When we were going through our pre-marriage counseling with both my Methodist pastor and my husband’s faith leader of a different denomination of Christianity, my fiancee was struggling with which church we would attend after marriage. When my pastor boiled it down to this statement- “All religions and denominations have their own rituals, practices, and beliefs, but at the core of the Methodist belief is a commitment to just do what you can to make the world a better place” - there was no doubt for him where we would attend.
Thank you for this history and insight into the life of Rev. Williams. I watched with interest updates about the 2024/2000 general conference this week. I hope the term “disaffiliation” and its parent, paragraph 2553, become faded memories in future UMC history.
Note: Without paragraph 2553, however, there would not have been the large number of UMCs that left over the past couple of years, and the votes this year would not have turned out as they did. So that is one positive!
When we were going through our pre-marriage counseling with both my Methodist pastor and my husband’s faith leader of a different denomination of Christianity, my fiancee was struggling with which church we would attend after marriage. When my pastor boiled it down to this statement- “All religions and denominations have their own rituals, practices, and beliefs, but at the core of the Methodist belief is a commitment to just do what you can to make the world a better place” - there was no doubt for him where we would attend.
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Thank you for this history and insight into the life of Rev. Williams. I watched with interest updates about the 2024/2000 general conference this week. I hope the term “disaffiliation” and its parent, paragraph 2553, become faded memories in future UMC history.
Amen, Jim!
Note: Without paragraph 2553, however, there would not have been the large number of UMCs that left over the past couple of years, and the votes this year would not have turned out as they did. So that is one positive!
Yes, Jim, unfortunately that was the way forward, wasn't it? Thanks!