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Letters to the editor
Cheers & Jeers

Our confused message
In George Mitrovich’s article, “Is United Methodism a Dying Denomination?” (Good News, Nov/Dec 2002), he maintains that the decline in church membership over the last few decades is the result of liberal clergy. I, too, would say unless there’s a fairly dramatic change, the United Methodist Church will not have the future it could have. However, I suggest it’s not the type of change he advocates. While many on the theological spectrum are quick to point fingers at each other, invectives from the ends of the spectrum are almost always divisive. I doubt any issue of significance—religious, political, social, etc—can be addressed productively from either end position.

If the ills of the Church could be attributed to clergy of any theological persuasion, it would indeed be comforting to those of the opposite inclination. Unfortunately, that wouldn’t address the fact that people leave the UM Church with incoming new pastors who are conservative as well as liberal. It wouldn’t explain why churches are filled with people whose children and whose grandchildren don’t attend. Could there be other, more plausible explanations?

At some point we’re going to have to address the fact that for a majority of people in the United States today, the Christian faith (and perhaps religion in general) simply is not relevant to their lives. At the risk of also applying a simplistic answer to the question and ignoring the many changes and distractions of modern society, I suggest we focus on the problem that, in this ever-increasing technologically driven world, Christians themselves may be presenting Christianity in a way people cannot embrace.

All one has to do is consider the aspects of Christianity that receive the most publicity. The media loves to publish creation-evolution issues in which the creationist appears dimwitted. Some want to make “intelligent design” a subject taught in schools as if it could be categorized as a science. The difference between concepts of God in the Old Testament and New Testament are dramatic and in many cases contradictory, but some insist the Bible is infallible and inerrant, a stark contradiction for others even if not for themselves.

The main difficulty with all this is the simple fact that the vast majority of members of society at large understand the world differently. There are numerous, needless divisions within Christianity that serve only to broadcast to others a view of the world that most cannot accept. We Christians have an image problem. We should make those needless divisions in Christianity go away; credibility of the faith is at stake. Our ability to project faith to those looking at us from a distance would be greatly enhanced without them. Since the beginning of the Enlightenment, that which has been held sacred by society has been progressively marginalized, and we must acknowledge that the problem can only increase as mankind pursues its quest for truth, both sacred and secular.

Huston Smith has stated that liberalism and conservatism have polarized religious America, and we see that clearly in the referenced article. Instead of focusing on rightness and wrongness of belief, perhaps we should monitor our attitudes about our beliefs. After all, it wasn’t the Pharisees’ beliefs that were problematic for Jesus so much as it was their refusal to consider the possibility of something different. At the risk of appearing to project modern man as the measuring stick of faith and reality, it’s time to consider how divisions in Christianity, including obvious polarizations, inhibit its relevance to the broader world around us. This is far from an appeal to forfeit fundamentals of faith, and it most certainly can be undertaken without abandoning our Wesleyan heritage.

I agree with Mitrovich that we are a church confused about our message. But when it comes to understanding why people don’t attend, I suggest we think in terms of credibility and relevance.

Gordon L. Clouser
via e-mail

What happened to doctrine?
I am surprised at how many people in my local church and other churches across the UM Church feel that Bishop Sprague is speaking correctly. What ever happened to Methodist doctrines? Are they just outdated?

I am an old man who has tried to follow the teachings of the Bible. Lord, help us!

Oren Edmonds
via e-mail

Why I left
Bishop Sprague is illustrative of the many reasons I finally left the United Methodist Church after a lifetime affiliation, as well as the candidacy process for the UM ministry. So long as the denomination continues to entertain heretics and apostates such as Sprague, who are allowed to operate and infect in complete defiance of church law and biblical doctrine, the denomination will continue to suffer and God will continue to withhold his blessings from it. Ezekiel 3:16-31, and the entire pastoral epistles of Paul, explain the UM Church’s dilemma regarding false teachers and both the responsibilities and accountability of true leaders quite well. I see no hope for the denomination given the theological and political corruption of its leadership and encourage all the sheep to escape the burning barn while they can.

