that, I am also very much aware of people who are hurting as a result of that vote. Nobody is excluded in this congregation … regardless of who they are.”

Today, most mainline Protestant denominations such as the Episcopal Church and the Presbyterian Church allow gay ministers and same-sex marriage. And there are Methodist churches more liberal on social issues that defy what the church calls its "Traditional Plan." The policy states homosexuality is incompatible with Christianity.

At a special General Conference last month in St. Louis, progressives lobbied to replace the old policy with one that would have let pastors and regional conferences decide whether to allow gay ministers and same-sex marriage. Conservatives stood their ground, building a coalition of delegates from the southern United States and delegates from Africa, where homosexuality is illegal in many countries.

2 churches vote to leave denomination

Photo courtesy of First United Methodist Church.

First United Methodist Church in Louisville, Miss., is one of two congregations whose members voted to withdraw from The United Methodist Church in March

2 churches vote to leave denomination




By Heather Hahn
April 3, 2018 | UMNS

Members of two Mississippi congregations led by the same pastor have chosen to leave The United Methodist Church.

At First United Methodist Church in Louisville, Mississippi, 175 people present voted to withdraw their membership from the denomination, six voted to remain and one was undecided. All 22 people gathered at nearby Bevil Hill United Methodist Church voted to leave.

The congregations’ vote on March 25, Palm Sunday, follows two large Mississippi Conference churches — The Orchard in Tupelo and Getwell Road in Southaven — exiting the denomination in 2017.

In all four cases, lead pastors expressed growing frustration with The United Methodist Church’s ongoing debate around how accepting the church should be of homosexuality.

“We feel like the direction of the church and the ability of the church to deal with the issues that it’s facing has deteriorated over a long period of time,” said the Rev. Mike Childs, the pastor of the two Louisville congregations. The churches are about 95 miles northeast of Jackson.

Childs said the votes' timing at the start of Holy Week was not intended as any kind of statement. It was set by the conference so five conference officials could attend.

The votes only mark the beginning of a process that could lead to the congregations’ departure.

“Both churches are still continued as United Methodist churches of the Mississippi Annual Conference with the Rev. Mike Childs as their appointed pastor,” said the conference’s Bishop James E. Swanson Sr. in a statement to the conference.

“Neither church has officially been closed as a United Methodist church,” the bishop added. “The results of those called church conferences only begin the process of discerning the viability of the churches and their future with The United Methodist Church.”

Methodist agency leaves NYC as other institutions face rising property costs

Oct 24, 2016 by Linda Bloom and Christian Century staff


When Betty Thompson arrived in New York City in 1950, she soon got a job with the Methodist Board of Missions on Fifth Avenue in a stretch she called “Protestant Rome.”

Ten blocks of the avenue were home to several mainline groups, including Presbyterians, Baptists, and a World Council of Churches office. A decade later, when the Interchurch Center—originally called the Protestant Center and later nicknamed the God Box—opened across from Riverside Church, several denominational and interdenominational groups moved there. The Methodist mission board was one of the original tenants.

“We all dwelt in ecumenical harmony,” Thompson said. “It was kind of the heyday of the ecumenical movement.”

Now the mission board’s successor, United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries, is relocating to Atlanta, after nearly two centuries of Methodist global missions based in New York City.

John McCullough, who heads Church World Service, one of the ecumenical partners at the Interchurch Center, and is a former Global Ministries employee, said, “It is this agency that brought some of the most important voices of the 20th century into this building to bring witness to a world that in many ways experienced brokenness and a sense of hopelessness.”

While the move is being completed in early November, the Atlanta headquarters is already in operation. Some New York staff, including 39 support staff, were not invited to move. United Methodist Women remains at the Interchurch Center.

The American Bible Society, which for most of the 20th century was associated with Protestant ecumenism, also reduced its staff when it sold its building and moved to Philadelphia in 2015 after nearly 200 years in New York City.

The National Council of Churches relocated its headquarters from the Interchurch Center to Washington, D.C., in 2013. In the past three years the orga­nization has run large budget surpluses and doubled its reserves, NCC staff said.

Other national ecumenical organizations that remain in the God Box include Church Women United and Ecumenical News. And several mainline denominations have an office there, such as for a pension board or foundation.

Some of the institutions staying in the city have made deals with real estate developers to get funds to keep up older buildings.

Park Avenue Christian Church, which is affiliated with the Disciples of Christ and United Church of Christ, celebrated its 206th anniversary on October 10. The congregation recently sold property and development rights for a high rise, which includes an annex for the church “as well as funds for upkeep of the sanctuary built in 1911 inspired by La Sainte-Chapelle in Paris,” Disciples News Service reported. The building is considered an architectural landmark.

The amount of money the congregation received through the development deal is confidential, church staff said. The Wall Street Journal reported an estimate of nearly $25 million in funds for the church.

Union Theological Seminary could raise more than $100 million to make its aging stone buildings safe by selling development rights to a contractor planning to construct high-rise condominiums on campus. The plan sparked protest from some students, faculty, and alumni concerned about the lack of affordable housing or union labor in the project. Administrators and prospective developers met with students and alumni in October to give more details about the deal, which had not yet been finalized.

