A New Connection: Reforming The United Methodist Church

by Andy Langford

Langford and Willimon urge readers to critically examine the current structure of the United Methodist Church and pursue radical changes. They assert that "local decision making and contribution must be enhanced; bureaucracy must be reduced; episcopal leadership must be re-established; our organizational form must be fitted to our missional function." Some may judge the authors' analysis as candid and their remedies promising; others may take exception to what they see as intemperate claims and calls for precipitous changes in UM polity. Readers are invited to enter into the conversation and make choices that can reform the United Methodist Church and shape its future.

Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[JD Waggy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'll flesh this review out soon, but the preliminary reaction is that this is the kind of book you get when the people who have never been ignored by the system write a book about how this handful of refocuses on entirely administrative concepts will change everything.

It surprises me not at all that no one is looking to this for suggestions in the middle of the current UMC dumpster fire. It has not aged well, has a myopically American viewpoint, and totally ignores any of the theological and social issues that the UMC has been facing for decades.