religion

Multiple Major Denominations are in Crisis

Institutional Problems Plague the US Church

Those who are paying attention to big news in the world of Major US denominations (and honestly, who isn’t?) may be tracking a few big stories that are currently developing. These stories have very little to do with one another, but taken together, they signal the potential of a major shift in American Christianity. The United Methodist Church is experiencing a split based on the affirmation of same-gender relationships (one similar to that experienced by my own denomination a decade ago), the Southern Baptist Convention is grappling with a massive sexual abuse scandal, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, of which I am a member, if facing a major reckoning with race as a result of an action in one of its Synods. I think it may be worthwhile to recap some of these events and to reflect on the broader impact they may have on the Church.

UMC Split

Let’s start with one of the more dramatic recent moments: after years of debate about the place of LGBTQIA+ people in the church, a large number of United Methodist Churches have decided to split off and form the Global…