Magazine Articles

In 1980, the late Tex Evans spoke for a special service in a United Methodist church in Maryland. The occasion was the 200th anniversary of the Sunday when Francis Asbury first preached in the town and planted the church. Asbury and his horse had crossed a river to speak to the town's people.

Before the service, several men walked with Tex to the river that Asbury had crossed on horseback. One man explained, "The rains had been heavy that spring. The river raged; it was perilous to cross. Tex, do you want us to tell you how Asbury and his horse got across the river?" Tex replied, "No. Tell me why he came across a dangerous river."

The men could not tell him. They had no clue. Tex scrapped his planned address, and used the occasion to remind the people of what it is in the gospel and in our experience of saving grace that would constrain someone to travel, at risk, to speak. The congregation became energized as Tex reintroduced "Christianity's main business" to believers that had once known it, but had forgotten.

Samuel Johnson once observed, "People need to be reminded more often than they need to be instructed." I think I agree, but the culture (and our churches) are more secular than thirty years ago, and I work in more and more churches in which the call to our essential mission comes as brand new information. Whatever the cause, whether most of our people once knew or never knew, they struggle with something like amnesia, and there will be no enduring church renewal without knowing who we are and what God calls us to do.

Peter Drucker declared that the question that every leader needs to ask (and often) is, "What is our main business?" The Church's answer has never been more memorably stated than in C. S. Lewis' Mere Christianity: "The Church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christs. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, services, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time. God became man for no other purpose. It is even doubtful, you know, whether the whole universe was created for any other purpose."

The Presbyterian Lay Committee offers thanks to God for your 40 years of clear, courageous, and unambiguous witness to the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amidst the theological confusion that has affected all mainline denominations, Good News has been a beacon of truth, not only to the people of the United Methodist Church, but among many of us in other denominational communions.

You have properly understood that we face no flesh and blood contest. The crisis of our culture has been provoked by what the Apostle Paul describes as "powers and principalities." They will not be overcome by political compromise, but by Spirit-led confrontation from mature Christians who are rooted in the Word of God. Thank you for a prophetic ministry that emboldens all who love the Lord and seek to serve his church.

Parker T. Williamson
Editor Emeritus and Senior Correspondent
The Presbyterian Lay Committee

You might expect a Professor of Evangelism to claim that our main business is not merely taking care of our members but to reach out to pagans. I am not, however, admonishing churches to return to revivalism or any other approaches that are now spent forces. Our main business is actually expressed most effectively by getting in ministry with pre-Christian people, and then in conversation with them, and then including God in the conversation, and by getting them involved in the church's fellowship, liturgy, and life. For most people, Christianity is even "more caught than taught." The mission becomes more contagious as we reach out to people who do not even know what we are talking about, who may not even be "good church people."

Believe it or not, when outreach is in fact the church's driving priority, and its expression is appropriately contextualized, evangelism becomes the greatest catalyst for the renewal of the existing church. Why? Because tired old churches are more renewed from a steady stream of people experiencing new life in Christ for the first time than from all other renewal methods, combined.

George G. Hunter III is the author of numerous books and the distinguished professor of church growth and evangelism at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky.

Church planting imperative
By Lindsey Davis

As we get ready for the 2008 General Conference, I am convinced that the United Methodist Church needs to focus on two areas of our life together so that we might be faithful to God and fruitful in our work.

First, we need to acknowledge that we have been largely ineffective over the past 50 years in making new disciples for Jesus Christ in the United States. Not one county in America has a greater churched population than it did 10 years ago. We are losing 1,500 members a week!

Over the years Good News has done sterling work in the renewal of the United Methodist Church. Against great odds it became a voice for classical Wesleyan theology at a time when diversity was lauded more in theory than in practice. It also provided a forum where evangelicals could articulate their concerns with gusto and good sense. At the political level Good News has rendered invaluable service by keeping track of the issues, sorting out the sub-plots, ensuring fairness in reporting, counting the numbers accurately, and holding firm to the faith of the gospel. All this work is as important now as it was a generation ago.

William J. Abraham
Albert Outler Professor of Wesley Studies and Altshuler Distinguished Teaching Professor
Perkins School of Theology
Southern Methodist University

Therefore, urgent action is required. Planting new churches must be our #1 priority. Planting new churches will do more to reverse our declining membership and transformational impact on our culture than any other strategy. Planting new congregations will help us reach more people, younger people, and more diverse populations. Church planting is also the most cost effective means of evangelism.

In 2006 we started an all-time recent high of 136 congregations. In order to be the church God is calling us to be and to bring renewal to our denomination, we need to be planting 350 new faith communities each year. Path-One is a movement within United Methodism to start new congregations that re-evangelize the United States. It will be an emphasis presented at General Conference which deserves our support as a start in the right direction.

Second, we must find ways to honor, encourage, listen to, and support our largest congregations. Although we are a denomination of small churches (50 percent of United Methodist congregations average 50 or less in attendance), our largest churches (only 10 percent of the total) carry over 50 percent of our financial load (apportionments) and account for the vast majority of new members. For example, in North Georgia, my 100 largest churches (out of 960) account for 61 percent of the apportionments and most of our membership growth. Our largest churches are doing effective ministry, supporting all of our mission efforts around the world, and having an impact upon their communities in extraordinary ways for the gospel.

We need to listen to the lay and clergy leaders of these churches-they have much to teach all of us. It always amazes me how we tend to rationalize our decline and turn deaf ears to those who could help us out of our downward spiral. Churches like Windsor Village, The Church of the Resurrection, Christ UM Church in Mobile, The Woodlands, and in my own area-Peachtree Road, Mt. Bethel, Mt. Pisgah, Cascade, and Northside-have much to teach us about being a vibrant witness in our culture. Hopefully we will listen to these voices as we move into the future.

Lindsey Davis is the bishop of the North Georgia Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church.

Click here to send your response plus the title of this article to us at Good News.

Our main business By George G. Hunter III

Church planting imperative By Lindsey Davis

Our main business
By George G. Hunter III

Church planting imperative
By Lindsey Davis