Dan Dick on the Mic

The Rev. Dan Dick serves as the director of connectional ministries for the Wisconsin Annual Conference. He's been contributing op/ed pieces to the United Methodist Reporter for sometime now, and I've written in this space before about how insightful his commentary tends to be.

Mr. Dick has got another good article in the Reporter that deserves a look. He's asking the question, "Has discipleship become far too easy in the UMC?" And a large part of the point he's making is that we tend to like the idea of discipleship without being willing to embrace the discipline that is actually required to be a real disciple.

The reason Mr. Dick's commentaries are so worth your time is because his critiques of the watered down faith of many in the church today is both relentless and accurate. He's shining a spotlight on aspects of the church that we might find uncomfortable at times. But he's not trying to shame us so much as get us to think seriously about the level of our commitment to the Christ we claim to follow.

His current column ends with this paragraph: "It is easy to be spiritualistic without being spiritual; it is easy to believe in Jesus Christ without being Christlike. But is is impossible to be a discipline without discipline, and the longer we deny this simple fact, the longer our church will lack relevancy and power."

Taking those words seriously can be a first step toward repentance and renewal amongst the people called Methodists.