- On God’s Providence
As many Christians have done when facing challenges, they find encouragement from verses like these from Psalm 139: Where can I go from your Spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are… Read more: On God’s Providence - How ALL Evangelicals Have Strayed from the Historic Teaching on Homosexuality
One of the strongest arguments for the conservative evangelical view on gay marriage is that homosexuality has been condemned by the church for millennia. Since the church throughout its entire history has unanimously declared homosexuality to be sinful, conservatives argue… Read more: How ALL Evangelicals Have Strayed from the Historic Teaching on Homosexuality - Introducing Ask Bishop Jones | Submit Your Questions!
Have a question about the Bible, theology, faith, the church, or Christian living? Bishop Scott Jones wants to hear from you! Ask Bishop Jones is a new podcast featuring Bishop Scott Jones and co-host Rev. David Donnan. Together, they’ll explore… Read more: Introducing Ask Bishop Jones | Submit Your Questions! - Anglican Dioceses Report Attendance Growth
New diocesan data for the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) released this past week shows a 2.55 percent jump in churchwide Average Principal Sunday Attendance in 2025, an increase of 2,509 from 96,009 in 2024 to 98,514 in the… Read more: Anglican Dioceses Report Attendance Growth - Tod Bolsinger | It’s Elementary Podcast Ep. 51
Why is leading change so difficult? And what kind of leadership is needed when the challenges we’re facing don’t have clear solutions? In this episode of It’s Elementary, Dr. David Watson and Dr. Jessica LaGrone welcome Dr. Tod Bolsinger, leadership expert,… Read more: Tod Bolsinger | It’s Elementary Podcast Ep. 51 - A Foundation of Stone for the Global Methodist Church
A couple of years ago, I began thinking of our Methodist theological tradition through the lens of Jesus’ parable about the wise and foolish builders. You know the story. Two builders begin their respective construction projects. One builds on a… Read more: A Foundation of Stone for the Global Methodist Church - Becoming an Everyday Disciple-Maker | Jeremy Smith
Why don’t more Christians make disciples? Jesus calls his followers not only to be disciples but also to make disciples. Yet many Christians have never been equipped to help others grow in their faith. In this conversation, we explore what… Read more: Becoming an Everyday Disciple-Maker | Jeremy Smith - Today’s UMC has only 3 megachurches
With Highland Park Methodist Church of Dallas now claiming to have disaffiliated with The United Methodist Church, there are only three U.S. churches with more than 10,000 members in the UMC, down from six in 2022. But that’s not the… Read more: Today’s UMC has only 3 megachurches - A Church That Can Hold: Wesleyan Imagination, Agrarian Formation and the Renewal of Ecclesial Life
The modern church cannot hold. Not attendance or budgets or programs but people. In many congregations there is a growing sense of ecclesial thinness: communities that gather but do not form; worship that inspires but does not sustain; institutions that… Read more: A Church That Can Hold: Wesleyan Imagination, Agrarian Formation and the Renewal of Ecclesial Life - An Alternative to Orthodoxy: or How Pietism Saved the Protestant Experiment
Philip Jacob Spener died in 1705. He was perhaps the most important figure in German Lutheranism in his day. In 1666, as lead pastor in Frankfurt, he began meetings with lay people to discuss the previous sermon. In 1675, he… Read more: An Alternative to Orthodoxy: or How Pietism Saved the Protestant Experiment - Staff reflect on Senior Pastor Hamilton
Adam Hamilton is the senior pastor of the largest United Methodist church in America, and he’s the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Kansas. Listen to what his own staff says about the church he built. - Three Features of Prevenient Grace
John Wesley and the Wesleyan tradition are known for a commitment to prevenient grace, even though Wesley preferred and used the term “preventing grace.” This concept wasn’t new with Wesley. No, in fact, the priority of divine grace was formally… Read more: Three Features of Prevenient Grace - United Methodist membership loss: is there light at the end of the tunnel?
