Good News board honors Heidinger, sets 2004 agenda
2/13/2003 News media contact: Tim Tanton · (615) 742-5470 · Nashville, Tenn. By United Methodist News Service The
Rev. James V. Heidinger II has been named the recipient of the third
annual Edmund W. Robb Jr. United Methodist Renewal Award, in recognition
of his leadership of Good News, an unofficial evangelical caucus in the
church.
The Good News board of directors presented the award at
its Jan. 29-31 meeting in Wilmore, Ky. The board also worked on its
agenda for the 2004 General Conference, the top legislative assembly of
the United Methodist Church.
The Robb award is named for a United
Methodist evangelist and former Good News chairman who helped found the
Foundation for Theological Education.
Heidinger has been
president and publisher of Good News magazine since 1981, and he serves
as chairman of the Association of Church Renewal, a network of renewal
ministries in mainline denominations.
"Though Jim Heidinger is
always the first to nominate others for recognition and encouragement,
the board of directors, by unanimous vote, has chosen to present the
Robb Award to him because of his outstanding contribution to the cause
of renewal within and beyond the United Methodist Church," said the Rev.
Scott Field, chairman of the Good News board of directors. Field
described Heidinger as "a leader with a keen mind, a servant spirit, and
a pastor's heart."
Setting its agenda for General Conference,
the board will focus on the accountability of the church's bishops as
well as the national leaders of the denomination's Women's Division.
Good News petitions will call for "strengthening the church's stance on
sexuality, marriage and divorce," the board said in a news release.
Field, of Naperville, Ill., will lead the organization's team at the
assembly in Pittsburgh.
In other business, the board of directors:
·
Affirmed "with sadness" the complaint filed by 28 United Methodists
against Bishop C. Joseph Sprague of the church's Chicago Area. The board
said that Sprague's views about doctrinal tenets regarding Christ's
life and divinity threaten "to undermine and overturn the apostolic
faith and the theological traditions of the United Methodist Church."
(See UMNS #011, "Group files complaint against Bishop Sprague," Jan. 9.) ·
Heard reports on "revitalized women's ministries across the church" and
efforts to change the leadership direction of the Women's Division.
Good News has long been at odds with positions taken by the Women's
Division on a wide range of issues. · Heard plans for its 2003
Summer Celebration, a national convocation set for the Adam's Mark Hotel
in Columbus, Ohio, July 24-26. The theme will be "A Healthy Church:
Called to Congregational Health; Caring for Spiritual Health; and
Committed to Connectional Health."
|
Back : News Archives 2003 Main
|
|
“We believe in God and in each other.”The people of The United Methodist Church
Still Have Questions?
If you have any questions Ask
InfoServ
Purchase a $20 buzzkill t-shirt and help save a life
Buy a t-shirt
|