Thought to Ponder

Wesley on the Scriptures

"The general rule of interpreting Scripture is this: the literal sense of every text is to be taken, if it be not contrary to some other texts. But in that case, the obscure text is to be interpreted by those which speak more plainly."

—(Letter to Samuel Furly, 10 May, 1755)

Scripture to Ponder
"Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away."  — 2 Timothy 3:5

NIC VOICE is a growing network of concerned laity whose purpose is to provide balanced information and dialog within the Northern Illinois Conference (NIC).

This is in harmony with the recommendations by the Supervisory Response Team's dismissal of charges againts Bishop Joseph C. Sprague.  The charges were: 

1) dissemination of doctrines contrary to the established standards of doctrine of The United Methodist Church ( 2702.1f), and
2) disobedience to the Order and Discipline of The United Methodist Church ( 2702.1e).

They urged that the laity become involved in the process of "serious theological reflection on issues of Biblical Authority, Christology and the Mission of the Church".

NOTE: NIC VOICE is not an official publication of the Northern Illinois Conference or the United Methodist Church.  See our Disclaimer below.

Would you consider a donation to support the NIC VOICE web site and newsletter content to continue funding the effort to keep relevant content on-line? 

Please click here:

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If you would rather not contribute online, donations may be sent to:

NIC VOICE
 P.O. Box 604
Crystal Lake, IL 60039-0604

NIC VOICE is a non-profit, non-business association of members within the Northern Illinois Conference of the United Methodist Church. NIC VOICE is not incorporated or filed as 501-C-3 tax deductible entity.


W e s l e y V o i c e 
Wisdom from Wesley
 And Can It Blog
The Weblog of Wesley Voice


 HE IS RISEN!
 He is not here; he has risen, just as he said.  Come see the place where he lay. (Matthew 28:6)

What is a Watershed?NIC VOICE offers the laity within NIC churches an opportunity to become INFORMED. Upon invitation from a NIC church or group, NIC VOICE will provide a speaker to conduct a  presentation entitled "WATERSHED MOMENT:  Discussion of Theological and Doctrinal Issues in the UMC Raised by the Bishop Sprague Complaint & Dismissal".
 What is a Watershed?

NIC VOICE provides an open meeting package (see "How to Schedule an NIC VOICE Meeting) to assist you in scheduling the meeting.)
I would highly recommend that anyone concerned about the overall future direction of the United Methodist Church should attend the "NIC VOICE" presentation or spend a few hours reading details on the internet.

The presentation is a much more organized way to get the details and it allows for interaction with questions and discussion.

Their presentation gives a disturbing message, but it is a message we should know.

Paul Marshall
Serena, IL UMC

From NIC VOICE Links & Resources:  Bishop Sprague Complaint and Dismissal (Links directly related to Bishop Sprague's writings, the complaint, dismissal and responses)

Have you visited the NIC VOICE Resources & Links Section? Great resources are added frequently!  Check it out!

Have you shared the NIC VOICE Newsletter with other UMC members?
What The Bible Says About A Godly Attitude Toward Heresy
HOW SHALL WE DEAL WITH UNITED METHODIST HERETICS?  by Rev. Wally Cason, St. Mark and Oak Hill UMC, Tupelo, Mississippi
Doctrinal Issues Comparison Chart
"Risking Methodism", by D. Stephen Long, Associate Professor of Systematic Theology, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary

NIC VOICE Moody Broadcast Network – WMBI 90.1 Interview:  FULL INTERVIEW NOW ON-LINE

NIC VOICE was interviewed  by Roy Patterson, Community Relations Director at WMBI Chicago, part of the Moody Broadcasting Network.  The interview originally aired in the Chicago area on WMBI 90.1 FM on Monday, July 21 at 6:12 AM as part of the Morning Show segment, God at Work: with Roy Patterson.  Click Here to listen to this segment.

 

WMBI graciously provided the full interview, which was edited in length to fit the segment that aired on 7/21 (see above).  Click Here to listen to the full interview.

Deconstructing Liberal Tolerance by Dr. Francis Beckwith
Honest Answers to Tough Questions

Have a question about the United Methodist Church?  Ask InfoServ!

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Resources on
the Passion

NICEA, is the Northern Illinois Conference Evangelical Association. They generally meet on the first Saturday morning of each month from 9:30 to noon at Wheatland Salem UMC in Naperville.  For more information, visit their web site at:  http://www.umnicea.org/
NICVOICE
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WATERSHED MOMENT

 It is important that we not allow the passing of what Bishop Ough’s Supervisory Team has characterized as a “Watershed Moment” without examining their dismissal of recent charges brought against Bishop Sprague.  More importantly, presentations and discussions such as this forum will allow United Methodists throughout the Northern Illinois Conference and beyond an opportunity to decide for themselves what they believe to be the Biblical Truth about the doctrines that are at the root of this controversy.  

