· Scouting, Ministry to Men, Ministry with the Poor, NACP

Time to tell the Good News, says Bishop Swanson

Following a catalog of ways in which church members are complaining about actions in the United Methodist Church, Mississippi Bishop James Swanson told some 30 leaders of Scouting and men’s ministry on a May 6 Zoom call, that like the Bad News Bears we’ve become the Bad News Church.

He noted that some people just want to get out of Dodge and leave the denomination.

“I wish we could just get on with telling the Good News,” said the bishop who serves as president of the General Commission on United Methodist Men.

Instead of focusing on what’s wrong in the denomination, the bishop suggested we focus on actions in local churches and units of United Methodist Men where “so many good things are going on.”

Arkansas Bishop Gary Mueller, vice-president of the commission, supported Bishop Swanson’s appeal to focus on all the good things going on in the denomination and making disciples. He urged commission members to remember three things: 1) God is still God; 2) Jesus is still Lord; and 3) The Holy Spirit is still at work.

In other business, the group:

Back to News Articles