“If Union decided not to do this, it would simply mean that eventually our whole campus would be sold to a developer who would come along and do it,” said Serene Jones, Union president, told the Christian Century in January. “Better that we, in the midst of this environment, use our assets for the sake of our own future.”

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Inaugural Symposium on the Role of Religion & Faith-Based Organizations in International Affairs

January 21, 2015 hosted by General Board of Church & Society/Seventh-Day Adventists (General Conference)/United Methodist Women/World Council of Churches


Live streaming video by Ustream



This symposium is the first in a series of annual lectures focusing on the intersections of the role of religion and international affairs. Purpose of the inaugural aymposium is to have an open discussion on the theory and practice of Human Dignity and Human Rights in the context of the shared vision and work of religious, ecumencial, and faith-based groups and U.N. and multilateral organizations.

Agenda

All times are based on the Eastern timezone.

8:45am - 12:45p

Morning Session with presentations from:

• Sung-ok Lee, Assistant General Secretary, Christian Social Action, United Methodist Women
• Dr. Ganoune Diop, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, General Conference of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church and The International Religious Liberty Association
• Shulamith Koenig, Founder of PDHRE, People’s Movement for Human Rights Learning (formerly PDHRE) and Recipient, 2003 U.N. Prize in the Field of Human Rights
• Prof. Elsa Stamatopoulou, Director, Indigenous Peoples Rights Program, Center for the Study of Human Rights, Columbia University
• Rev. Liberato Bautista, Assistant General Secretary for United Nations and International Affairs and Main Representative to the U.N., General Board of Church and Society of The United Methodist Church
• Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury, Former Under-Secretary General and High Representative of the United Nations
• Professor Heiner Bielefeldt, U.N. Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief

2:00pm - 6:00p

Afternoon Session with presentations from:

• Rudelmar Bueno de Faria, Representative to the United Nations in New York, World Council of Churches
• Dr. Azza Karam, Senior Advisor on Culture, UNFPA
• Bishop Stacy Sauls, Chief Operating Officer, Missionary Society of The Episcopal Church
• Olav Kjørven, Director, Public Partnerships Division, UNICEF
• Pauliina Parhiala, Director and Chief Operating Officer, ACT Alliance
• Lopa Banerjee, Chief, Civil Society Section of U.N. Women
• Peter Prove, Director, Commission of the Churches on International Affairs, World Council of Churches
• Rev. Kathleen Stone, Executive for Economic and Environmental Justice and Representative to the United Nations, United Methodist Women

Hosted by General Board of Church & Society/Seventh-Day Adventists (General Conference)/United Methodist Women/World Council of Churches

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Source: http://umc-gbcs.org/calendar/symposium-role-of-religion

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Symposium on the Role of Religion in International Affairs




International affairs have very direct intersections with religion. Several Christian organizations that work with the United Nations have decided to address these intersections through an Annual Symposium on the Role of Religion and Faith-Based Organizations in International Affairs.

The inaugural symposium in 2015 will be on human dignity and human rights. It is organized by the General Board of Church and Society of the United Methodist Church, the General Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists, United Methodist Women and the World Council of Churches.

Co-sponsors include the African Methodist Episcopal Church Women’s Missionary Society, The Episcopal Church, General Board of Global Ministries of The United Methodist Church, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), and The Salvation Army.

The full-day programme of presentations and question-and-answer sessions involves high-ranking representatives of the United Nations and of faith-based organizations that are engaged in international affairs.

Download the programme (pdf, 25 KB, last updated: 17 December 2014)


Event details

When
21 January 2015


Where
New York City, United States - Attendance by invitation only.

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Source: https://www.oikoumene.org/en/press-centre/events/symposium-on-the-role-of-religion-and-faith-based-organizations-in-international-affairs

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Can Methodist pastor defrocked for officiating at gay son’s wedding reclaim his credentials?

BY MICHELLE BOORSTEIN June 21 at 11:07 AM

Frank Schaefer, who lost his credentials as a United Methodist pastor after officiating at his son’s same-sex wedding, appealed his punishment Friday to a church board, saying Methodist doctrine is written broadly and thus can be open to interpretation.

A decision was expected Saturday but could take up to a few weeks.

Schaefer, a longtime pastor in rural Eastern Pennsylvania, was defrocked in December after a highly publicized church trial the month before on the charge that he had violated Methodist rules — called the Book of Discipline — that explicitly ban same-sex weddings.

The jury of other United Methodist pastors found him guilty of performing the wedding a few years earlier and suspended him as a pastor for 30 days. “If at the end of 30 days, Rev. Schaefer has determined he cannot uphold the Discipline in its entirety, he must surrender his credentials,” his penalty read.

On Friday, a panel of the United Methodist Church Northeastern Jurisdiction’s Committee on Appeals met at the BWI Airport Marriott in Linthicum, Md., and heard his case.

At his November trial, Schaefer told an emotional story of his gay son’s struggle with sexuality — Schaefer has two other gay children as well — and said he believes gays and lesbians should be treated equally in the church and in society.

On Friday, his counsel made a more legal argument, saying Methodist law forbids imposing a penalty based on “what a pastor may intend to do in the future.”

