Reason 3 that I am #ProudtoBeUMC and will #BeUMC going forward – a core call of the church is to speak the unchanging gospel in a way that a rapidly changing world can hear it. That means not just accepting but actively embracing the Bible as the story of God’s people adapting to the new things that God keeps doing. From Abram and Sarai to Sinai to the temple to the exile to the cross to Pentecost to so many moments in between and since…I don’t know how to be faithful to anything the Bible says, is, or does without fully expecting that at some point in my life or ministry God will pretty much turn my world upside down.

From the renewal energy that gave birth to Methodism to our radical focus on grace to the embrace of women in ministry to so many countercultural and powerful moments of witness, the UMC has a long history of following the Spirit in ways that both honor and transform tradition. This season of transition in the UMC is difficult and messy and there is no obvious pathway toward resolution. But I believe the one who makes beauty from the ashes will again do a new thing through us. The gospel will be heard in new ways and the world will be changed.