Purpose

The General Conference of the United Methodist Church creates an opportunity for Methodists to engage in spirited dialogue and debate concerning a broad spectrum of issues, many of which are sharply controversial. Discernment is rarely easy and requires that Christians draw deeply on resources of prayer and study, combining conviction with compassion, seeking the wisdom of God's Word in the midst of a clamor of competing voices and needs.

Drew Theological School was founded in 1867 by the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church as a "national" seminary. In the intervening years, its faculty has not only provided delegates to the General Conference but has also taken positions on significant and controversial issues before the General Conference, perhaps most momentously in a resolution adopted by the faculty in 1960 in resistance to the proposal to continue racial segregation in the Methodist Church. Drew's historical relationship to the General Conference, together with the Theological School's ongoing commitment to engaged scholarship, renders the occasion of this year's General Conference a particularly apt moment for a conversation between seminary and church.

The resources made available through this website do not reflect a Drew "party line." They do, however, represent the scholarly expertise and considered opinions of individual Drew faculty members who believe that those who have answered the academic call by commiting their service to a Methodist theological faculty should have something significant to contribute to the current debates within the United Methodist Church regarding scripture, theology, history, worship, and ethics.

We hope that General Conference delegates and other members of United Methodist congregations, laypersons and clergy, students and scholars, will find this website useful. Stay tuned for ongoing additions and updates to the website resources!