But it also, according to a brief prepared for the hearing, reflected a broader argument about how United Methodists are to weigh parts of scripture and doctrine that some see as conflicting. Methodist doctrine says gays and lesbians “are individuals of sacred worth” and also bans openly gay clergy and same-gender weddings.

Schaefer’s appeal brief said no United Methodist could honestly say they follow “the entirety” of the faith’s complicated, thick rule book.

“The meaning of uphold The Discipline in its entirety is so broad and so vague that there is not a pastor . . . who can honestly claim to have accomplished such an intention,” the brief read. “Nowhere in its verdict does the trial court define what it means by the phrase uphold The Discipline in its entirety. This is a new phrase that is not used in The Discipline or defined by the court. Would this include, for example, the prohibition in the General Rules against ‘laying up treasure on earth?’ Would Rev. Schaefer be expected to divest himself from the Social Security program and the pension program of The United Methodist Church? Would it mean that he must remove his wedding ring because of the prohibition in those same Rules against wearing gold?”

E-mails to the clergy representing the United Methodist Church were not returned Friday.

The 12.5 million-person global United Methodist Church is watching the Schaefer case closely, as the denomination appears to be at a tipping pointbetween traditionalists — mostly in Asia and Africa — and more progressive Christians, mostly in the West, who want change. Hundreds of U.S. pastors earlier this month proposed having something like a local option for churches in order to avoid a denominational split.

If Schaefer is reinstated, it will have symbolic and practical implications.

A rebel United Methodist bishop in California already offered to hire him as a pastor — despite his defrocking in Eastern Pennsylvania — and Schaefer has said he is likely to take the position and move with his wife. His former church, Zion United Methodist of Iona, has already hired another pastor to replace him. But if he is reinstated he will receive back pay and benefits he lost when he was defrocked in December.

Right now, unless he is reinstated, his position in California would be at a somewhat lower level because he would be considered not-yet-ordained.

Primarily, if the penalty is lightened or reversed it would be a symbolic victory for United Methodists who want more room for diversity on the topic of human sexuality.

“It would be a strong statement; it would be signaling a change,” Schaefer said Friday evening.


Michelle Boorstein is the Post’s religion reporter, where she reports on the busy marketplace of American religion.


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Methodist Pastor Defrocked Over Gay Marriage Service

By TIMOTHY WILLIAMS
Published: December 19, 2013




The United Methodist Church on Thursday defrocked a Pennsylvania pastor who officiated at his son’s same-sex wedding six years ago and refused to agree not to perform other gay marriages.




Matt Rourke/Associated Press

The Rev. Frank Schaefer and his wife Brigitte on Thursday left a meeting with officials of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church in Lebanon, Pa.





The pastor, the Rev. Frank Schaefer, who had been at the Zion United Methodist Church of Ionain Lebanon, Pa., told church officials that he was unable to follow the denomination’s code of laws because it discriminated against gays and lesbians. Church doctrine forbids same-sex marriage and the ordination of homosexuals, and teaches that homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching.

Bishop Peggy Johnson, who leads nearly 900 United Methodist churches in Pennsylvania, said in a statement that Mr. Schaefer had been defrocked.

“He no longer holds the ministerial office in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference by virtue of his decision,” Bishop Johnson said in the statement, according to Reuters. “Rev. Schaefer met with the board of ordained ministry today and declared that he is not willing or able to uphold the laws of the Book of Discipline in its entirety in the future as required by the trial court’s verdict.”

“When asked to surrender his credentials as required by the verdict, he refused to do so,” the statement added. “Therefore, because of his decision, the board was compelled by the jury’s decision to deem his credentials surrendered.”

In 2007, Mr. Schaefer performed a wedding for his son in Massachusetts, where same-sex marriage is legal. A member of Mr. Schaefer’s congregation later reported the wedding to church authorities, and the pastor was found guilty last month of violating church law and given a 30-day suspension.

Mr. Schaefer had until Thursday to agree to abide by the United Methodist Book of Discipline, the church’s rules and doctrine.

Mr. Schaefer could not be reached for comment Thursday, but at a news conference in Philadelphia earlier this week, he said: “I cannot uphold those discriminatory laws and the language in the United Methodist Church’s Book of Discipline that is hurtful and harmful to our homosexual brothers and sisters in the church.”

In a note posted on her blog this week, Bishop Johnson acknowledged that portions of the Book of Discipline were biased.

“Several statements in our Book of Discipline are discriminatory (forbidding ordination of homosexual persons, forbidding the performing of same-gender marriages and considering the practice of homosexuality incompatible with Christian teaching),” she wrote.

Those prohibitions, Bishop Johnson continued, taken together with the church’s message of inclusion, “has led to confusion by many from the outside of the church wondering how we can talk out of two sides of our mouth.”

She assured readers however, that “our L.G.B.T. sisters and brothers are of sacred worth regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity.”


Laurie Goodstein contributed reporting.