The charges in the complaint against Bishop Sprague state that his positions are contrary to the Statement of Faith in the United Methodist Book of Discipline. This controversy became public when a transcript of Bishop Sprague’s speech at Iliff Seminary was released in the summer of 2002.  Subsequent to that, Chapter 4 of his book, “Affirmations of a Dissenter” was released by Bishop Sprague on the NIC web site.

In the fall of 2002, the UMReporter published a series of articles contrasting excerpts from Chapter 4 of Bishop Sprague’s book with the published response of Bishop Whitaker. 

In addition, various renewal groups officially within the UMC, as well as other groups not officially connected, have covered various aspects of this controversy on their web sites.  They have published information and opinions about the complaint that was made by a group of laity and clergy late in 2002, and the subsequent dismissal in February of 2003.  These groups provide a forum for this and other issues of concern within the UMC.  

MISSION

 NIC VOICE is a growing network of concerned laity whose purpose is to provide balanced information and dialog within the Northern Illinois Conference of the UMC about Doctrinal Issues raised by the Bishop Sprague Complaint & Dismissal.

This is in harmony with the recommendations by the Supervisory Response Team's dismissal of charges.  They urged that the laity become involved in the process of "serious theological reflection on issues of Biblical Authority, Christology and the Mission of the Church".

Questions or comments about NIC VOICE may be directed to:  nicvoice@nicvoice.org.

NIC VOICE offers the laity within NIC churches an opportunity to become more INFORMED:

Upon invitation from a NIC church or group, NIC VOICE will provide a speaker to conduct a  presentation entitled "Discussion of Theological and Doctrinal Issues in the UMC Raised by the Bishop Sprague Complaint & Dismissal", or

You may choose to conduct the presentation 'in-house', using the NIC VOICE Watershed Moment Presentation, at a single meeting or in a series of studies on these key doctrinal issues of:

·         Christology (Trinity, Virgin Birth, Deity of Jesus)

·         Resurrection of Jesus Christ

·         Salvation through Jesus Christ Alone

·         The Atonement of Jesus Christ

SUBSCRIPTIONS

To subscribe/unsubscribe, go to newsletter.htm.

If you don't have Web access, send your name and email address to:nicvoice@nicvoice.org 

or contact us:
NIC VOICE
 P.O. Box 604
Crystal Lake, IL 60039-0604

For past issues, visit our archives at newsletter.htm.

Tell a friend about NIC VOICE.  It's free!  If they do not have e-mail access, you can print this newsletter and distribute it (see REPRINT AND FORWARD POLICY below.)

DISCLAIMER

 NIC VOICE is sponsored by a laity-led network in the Northern Illinois Conference of the United Methodist Church dedicated to providing balanced information and dialog about issues of concern relating to the Bishop Sprague Complaint & Dismissal.  This group has sole responsibility for the content of this letter.  

NIC VOICE provides original content on our web site and may distribute information from other sources.  NIC VOICE exercises no more editorial control over such information from other sources than does a typical public library, bookstore, or newsstand. The views and opinions expressed in such information do not necessarily reflect those of NIC VOICE.

 Copyright (c) 2003, NIC VOICE.  All rights reserved.

REPRINT AND FORWARD POLICY

 Subscribers are encouraged to forward NIC VOICE News Letter and web site links to others and/or print it in its entirety, without any changes, for noncommercial use only.   If forwarding to another publication, please do so with the appropriate citation NIC VOICE in accordance with "fair use" rules, and our Disclaimer.

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NIC VOICE Newsletter
Summer 2004 Volume 2 Issue 2
Click here to email this newsletter to a friend.
 
This newsletter is the last one NIC VOICE will publish in this format.  We will continue to publish news updates on General Conference 2004, Jurisdictional Conferences 2004 and Annual Conferences 2004.  You will be notified by email when the web site has been updated with new articles and information.  Items removed from the Home Page and in past newsletters are generally archived in the NIC VOICE news thread located here:  http://www.nicvoice.org/news.htm, or by topic in other areas of the web site. 

Key statistics with regard to the NIC VOICE web site:

  • Since inception in March 2003, we've had over 400,000 hits (files + pages accessed).

