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GC2004 Updates
NIC
VOICE General Conference Update #
33
This
NIC VOICE Update contains links for General
Conference Reporting from various organizations and groups with a
wide variety of views. Information about the organization and group
is included for your reference.
Please save this newsletter for
future reference since in upcoming updates we will only be providing
new press reports and information, including commentaries.
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New items are indicated as
follows: NEW!!!! (new
information is posted first)
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NEW!!!! Recommended
Reading:
DAVID CRUMM:
Shattered chalice becomes a symbol for Methodists
Leaders' division over
homosexuality painful
May 7, 2004
BY DAVID CRUMM
FREE PRESS
COLUMNIST
<snip>
The hours leading up to this explosive
moment had laid bare the church's deep divisions over whether to
accept or condemn gay and lesbian members. In the debate, the
Rev. James Preston, a delegate from Rockford, Ill.,
had agonized over the stern voices of antigay delegates, including
one man who angrily declared that gay people are bound for hell.
Preston kept thinking about a close
relative back home who is gay. As his church voted to maintain its
strict condemnation of homosexuality, he felt the verbal assaults on
homosexuality as attacks on his family.
Near the end of a communion service, the
central symbol of unity in Christianity, Preston felt a powerful
impulse to step toward the altar, raise an empty ceramic chalice
high above his head and then open his fingers.
<snip>
Soon, others followed. The Rev. Trey Hall
of Glenview, Ill., also has gay relatives and now carries with him a
tiny chip from the rim of the cup.
<snip>
NEW!!!!
Methodist finds support after speech
AL.com, AL -
... associate minister of First
United Methodist Church in Huntsville, suggested at
the conference in Pittsburgh that the Methodist
Church should split because of ... |
NEW!!!!
UMC Rejects Homosexual Practices
AllAfrica.com, Africa -
The General Conference 2004 of the United
Methodist Church has rejected homosexual practices in
the Church of Jesus, A release of UMC has said. ...
|
...
still had "irreconcilable differences" over the role of gays and
should agree to amicably split. ...
We're not splitting, we're a unified, United Methodist
church ...
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In 2003, the Pacific Northwest
Annual Conference elected Mark Edward Williams to be first alternate
clergy delegate to General Conference. Mark is serving in his fifth year
as pastor of
Woodland Park United Methodist
Church in Seattle,
NEW!!!! Recommended Reading (very detailed reporting):
Delegate Reports (Note: These
reports begin with Day 1 on Monday, April 26):
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CORNET
stands for COvenant
Relationships
NETwork. CORNET
seeks to continue the tradition of hosting worship services
that celebrate and witness to same-gender covenant
relationships in United Methodist churches and resists
actions that try to withdraw this means of grace from
same-gender persons. It also seeks to educate people about
this concern; therefore this web site includes links and
some materials that do not agree with CORNET's views.
"Called Out" is an
information service about LGBT religious concerns sponsored
by Affirmation: United Methodists for Lesbian, Gay, and
Transgendered Concerns.
Affirmation
is not an official body of the UMC. This is a public,
read-only mailing list. Anyone may join, no matter what
their opinions. The sponsors of this list support full
inclusion and justice for LGBT people in society and The
United Methodist Church. Content and viewpoints of materials
and links will vary with the source.
...stories are by David Crumm of the
Detroit Free Press and Peter Smith of the Louisville Courier
Journal. They are in
reverse chronological order. The links are all of the
General Conference coverage ...
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The Steering Committee of The Faithful
Christian Laity of the United Methodist Church is compelled to
speak out against the continuing egregious actions of the
leadership of Pacific Northwest Annual Conference of the United
Methodist Church (PNWAC)
See Mission Statement
Also,
News Thread at
The UnOfficial
Confessing Movement Page
. This
website is "unofficial" and in no way represents the views or
opinions of "official movements." Its purpose is to provide timely
information regarding movements of spiritual, biblical, and
traditional Wesleyan Methodist renewal and concern in the Churches
called Methodist.
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NEW!!!!
COMMENTARIES BY REV. JAMES GIBSON, III
by Rev. James Gibson, III
One of the biggest problems I
have with the idea of "amicable separation" is that it would permit
the revisionists to go their own way in fashioning a "church"
according to their "live and let live" philosophy. Part and parcel
to any ecclesiological entity is the celebration of the sacraments.
Already, the revisionists have tried to hijack the meaning of both
baptism and the eucharist in a perverse attempt to call the
traditionalists to repentance for the "sin" of non-inclusiveness. A
"church" established around theological revisionism would further
desecrate these two most sacred acts whereby Christian disciples are
initiated into and nurtured in the faith.
