United Methodists have defeated amendments that would have made church membership open to all Christians regardless of sexual orientation and furthered the creation of a new, U.S.-only governing body, according to the denomination's news service.

Delegates at the United Methodist Church's General Conference last year approved the sexual orientation amendment, as well as several others that would have changed how the international church is governed. But the amendments failed to gain support from two-thirds of the denomination's annual conferences, as required by church law. The conferences voted in May and June.

Twenty-seven of the 44 regional conferences that reported voting results rejected the amendment that would have made membership in local churches open to "all persons, upon taking vows declaring the Christian faith, and relationship in Jesus Christ," according to United Methodist
News Service.

For those following the ongoing political crisis in Honduras, evangelical observers at the Tegucigalpa-based Association for a More Just Society have put together a helpful Web site that aggregates news reports and analysis and offers a prayer and advocacy guide. You can find it here.

Also, CT examines the impact of the political crisis on short-term missions in Honduras here.

And our original blog post is here.

In the days following, the General Convention of TEC (the Episcopal Church based in the US), Rowan Williams, as Archbishop of Canterbury, has held off making any comment. Until today.

The UK's Daily Telegraph says:

Dr Williams acknowledged for the first time that believers may have to accept "two styles of being Anglican" in order to avoid schism. The decision by Episcopal bishops in the US earlier this month to press ahead with the ordination of homosexual priests and bishops — effectively overturning a ban on the practice — has pushed the 80 million-strong global church to the brink of an irrevocable split.

Williams' lengthy statement puts an accent on realistic analysis and description. It is likely to make some, if not most, on both sides of the global Anglican Communion, unhappy in that Williams does not map out how Anglicans are to resolve their differences once and for all.

The core issues are: gay clergy, gay bishops, the inter-dependence of the communion's 35-plus members and their commitment to traditional/orthodox teaching.

Here are just a few highlights from the ABC:

* A realistic assessment of what [the TEC] Convention has resolved does not suggest that it will repair the broken bridges into the life of other Anglican provinces; very serious anxieties have already been expressed. The repeated request for moratoria on the election of partnered gay clergy as bishops and on liturgical recognition of same-sex partnerships has clearly not found universal favour, although a significant minority of bishops has just as clearly expressed its intention to remain with the consensus of the Communion. The statement that the Resolutions are essentially 'descriptive' is helpful, but unlikely to allay anxieties.

* No Anglican has any business reinforcing prejudice against LGBT people, questioning their human dignity and civil liberties or their place within the Body of Christ. Our overall record as a Communion has not been consistent in this respect and this needs to be acknowledged with penitence.

* A blessing for a same-sex union cannot have the authority of the Church Catholic, or even of the Communion as a whole. And if this is the case, a person living in such a union is in the same case as a heterosexual person living in a sexual relationship outside the marriage bond; whatever the human respect and pastoral sensitivity such persons must be given, their chosen lifestyle is not one that the Church's teaching sanctions, and thus it is hard to see how they can act in the necessarily representative role that the ordained ministry, especially the episcopate, requires.

Here's the link to the full statement.

Attendance dropped by one-fifth at this year's CBA convention of Christian retailers, the organization reported, as overall Christian retail sales plunged by more than 10 percent.

Attendance of Christian retail professionals totaled 1,903, a drop of 20 percent from 2008 figures. International visitors at the Denver convention also dropped by 28 percent, to 534 attending from 56 countries. The International Christian Retail Show concluded on July 15.

"In light of the economy and its effects over the past 10 months, we approached this show with conservative expectations," said CBA President and CEO Bill Anderson, who said most trade shows have seen drops in attendance. "While we knew attendance would be down some, I'm satisfied with a strong turnout and the enthusiasm and positive tone throughout the event by both retailers and suppliers."

The low attendance numbers follow a drop in sales reported in May by the Colorado Springs, Colo.-based organization that once was called the Christian Booksellers Association.

