Weekly Outlook - GA highlights: Key updates 📣

Dear Outlook readers,  It's been a busy week at the Outlook — perhaps you can tell by the larger-than-normal size of this newsletter. There's a lot of news to cover: all the material coming to General Assembly 2024; wars in Israel/Palestine and Ukraine; a presidential election; college campus protests (and churches ministering to those communities); Taylor Swift's 31 new songs; UMC's historic conference; and the release of our May issue on innovation.  I don't know about you, but the world feels really loud right now. There are a lot of people who are hurt and frustrated and working to make a difference in large systems that seem unchangeable. Our job at the Outlook is to cover these voices and offer them to you in an intelligible way. As a staff, we've been talking about protecting the softness of our hearts as we do this work. Our goal is unbiased journalism, but we're also human. We come to this work with feelings and beliefs. And, as you know, when you hear an opinion that upsets you, when you receive a sharp critique, when you watch the news and see nothing but violence and fear and hate, it is easy to let your heart become hard. It is easy to choose cynicism. We are trying to choose lovingkindness and fairness.  I invite you to join me in this goal of lovingkindness as you read the news here. Tensions are high. We all feel the pressure. Engage with the news that is helpful to you. Read with a kind eye. Know that God feels your frustration, joy and pain. There's a way through this together because, somehow, that's the way God intended for us to be. In Christ, Rose Schrott Taylor Outlook digital content editor

Hands and Feet initiative scrapped for #GA226 by Greg Allen-Pickett Taylor Swift’s ‘TTPD’: A tapestry of connection, healing and resurrection by Hannah Lovaglio The Rev. Jihyun Oh is the nominee to be the next Stated Clerk of the General Assembly by Mike Ferguson 8 innovative ministries provide insights into the church's future — Eric Nolin Meet CeCe Armstrong and Tony Larson: #GA226 co-moderator candidates by Rose Schrott Taylor and Jesy Littlejohn Presbyterian campus ministries share kindness and compassion with Israel-Hamas war protestors by Gregg Brekke In case you missed it... How unconditional support for Israel became a cornerstone of Jewish American identity A new book shows how those who dissented were effectively sidelined. — Yonat Shimron Agility can only be built in community: Pursuing innovation in practice If we do the work, if we keep listening, we get to co-write the next plausible chapter of our good news together, writes Karen Rohrer. Multiplying gifts When we start from a perspective of abundance, our blessings become clear and our work less daunting, writes Teri McDowell Ott. Radical hospitality: Lessons from Berlin Nadine Ellsworth-Moran visited Berlin in 1990. Her host, a friend of a friend of a friend, taught her about the tenuous ties that bind us — and the gift of radical hospitality. ‘Bathroom law’ heightens concerns for transgender GA attendees A new law in Utah bars transgender people from using, in certain places, restrooms that correspond to their gender identities. — Patrice Gaines United Methodists strike down ban on ordination of gay clergy With a simple vote call and without debate, delegates to the General Conference removed the ban on the ordination of ‘self-avowed practicing homosexuals’ — a prohibition that dates to 1984. — Yonat Shimron Andrew Root and Kenda Creasy Dean talk about the challenges of “innovation” Theologians and writers Andrew Root and Kenda Creasy Dean have different takes on innovation. They join Wes Ellis to share their perspectives on the future of the church.