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Methodist Pastor Frank Schaefer Faces Trial for Son's Gay Wedding

Nov. 12, 2013
By REENA NINAN


Reena Ninan More from Reena »


Correspondent, ABC News
via Good Morning America

Breaking News

Pastor Under Fire for Officiating Gay Son's Wedding
Next Video California Woman to Become Priest Against Church Wishes




The defrocking of a Methodist pastor for officiating his son's gay wedding would be worth the attention that his upcoming church trial has generated, the pastor's son said.

"This is getting the conversation started to revisit really discriminatory policies," Tim Schaefer, 29, told ABC News. "I think that will have made it worth it."

The fate of Schaefer's father, the Rev. Frank Schaefer, will be decided at a Methodist retreat outside of Philadelphia this Monday, six years after he officiated at Tim's same-sex marriage in Massachusetts.

Schaefer, pastor of Zion United Methodist Church of Iona in South Lebanon Township, told his superiors in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference that he was going to perform at his son's wedding in 2007 and received no warning or reprimand. It was only this April, when a parishioner filed a complaint, that Schaefer was told he would face discipline for violating church doctrine.

Pastor Faces Trial for Son's Gay Wedding

"What is my crime? I blessed two people that loved each other," Schaefer, 51, told ABC News.

The United Methodist Church has had a 40-year policy on gays that accepts them as members in the church but rejects homosexuality as "incompatible with Christian teaching." The church's 1,000-member General Conference last reaffirmed the church's policy on gays at their last in 2012, according to The Associated Press.

Schaefer has declined the church's offer to avoid trial by agreeing not to perform another same-sex marriage.

"Jesus our Lord and Savior never mentioned homosexuality at all and my point is if it is that important of an issue, why didn't he mention it?," Schaefer said.

Ministers Back Colleague at Same-Sex Wedding Ceremony

Tim Schaefer came out to his parents at the age of 17.

"He had cried himself to sleep many times and he knew that this wasn't right because he heard that message from the church," Schaefer said.

"They're your children. They're you're flesh and blood," Schaefer said of Tim, one of his four children, three of whom are gay.

On Saturday in Philadelphia, nearly 50 ministers participated in a same-sex wedding at a Methodist church as a symbol of support for their colleague, Schaefer, reports the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Schaefer, a pastor for nearly 20 years, has also received support from his local church community. A Facebook page called "Stand With Pastor Frank: Support Equality" has nearly 2,000 likes.

The United Methodist Church declined to comment on Schaefer's trial when reached by ABC News.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Rev. David Weekley, One Of First Transgender Methodist Clergyman, Shares His Story

HuffPost Live | Posted: 06/28/2013 2:19 pm EDT | Updated: 06/28/2013 11:39 pm EDT


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/28/david-weekley-transgender-clergy_n_3512590.html?1372443601&icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl19%7Csec1_lnk2%26pLid%3D337950

Rev. David Weekley hid his identity as a transgendered person for 28 years, until he finally revealed his secret in 2009, becoming one of the first openly transgender clergy serving the United Methodist Church. He shared his story on HuffPost Live.

The reaction from Weekley's parish after he came out reflected many of the challenges the transgender community faces. "I received real mixed feedback from people -- colleagues, parishioners, just friends of the community," he told host Mike Sacks. "While I had a lot of support, there was a lot of pushback. There were attempts made to bring charges against my ministry--to have my ordination revoked."

Weekley, who authored the book "In from the Wilderness: Sherman," transitioned from female to male in 1975, at the age of 24. "When I went to seminary in the '80s, it wasn't safe to be out, whether you were LGBTQ -- those topics weren't talked about, only in negative ways. And so I decided to enter the ordained ministry, serve congregations the best I could, and let them have a chance to know me, then share my story. I thought that would make a positive difference."

But though a number of churches have begun to accept transgender people in the clergy, widespread acceptance is still a challenge, Weekley explained.

"The problem is, so often, even if the policy is open, for transgender people to actually be called to a church or have an opportunity to serve is a different story. Transgender people are just newer on the radar, and for a lot of us who transitioned years ago, we were told by the folks we worked with not to share our story."

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1,000 United Methodists to convene Sunday for regional meeting in Mobile

By Carol McPhail | cmcphail@al.com

on May 30, 2013 at 1:02 PM, updated May 30, 2013 at 1:21 PM

MOBILE, Alabama – About 1,000 United Methodists will converge on Mobile beginning Sunday for an annual regional conference that will conclude with announcements about clergy appointments.

The conference, to be held June 2-5, is expected to draw clergy and lay people from about 300 churches in the Alabama-West Florida Conference, the denomination’s regional organization, said Mary Catherine Phillips, director of communication. It will be held at Christ United Methodist Church, located at 6101 Grelot Road.

This is Mobile’s fourth year to host the event. The conference was also held here in 2012, 2006 and 2005.

The theme this year will be “The Great Commission: Seeking Disciples.” Speakers include Bishop Lindsey Davis of the Louisville, Ky., area, and David E. Cann of the lnterdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta.

Participants will take time away from sessions Tuesday afternoon to serve organizations in the community. Projects will target 15 Place, Bay Area Food Bank, Dumas Wesley Community Center, Light of the Village, MATthew 6 Ministry and Tent City, among others.

