A Sad Day For United Methodists - Everywhere

Despite Ads Seeking Joy - Together - United Methodists Worldwide to 'split'

Apparently, they couldn't find joy together! FRIDAY, January 3, 2020, Nashville, TN - The United Methodist Church that I was once a proud part of, is now splitting - again! Irreconcilable differences over "Gay Marriage" and Ordination of #LGBT+ folks has caused a huge divide. The United Methodist Church is a mainline Protestant denomination and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, into the 20th, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was a leader in evangelicalism. A new "Traditionalist Methodist" Church will evolve from the split. It will not be known simply as the "Methodist" church. It certainly will be 'united' doctrinally and dogmatically against those from which it came. It's been called an ongoing, ugly rift and irreconcilable differences led to the 'divorce' among the faithful. HISTORY The Church became known as United Methodist only in 1968 when the Methodist Episcopal Church merged then with the staunchly conservative Evangelical United Brethren Church. My family attended Summerfield UMC at Tulip and Dauphin Streets during the late 1970's to shortly after my marriage in the 80's and part of the early to mid-1990's. We watched the church slowly but surely turn more liberal-left as years went by. The present denomination founded in 1968 in Dallas, Texas, by union of The Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church, just celebrated 50 years in 2018. The"United" Methodist Church traces its roots back to the revival movement of John and Charles Wesley in England, as well as the Great Awakening in the United States. Historically, the Methodist Church (Episcopal) was not without its controversies. "Methodism" had a history of being 2 separate distinct entities during the Civil War era over slavery. It was then The Methodist Episcopal Church and The Methodist Episcopal Church - South. The famed "Mason-Dixon Line" played an important role in this 'separate-but-equal' drama within the Ecclesiastical body of Christ. The "Church Militant" (the active, living church) was certainly, indeed 'militant' in its stance on race and slavery in the antebellum South. Today, as pews continue to remain unwarmed and church doors close, this 'new' branded church will lean far more Christian right than its liberal left leaning counterpart. At one point in the entire Kensington area of Philadelphia, the UMC was a force to be reckoned with. "Old Brick" Kensington UMC deep in "Fishtown" alongside I-95; Siloam UMC on Susquehanna Avenue, later merged into Summerfield UMC at Tulip and Dauphin Streets. El Mesias at Front St. and Allegheny Ave. (Formerly Providence UMC), Iglesia Del Barrio ("The Badlands" [Kip & Cambria]) (Formerly Mt. Pisgah UMC), St. Phillips (F and Tioga),Simpsom Memorial UMC on Kensington Avenue at Monmouth Street [closed, and sold, housed the drug needle exchange program "Prevention Point, until recently], and later Juniata Park UMC (now, Iglesia Metodista Unida Espiritu Santo /Holy Spirit UMC). What was known as The Kensington Area Ministry or "KAM" hosted community After School Programs through its denominational UMC Services known as BASES Bennett and Simpson Enrichment Services. As "White-flight' continued to empty churches and congregations aged and literally died - the UMC presence in the needier parts of the area were no more viable churches. The remaining bilingual/Latino/Hispanic churches part of the UMC were 'birthed' late in the church's history and then, only with pains. "Growing Pains" perhaps. The church nor the communities which they were in warmed quickly to the growing Latino/Puerto Rican populations. Iglesia Del Barrio was the first to become its own independent church - away from the United Methodist heirarchy and polity. This is a sad turn of events, for the United Methodist Church (the world's 3rd largest religious denomination, the largest Main-line Protestant denomination, but losing ground rapidly), and for Christianity and the Church Universal as a whole. Racism, and xenophobia should be last things to divide a church called "United" - any church for that matter! One is forced to beg the question WWJD? (What Would Jesus Do?). 2 Corinthians 5:18-20 New King James Version (NKJV) 18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not [a]imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. Footnotes: [a] 2 Corinthians 5:19 reckoning New King James Version (NKJV) Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved. via Bible Gateway MORE... The split is scheduled to be voted on at the UMC Convention in Minneaplois, Minnesota in May 2020 it is expected to pass - unanimously, and other splits and separations are also expected as the LGBTQIA representation in the church continues to seek 'reconciliation' and compassion. Of course, like a divorce, the separation is not without monetary compensation by one side, to the other and a set-aside for future groups leaving the UMC. PHOTO CREDIT: United Methodist Communications Valley Forge, PA from the umc.org/joy website Content Copyright: Rev. Brother D. Michael Blackie, OSL ARGO-Liberty Communications ~ Philadelphia, LLC ALL RIGHTS RESERVED EDITOR'S NOTE: For more on this Issue; SEE: Philadelphia Inquirer NEWS Section A (and A-6) Saturday, January 4, 2020 for local reaction and comments by Eastern PA UMC Bishop Peggy Johnson. - M Different edits of this article are also at: Facebook.com/Mencken1 and Nextdoor.com Feltonville and will appear in The Juniata News (Philadelphia) on Tuesday, 7 January 2020. DISCLAIMER: Opinions expressed here, on my Twitter account (@GoWestYoungMan1), or Facebook  are entirely mine, (DMB/Brother Michael) and do not necessarily represent the views or beliefs of the leadership or membership of #ONEFeltonville CCDC RCO, #OlneyNeighborsEmpowered and/or Feltonville Town Watch. When in Juniata News, my views do not represent the opinions of the newspaper.
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© D. Michael Blackie, Principal/Owner 2018 aka Brother Michael, OSL  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED DMB Communications dba ARGO-Liberty Communications~Philadelphia, LLC