Becca’s Bible Guide – Reading the Bible

So you've selected a Bible that is right for you (that's a different post), and you're ready to start reading! But where to even begin? When I first read the Bible, I started with chapter one of Genesis and read through. This took me a little under a year and I learned a lot, but…

Digging Deeper on the “Protocol” and Numbers

Here comes an ultra-Metho-nerd post: unpacking a little more of what was shared by some of the folks from "the room where it happened" in the making of the "Protocol of Separation." Late last week, a team of people who come from different parts of The United Methodist Church-- and may or may not represent…

Series: Angels Among Us

Advent Series: Angels Among Us  “Do not be afraid…” - pretty much every Angel in the Bible Some messages are complex and nuanced, but these days, the messages that travel fastest and “go viral” are concise ideas in social media, often with their topic-labels known as hashtags (words preceded by #). The angels that appear…

Three things I hold

I am a member of both my Annual Conference's Delegation to General Conference 2020, and of our Conference Task Force exploring whether and how Methodists in New England might become a new and inclusive Methodist movement. Between juggling these roles and my own passion for the future of ministry in my local Methodist church and…

Multiply-Methodist Federated Churches: a suggestion

This is also not a plan.  Whereas the Jurisdictional Re-Draw strategy is a non-legislative strategic approach that could be used to to move us toward a number of different outcomes, this suggestion is something that could be implemented in the aftermath of a number of different outcomes. Here is a mess-free way to move forward…

Petitions to GC2020: Reinstatements

Here are another two petitions, dealing with the least-protected clergy people in our system: certified candidates and licensed local pastors. What happens when someone in this position is discontinued from the process, and then moves-- especially given that the Spirit might call people *years* later, in different contexts and settings, and after great transformation? Sometimes,…

Petitions to GC2020: Reduce Inappropriate Medical Disclosure and Discrimination

This is legislation I plan to submit to General Conference, regarding candidacy, clergy status, and the medical forms. This legislation failed by ONE vote in 2016. The UMC may or may not look anything like the denomination we know come May 15, 2020, but if it does, I hope we stop asking candidates for their…

The Jurisdictional Re-Draw Strategy

This is NOT a "plan."  I am not casting a vision or a destination, or presuming an outcome. This document is a strategy, the means and not the end, a road map of one potential way we could get to an outcome that might be like what one of the many "plans" envision. As such,…

Petition to GC2020: Trust Clause in the case of Successor Entities

I'm working on some legislation, and would love the input from other minds! Comments? Suggestions? (Im)Perfections?   Motion: Amend ¶2501.1 by adding a new paragraph following the first paragraph (which currently ends “from their connection with the entire worldwide Church.”) This trust requirement must be maintained by The United Methodist Church and its successor denominations,…

Setting my face toward General Conference

"The disagreement became so sharp that they parted company; Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus. But Paul chose Silas and set out, the believers commending him to the grace of the Lord. He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches."  - Acts 15:39-41 I dropped my kids off for their first…