Category Archives: Current events

Annual Conference in the Age of Coronavirus

Posted on August 18, 2020 by Richard Heyduck

We had our meeting of the Texas Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church this past weekend. The clergy session back in June, Friday’s business session, and Saturday’s ordination service were all done online, mostly via Zoom. Normally Conference runs … Continue reading →

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What About History?

Posted on June 29, 2020 by Richard Heyduck

There’s been much talk about history lately. From doing family history research for over forty years to being a history major in college and having history as my minor field in my doctoral work, I’ve given quite a bit of … Continue reading →

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United Methodist Congregationalism

Posted on February 25, 2020 by Richard Heyduck

It has been said vigorously and often that United Methodist polity is NOT congregationalist. We have congregations, but our polity is connectional. Congregationalism is the claim that churches are independent, self-defined, self-determined, and self-led before they are connected to other … Continue reading →

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Incomprehensible Incompatibilities

Posted on January 4, 2020 by Richard Heyduck

The Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church uses “incompatibility” language in two areas. Both of these areas are incomprehensible to large swathes of the church membership. In the best known passage, the BOD declares “the practice of homosexuality” … Continue reading →

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Not So Much Unity

Posted on April 11, 2019 by Richard Heyduck

Lovett Weems sees more unity than I do when he writes, What if the General Conference addressed matters of doctrine, mission, and values and gave freedom (such as Central Conferences already have today) in structure and regulations, including clergy standards? … Continue reading →

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No Exit?

Posted on May 21, 2018 by Richard Heyduck

(Previous post in the series) Turning to the difficulty of the exit option with regard to political entities, Hirschman writes: “But the economist is by no means alone in having a blindspot, a ‘trained incapacity’ (as Veblen called it) for perceiving the usefulness of … Continue reading →

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Exit, Voice, and Loyalty

Posted on May 17, 2018 by Richard Heyduck

I believe there are some useful ideas for United Methodists in Albert Hirschman’s Exit, Voice, and Loyalty: Responses to Decline in Firms, Organizations, and States. We know we have decline in the United Methodist Church. We have fewer members in the … Continue reading →

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Room for Deterioration

Posted on May 16, 2018 by Richard Heyduck

Reading Albert Hirschman, Exit, Voice, and Loyalty: “The wide latitude human societies have for deterioration is the inevitable counterpart of man’s increasing productivity and control over his environment. Occasional decline as well as prolonged mediocrity—in relation to achievable performance levels—must be counted among the … Continue reading →

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United Methodist Convictions

Posted on April 24, 2018 by Richard Heyduck

In their book Convictions: Defusing Religious Relativism, James Wm. McClendon, Jr., and James M. Smith work from this definition: “A conviction… means a persistent belief such that if X (a person or community) has a conviction it will not easily be … Continue reading →

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Thinking about Immigration

Posted on January 19, 2018 by Richard Heyduck

Immigration has been a contentious topic in the USA for some time now. If one pays any attention to our political discourse, it’s hard to miss. Here are some of my thoughts and questions on the subject. Why do we … Continue reading →

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