Yet, in a strange and eerily
disturbing way, the revisionists have a point. They claim the
"right" of full participation in the life and ministry of the Church
because they were "baptized, too." As such, they say, no one has the
right to turn them away from the Lord's Table or deny them entry
into the ordained ministry or any of the other rites and ceremonies
of the church.
If it is true that these
pitiable souls who constantly clamor for the acceptance of
homosexuality as a valid Christian lifestyle were baptized in the
church they now claim has abandoned them, what does that say about
the community which pledged to raise them in the faith and teach
them in the way that leads to life eternal? The vows of baptism
place far more responsibility upon those who are already part of the
community than upon those being incorporated into it through water
and the Spirit. If the community has failed to live up to its
pledge, then it is that failure which is now manifest in the
destructive behavior of those who were baptized but were never
exposed to a community which took its baptismal vows seriously.
In the End, What Did We Accomplish?
by Rev. James Gibson, III
"We"
won every vote.
"We" expanded and clarified the list of "chargeable offenses."
"We" tightened the screws so that the Discipline is more clear than
ever on what is "incompatible with Christian teaching."
From a purely legislative perspective, General Conference 2004 looks
like a huge victory for "our" side: the side of biblical truth and
high moral values. Yet, in the end, what have we really
accomplished? Have we redeemed one lost soul out of the darkness of
the homosexual lifestyle into the light of the Gospel of Jesus
Christ? Have we exhibited the grace and compassionate love necessary
to effect such a transformation of souls?
The answer, sadly, is no. The legacy of Pittsburgh will be one of
law superseding grace and fear drowning out love. In an attempt to
rein in on the lawless deeds of the revisionists, we have piled law
upon law, airing our dirty laundry for all the world to see. What
does it say about the state of a Christian denomination when it has
to put in writing that adultery, fornication, and homosexuality are
"chargeable offenses?" This is simple common sense in a community
living in covenant under grace by the power of God's Spirit. If we
have to write it down, we are sadly lacking in the areas of covenant
and grace, not to mention the power and Spirit of God.
Grace does not require us to write on paper what ought to be written
on our hearts. It does require us, however, to be bold and
courageous when confronting those who are not abiding by the
covenant. This does not mean that we should offer the revisionists
some half-baked plan for "amicable separation," which would allow
them to go their own way and do their own thing, ostensibly with
God's blessing. The way of grace, rather, is the way of redemptive
disfellowship. Grace ought to compel us to say to those who would
abandon the biblical and Apostolic faith for a dangerous philosophy
of sexual libertinism, "Unless you repent, you have no fellowship
with us. You do not belong to Christ. You belong to the world. But
the world is our parish, and we will continue to reach out to you
with the transforming message of love, mercy, and grace that is the
Gospel of Jesus Christ. We pray for the day when we will welcome you
home with open arms."
But fear of being labeled "unloving" and "intolerant" by the world
has driven us instead to lay out a whole new set of conditions,
rules, and laws whereby we will allow these revisionists to remain
among us. They are conditions the revisionists have no intention of
meeting, rules they have no intention of following, and laws they
have no intention of obeying. When the inevitable happens, one of
these new laws is broken, and we call the lawbreakers to account,
the world will say of us exactly what we feared they would say if we
had done the right thing in the first place: we are "unloving" and
"intolerant."
The difference between suffering ridicule for doing right and
suffering the same ridicule after compromising is that the former is
a sign of God's blessing, the latter a sign of his judgment. When
the choice between doing right or compromising presents us with the
same consequences, it is always best to do right because we have
nothing to lose and everything to gain. If we choose, instead, the
path of compromise, we have nothing to gain and our very souls (and
the souls of countless others) to lose.
As the final gavel falls in Pittsburgh, honesty compels us to
confess that we have accomplished nothing in the way of reviving the
fire that once was Methodism. We have not cleansed the temple. We
have not purged the inner sanctum. We have only given the
lawbreakers more laws to break and the world more reason to call us
names.
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Tuesday, April 27, 2004
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Wednesday, April 28, 2004
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Thursday, April 29, 2004
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Friday, April 30, 2004
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Saturday, May 1, 2004
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Sunday, May 2, 2004
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Monday, May 3, 2004
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Tuesday, May 4, 2004
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Wednesday, May 5, 2004
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Thursday, May 6, 2004
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Friday, May 7, 2004
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The Wesleyan Christian Advocate is
the official newspaper published by the North and South Georgia
Conferences of the United Methodist Church.
Scroll
down on page to see this report:
May 7:
Delegates pledge unity
amid unfounded schism rumor
By Alice M. Smith
Wesleyan Christian Advocate
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LOCAL HEADLINES- click on headline for story
REBEKAH MILES' GENERAL CONFERENCE REPORT-PART 1
REBEKAH MILES' GENERAL CONFERENCE REPORT-PART 2
2004 General Conference - MAY 6, 2004
PICTURES FROM GENERAL CONFERENCE - MAY 6
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General Conference 2004 (official
site, access to United Methodist News Service archives, transcripts,
video and radio stories, petitions status)
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The United Methodist Reporter is
recognized as a source of international religion news and a
national forum for United Methodist opinion about faith issues.