Norman Clow
Philo, California

Be quiet and listen
Can all of you who continue to write about UM “reform” just be quiet and listen to yourselves for just one second? Just be quiet and listen. Doesn’t it seem to you that all of you who continue to write seem to know exactly what the problems are, exactly why we have these problems, and exactly how to solve these problems? While conservatives criticize liberals, and liberals criticize conservatives, it seems to me that both are right, each other is wrong, and everything would be just fine and dandy if the other would listen to the self.

Maybe all of us are stuck in a time warp, back to the times of Luke 10:38 when Jesus came to visit Martha and she was “distracted by all the preparations that had to be made.” On the other hand, there was Mary who was not distracted from the very sight of the Messiah by the work that needed to be done, the dishes in disarray, the furniture not straightened, and the laundry still needing to be done. In John 12, she used “expensive perfume” on Jesus’ feet as a sign of reverence and worship.

Maybe what we really need to do is stop looking at each other in contempt as in the Last Supper when the disciples could not figure out who the betrayer would be. And what we really need to do is open up our hearts to our Messiah. Forget our dishes of differences in church policy, our furniture of “crooked” leadership, our laundry of differing theologies, and why don’t we take this time to bring our own “year’s [worth of] wages” to Jesus Christ?

As Habakkuk once did after complaining to God of how things aren’t going the way they are supposed to, he praises the Lord in beautiful literature: “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my savior” (Habakkuk 3:17, 18).

And so fellow “United” Methodists, we should as well. If God alone knows the answer, why are you who continue to write so sure yours is the right one? Let’s write our own hymn in humility and surrender to the Lord. And let it go something like this:

“Though our annual conferences are low on funds, and our churches can’t give their apportionments, though our church leaders don’t perform up to par, and the laity doesn’t either, though it seems our member census will never be higher than the last, though the entire situation looks as bleak as can be, yet will the United Methodist Church rejoice in the Lord, we will be joyful in God our savior.”

James J. Kang
Norwalk, California

We are not deserters
We would like to present a different point of view from the stay-and-fight idea that is being proclaimed in the United Methodist Church. My wife and I were United Methodist for almost fifty-nine years and have struggled for at least three years, along with our daughter, with the direction of the UM Church and its influence on our lives as evangelical Christians. After lots of prayer, discussion and talking to other Christians we have been led to follow the Lord and leave not only our local church but also the United Methodist denomination.

We have never had the opportunity to worship in any other denominational settings that are at our back door because we were always working in the local UM Church. This led to the decision that for six months we would visit different churches to view their worship styles. We have been pleasantly surprised. The basics of the faith are present, well and alive in churches that are just down the road.

We are very fortunate to live in America where we have countless high quality, Bible believing churches that do not debate Jesus Christ being Lord or other essentials of the faith. As American Christians, we are not faced with the persecutions or inquisitions that haunted the middle ages but have an abundance of denominations where we can turn when a church deserts the basic values of the Bible.

We are not deserters, but people who have made a very difficult decision. We are very pleased with our choice, but would encourage others to pray, study his word, seek his guidance, as well as the thoughts of other Christians, before leaving or staying to fight.

Doug Crowe
via e-mail

More Mitrovichs
I read George Mitrovich’s commentary and I only have one thing to say. It is a shame that we don’t have more United Methodists expressing the same sentiments. I have only been part of the UM Church for a few years and I can tell you our little country church reflects the values that brother Mitrovich writes about. What he says about pastors and governing officials is right on the money. We have a wonderful pastor but he only preaches about feel good things. None of the younger pastors seem to have the fire and passion in them that you see in the older pastors. Brother Mistrovich is right on another issue, we are not getting young people into the church. I can’t even get them to come if I stop to pick them up. It’s sad because our little country church is dying because of this. We have turned our society into such a frenzied rush to get things done (school, sports, entertainment, work, and other activities) that the younger generation doesn’t want to give time to the Creator and our Saviour, what a shame. I believe we are in the end times and the only thing a real Christian can do is keep trying to win souls, keep praying and keep giving glory to the creator—in the house of God every Sunday.

Randy Cornelius
Independence, Louisiana



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