The Church Hoppers break down a statement by Ken Carter, the bishop of the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church, in which he gives 7 reasons "Why I believe The United Methodist Church will remain united."  We, frankly, found the reasons unconvincing at best, and offensive at worst. So, we decided to do YET ANOTHER podcast about the Methodists and their sex problem...but hey, why not? They've been having "holy conversations" about it for decades.  The first step, church, is admitting you have a problem. You can check out Bishop Carter's video on the Florida Conference website.

The Church Hoppers return to weigh in on the recent decision by the highest church court of the United Methodist Church that a jurisdiction of the church cannot appoint bishops in violation of the Discipline of the UMC.  Sound complicated?  It isn't...just a new headline for what has become an increasingly exasperating topic within the UMC.  We discuss why many "Progressives" in the UMC aren't, and what a real, substantive response would be for affirming clergy in any denomination, but specifically within the Methodist structure.

This week we talk theories of the atonement of Jesus.  We discuss some major models of atonement, many of them substitutionary and most of them blood atonement in some fashion.  We talk about the illustrations we use to teach these theories and how they all get conflated.  By no means do we address all theories of the atonement of Christ.  But we do ask the question again and again...did Jesus really HAVE to die?  Why?  For whom?  To what end?

HOME is our new "sermon series" where we break down what the phrase "spiritual home" or "church home" means to various people.  In the series, we will hear the experiences of a lot of people who are at home today in a very different place than what they called "home" before.  Join us and find yourself in their stories.This week, we talk with Scott. After 20 years in ministry as a Baptist pastor, Scott left the church altogether.  He explains why he could no longer be at home, not just in a Southern Baptist church, but in any local church at all.  He speaks to the church about priorities and loving neighbor, and he speaks words of encouragement to those who just can't go to church anymore.  Ultimately, home is right where it's always been--where the heart is. Check out Scott's blog entry about his leaving http://scottwelch.blogspot.com/2015/12/why-do-you-care-so-much-about-my-choices.html

We interrupt our "sermon series" on HOME to sound off on the recent meeting of the Primates of the Anglican communion.  In light of episode 047, we felt it a good supplemental episode.  We feebly try to explain for the non-anglican layperson how the polity of the Communion works, and what exactly did and didn't happen at the Primates 2016 meeting in Canterbury, England.  We discuss homophobia, unity, provincial churches, sanctions and censure, and options that we as outsiders see that were available to the Primates but rejected in favor of their move to censure the Episcopal Church U.S.A.  We end by calling to the church to what the Presiding Bishop of the ECUSA, Michael Curry, called "the high calling" of drawing the circle wide...at least as wide as the women and men and children that are already a part of us...but hopefully even wider than that.  Amen.

HOME is our new "sermon series" where we break down what the phrase "spiritual home" or "church home" means to various people.  In the series, we will hear the experiences of a lot of people who are at home today in a very different place than what they called "home" before.  Join us and find yourself in their stories.This week, we talk with Lissa.  She shares her own story of home and why the evangelical church of her youth was no longer a place she could call home.  Lissa embarks on a journey that leads her to where she is today: in an Episcopal church, transformed on social issues that weren't even the reason she left to begin with, and finding hope and life even beyond just the walls of her own church.

So on New Years Eve, Joshua and Wendy sat down to have ye old fashioned "Watch Night Service." Not clear on the details of all that?  Don't worry, neither was Wendy.  Not sure if it involves games and drinking?  Don't worry, neither was Joshua. So we sat down together and talked about all the different religious ways that Christians can ring in the New Year.  Well, some Christians.  And we begin this year the best way we know how, by podcasting as Church Hoppers...

This week, the Church Hoppers get a little preachy.  To help wind up the church year, we thought we might share some sage wisdom with churches of all stripes about how to get rid of those pesky "wow, this church stuff really sucks" critiques.  No, the sage wisdom doesn't come from us...although we are pretty sage and wise and stuff...but from a surprising source--The Bible.  I suppose it is a bit counter-intuitive.  We find three bits of advice for a church struggling with being generally sucky or a bit a-holeish.  Three points and a poem later, and you'll be on your way to improving your own church's reputation.  And, believe us, there are people who are paying attention to whether or not the church sucks.

This week we went to visit a Pagan worship service celebrating the Pagan new year, "Samhain" (sounds like "Sah-oo-in" in two syllables).  Rather than becoming apostate heretics, we find ourselves at home in the Pagan rituals, as we draw the connections between what we've always done as Christians and the rituals based on those of older cultures, especially in medieval Europe.  We are joined by Jake, who gives us the low-down on Paganism/Wicca and helps dispel some misconceptions. We talk about the history of neo-paganism, and Wicca.  We define terms like "coven" "magick" "spell" and we talk about how we have all of these things in Christianity, just under different names.  It turns out that Pagans are just like us!  Finally, we tell about our experience in the circle, what we saw and felt, and how we interpreted it from our faith perspective. For a more OFFICIAL view of Paganism or to find a meeting of Pagans/Wiccans near you, visit witchvox.com

This week we visit the second largest group to come from Joseph Smith's movement.  Formerly they were known as "The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints" or RLDS, but since 2001 they have been known as "Community of Christ."  We discuss the strange and intriguing history of this "not the Utah Mormons!" sect that, today, ordains women, is ok with gay marriage in many places, and no longer believes it is the "One True Church" (TM, all rights reserved).  We talk about their temple in Independence, Missouri (in the place where Joseph Smith said it would be) that is open to the public and dedicated to peace.  We talk about how a sect with such an unusual history has a pretty normal church service and we converse about our experience in one small congregation.  Finally (about the last 15 minutes of the episode, in fact), Joshua asks some members how they feel about marrying gay people and that's when it got interesting... For a more OFFICIAL view of the Community of Christ, visit their website at cofchrist.org