Roundup: United Methodist changes, Christian homelands, unhappiness, Leila Wilson

Wife and rock of High Court judge

Leila Wilson did not have a particularly settled start in life … Through it all, however, she retained an intense religious faith and lived to the full the partnership with her husband, Ronald Wilson.

Church, like therapy, is a space where you are allowed to bring your distress

We must not be scared of unhappiness as a feature of a meaningful life – it forms part of the recipe for happiness itself.

Christianity is slowly dying in its homelands

As in 1980s Afghanistan, a joint operation between the CIA and Saudi intelligence could end up bringing to power a hard-line salafist replacement to a brutally flawed but nonetheless secular regime. If that happens in Syria, the final death of Christianity in its Middle Eastern homelands seems increasingly possible within our lifetime.

The United Methodist Church is changing

Shrinking boards of directors — in some cases, to tiny proportions — are requiring adjustments in governance and representation for the denomination’s agencies and commissions. Budget constraints dictate a streamlining of priorities and realignment of staffing needs.