The United Methodist Church

The General Conference of the United Methodist Church voted in 1968 to abolish the African-American Central Jurisdiction and to merge all churches regardless of race under the new United Methodist Church. It set a goal for each Annual Conference area to merge together by 1972. South Carolina began discussions on merger as early as 1966, but it took until 1972 to accomplish the goal. The two conferences, the all-white 1785 Conference, and the African-American 1866 Conference merged at the 1972 Annual Conference meetings in Spartanburg. This paper will focus on the issues that faced the merger starting with the first Plan for Merger in 1970 until the completion of the merger in 1972.

Church of the Brethren does not accept abortion. Participating in abortion is not support their beliefs. Church of the Brethren is a denomination that was formed to continue their practices their own way. They started as a small group and to this day still recruit new members. They solely use the New Testament as their source of guidance for the practice they preach. Rational Choice theory explains Church of the Brethren 's position in opposing abortion.

Homosexuality is one of the most debated issues among Christians today, regardless of the denomination of their church. Some churches view homosexuality as a sin and have no tolerance for it, while other denominations are more accepting and consider it a non-sin. Even though some denominations have taken a stand on homosexuality, there seems to much discord within the governing bodies of the churches regarding this issue. It has moved from a topic rarely discussed and considered very personal and private, to a mainstream topic of conversation.

In the past ten years, the nonstop discussion and stress has been over the question of homosexuality. Are homosexuals to be excluded from the community of faith? Article writers, Richard B. Hays and Walter Wink explain their perspective and answer the ongoing talk.

The Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) was started in December 1973 and their origin can be traced to John Calvin. The theological distinction of PCA is conservative reformed and the ecclesiology is Presbyterian. “This church was first known as the National Presbyterian Church but changed its name in 1974 to Presbyterian Church in America.” The PCA became a separate denomination from the Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUSA) due to the “opposition of long-developing theological liberalism which denied the deity of Jesus Christ and the inerrancy and authority of Scripture.” The Evangelical Synod and the Reformed Presbyterian Church joined the PCA in 1982. The belief system of the PCA is based on

Every week, approximately sixty to seventy devoted followers of Jesus gather in a traditional, white church building nestled by the woods, across from a horse pasture on the edge of the small, mostly blue-collar town of Sparta, Michigan. As they take their seats, those with gray to white hair fill the pews to the left of the aisle, while those whose in their middle age fill the pews to the right, along with a dozen middle and high school students in the back. Baptist Bible Church (BBC) was founded in 2008 and led by a part-time interim pastor until a full-time pastor could be found. However, since their founding as well as their leader's passing in 2010, BBC has been unsuccessful in finding the right pastor for the job and has continued

Spring Arbor Free Methodist Church has two different youth groups, one for the Senior High and one for the Junior High. The Edge program, which is the youth group as a whole, consists of dividing the students into young teen and senior teen. Every Sunday night the youth group meets from 6pm to 7:45pm. Ryan Moline is the youth pastor of the young teens, he has split the youth group into the 7th and 8th graders which meet on Sunday nights and 5th and 6th graders that meet on Wednesday nights. I decided to visit with the 7th and 8th graders on Sunday night.

Being the most observed, it ranks at Eighty-three percent (83%) of the national religious population, says Gary Langer from ABC news. Although the Christian community reeks of dominance through their vast diversity in denominations, their large presence ironically also poses as one of the many reasons why it stands just equally as polarized and counterproductive.

preached the gospel of the kingdom of God, (3) He met the needs of people, (4) He made disciples through the power of the Spirit, and (5) He gave His life as a sacrifice. These are the keys to true biblical ministry.

St. Paul's Presbyterian Church seeks to provide a safe and secure environment for the children

May 1, 2016, the Mt. Olive Baptist Church, located in Greenwood (S.C.) County will celebrate its 142nd church anniversary. Many years Mt. Olive have been a church that loved people, gave without limits and took great care of its members. The last five of those one hundred and forty-two years, I have been honored to serve as pastor of this great church. Although this is a great church, Mt. Olive and many churches like it are plagued with a disease that has slowly, but surely, causing the church to drift further away from God and fall deeper into the ways of the world. This epidemic is known as “tradition”. Churches that are bound by tradition and not led by the Holy Spirit will find themselves missing the mark of what God has called us to do. The bible is filled with instructions for the church, but as Christians and Disciples of Christ, Matthew 28 is the foundation upon which we should be operating on in the church as well as in our lives. The Great Commission challenges us to “go, teach and preach to all nations.” Traditional churches will allow church tradition to dictate biblical doctrine. It will allow the church to argue about who’s right instead of what’s right. Sadly, church success has been based on structure and finances rather than saving lost souls.

Coalbush United Methodist Church is in Mishawaka, Indiana. The Indiana Conference church development team selected Coalbush as a strategic location for potential growth. The church is located right off of the US 20 bypass on the south side of Mishawaka. The city is slowly moving out toward the country, which is how this church views itself: a country church. Mishawaka is not predicted to experience great growth in the next ten years with the make up of a household having little change either. The majority of the people are Anglo-American with little diversity. This is a somewhat traditional community where the majority of people report a sense of well-being. The average household income is approximately $60,000. The largest age group is between 35-55 years old.

While reading this book, the differences between the ideas of Wesleyan belief and Fundamentalism become clear. In the introduction, Al Truesdale lays out the book’s thesis, saying that, “We shall see that differences between fundamentalism and Wesleyan theology are so important that denominations in the Wesleyan tradition cannot adopt fundamentalism without forfeiting essential parts of what it means to be Wesleyan.” (pg.8). Both traditions have high views of scripture, but the main differences that the book describes is that Weslyans, “developed a doctrine of scripture that focused on its role in transforming the believer’s inner being as the ground for reordering behavior. Fundamentalism, developed a doctrine of scripture that tended to focus on reordering behavior in obedience to a body of propositional truths.” (pg. 27). In other words, many of the differences between fundamentalists and Wesleyans are due to their differing views on how the Bible should be viewed. Throughout the book, this viewpoint holds true throughout each topic of

Due to slavery, segregation, and the countless acts of racial discrimination in our society, African Americans have placed their reliance and faith in religion. During difficult periods, the only perceived and genuine alliance has been found in God himself. For these reasons, religion has become the fundamental set of moral rules and values followed inside a typical Black household. However, one essential factor to understanding human life is acknowledging sexuality, whether it pertains to heterosexuality, homosexuality or transsexuality. Unfortunately, other forms of sexuality remain silenced in the Black community, as it is believed homosexuality is a “white man’s disease”. Silence, judgement, and denial fail to acknowledge the sexual

I chose to evaluate my home congregation of Beautiful Savior in Omaha, which was an interesting challenge. Having grown up in the church as the son of a DCE (now a pastor) there, I was already pretty familiar with the educational opportunities provided, but it was interesting to take a much deeper look at it and evaluate the shortcomings as well. The Dirt on Learning offered a strong basis for the critique of educational ministry from the perspective of the parable of the sower, making parallels with how it relates directly to education.