United Methodist Church Becoming More Conservative

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This is VERY good to hear. I read an inspiring quote on this from Doug Wilson yesterday, about Anglicanism in Africa, which would apply to these Methodists too:

‘An obvious lesson from this is never to forget the duty of evangelism and presenting the gospel to an unbelieving world. Because the Anglicans of the 19th century were so missions minded—out of godly desire to bring Christ to the heathen—they set the stage for a remarkable development. They could not have envisaged the time when the heathen would bring Christ back to us.’

This quote is very inspiring, because it seems to accord with what God meant when he tells us that he will shew mercy unto thousands in them that love him.
 
Indifferently said:
This is VERY good to hear. I read an inspiring quote on this from Doug Wilson yesterday, about Anglicanism in Africa, which would apply to these Methodists too:

‘An obvious lesson from this is never to forget the duty of evangelism and presenting the gospel to an unbelieving world. Because the Anglicans of the 19th century were so missions minded—out of godly desire to bring Christ to the heathen—they set the stage for a remarkable development. They could not have envisaged the time when the heathen would bring Christ back to us.’

This quote is very inspiring, because it seems to accord with what God meant when he tells us that he will shew mercy unto thousands in them that love him.
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Agreed!

I actually believe a time will come, hopefully on briefly, where the only part of the world that practices traditional Anglicanism is in Africa and other similar parts of the world. There will always be small pockets of it in the West, but I think a major reformation for Anglicanism is coming eventually…the kind of theological liberalism that exists in many of these churches will inevitably die out eventually; but it may take a few generations for it to occur.
 
jinc1019 said:
I thought I would post this article, written by a theological liberal on Huffington Post, about how the United Methodist Church is actually becoming more conservative. In that past, I have debated others in this forum on this issue and I thought this article is the perfect sign of the shift occurring in the United Methodist Church.

huffingtonpost.com/christopher-h-evans/united-methodists-in-tampa-living-in-fear_b_1496645.html
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Thanks for posting this. I grew up in the United Methodist Church. I haven’t been a member in some time, though. The churches I went to were pretty moderate.
 
The article perpetuates misleading categories from the political arena. The author isn’t a “liberal”, he is a secularist (as is Huffpost). Christians who regard homosexual actions as objectively wrong aren’t “conservative”. Suppose the media pushed the idea that circles have 4 sides. People who refused to accept this “renewal” would be labelled “conservatives”, by the same false logic. The Media tries to dilute Christianity by throwing the word “conservative” as a way of putting people on the defensive. Actually prolifers aren’t conservative, they are supporting the normal position for Western Civilization. The United Methodist Church is still moving mostly towards secularism, and away from orthodox Christianity. The article is intended to expedite that movement, and to weaken those who oppose secularism by labelling them “conservatives”. The article tells nothing about the Methodists, but is revealing in terms of which group controls the theological schools and has access to the media. Do you think Huffpost would print an article by an orthodox Methodist analyzing secularism?
 
commenter said:
The article perpetuates misleading categories from the political arena. The author isn’t a “liberal”, he is a secularist (as is Huffpost). Christians who regard homosexual actions as objectively wrong aren’t “conservative”.
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I think you have too narrow a view on word usage. Conservative is simply a word meaning, “Holding to traditional attitudes and values and cautious about change or innovation, typically in politics or religion.” The word liberal, on the other hand, means, “Open to new behavior or opinions and willing to discard traditional values.”

Just looking at the titles of Mr. Evans’s past work, the OP’s referring to him as a theological liberal seems quite appropriate.

I don’t know that the United Methodist Church is becoming more conservative, but at least they maintained their past stance on not letting clergy perform ceremonies for same-sex union and the prohibition against ordaining practicing homosexuals. There’s a little more detail on the conference at the link below.

umc.org/site/apps/nlnet/content3.aspx?c=lwL4KnN1LtH&b=8057055&ct=11742349
 
The writings of C. S. Lewis or G. K. Chesterton’s book “Orthodoxy” give a context for understanding religious positions. In today’s Media, Mormons or cults are labelled “conservative” but should be described as radical, in the sense they make an extreme break from Christian orthodox teaching. Likewise, Catholics who reject Vatican II are described as conservative, but the relevant fact is that they are rejecting Catholic orthodoxy, by rejecting the Magisterium. People who support the right to abortion, to kill disabled infants, or support homosexual relationships are labelled as liberals, but actually they want to turn back the clock to the time before Christianity, when these things had been accepted. The secularists are the ones who push the liberal/conservative dicotomy, because they want us to accept their mindset, rather than Christian doctrine. The liberal/conservative lingo tempts us to evaluate religion from the secular view, when we should be looking at the world, from the viewpoint of Christian orthodoxy. I would put Huffpost, BU, the National Council of Churches, NETWORK, National Catholic Reporter, and the Jehovah’s Witnesses on one side of the fence, since they reject Christian orthodoxy. On the other side of the fence, I put most Catholics, Protestants, and EO who sincerely hold to the common core of fixed Christian beliefs, that some things are absolutely true or false, right or wrong. They aren’t for or against change, they are for Someone else, and for people.
 
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