Its annual "State of the Industry" survey found that Christian retail stores saw net sales drop 10.75 percent from the previous year. During 2008, at least 91 stores closed, while 54 new ones opened.

Last Friday, The Episcopal Church (TEC) completed its General Convention in Anaheim, California. The bottom line for conservatives still inside TEC is that they are increasingly adopting the language of remnant theology to describe their commitment to remain within TEC.

The church's Left-learning majority exercised extraordinary dominance and pressed forward with two measures:

D025. Gay Clergy, Bishops. This measure strongly endorses opening the office of priest and bishop to all qualified persons and is widely viewed as legally opening the door to gay and lesbian ordination as clergy and consecration as bishop.

C056. Same-sex blessings. This measure authorizes church leaders to develop services for the blessing of same-sex unions and openly allows bishops to respond sort of on a case by case basis and grants an attitude of generosity toward LGBT couples seeking a church blessing of their relationship.

In response, about 29 bishops (nearly all conservatives) signed the so-called Anaheim Statement. George Conger reports:

Twenty-nine bishops have endorsed a letter affirming their desire to remain part of the Anglican Communion and Episcopal Church while being faithful to the calls for restraint made by the wider church.

Styled as the "Anaheim Statement," the letter of dissent to the actions of the 76th General Convention pledged the bishops' fealty to the requests made by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the 2008 Lambeth Conference, the primates' meetings and ACC-14 to observe a moratoria on same-gender blessings, cross-border interventions and the ordination of gay and lesbian people to the episcopate.

So, the big question for conservatives is this: What is holding this remnant together?

Upon receiving the news that Walter Cronkite had died on Friday, evangelist Billy Graham released this statement from his home in Montreat, N.C.:

"Walter Cronkite was one of the closest friends I had in journalism. He was an icon. I doubt if anybody will replace him in the hearts and minds of Americans. I respected his views on so many subjects."

"I will never forget Walter's narration of a documentary film produced about my wife, Ruth. May God bless his family during these days." (Cronkite also narrated an audiobook about Ruth.)

In his 1997 autobiography Just As I Am, Graham wrote about meeting Cronkite during his famous 1957 New York Crusade:

"I went to be interviewed by Walter Cronkite for his CBS television news show, recorded for broadcast the following night. He was an amiable host, and we had a great time, sitting together in a room overlooking Times Square. He asked the kind of leading questions I love to answer, about our work, our objectives, the message we preached, and what we had to offer New York.

"The news staff then screened some film clips that they had taken around Times Square and Broadway, and Walter asked me to comment on them. I observed that thousands of frustrated and bewildered people there who were searching for reality, could find it if they would give their lives to Christ."

As for Cronkite's own religious beliefs, here's what Wikipedia says, FWIW:

"Cronkite's family was Protestant and changed their denomination three times while he was a child. Cronkite himself joined the Episcopal church as a youth explaining in a 1994 interview: 'I got into a Boy Scout troop that met in an Episcopal church. The church had a wonderful minister who was also the scoutmaster. And I suppose you can say he proselytized me. At any rate, I was much involved with the church, and became Episcopalian — and an acolyte. Later, when I worked for a paper in Houston, I was church editor for a while. The Episcopal House of Bishops met in Houston one year, and I became intrigued by the leaders of the church — fascinated by their discussions and their erudition.'"

One day after The Episcopal Church vote to open the sacramental offices of clergy and bishop to active gays and lesbians, the church is poised today to vote on a resolution that will endorse the blessing of same-sex unions through a officially permitted rite.

Here are some of the details from George Conger, now writing for the Washington Times:

The U.S. Episcopal Church put itself on a collision course with the rest of the Anglican Communion by formally approving Tuesday the ordination of gay bishops, defying warnings that the Church of England may respond by recognizing a rival Anglican church. The 2.1-million-member U.S. branch of the Anglican Communion also was preparing Wednesday to approve blessing ceremonies for same-sex unions, a further slap at the Archbishop of Canterbury, who warned the U.S. church last week not to act in ways that deepen the splits in the 77-million-member worldwide communion. In Tuesday's actions, the U.S. church reversed a promise made to the rest of the communion by agreeing to end the church's gay-bishop ban, which the church imposed in 2006 at its last triennial convention after the worldwide furor over the 2003 consecration of Bishop V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.

