Daily Digest - March 15 2021

“Racism is the evidence. It is the byproduct of a white supremacist’s understanding of reality that affects every aspect of our existence within this country and especially the church.”The Rev. Jerome King Del Pino, former top executive of the United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry.


NEWS AND FEATURES

Racism must go, but how to get there?

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UM News) — Black United Methodists are hopeful that current efforts to eliminate racism in the denomination will be effective, but some remain wary. The “Dismantling Racism: Pressing on to Freedom” campaign is a churchwide initiative to dismantle racism and work toward racial justice. Jim Patterson reports.
Read story
Black clergywomen share stories
New feature invites essays on racism

Greater New Jersey Conference
Signs of hope one year later

SEAVILLE, N.J. — The Rev. Cricket Denton-Brennan, associate pastor at Seaville United Methodist Church, has made it her mission to educate others about the COVID-19 vaccine and make sure her congregants and members of the community are able to get appointments. Heather Mistretta reports. 
Read story

The Dallas Morning News 
John Lovelace, veteran journalist, dies at 89

DALLAS — John Lovelace served as editor of the United Methodist Reporter and held other key posts in a long career in religion journalism. He covered eight General Conferences of The United Methodist Church, including the uniting conference of 1968. Lovelace died March 9 at 89.
Read obituary
Read a 2007 Lovelace article for United Methodist News

California-Nevada Conference
Clarification on Glide settlement

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Bishop Minerva G. Carcaño announced March 4 that the settlement between the California-Nevada Conference and the Glide Foundation had been approved, allowing Glide Memorial in San Francisco to depart the denomination. Under the settlement agreed to in November, the conference retains control of a $4.5 million trust and receives an extra $1.5 million from the Glide Foundation, while the Glide Foundation gets ownership of the Glide Memorial building. The conference had filed a lawsuit asserting that it owned the building under the trust clause of The United Methodist Church. During negotiation, both parties agreed to drop their argument about who owned the building in order to reach a settlement and move on to the “critical work of witness and service,” the bishop said later. This clarifies a brief that UM News ran in its March 4 and March 5 digests.
Read Bishop Carcaño’s announcement
UM News: Legal settlement means Glide leaves denomination
 

COMMENTARIES
UM News includes in the Daily Digest various commentaries about issues in the denomination. The opinion pieces reflect a variety of viewpoints and are the opinions of the writers, not the UM News staff.

Creating a Culture of Renewal
5 ways to revitalize amid pandemic

CASPER, Wyo. — With increased vaccine distribution in sight, people are looking toward life returning to pre-pandemic normal again. But why settle for normal when something even greater is possible? The Rev. Rebekah Simon-Peter offers five ideas for revitalizing churches during the pandemic. 
Read commentary


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EVENTS

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