A popular, conservative Christian publication, Good News Magazine, which has played a big role in influencing the United Methodist Church since the mid-1960s, announced it will be closing down operation for good. This is a huge loss for not only the Methodist church, but for Christianity as a whole in the United States, as we already don’t have enough voices declaring prophetically the Word of God to a culture that is in desperate need of repentance.
Rob Renfroe, the president of Good News, along with the company’s vice president, Thomas Lambrecht, put out a joint statement on Monday, according to The Christian Post, stating that “our board of directors and our executive leadership team have determined it is time for Good News to conclude its work.”
“So, over the next few months we will be in the process of closing our office and one final edition of the magazine will be published after the first General Conference of the Global Methodist Church this September,” the statement read. “We will continue to publish the weekly Perspective into the fall, and our website will continue to be available as an archive of Good News’ ministry and history.”
Both men stated that they had transferred their membership away from the United Methodist Church, which has become extremely liberal in recent years, over to the Global Methodist Church, which is theologically conservative and is an alternative to the UMC. It was launched in 2022.
Although giving credit to Good News for having helped thousands of congregations leave the UMC due to its theologically liberal direction, the two former UMC pastors spoke well of their former church.
The pair said, “We are immensely thankful for the lives and ministries God has given us and for the opportunities provided to us by the UM Church. It was the UM Church that recognized our gifts, affirmed our calling, and allowed us to serve its congregations. Welcoming us with open arms over forty years ago may be a decision some within the UM Church have come to lament. But we are grateful for a church that made a place for us to be in ministry, to do the work of God, and to fulfill his calling on our lives.”
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“The vast majority of traditionalists would have left years ago, the UM Church would have gone radically progressive long before now, and whatever Evangelical movement might have come out of it would, at best, be a mere shell of the GMC,” they said, explaining the impact the publication had on the UMC. “We could not imagine better lives than the ones God has given us. Nor could we be more grateful. Grateful to The United Methodist Church that provided us the opportunity to be in ministry, to those who led us to faith in Christ, to our wives and children who upheld us in ministry, to the congregations that blessed us, to the men and women who inspired us, and to all of you who have supported us and the work of Good News.”
The UMC has experienced a lot of debate over the course of the last several years about whether they should make changes to the Book of Discipline and take out the measures that ban the blessing of same-sex unions and ordaining homosexuals — noncelibate — to the ministry. The Bible is pretty clear on this issue. Homosexuality is a sin, one that is so severe, such a serious affront to God, that it’s referred to as an “abomination.”
So no. You shouldn’t amend the Book of Discipline and allow these practices.
While Good News and other like-minded entities within the UMC were able to keep the measures within the Book of Discipline, many theological liberal leaders refused to follow or enforce the rules. At a 2019 special session of the UMC General Conference, delegates approved a temporary measure that allowed more than 7,500 congregations to leave the denomination over the ongoing debate, with most of that number joining the GMC. Earlier this year, after these congregations had departed the UMC, delegates at General Conference overwhelmingly voted to remove the measures from the Book of Discipline.
Renfroe spoke to The Christian Post in February, before the changes were made, stating that the General Conference would be the last time his group would participate in the legislative meeting.