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ABOUT GOOD NEWS
The Good News movement is a voice for repentance, an agent for
reform, and a catalyst for renewal within the United Methodist
Church. By God’s grace, we will proclaim and demonstrate the power
and effectiveness of historic Christianity as emphasized in Wesleyan
doctrine and practice.
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The purpose of the Confessing
Movement is to call The United Methodist Church, all laity and all
clergy, to confess the person, work, and reign of Jesus Christ.
General
Conference 2004 - Follow the United Methodist Church General
Conference on our web page. The General Conference is the
only body that speaks for the Church.
May 6,
2004
A Statement of Conscience - Dr. Bill Hinson
May 2, 2004
URGENT
need for Prayer!
Please focus from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon on Monday, May 3, 2004, for
the election of Judicial Council members. The Judicial Council is the
Supreme Court of the Church.
May 1, 2004
The Judicial Council Speaks(click
here)
Judicial Council Decision No. 984(click
here)
April 30, 2004
Legislative Committee Updates(click here)
The Confessing Movement at General Conference(click here)
Thursday, April 29
Rumors
of Protest (click here)
Declaratory Decision Requested (click here)
Wednesday, April 28
Our
Differences Matter (click here)
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Methodist Federation for Social
Action (MFSA)...an independent voice for justice within
Methodism since 1907. MFSA unites activists within the United
Methodist Church to take action on issues of justice, peace and
liberation in the church, nation and world.
Daily SQB - 5/07/04 II
Daily SQB - 5/07/04
Daily SQB - 5/06/04
Daily SQB - 5/05/04
Daily SQB - 5/04/04
Daily SQB - 5/03/04
Daily SQB - 4/30/04
Daily SQB - 4/29/04
Daily SQB - 4/28/04
Daily SQB - 4/27/04
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AFFIRMATION:
Affirmation: United
Methodists for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Concerns is an
independent voice of LGBT people and their allies who affirm full
participation of all persons in the church and society and who
relentlessly pursue policies and processes to that end. Together we
proclaim a Gospel of respect, love, justice and mercy for all.
Affirmation is an activist, not-for-profit organization with no official
ties to The United Methodist Church.
General
Conference 2004 News and Views from Affirmation
Where Do We Go From Here? by Ken
Rowe, Affirmation Co-spokesperson, May 7, 2004
Is It Time for a Schism? by Peggy
Gaylord, Affirmation co-spokesperson, May 6, 2004
Photos from General Conference: 3
pages, new ones added May 5
Affirmation's General Conference
Newsletter
Note:
The free Adobe Acrobat® Reader must be installed on your computer to
read PDF files.
Drops of Water, #8, May 7, 2004
(PDF format)
Also available in text format.
Drops of Water, #7, May 6, 2004
(PDF format)
Also available in text format.
Drops of Water, #6, May 5, 2004
(PDF format)
Also available in text format.
Drops of Water, #5, May 4, 2004
(PDF format)
Also available in text format.
Drops of Water, #4, May 3, 2004
(PDF format)
Also available in text format.
Drops of Water, #3, April 30,
2004 (PDF format)
Also available in text format.
Drops of Water, #2, April 29,
2004 (PDF format)
Drops of Water, #1, April
28, 2004 (PDF format)
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The Reconciling Ministries Network
(RMN) is a growing movement of United Methodist individuals,
congregations, campus ministries, and other groups working for the
full participation of all people in the United Methodist Church.
RMN
General Conference Resources
| Past Reports: |
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Past Photo
Pages: |
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Tuesday, April 27 |
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Tuesday, April 27 |
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Wednesday, April 28 |
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Wednesday, April 28 |
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Thursday, April 29 |
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Thursday, April 29 |
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Friday, April 30 |
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Friday, April 30 |
| No report |
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Saturday, May 1 |
| No report |
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Sunday, May 2 |
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Monday, May 3 |
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Monday, May 3 |
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Tuesday, May 4 |
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Tuesday, May 4 |
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Wednesday, May 5 |
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Wednesday, May 5 |
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Thursday, May 6 |
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Thursday, May 6 |
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The
Pacific Northwest Reconciling Ministries Network (PNW RMN)
is an association of individuals, congregations, and campus
ministries in Washington and northern Idaho who are part of the
Reconciling Ministries movement within the United Methodist Church
(UMC). Reconciling Ministries seeks full inclusion of and
participation by all peoples in the life of the UMC, including
sexual minorities and others who are not fully included at present.
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