During opening worship on Sunday, a special offering will be collected to help Hurricane Sandy victims in New Jersey.

Phillips said clergy appointments will be among the last business conducted at the conference. A few changes have already been announced, including the appointment of the Rev. Doug Pennington as superintendent of the Mobile District, replacing the Rev. Tonya Elmore, who is taking a position at First United Methodist in Enterprise. The change is effective July 1.

The Mobile District includes 58 congregations.

The Rev. Don Woolley of Saraland United Methodist, meanwhile, is being appointed to a new position that will help churches engage in their communities.

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Caught in Methodism’s Split Over Same-Sex Marriage

Christopher Capozziello for The New York Times

“I actually wasn’t thinking of this as an act of civil disobedience or church disobedience. I was thinking of it as a response to my son,” said the Rev. Dr. Thomas W. Ogletree of officiating his son’s marriage to another man.

By SHARON OTTERMAN
Published: May 5, 2013


NEW HAVEN — It started out as a deeply personal act, that of a father officiating at the wedding of his son.

But it was soon condemned as a public display of ecclesiastical disobedience, because the father, the Rev. Dr. Thomas W. Ogletree, is a minister in the United Methodist Church, which does not allow its clergy to perform same-sex weddings.

Dr. Ogletree, 79, is now facing a possible canonical trial for his action, accused by several New York United Methodist ministers of violating church rules. While he would not be the first United Methodist minister to face discipline for performing a same-sex wedding, he could well be the one with the highest profile. He is a retired dean of Yale Divinity School, a veteran of the nation’s civil rights struggles and a scholar of the very type of ethical issues he is now confronting.

“Sometimes, when what is officially the law is wrong, you try to get the law changed,” Dr. Ogletree, a native of Birmingham, Ala., said in a courtly Southern drawl over a recent lunch at Yale, where he remains an emeritus professor of theological ethics. “But if you can’t, you break it.”

For Dr. Ogletree, the issues are not just academic. He has fully accepted, he said, that two of his five children are gay. His daughter married her partner in Massachusetts, in a non-Methodist ceremony. So when his son asked him last year to officiate at the wedding, he said yes.

“I was inspired,” Dr. Ogletree said. “I actually wasn’t thinking of this as an act of civil disobedience or church disobedience. I was thinking of it as a response to my son.”

The wedding of Thomas Rimbey Ogletree and Nicholas W. Haddad, held on Oct. 20, 2012, at the Yale Club in New York, incorporated readings from Scripture and the Massachusetts court decision legalizing same-sex marriages. A wedding announcement in The New York Times prompted several conservative Methodist ministers to file a complaint against Dr. Ogletree with the local bishop.

“This ceremony is a chargeable offense” under the rules of the church, wrote the ministers, led by the Rev. Randall C. Paige, pastor of Christ Church in Port Jefferson Station, N.Y.

In late January, Mr. Paige and Dr. Ogletree, accuser and accused, met face-to-face in an effort to resolve the dispute without a church trial. Mr. Paige, who declined to be interviewed for this article, citing the confidentiality of the proceedings, asked that Dr. Ogletree apologize and promise never to perform such a ceremony again. He refused.

“I said, this is an unjust law,” he recalled telling Mr. Paige. “Dr. King broke the law. Jesus of Nazareth broke the law; he drove the money changers out of the temple. So you mean you should never break any law, no matter how unjust it is?”

But ministers like Mr. Paige believe breaking church law is not the right way to bring about change, said the Rev. Thomas A. Lambrecht, the vice-president of Good News, a traditionalist Methodist group. “Reverend Ogletree is acting in a way that is injurious to the church, because it fosters confusion in the church about what we stand for,” he said. “And it undermines the whole covenant of accountability that we share with each other as pastors.”

The United Methodist Church is the third-largest Christian denomination in the country. Its clergy members pledge to follow the church’s laws as contained in its rule book, the Book of Discipline. The rules can only be amended via votes by clergy and laity that take place every four years.

Like many Christian denominations, the United Methodist Church has struggled over issues of gay rights. In 1972, the denomination added a line to its rule book declaring the practice of homosexuality “incompatible with Christian teaching.” It bars the ordination of “self-avowed practicing homosexuals” as clergy, and prohibits clergy from officiating at same-sex unions. But it also calls homosexuals “persons of sacred worth,” and welcomes them as members. “We try to be nuanced about it,” Mr. Lambrecht said. “Although we disapprove of the practice of homosexuality, we believe that people who are gay or lesbian are loved and valued by God and worthy of the church’s ministry and welcome to participate in churches.”

The result is contradictory, Dr. Ogletree said. “The church’s official motto is open minds, open hearts, open doors, even though our rules on same-sex marriage contradict that claim,” he said.

Professor Ogletree is now working with Methodists in New Directions, a New York group that is part of a growing movement to change the church’s rules. More than 1,100 United Methodist clergy members — of about 45,000 in the nation — have expressed a willingness to perform same-sex ceremonies, even if it means they may face suspension or censure. But the issue is creating a deep rift with the church’s evangelical, conservative wing, which is being bolstered by the spread of the 12-million-member denomination internationally into Africa and Asia.


