4+ day, 20+ hour ago (546+ words) by Heather Hahn, (UM News) The United Methodist Church's top financial leaders are warning that the denomination cannot continue funding ministry as it has in the past. "The church's financial house is on fire," said Bishop David Graves, president of the General Council on Finance and Administration (GCFA) board. "My intent is not to create fear but to address the reality with honesty and urgency." "When a house is on fire, the first thing you do is focus on what matters most. For us, that is people'mission and ministry," Graves said, urging every church and conference to participate in apportionment giving. "Ministry depends on it." Apportionments fund United Methodist ministries beyond the local church level. Conferences pay apportionments to the denomination, and local churches contribute to their conferences. Graves, who leads the Tennessee-Western Kentucky, Kentucky and Central Appalachian Missionary conferences,…...

3+ week, 3+ day ago (950+ words) At a time of rising threats to basic human rights, Council of Bishops President Tracy S. Malone challenged her fellow United Methodist bishops to "embody the radical love of Jesus." "The Church exists to embody God's Kingdom, not human systems of power," preached Malone, who also leads the Indiana Conference. "Bold, Spirit-led leadership transforms lives, dismantles injustice and reveals to the world who Christ really is." Malone delivered her presidential address at the opening of the Council of Bishops' online Nov. 3-7 meeting. She spoke to about 100 bishops gathered from across four continents as well as other fellow United Methodists watching on the bishops' Facebook page. Her address came as a U.S. government shutdown drags on into its sixth week, forcing people to work without pay and threatening American food security. United Methodists around the globe also are grappling with the effects of…...

3+ week, 3+ day ago (629+ words) Barbara Woods-Washington reflects on faith, scripture, and leadership amid the U.S. government shutdown, urging a return to God's righteousness and justice. Faith of A Mustard Seed I have written previously concerning the need for each and every life to identify a scripture upon which their course of living is rooted and grounded. For Howard Thurman it is the 139th Psalm. For me it is Mark 7. To arrive at the Book of Romans "so High you can't get over it" The will to bypass the "Thesis' statement of Paul's Letter to the Church in Rome (3:21ff) is proving for me, a mission impossible. Just when it might appear to some that the subject is exhausted" it IS NOT. THE TIMES SAY "NOT SO'! The fact of our current "situation in life' "a very present usurping of the Constitutional Justice of the Nation's Government" is…...

4+ day, 20+ hour ago (591+ words) Barbara Woods-Washington explores the transformation of Thanksgiving Day from a celebration of family, faith, food, and festivities into today's economic spending spree and Black Friday shopping tradition, reflecting on history and cultural change Faith of A Mustard Seed How exactly did THANKSGIVING DAY, a Holiday celebrated as a day of Family, Faith, Food, Feast and Festivities evolve into an economic SPENDING Frenzy? How? "did "Thanksgiving Thursday', when ALL STORES WERE CLOSED and all non-essential jobs shut down to give the working force this day to stay home for Family, Faith, Food, Feast and Festivities; how did THIS turn into a "MIDNIGHT Thanksgiving Day' "Black Friday Shopping Frenzy? In seeking historical roots of these things, what IS CLEAR is a non connected narrative which finds FIRST use of "Black Friday' in reference to the 1869 Stock Market Crash. It appears that Two…...