Our Stories 
How many methodists does it take to screw in a lightbulb?(0)
Reflections on homosexuality in my church
Jody Cross-Hansen
My grown children, who still find their mom and dad an embarrassment in so many ways, literally groan when I wax about how much I loved divinity school and tell them we actually enjoyed denominational jokes. Only their mother, a nerd and a religious one on top of it, could get her chuckles out of a denominational joke. How many Methodists does it take to screw in a light bulb? Answer: At least ten. [...]
Full Story»Silence is the voice of complicity
Ron Bennett
I work with the youth in our church and was at a conference-sponsored ‘confirmation kickoff weekend’ at Camp Epworth several years ago. During lights out, one of the older boys said to another: “Why are you talking like that? You sound gay. Are you a fag now?” The adult in the room didn’t say anything to the boy who made the statement, or to the boys who laughed. I don’t know if the boy being spoken to is gay, [...]
The impossible dream?
Andrew Burrows
I did what I thought would be impossible.
I found the love of my life, the man of my dreams, the man who I know will stand by me through the good times and the bad. If you would have asked me if this would happen five or six years ago I would have told you Hell would probably freeze over first!
Well here I am after almost four years and I couldn’t be happier and I can say Hell didn’t freeze [...]
Losing my Religion
Laura J.Campbell
I have a United Methodist Church Sunday School perfect attendance pin, which is a reminder to me that at one point in my life, my home town church at the time, the UM Church of Freeport, was the center of my universe. For five years, I never missed a Sunday school class. I sang in the youth choir. I made my confirmation, and many years later, I married my then Catholic husband there because my minister had no problem [...]