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The Rev. James V. Heidinger II speaks at a 2006 Good News dinner at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Ky., as his wife Joanne listens. Heidinger has announced his retirement as head of Good News effective July 1. A UMNS file photo by Robert Rempfer, Good News.

A UMNS Report
By Linda Bloom*
April 2, 2009

Times were turbulent when the Rev. James V. Heidinger II entered the ministry.

During the social unrest of the late 1960s, Heidinger -- who had just graduated with a master’s degree in biblical studies from Asbury Theological Seminary – was beginning to think the Methodist church had lost confidence in its message, letting the world set its agenda.

Eventually, he became a voice “on behalf of things evangelical,” a role that became formalized when he was elected editor and executive secretary of Good News, A Forum for Scriptural Christianity, Inc., in 1981.

Now, 28 years later, Heidinger, 67, a clergy member of the United Methodist East Ohio Annual Conference, is retiring as president and publisher of Wilmore, Ky.,-based Good News, effective July 1. He is leaving, he said, with “a sense of fulfillment, that I was where God wanted me to be.”

L. Faye Short, the recently retired president of the Renew Network, an evangelical women’s group, noted that Heidinger’s name “has been synonymous” with the Good News movement.

"It has been a privilege to work with Jim Heidinger over these many years,” she told United Methodist News Service. “Dr. Heidinger is a statesman, a theologian and a pastor.”

Joint effort

Good News has always been a joint effort between staff members and the board of directors, Heidinger pointed out, and he feels lucky to have been “part of a tremendous team of folks across the years.”

The heart of the movement’s mission over the decades has been, to borrow a term from Methodism founder John Wesley, the “vital faith,” said Heidinger, whose doctoral studies at Wesley Theological Seminary focused on the history of Christian social thought.

He is pleased, he added, to have seen “a renaissance of concern and interest in the Wesleyan theological tradition” within the denomination.

Good News officially supports the four areas of focus adopted by The United Methodist Church – revitalizing congregations, developing principled Christian leaders, improving global health and engaging in ministries with the poor. “We believe those are so authentically Wesleyan,” Heidinger explained. “We want to do what we can to help the church continue to discover and live out the Wesleyan way.”

He has spent many years talking to renewal groups in annual conferences, encouraging people to get involved with the church “at whatever levels they could.” The increasing activism of evangelicals is evident in the makeup of delegations to General Conference, the denomination’s top legislative body, he said.

While the membership doesn’t totally agree on church doctrine, “my sense is that evangelism is getting a fairer hearing today than it did 30 years ago.”

He believes that programs like Disciple, Christian Believer and Walk to Emmaus have added vitality to the church. He also likes the Alpha program from Holy Trinity Brompton Church, an Anglican congregation in London. United Methodists are the largest users of this 10-week introductory course on what it means to be a Christian, he noted.

Guiding the magazine

Many United Methodists are most familiar with Good News through its magazine – and that is where Heidinger has shined, according to the Rev. Chuck Ferrara, the new chairman of the Good News board of directors. Heidinger is “a real writer and extremely effective communicator,” he said.

Ferrara, who has known Heidinger for 20 years, believes he has elevated the quality of Good News Magazine, particularly in the last six years. “It takes on a larger picture of the church, not just dealing with controversial issues all the time,” he explained. “We’re talking about the successful ministries that are going on around the connection.”

To Heidinger, the magazine is reflective of the movement. “Good News seeks to have a United Methodist Church that is spiritually vital and doctrinally faithful,” he said. “I feel a sense of satisfaction. I think the magazine has come to a good balance on that focus.”

Steve Beard, the magazine’s editor, has “worked side by side” with Heidinger for more than 18 years, and considers him a “genuine and sincere” Christian. “As a faithful disciple, he’s the real deal,” he declared.

“In the face of controversy and acrimonious denominational squabbles, Jim never betrayed his core convictions, never violated his Christian conscience, and never gave up hope that spiritual renewal and reform could come to United Methodism,” Beard said.

Some of the squabbles have been over two hot-button social issues: abortion and homosexuality. Good News opposes abortion, and Heidinger believes progress has been made to qualify the denomination’s position, which supports the legal option of abortion in some circumstances. “I think the church has continued to strengthen its stance on the abortion issue, increasingly toward a very healthy emphasis on life,” he said.

While homosexual rights remain a debatable issue for society, Heidinger said the denomination’s position – declaring all people “are individuals of sacred worth” but finding the practice of homosexuality “incompatible with Christian teaching” -- is compassionate and consistent with the viewpoint of the worldwide Christian church. “We feel that the standards that have served the church for the last 25 or 30 years have been worked out carefully,” he added.

Defending his faith

Heidinger has long been a defender of “the spiritual integrity” of the denomination, according to Beard. “In his work with Good News, however, he always strove to be motivated by his love of Christ and the church rather than by frustration or anger at what he saw as issues that could devastate the church of his ordination,” he explained.

Ferrara called Heidinger the “gentle voice in the midst of the storm,” and added, “He’s the kind of guy who always found the good, even in an adversary.”

At Good News, he will be succeeded by the Rev. Robert Renfroe, a pastor at The Woodlands United Methodist Church in Houston. For the past two years, Renfroe has been president of the board of directors of the Confessing Movement. The Rev. Walter Fenton, who had served as director of networking and development for Good News, also has been named chief operating officer.

Heidinger said he has made no concrete plans for his ministry after retirement but would like to focus on writing. He and his wife, Joanne, have three sons and two granddaughters.

He hopes The United Methodist Church remains strong. “My perception has been that the evangelical renewal movement has helped keep tens of thousands in the (mainline Protestant) denominations,” he explained. “We are concerned about the unity of the church. We want it to be a unity that is based on the apostolic faith. We don’t want it to be a unity at any price and any cost.”

*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New York.

News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or newsdesk@umcom.org.

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Resources

Good News Magazine

Essays on the state of the church