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The five bishops of the Western Juris­diction of the United Meth­odist Church have declared their churches a “safe harbor” for LGBTQ clergy.

The Safe Harbor Declaration was announced November 6 as the United Methodists’ Council of Bishops wrapped up its autumn meeting in Lake Junaluska, North Carolina. It comes weeks before new restrictions strengthening the de­nomination’s ban on the ordination and marriage of LGBTQ members take effect on January 1.

Roles shift as longtime editor David Heim makes plans to retire

Scholar and minister Walter Kim, an expert on the theology of race, has been chosen as the next president of the National As­soci­a­tion of Evangelicals.

Kim is a pastor of Trinity Presby­terian Church in Charlottesville, Vir­ginia. He has served on the board of the group, an umbrella organization of 40 evangelical Chris­tian denom­inations, since 2013.

Last month, the pastor of a Kurdish Christian church in northeastern Syria gathered his congregation to decide whether to leave or stay as Turkish forces pressed into the region after US troops had suddenly withdrawn. In an area threatened for years by both the Syrian civil war and the international fight against the Islamic State group, the church was now in the path of a new offensive against the Kurdish militias that Turkey had branded as terrorists.

The Bishops’ Conference of the Church of Norway has nominated World Council of Churches general secretary Olav Fykse Tveit as its new presiding bishop. In 2018, Fyske Tveit announced he would not be seeking a third five-year term as WCC general secretary.

“We are delighted and grateful that Dr. Fykse Tveit has confirmed that he is accepting the nomination and is willing to make himself available to be­come a bishop in our church and for the Bishops’ Conference,” said the current presiding bishop, Helga Haugland Byfuglien.

It’s no secret that many Muslims are fans of Sen. Bernie Sanders, so much so that some affectionately call the 78-year-old Democratic presidential candidate “Uncle Bernie.”

So when the news broke that Sanders had suffered a heart attack in October, Hamzah Raza kidded on his Instagram account about setting up a group to read the Qur’an for the senator.

Four women have brought formal accusations of sexual misconduct and abuse against a United Methodist clergyman who is prominent in interfaith work.

The West Ohio Conference confirmed that Donald “Bud” Heckman, an elder in the conference, is suspended from active ministry and faces “the strong likelihood” of a church trial—tentatively scheduled for December 2–4.

Almost 6,000 families on the South Side of Chicago have had their medical debt forgiven through a collaborative effort of the United Church of Christ and other partners. UCC leaders announced October 20 that church donations have wiped out $5.3 million in medical debt for 5,888 Chicago families. They invited participation in a similar national effort being planned for Giving Tuesday, December 3.

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