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A version of this article appeared in print on May 6, 2013, on page A16 of the New York edition with the headline: Caught in Methodism’s Split Over Same-Sex Marriage.

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Pastor Invites You To Come Worship At New Beach Bar Church

May 7, 2013

By Oretha Winston, Lead Editor

Jack Kale has decided that he can lead his congregation on his own.

The bond is so strong that the associate pastor of Worship at the Water, which meets Sunday mornings at Flounders Chowder and Ale House on Pensacola Beach, passed up a raise and declined an order from the bishop of the United Methodist Church Alabama West Florida Conference to lead one of the 15 largest churches in the conference.

He said that after talking with his wife a reassignment was not an option.

“I don’t ever want to move into a church-owned property I go by the biblical model … the early Hebrew people moved around and didn’t have a temple.

Jack Kale, 39, turned in his ordained minister credentials and split with the United Methodist Church, in which he was reared and served 18 years — the past four serving and growing the Gulf Breeze church’s Worship at the Water congregation from fewer than 100 faithful to about 500.

Watch the below invitation for a Mother’s Day Service!

 

 Now, that’s a sun-filled Sunday!


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Green Street United Methodist Church: Public Statement on Marriage

Public Statement on Marriage


Public Statement on Marriage, Standing in Solidarity with LGBTQ members.

Winston-Salem, NC – Members of the Leadership Council of Green Street United Methodist Church published a Public Statement on Marriage at a Press Conference on March 17, 2013 at 2 p.m. in the Sanctuary of Green Street UMC, 639 S. Green Street, Winston-Salem, NC 27101.

On the matter of same-sex marriage, Green Street UMC sees injustice in the legal position of state government and the theological position of our denomination. North Carolina prohibits same-sex marriage and all the rights and privileges marriage brings. The Leadership Council has asked that their ministers join others who refuse to sign any State marriage licenses until this right is granted to same- sex couples.

Because the United Methodist Church prohibits its pastors from conducting same- sex weddings, excluding gay and lesbian couples from the holy sacrament of marriage, the Leadership Council has asked the pastor to refrain from conducting wedding ceremonies in our sanctuary for straight couples, until the denomination lifts its ban for same-sex couples.

Green Street UMC is presently the only Reconciling Congregation in the Western North Carolina Conference. With a growing number of LGBTQ members, Green Street seeks to be a public witness to its community, Conference and denomination.

The following documents are available regarding the statement on marriage:

A Public Statement on Weddings at Green Street Church | [Download the PDF Document]


A Pastoral Letter to GSUMC Concerning Marriage in the Church | [Download the PDF Document]


Frequently Asked Questions Re: the Public Statement on Marriage | [Download the PDF Document]


What is the United Methodist Church’s position on homosexuality? | [Download the PDF Document]



READ MORE: Public Statement on Marriage


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Churches to hold joint Christmas service

Posted on December 19, 2012, Wednesday



RELIGIOUS GATHERING: Ambrose (second right) and Ting (right) hold up the banner for the event after the press conference. Also seen are Methodist Kuching West District lay leader Chiew Ching Kwong (far left) and Methodist Kuching West District superintendent Chin Sai Hin.

KUCHING: The Association of Churches in Sarawak (ACS) will hold its annual Joint Christmas Service tomorrow (Dec20) at the Christian Ecumenical Worship Centre starting 7.30pm.

The Methodist Church Sarawak Chinese Annual Conference is hosting this year’s service themed ‘Jesus Christ The Saviour of All Nations’.

“If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent us an educator. If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist. If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent us an entertainer. But our greatest need was forgiveness, so God sent us a Saviour,” ACS secretary-general Head Elder Ambrose Linang told a press conference yesterday.

“That is what Christmas is all about and that was the greatest gift the world had ever known. We encourage all Christians to come and pack the hall here at the Christian Ecumenical Centre. Together we share the joy of celebrating Christmas.”

Ambrose said among those who will lead the service are Archbishop of the Anglican Province of South East Asia the Most Reverend Datuk Bolly Lapok — who is ACS chairman, and Roman Catholic Church Archbishop the Most Reverend Datuk John Ha, who is deputy chairman.

He added that all Christian elected representatives and ministers, both state and federal, have been invited and many are expected to attend.

Meanwhile, organising chairman William Ting said the service’s programme will reflect the diversity of cultures.

“For instance, the worship dance in the service shall portray the different colours of nationalities. The choir shall present repertoires and carols from different countries. ACS representatives will also recite scriptures in different languages such as English, Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese, Iban and Biatah.

“Methodist Church Sarawak Chinese Annual Conference president Reverend Datuk Su Chii Ann will present a sermon. Other programmes for the service include brass band performance by Boys’ Brigade of Trinity Methodist Church and choir performance by the youths of Chin Daw Methodist Church. One of the highlights for the night is the combined choir with nearly 100 members from all ACS member churches, who will present two songs,” he said.

Ting added that all programmes will be conducted in English and translated into Mandarin.

For further information, contact Ting (019-8164385) or Lawrence (016-8880813).

Other ACS member churches are the Roman Catholic Church, Anglican Church, Methodist Church Sarawak Iban Annual Conference, Seventh Day Adventist Church, Salvation Army, Sarawak Baptist Church and SIB Church.

