The Great Divorce: Tension and Schism in the UMC

This blog post is part of a synchblog today on the topic of schism in the UMC. Please share your thoughts here, on the DreamUMC website, on your blog or facebook page, and tonight at 9 pm eastern on Twitter as we chat together. ----- Sadly, I have recent experience with splitting up. It's not…

In Loving Tension (of Ogletree, McLee, and the UMC)

I get headline notifications on my smartphone from both NBC news and the AP. This means that I can have Olympic results spoiled, know who won a country music award for music I dislike, and be in the know about the deaths of celebrities I've never heard of, all in nearly real time (which is…

Jurisdictional Dreams

On July 23, DreamUMC hosted a Twitter Chat to reflect on the recent Jurisdictional Conferences of the United Methodist Church. In my opinion, this was one of our most exciting and fruitful conversations so far. We began by asking people in Question 1 to name the highs and lows from their Jurisdictional gatherings, or from…

Diary of a Delegate: Northeast Jurisdiction recap

I've been home from the Northeast Jurisdictional Conference of the United Methodist Church for a little over a week and a half, and I'm still mentally unpacking (although I actually did unpack my suitcase after almost a week). As I wrote earlier, I did have some hopes and dreams for NEJ. From my perspective, the…

Link love

Here is an column about the #DreamUMC movement I wrote for UM Reporter. I'm still working on a summary of last week's chat-- hopefully by the end of the day, and Jeremy is hard at work on the break down of work/interest groups. Stay tuned to the facebook page and twitter account!

We All Have a Dream…

The DreamUMC conversation is more than two months old, and growing in some exciting ways. We are putting words and ideas to action, and finding new partners across denominational lines. Background Coming out of the 2012 General Conference, many delegates, volunteers, and folks who had followed the proceedings from afar looked for a way to…

DreamUMC – a Pentecost Vision (sermon video)

"Dream UMC - a Pentecost Vision" Sermon, now with 100% more video! (May 27, 2012 - Pentecost Sunday) A movement is underway to help shape the future of the United Methodist Church by inviting and including as many voices a possible. Using the social media tool of Twitter (follow @DreamUMC and #dreamumc), anyone and everyone…

Link Love – DreamUMC

Here's a great article about our DreamUMC conversation. Our next chat is in a week: May 28, 9 pm Eastern (not 10 pm, as initially stated in the article).

I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one…

Monday night was magic. We had our first Twitter Chat for #DreamUMC, the conversation born out of the strong desire to keep shaping the future of our denomination in the wake of General Conference. You can read the full archive of the chat here, or you can view bullet points of answers to the questions…

Diary of a Delegate: in the end, Hope.

In the Greek myth of Pandora's Box (from Hesiod's Works and Days), Pandora opens a container from which all the world's evils spill, never to be contained. But there is a glimmer of possibility, because last of all things in the box is the most powerful force: hope. Perhaps for those of you who attended…