2022 Year in Review

There's no secret about it: the topic UM & Global readers were most interested in during 2022 was developments related to the future of the church.

The most-read story of the year came in February when UM & Global alerted readers to the problem of securing visas in sufficient time for General Conference to be held in 2022. UM & Global had previously written about the challenges of securing visas after General Conference 2019 and then returned to the issue in November of this year, looking ahead to the 2024 General Conference.

After General Conference was further delayed to 2024 and Traditionalist leaders announced the formation of the Global Methodist Church, UM & Global helped orient readers to how these developments were playing out globally, including in the United States, in Africa, and in Europe.

With these developments related to separation and intra-church fights, this blog also highlighted the dangers for United Methodists of staying stuck in conflict and explained how new narratives can help move the church past such conflict.

Amid this focus on church politics, mission was not entirely overlooked. Readers also resonated with a post from May that suggested that rather than following John Wesley in talking about the world being our parish, we should instead follow Thomas Coke's affirmation that “Oceans cannot limit the affection we have for one another.”

While this was not reflected in the readership stats for the year, 2022 also saw an all-time high mark for the amount of translated material on UM & Global, including posts from Germany, Argentina, Switzerland, Norway, and the Congo (which also yielded the first French-language post on UM & Global). As the church seeks to live into its intercultural, multilingual future, such posts that facilitate discussion across linguistic barriers are an important part of strengthening the connection.

Finally, on a technical note, several regular readers have noted that they are no longer receiving emails notifications about new posts. This is due to some technical changes in the blog's current platform. We are aware of the problem and looking into possible solutions. Stay tuned for more updates in 2023.