Source: http://www.theborneopost.com/2012/12/19/churches-to-hold-joint-christmas-service/#ixzz2FXm3i0nc

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Church offers drive-thru for Ash Wednesday

'It’s a drive-thru,' Ohio pastor says, 'Not a drive-by'

CINCINNATI — An Ohio church is offering a drive-thru Ash Wednesday blessing for parishioners who might be pressed for time.

The Rev. Patricia Anderson Cook of Mt. Healthy United Methodist Church in suburban Cincinnati plans to provide the service for people of all faiths and services beginning around 5 p.m. in the church's parking lot.

“Some people are very busy, and some people get a little intimidated walking into a church, this is for them," Cook told the Cincinnati Inquirer.

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Christian season of Lent, which concludes after 40 days with the celebration of Easter.

In addition to ashes, Cook will provide a church brochure and a Lenten booklet.

“It’s a drive-thru,” she said. “Not a drive-by.”

The church is also offering a more traditional Ash Wednesday service inside at 7 p.m.


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Methodists set to clash with Jewish community in UK

By JONNY PAUL, JERUSALEM POST CORRESPONDENT
06/18/2010 20:44


Board of Deputies of British Jews says Methodist document could damage relations.

LONDON - The Methodist Church of Britain is on a collision course with Jewish community leaders after being accused of producing a document against Israel to debate the conflict at its annual conference in Portsmouth later this month.

The church, the fourth largest Christian denomination in Britain, is set to have a “debate on Israel-Palestine” then vote on whether to implement a boycott of products and services from the West Bank. Written by group of Methodist clergy, academics and peace activists, the document, titled “Justice for Palestine and Israel,” has been accused of being selective and “full of historical distortions and bias.”

The Board of Deputies of British Jews has expressed concern saying the document could damage Jewish-Methodist relations in the UK. Board chief executive, Jon Benjamin, has written to the president of the Methodist Conference to ask for an urgent meeting.

“This deeply disturbing paper is full of historical distortions and bias,” Benjamin told The Jerusalem Post. “That's unsurprising, given that its main sources appear to be anti-Zionist campaigners. Especially troubling is the suggestion that the Methodist Church will investigate expelling Zionists.

“If it passes, the paper will be damaging to Jewish-Methodist relations. We are seeking an urgent meeting with Methodist leaders to make our objections clear and to seek a resolution.”

The 54-page document has been distributed to all Methodist churches, circuits and regions throughout the UK in order to “resource them in their understanding of and engagement with the issues,” the document described.

Almost all the sources used in the document are controversial. It includes anti-Zionist and anti-Israel activists such as scholars Ilan Pappe and Avi Shlaim; Jeff Halper from the fringe group ‘Israeli Committee against House Demolitions’; Anglican vicar Stephen Sizer and journalist Robert Fisk.

There are also testimonies from Breaking the Silence and the Ecumenical Accompaniment Program in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI), a group funded and supported by the World Council of Churches, which supports the divestment campaign against Israel.

Jerusalem-based research organization NGO Monitor said EAPPI uses a biased Palestinian narrative using demonizing terms such as “apartheid” and “war crimes” to describe Israel and said that most volunteers become active in anti-Israel campaigns on returning to their hometowns.

The report says that 12 volunteers from the Methodist Church in the UK have so far volunteered with EAPPI and spoken at numerous church gatherings.

“EAPPI members have a history of promoting anti-Israel agendas under the facade of peace,” NGO Monitor president Prof. Gerald Steinberg said.

“Christian groups that promote anti-Israel demonization and international isolation display a very disturbing insensitivity and fuel the conflict. The report reflects the distortions of the World Council of Churches, Amos Trust, KAIROS, EAPPI and other groups in this one-sided and biased document. The exclusive emphasis on "occupation" strips away the context of Palestinian terror and rejectionism for seven decades, which forced Israel to response in defense of its citizens.

“This document entirely ignores the rights of Israelis including Gilad Schalit, who was kidnapped and held in Gaza for four years, in violation of all moral principles. If the Methodist leaders and their allies were really concerned about justice, they would not ignore the suffering of Jewish victims of Palestinian terror,” Steinberg added.

In the recommended reading section, the document recommends the Goldstone Report; a 2008 report on Gaza by Christian Aid, Amnesty, Oxfam and other charities. Apart from Herzl’s Jewish State, other recommendations include Jimmy Carter’s book Palestine: Peace not Apartheid and books by Fisk, Pappe and Shlaim.

“The report is amateurish and one-dimensional in its depiction of the history of the tortuous Israel-Palestine conflict,” said Prof. Colin Shindler, senior lecturer in the Department of the Near and Middle East at the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies.

“Its recommended sources are highly selective - presumably to produce a narrative which would reinforce an intended outcome. For example, in the recommended ‘books on background history’, the names of Benny Morris, Anita Shapira, Martin Gilbert and Howard Sacher - all well-known historians of Israel - do not appear.

