Author Archives

Dan R. Dick

I am the lead pastor at People's United Methodist Church in the Wisconsin Conference of The United Methodist Church, husband of my beautiful wife, Barbara, dad to my fantastic son, Josh and his wife Caroline, step-dad to my phenomenal son, Greg, his wife Hannah and our fabulous/glorious/perfect granddaughter Evie, author of seventeen books on spirituality, stewardship, congregational development, research, and spiritual gifts discovery, and an advocate for a more loving, inclusive church for the 21st century and beyond.

GC2016 — The Tragedy of Our Current Reality

General Conference has taken a nasty turn and an unfortunate direction, with ascribing malice and assuming negative intentions.  Civility is at a minimum, and people are now on the attack.  My sense is that we are witnessing ineptitude, incompetence and ignorance, not intentional malpractice.  We are not being led well, […]

GC2016 — Day Nine, Wednesday

Is a global gathering of thousands of “members” for a two week legislative meeting a community?  General Conference does not feel to me like community.  It could be.  We are baptized to the same faith, confessing the same God and Savior, believing in the Spirit of God to be present […]

GC2016 — Losers and Losers

We are engaged in a fascinating bog here in Portland.  There are strong and many calls to draw a definitive line in the sand to say who is right and who is wrong, who will win and who will lose.  We have come to the place where no one can […]

GC2016 — Text, Subtext, Context

Today is the first day the rumor mills churned out of control.  If you skim social media, you might pick up any of a hundred different rumors about what is happening behind the scenes at General Conference.  It caused us to change our agenda so that Bishop Bruce Ough could […]

GC2016 — Day Eight, Tuesday

This General Conference has been a true test of what exactly we mean by “united” in United Methodist Church.  What’s in a name?  Is the “united” merely a carryover from our Evangelical United Brethren heritage, and therefore not a descriptive term? Is it an appellation that sounds fine, but has […]

GC2016 — Four Unpainted Corners

Drawing on the saying “we’ve painted ourselves in a corner,” I want to offer a metaphor/analogy.  Imagine if you will a ballroom.  Large, open, massive space, with a sizeable floor.  Four groups begin in the middle of the room to paint the floor, each moving in different directions toward a […]

GC2016 — Day Seven, Monday

Deja vu, all over again.  Informally polling people on their feelings about launching into week 2 of General Conference, I am encountering a great deal of ambivalence, frustration, and a “here we go again” vibe.  Expectations are very low, fear and anxiety very high, and a wariness that we may […]