Conservative reaction to these events is growing hotter. Virtue Online raised further anxiety about "tyranny of the majority:"

Anyone who passed away between Michael Jackson's June 25 death and his July 7 memorial service was bound to go unsung. But one scholar whose passing should have been more widely noted was Martin Hengel, who specialized in the intersections between rabbinic Judaism and early Christianity. He was Emeritus Professor of New Testament and Early Judaism at the University of Tübingen. After battling cancer, he died in Tübingen, Germany, on July 2 at the age of 82.

Yesterday when I heard the news of Hengel's passing from Whitworth College's Jim Edwards, I e-mailed several evangelical New Testament scholars for their comments.

One common theme that emerged among these friends is that Hengel labored to fight skeptical approaches to reading the NT documents — and did so effectively. Wrote Jim Edwards: "Hengel … reversed the speculative trend of historical pessimism regarding the age and reliability of the NT and early Christian writings." Most specifically, in the words of Dallas Seminary's Darrell Bock, "He fought Bultmannism his entire career."

Starting last week, The Episcopal Church (TEC) has been meeting in Anaheim, California, for its General Convention. The convention is subdivided into the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies (lay and clergy).

The big question coming into the convention was whether the convention would move to repeal so-called B033, approved at their last convention. This resolution B033 called for the church to abide by a moratorium for consecrating openly homosexual individuals to the office of Bishop. (In 2003, the openly gay V. Gene Robinson was named as Bishop of New Hampshire.)

Last night, the House of Bishops approved D025, a measure from the House of Deputies that will allow gay clergy to serve openly in all offices of the church. The Associated Press reports:

The Episcopal Church moved Monday toward affirming their acceptance of gays and lesbians for all roles in ministry, despite pressure from fellow Anglicans worldwide for a decisive moratorium on consecrating another openly gay bishop.

Bishops at the Episcopal General Convention in Anaheim, Calif., voted 99-45 with two abstentions for a statement declaring "God has called and may call" to ministry gays in committed lifelong relationships.

Lay and priest delegates to the meeting had comfortably approved a nearly identical statement, and were expected to adopt the latest version before the meeting ends Friday.

Leaders of the Anglican Communion have been pushing Episcopalians to roll back their support for gays and lesbians since 2003, when the U.S. denomination consecrated the first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire. The Episcopal Church is the U.S. Anglican body.

During the debate, several conservative bishops spoke out, according to Virtue Online:

The bishop of West Virginia objected, "We need to face the fact that this is a repudiation of B033... now we're shooting the gap..." and will, he felt, do the very things that the Communion has asked The Episcopal Church not to do. Peter Beckwith, Bishop of Springfield, agreed, "I do not believe it is right... sex outside marriage is inappropriate" and more importantly, he thought that what was at stake was "a perceived justice issue" over and against the "integrity of the Communion." The Bishop of Albany Bill Love spoke in the same vein, stating that "If this resolution passes, The Episcopal Church will cease to be what its always been." For him, passing amended D025 would "totally shred" the Communion... a loss to us and the wider Church." Others, notably Bishop Mark Lawrence of South Carolina and Bishop John W. Howe of Central Florida spoke powerfully against the resolution. But the tide of the House was against them and the Archbishop of Canterbury, who had warned against such legislation earlier that day at General Synod.

The vote was hailed as a milestone by Integrity, the leading organization for supporters of gay ordination. Late yesterday, Integrity in a press statement said:

What do you get when you put a Muslim imam, a Greek Orthodox priest, a rabbi, a Buddhist monk and 10 atheists in the same room? Penitents Compete, a new reality TV show in Turkey, in which contestants from those religions try to convert atheists to their faith.

