Canceled worship services. Closed Facebook accounts. Extra security at churches.
That’s some of the fallout from a viral video showing a Hispanic woman being told to leave a United Methodist church that focuses on prison and addiction recovery ministry.
Because she wants to be a witness to others on a similar journey, minister Mary Johnson is beginning to share the story of her gender transition and her choice to now live fully as the person she feels God created her to be.
A retired pastor in the United Methodist Church, Johnson is married to UMC bishop Peggy Johnson, who retired as episcopal leader of the UMC’s Peninsula-Delaware and Eastern Pennsylvania Conferences in September.
Kenneth Rowe, a historian who was known as the leading United Methodist bibliographer, died on October 8. He was 84.
“He completely reshaped how we understand the narrative of Methodism in America, expanding it to include indigenous persons, women and LGBTQ+ persons,” said the United Methodist Commission on Archives and History in a remembrance.
Rowe was an ordained United Methodist elder, but after a brief period in local church and campus ministry, he found his calling in academia.