Summertime thoughts on the Church

A lot of my writing in the United Methodist Reporter recently has been around issues facing the United Methodist Church.

In May I took a look at the GracePoint UMC controversy that occurred in the Kansas West Annual Conference in 2009, suggesting that the connectional organization and accountability of our Methodist polity was ultimately vindicated in that matter.

I also wrote in May of the "mainline" label that is often applied to the UMC - a label I think is worse than useless - and basically argued for a view of Wesleyan evangelicalism as that which best represents authentic Methodist identity. I drew on Scott Kisker's recent book, Mainline or Methodist?, in making that distinction.

My columns in the month of June were centered on questions of renewal in the church. The first took a look at the concept of vital congregations that features prominently in the Call to Action Report issued by the Connectional Table. While there is much in the CTA report to debate and discuss, I believe that vital local churches are fundamental to the faithful witness of the gospel and the formation of strong discipleship.

The second June column also focused on renewal efforts in the church, this time taking a look at the Imagine Ministry proposal that was recently adopted by the Arkansas Annual Conference. Imagine Ministry is, to my mind, evidence of the effectiveness of pursuing structural and philosophical reform at the level of the annual conference (rather than the general church). The annual conference structure is truly at the heart of the Methodist connectional polity. It is there that we should be undertaking the hard work of discerning how best to equip ourselves and our churches for the work of ministry.

I don't have a lot to add to the brief descriptions above, other than to encourage readers to click on the links to those columns and check out the full content for yourselves. We are in a critical time for the church's future, and I am hopeful that Wesleyan Christians in the United Methodist Church are on the cusp of receiving the power of the Holy Spirit for our formation as disciples of Jesus Christ and, ultimately, for our salvation. It is that same power that will give us the ability to worship God in faithfulness and truth, and also to witness faithfully to the work of God in the world.

I pray that the same Spirit would come quickly.