Those behind the program say they want to promote religious belief while educating Turkey's mostly Muslim population about other faiths.

"The project aims to turn disbelievers on to God," the station's deputy director, Ahmet Ozdemir, told the Hürriyet Daily News and Economic Review.

For the whole story, check out this piece in The Guardian.

A Michigan-based Christian relief group, International Aid, has closed its doors amid financial struggles while World Vision, one of the largest evangelical relief agencies, has eliminated about 75 positions.

International Aid needed to collect about $1.5 million in the past two months to balance its $70 million budget, but only gathered between $150,000 and $200,000, according to CEO Gordon Loux.

"Since we have insufficient funds, the board felt it was prudent to cease operations," Loux said.

The Spring Lake, Mich.-based Christian nonprofit has offered health and humanitarian support worldwide since 1980. Loux said he is in discussions with six or seven nonprofits about rolling some programs into other organizations.

About 40 people were employed by International Aid, roughly half of the organization's staff a year ago. The company also has 32 employees working in Honduras and the Philippines who will be out of jobs.

Meanwhile, about 50 members of World Vision's 1,200-member staff were laid off and about 25 open positions will not be filled, said spokesman Dean Owen.

Last Sunday's removal of president Manuel Zelaya by the Honduran military has drawn strong criticism from the international community, uniting such disparate voices as Barack Obama and the United Nations with Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro. Yet evangelicals in Honduras tell CT that the majority of the Central American nation -- including its Protestants and Catholics -- are in favor of the removal of Zelaya, though not necessarily of the military method.

"It's sad to see the OAS and the UN forcing Honduras to take back this president," said Maria Elena Umana-Alvarez, a well-connected Honduran evangelical. "We feel that what has happened is a reply to the fervent prayers of so many Christians. For many of us, it's not a coup, but the rescue of our country and our democracy."

Below the jump is an analysis of the situation offered by ASJ, a Christian social justice organization in Honduras.

The events surrounding Zelaya have caused evangelical church leaders, traditionally apolitical, to make initial steps into the realm of political activism. The week before Sunday's ballot box showdown, leaders of the main Honduran evangelical associations, including Oswaldo Canales, Rene Peñalba, Misael Argeñal, and Evelio Reyes, led peaceful demonstrations calling upon Zelaya to stop his efforts to change the Honduran constitution and focus on more-pressing domestic concerns, such as the aftermath of May's 7.3-magnitude earthquake. Evangelicals were involved with another large rally on Tuesday.

The 'coup' comes during the peak of the summer short-term missions season in Honduras, causing some missions groups and churches to either come home early or cancel planned trips.

Umana-Alvarez, who hosts a number of missions groups each summer, said caution this week is advisable amid the uncertainty of how nations such as Venezuela and Nicaragua will respond to Saturday's expected showdown between the OAS-backed returning Zelaya and the interim Honduran government that refuses to accept him back.

However, she said that canceling trips altogether this year would be an overreaction at the expense of Hondurans in need of the water projects and other works planned by missions groups.

Photo by Eleana Borjas Cuello.

Today, the Michigan-based ministry International Aid announced its decision to cease operations. The news release (posted today, but dated yesterday) reads as follows:

SPRING LAKE, Mich., July 1, 2009 – Spring Lake, Mich. - based International Aid (IA) said today it is ceasing operations effective immediately. Board Chair Roger Spoelman said the board voted this morning to shut down the agency.

"While this was a tough decision for all of us who believe in the mission of the organization, we simply do not have the resources to continue even another day," said Spoelman. IA acting CEO Dr. Gordon D. Loux informed the agency's 40 U.S. employees this afternoon. The shutdown also immediately affects 32 employees in Honduras and the Philippines.

Founded in 1980, International Aid provided health care services, technology, training and supplies to the poor in developing countries around the globe in addition to emergency aid for those affected by natural disasters.

Loux said the agency will continue shipments of medical equipment and supplies. He said he will be working with vendors and creditors affected by today's shut down as well as notifying the agency's corporate and other partners.