The 3.8-million-member U.S. United Methodist Church has released its latest statistical summary for 2025, showing the denomination continued its multi-decade membership decline. But there may be light at the end of the tunnel, as most of those churches that wanted… Read more: United Methodist membership loss: is there light at the end of the tunnel? - John Wesley: Salvation Is a Process, Not a One-off Event
“How does resurrection relate to salvation?” The question was put to me after a recent Sunday morning service. Like all my sermons, the sermon that morning had one point: Our gospel is no gospel without the gospel of resurrection. The… Read more: John Wesley: Salvation Is a Process, Not a One-off Event - Learning to live with a Xennial kind of GMC
Apparently, I am a Xennial and that is an important reality for the situation that I find myself in during this moment. I grew up in the 80s and 90s and as such it was a very interesting time. I… Read more: Learning to live with a Xennial kind of GMC - Evangelicalism Reconsidered
American evangelicalism is a bit of a mess right now. The turmoil at Christianity Today (CT) is symptomatic of larger problems in the evangelical movement. If you’re not up to speed, I’d suggest starting with this piece by Ruth Graham… Read more: Evangelicalism Reconsidered - Is Romans 7 Really about the Christian Life? | Joseph R. Dodson
When Paul says, “I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do,” Christians have often assumed he is describing his own struggle with sin as a believer. But is that… Read more: Is Romans 7 Really about the Christian Life? | Joseph R. Dodson - ‘Preserving our historic autonomy’: Texas megachurch votes overwhelmingly to leave the UMC
A Texas megachurch currently in litigation with a regional body of The United Methodist Church over internal changes to its governing documents has voted overwhelmingly to leave the denomination. Highland Park United Methodist Church of Dallas held a vote Oct.… Read more: ‘Preserving our historic autonomy’: Texas megachurch votes overwhelmingly to leave the UMC - An Important Update on Our Church-Wide Vote
Over the past several weeks, our congregation has walked through an important and challenging season of prayer, discernment, and decision-making about the future of Highland Park United Methodist Church. We thank you for all the time, thought, and prayer you… Read more: An Important Update on Our Church-Wide Vote - Why Did George Washington Skip Communion? | Dr. Timothy Holder
What is the proper role of the church, and of the Christian faith, in relation to the modern nation-state? Jeffrey Rickman sits down with historian, author and ordained minister Dr. Timothy Holder to work through it: whether America was founded… Read more: Why Did George Washington Skip Communion? | Dr. Timothy Holder - The Articles of Faith | Considering Johannesburg Ep. 5
“That put the crack in the doctrinal foundation of the church that we lived into for the next 50 years.” That was Bishop Jeff Greenway on the last morning of the 2026 General Conference, talking about the United Methodist Church,… Read more: The Articles of Faith | Considering Johannesburg Ep. 5 - Lost the Lawsuit, Planted a Church: Joe DiPaolo’s Year
Rev. Joe DiPaolo was one of my regular voices on Considering Charlotte while he was still inside the United Methodist Church. A lot has happened since. He retired four years early to leave the UMC, served a Lancaster church through… Read more: Lost the Lawsuit, Planted a Church: Joe DiPaolo’s Year - The Power and Peril of George Whitefield’s Ministry
At the time of his death in 1770, George Whitefield was one of the most well-known people in the American colonies. Though virtually unknown outside of religious circles today, he has been regarded by many historians as perhaps the greatest… Read more: The Power and Peril of George Whitefield’s Ministry - “The Deepest Part of the Holy Scripture”: Wesley, Wesleyans, and 1 John
Whenever Wesley wrote about 1 John, he did so with remarkable enthusiasm. On 18 July 1765, he noted in his journal: “In the evening I began expounding the deepest part of the holy Scripture, namely, the first Epistle of St.… Read more: “The Deepest Part of the Holy Scripture”: Wesley, Wesleyans, and 1 John - Artificial Intelligence and the Things That Matter Most
“Do not let us begin by exaggerating the novelty of our situation.” These words come at the opening of C. S. Lewis’s essay, “On Living in an Atomic Age,” written in 1948 as the world struggled to come to terms… Read more: Artificial Intelligence and the Things That Matter Most