  •  In May 2004 (GC timeframe), 1883 unique viewers visited NIC VOICE, exceeding our April 2004 record of 1547 unique viewers.   In July, we had 1678 unique views visiting NIC VOICE; this is the second highest recorded since inception.

  •  We’ve had visitors from 64 countries (see list in this newsletter).

Reporting on GC2004, AC and JC:

We thank our subscribers and friends for your financial support which helps us to continue to offer these resources. 
NIC VOICE Jurisdictional Conference 2004 News Updates

NIC VOICE Annual Conference 2004 News Updates

NIC VOICE GENERAL CONFERENCE 2004 News Updates
 

 The following NIC VOICE GC2004 reports link to reports, articles and commentary, including UMNS, Reporter Interactive, Good News, Confessing Movement, Institute for Religion and Democracy, Reconciling Ministries Network national and PNW, Affirmation, CorNet, SoulForce, links to various video, audio and transcripts and more:

Current News - go to NIC VOICE's News Page

Nearly 400 friends and relatives from across the country gathered at the O’Hare Marriott Hotel on Aug. 1 to celebrate the ministry of Bishop C. Joseph Sprague and his wife, Diane. Sprague will retire on Sept. 1 after completing 42 years in ordained ministry, including eight years as episcopal leader of the Northern Illinois Conference (NIC). Read More

…Lomperis works for Mark Tooley, director of UMAction, the department of the IRD that focuses on us: United Methodists. For the last eight years, Tooley and his staff have criticized, defamed and hounded Bishop Sprague through articles in their UMAction newsletter and on the IRD website. So it shocked many of us attending Bishop Sprague’s retirement dinner when this blatant enemy of everything Bishop Sprague has stood for throughout his ministry “crashed” this final farewell for the Bishop’s friends and family.  Read More

  • Controversial Bishop Vows to Continue Activism, Not Be Silent, in Retirement, John Lomperis, IRD, August 17, 2004

    The Northern Illinois Conference of the United Methodist Church honored its highly controversial retiring bishop with a banquet on August 1.  Amidst toasts and praises from those whom he had influenced over his career, Bishop C. Joseph Sprague promised that he would continue to “engage the demanding justice and peace issues which confront the church.”

    During his eight years as bishop, Sprague became mainline Protestantism’s most controversial active prelate.  In speeches and writings, he publicly repudiated key church teachings about Jesus Christ—including Christ’s eternal deity, his virgin birth, his atonement for sin by dying on the cross, and his bodily resurrection.  The bishop also rejected the church’s moral teachings restricting sexual relations to the marriage of one man and one woman.  Sprague was arrested several times for civil disobedience at protests in favor of homosexuality and in opposition to the Iraq war. 

    Toward the end of his brief farewell speech, Sprague acknowledged one of his chief critics by declaring:  “IRD is here and I want them to print this.”  He then announced, “I intend, God being my helper, to continue, through a new and flexible venue soon to be cobbled together from several options, to speak, write, and engage the demanding justice and peace issues which confront the church, the world….”  The speech was then interrupted by resounding applause.  

    Sprague had planned in retirement to become a chaplain/lobbyist working in the United Methodist Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.  But his appointment became controversial and he disavowed interest in the position.  Sprague now plans to live in Columbus, Ohio.  Read More

     

  • Bishop Jung is committed to spirituality, justice, evangelism (July 30 NIC Reporter)

    Jung said he is committed to working toward inclusiveness in the Church. “I believe the Kingdom of God calls for racial equality, gender equality and sexual orientation equality,” he said. “Inclusiveness is the gift of God.”   Read More

     Bishop Jung to lead Northern Illinois (July 23 NIC Reporter)

    This link is to an article published by the Northern Illinois Conference in The Reporter.  There is a photo of Bishop Jung being escorted.  Traditionally, the two bishops who escort a newly elected bishop are the newly elected bishop's own bishop (thus Bishop Rader) plus a bishop who is special to the newly elected bishop.

     

  • UMNS Article, August 2, 2004:  United Methodist clergywoman to face trial

    A United Methodist clergywoman in Philadelphia faces a church trial as the result of an investigating committee decision. The Rev. Irene Elizabeth (Beth) Stroud, 34, associate pastor of First United Methodist Church of Germantown since 1999, talked about being a lesbian in an April 27, 2003, sermon to her congregation. She also said she and her partner “have lived in a covenant relationship for two and a half years.” [More]

Bishop C. Joseph Sprague retires August 31, after serving as our episcopal leader in the Northern Illinois Conference for eight years. I will miss him enormously. ...