“There is no suggested book for understanding the evolution of Zionist ideology. No interested student of this complex conflict would treat this seriously. While it is understandable that the Methodists would wish to alleviate the plight of the Palestinians, this skewered account will be viewed as simplistic and partial,” Shindler added.

Among the Israeli groups the documents recommends are Machsom Watch, Women in Black, Physicians for Human Rights and Zochrot.

David Gifford, chief executive of the Council of Christians and Jews (CCJ) also raised his concerns with the document.

“We all agree the Palestinians need to be heard but Methodist church has fallen into this chasm of listening to one voice,” he told the Post. “It is sad that the Methodist Church’s document is so unbalanced, appearing to completely ignore other cries of frustration, desperation and confusion.

“A closer examination by the authors of the Methodist document, of projects of reconciliation and community and economic development in Israel and the West Bank would have revealed opportunities for investment in hope. Instead all we are left with is a call for disinvestment again and no real solutions. Instead we are all thrown into even greater desperation,” he added.

Gifford said that reconciliation over “fertilizing discontent” was the way forward.

“The way forward is to water the seeds of reconciliation rather than fertilize discontent by hearing one narrative and seeing only what one wants to see,” he said.

In a statement, Rev. Graham Carter, chair of the working group that produced the report, said: “The report is not a doctrinal statement but is designed to facilitate a stimulating and wide-ranging debate at the Methodist Conference concerning justice for Israel and Palestine.

“We are sure that the discussion at the Methodist Conference will be open and balanced, addressing the report in a spirit of discernment and with a commitment to hearing, as well as expressing, a variety of perspectives on the issues. Conference members will make the final decisions on the resolutions in the report following this discussion.

“We are committed to seeking ways of achieving a lasting and just peace for all people living in the region, regardless of religious affiliation. We remain deeply committed to working with people of all faiths and none and hope to seek a way forward that will both honour and learn from these relationships,” Carter said.
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Source: http://www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishNews/Article.aspx?id=178865
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British Methodists prepare to die

By STEVE ADDISON
movements.net
April 8, 2010

We are prepared to go out of existence not because we are declining or failing in mission, but for the sake of mission.

Rev David Gamble, Methodist Conference President said this in an address to the Church of England's General Synod, February 11, 2010.

Once a world changing movement under John Wesley, the Methodist church has seen its membership shrink to just 265,000.

Winston Churchill said after the successful evacuation from Dunkirk in 1940 that, Wars are not won by evacuations. In other words, defensive measures may be necessary, but, as every chess player knows, attack is the best form of defence. A merger of the Methodist Church with the Anglicans may be necessary, but it is a defensive measure. At face value, it doesn't sound as if it is going to win the war.

Despite assurances to the contrary, this proposed merger is not driven by a commitment to mission or unity. Overwhelmingly mergers are driven by a) institutional decline, and b) lack of clarity and commitment to the movement's founding cause and core beliefs. They do nothing to arrest mainline decline.

The Methodists of Britain have gone down the same path as every other mainline Protestant denomination of the last fifty years. The sad reality is that attempts at union will actually speed up their decline. There is no other historical pattern.

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Source: http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=12461
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P.S.
Yet, the "state" church of Britain remains (Anglican); Now displaying a clearer manifestation of its true identity, just a variation of the Catholic theme.

Could a divorce [Henry the VIII] denied, really establish a "Christian" church?

The Adventist Pastor That Preaches On Sundays

The Adventist Pastor That Preaches On Sundays



Pastor George Shaver loves sharing Jesus with people. As a committed Seventh-day Adventist, he believes and preaches the Three Angels Message, but in a way that people see Jesus in him.

Shaver ministers to four Adventist churches in South Dakota Yankton, Mitchell, Hurley, and Platte. He drives over 200 hundred miles just to go around his district once. But he is never too busy to respond to an opportunity to share Jesus.

In the town of Parker, the local Methodist Church eventually found itself without a minister. Attendance had dwindle to just four members. Instead of searching for a minister of their own denomination, they had noticed Pastor Shaver’s Christlike love for others and his knowledge of Scripture, and thought he could help them grow.

They asked him: “Would you be willing to serve as our pastor?”

“Sure,” he said, “but I do have some limitations.”

“What are they?” they wondered.

“I believe the Bible teaches 28 major lessons. That is what I know, and that is what I can teach you,” he shared, thinking about our fundamental beliefs.

The Methodist members were happy to accept his “limitations,” and off to the church they go each week to learn the Bible from their new pastor, the Adventist minister. Attendance is now ten, and growing.

But it doesn’t end there. The United Church of Christ of Springfield heard about this wonderful Adventist minister, and they also approached him. They were in transition, waiting for their new pastor. They wondered if Pastor Shaver could come and preach to them on Sundays until the new pastor arrived. Of course, he was happy to oblige.

And what are the prospects for the Methodist Church? Shaver shared that he is hoping for the group to grow to 100, and then, they’ll become an Adventist Church!

Pastor Shaver lives by a simple rule of life: to serve Jesus with all his heart. “There is nothing more exciting,” he says, “than to minister to people, and to see them make decisions for Jesus.”

This can happen with you too. With Christ, all things are possible (Phil 4:13).

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Source: http://www.sharethehope2009.com/article.php?id=16

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