Tuesday's Catch: 'Korean American Methodists Struggle to Split from UMC' And More

Korean American Methodists Struggle to Split from UMC
Some conservative churches that voted to disaffiliate say the denomination has responded by forcing out their pastors and charging them millions to keep their property.

While their annual conference may offer assurances that it will not force any church to accept a “self-avowed practicing” gay pastor or require conference clergy to officate at same-sex marriages, conservative clergy and congregations are faced with emboldened LGBTQ advocates who see a real opportunity for General Conference to make the UMC "a more inclusive and affirming church" with the disaffiliation of clergy and congregations that oppose same-sex marriage and “self-avowed practicing” gay clergy. If General Conference does lift the present bans on same-sex marriage and “self-avowed practicing” gay clergy, the UMC is likely to experience the same kind of decline as have other mainline denominations which have taken that step. Those who speak optimistically of the future of the emerging UMC may be engaging in self-deception.

Growing strain of evangelicalism preaches 'hostility' towards poor Americans: Report
The so-called "Prosperity Gospel," a strain of evangelical Christianity that argues material wealth is a direct sign of God's personal favor, has long been a controversial doctrine among more mainstream American conservatives. Now The New Republic's Elle Hardy reports that there's a new strain of Prosperity Gospel that takes things a step further by not only seeing wealthy people as God's chosen, but singling out poor people as deserving of "hostility."

For those who are not familiar the origins of the expression, "pull oneself up by one's boot straps," the Nashville journalist who coined the phrase was poking fun at an inventor who claimed to have invented a working perpetual motion machine. He quipped that the inventor should next fly across the Cumberland River by pulling himself up by his boot straps, an impossible feat as his own weight would prevent him from lifting himself off the ground, much less fly through the air!.

Does God Want Your Church to Get Bigger?
Depending on a number of factors, growing a small church is one of the more do-able things pastors can achieve. Those variable factors include....

Flourishing With a Small-Church Mindset
To flourish, the local church and its leadership must change its mindset from growing to focusing on what it does well.

We Can Always Be Friendly
Small churches often wonder what they can offer. What can we do when we are so small? There are a bunch of things small churches can do, and do well. Indeed, John Benton has written a great book – the big picture for small churches – where he goes into some specifics, very helpfully so, that small churches can do.

In my experience being friendly may also be the hardest thing for a small church to do.

Why Stay in a Declining Mainline Church?
Victor Lee Austin explains why he stays in the declining, once-mainline, Episcopal Church.

I Was Wrong
"I think it is true that the Episcopal Church has Catholic substance in it. But also I think I was wrong to put so much emphasis upon that," Victor Lee explains. "I no longer think Anglicanism is essentially an alternative version of Catholicism. Instead, it seems to me its own thing."

Halloween Revisited 

...what is the “true” story of Halloween?

What Did You Plan To Be Hated For?
Christians are no longer hated for grace, but for nature.

JK Rowling says she'd rather go to prison for 2 years than be forced to call a man a woman
World-renowned author J.K. Rowling said she'd rather go to prison for two years than repeat the lie that “trans women are women.”

Spooky Season: Some Americans Are Open to Supernatural, Contact With Dead
Many Americans are open to the existence of supernatural beings and events, including contact with the dead.