Magazine Articles

People I don't want in my church
The United Methodist Judicial Council set off a firestorm of debate in
Decision 1032, which interpreted The Book of Discipline's role of the pastor saying that a pastor of a local church has the right to determine a person's readiness for membership. This decision reinforces the polity of the United Methodist Church by placing the pastor as the gatekeeper to decide who can and cannot become members of the church that he or she is given charge. It is a profound and humbling responsibility that I have, like a shepherd guards his sheep the integrity of church membership under my care.

Since Decision 1032 was handed down, I have thought about who I would and would not want in my flock. Here are a few who I would not want:

First, I would keep out Saul of Tarsus. Saul consented to the brutal stoning of Stephen, a man full of faith and power who did great wonders and miracles among the people. Saul wreaked havoc among the church arresting and persecuting the followers of Christ.

The gate would close for Zacchaeus, the tax-collector, a man full of greed who cheated, extorted, and lied to fill his coffers with money.

Mary Magdalene was so full of the devil that Luke described her as having seven demons, and many biblical scholars believe that she was a prostitute. I would certainly reject any person full of the devil for membership in my church.

You won't find me presenting King Herod Agrippa, the grandson of King Herod the Great, for church membership either. Agrippa had a reputation for an extravagant and undisciplined lifestyle. Paul appeared before Agrippa in chains and delivered one of the greatest sermons of all time. Agrippa replied to Paul, "Keep this up much longer and you'll make a Christian out of me!" (Acts 26:28; The Message). Paul almost persuaded Agrippa to become a Christian. But, almost isn't enough. There is no such Christian as an "almost Christian" in the same way a woman cannot be almost pregnant. Either you are or you aren't. Agrippa the king refused to humble himself to the King of kings and repent of his sins.

Who then can be part of the flock? Certainly, Paul of Tarsus is welcome! After Saul became Paul on the road to Damascus, he established churches all over Asia Minor and Europe. He suffered, bled, and eventually died for the Christ who saved him from death to life and from eternal doom to life everlasting.

The gate opens wide for a repentant Zacchaeus who was received by Christ and is therefore received by Christ's church. After receiving the Lord's forgiveness from his covetous heart, he scattered the love of Jesus everywhere by the giving and giving and giving of his money to the poor and restoring four-fold to those he had cheated.

The saved by grace Mary Magdalene who was scorned by Simon the Pharisee was praised by Jesus for her extravagant love. With her expressions of grateful adoration to the Savior, she washed his feet with tears, dried them with her hair, and anointed them with perfume. The devotion of Mary and the affirmation of Christ secured her a place in the fold forever.

And what of Agrippa? No record exists of him repenting and following Christ. He rejected grace and left his judgment seat condemned instead of justified. He never showed evidence that he had renounced the spiritual forces of wickedness, rejected the evil powers of this world and repented of his sin confessing Jesus Christ as his Savior, putting his whole trust in his grace, and promising to serve him as his Lord, in union with the church which Christ has opened to people of all ages, nations, and races, as new members of the UM Church pledge. He never promised to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves by the freedom and power God gave him.

Until such evidence is shown, the Agrippa's will never be presented for church membership by me because it is my holy task as gate-keeper to watch over God's flock keeping them safe from the wolves who would seek to kill, steal, and destroy the sheep and make a mockery of the church.

Dan White
Shiloh UM Church
Appling, Georgia

Trite response
While I appreciate the opportunity to listen in on any conversation with a bishop of the United Methodist Church, hoping to find "good news" in the discussion, I am disappointed in the seemingly trite responses to engaging questions provided by Bishop Will Willimon in "A Conversation Among Friends" (March/April 2006). His remarks on the three million member loss in the UM Church during the previous couple of decades and the attempt at humor when asked about homosexuals and church membership ("I'm heterosexual, though not active at the moment") reveal much of what's wrong with our United Methodist leadership.

If the article is to be judged as an attempt at wit and banter, Bishop Willimon deserves a B-. It should receive an F on style and substance. His remarks concerning issues very important to grassroots United Methodists leave this reader empty and argumentative, but not surprised. If the interview's purpose was to incite, then I guess I should change the grade to an A.

Rolla Hendrickson
Lake Park, Georgia

Table of repentance
David Mills' "Doctrine and Unity in the Church" (January/February 2006) is a wonderful and much needed article! Unity should not be our goal; discipleship should be our goal. When we say that we invite everyone to the "table," it is the table of repentance and redemption through the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the table of acceptance of the person, not of acceptance of lifestyle and sin.

Everything stated in this article was articulated much better than I could have done.

Bruce Smolenski
Sterling Heights, Michigan

Impeachment
Isn't it nice that our United Methodist brother Jim Winkler can get on the stump and cry, "Impeach President Bush" ("UM lobbyist calls for impeachment of Bush," July/August 2006), while his countrymen and women spill their blood to protect his right to free speech?

This is another example of "Christians" taking the mainline denominations down the road to less and less relevance in the Christian community. By claiming the high ground on what they consider moral issues, they forfeit the high ground on spiritual issues. My question is: On which side will our church come down?

I have had about enough of these people and I am now questioning my allegiance to the United Methodist Church.

H. K. Rahlfs
Fredericksburg, Texas

Spiritual hope
Thank God for Good News. Amidst the politically correct propaganda and pablum that makes up most of our official United Methodist publications, I find some spiritual hope in your magazine. Phillip Turner's article "Our Working Theology" (July/August 2006) was the best and most important I've seen. I've independently identified some of his points in trying to understand the position of the progressive wing of our United Methodist Church, but nowhere have I seen or heard such a clear, coherent, and complete articulation of its theology and its inherent contradiction to the orthodox core of the faith-and he didn't resort to name-calling or cheap emotionalism to make his points. This is the kind of stuff that needs to be presented, discussed, and debated in our United Methodist seminaries, and preached from our United Methodist pulpits, and I'm afraid it's not. I feel spiritually fed as a result of reading this article and hope you keep up the good work.

John Montgomery
First UM Church
Lovelady, Texas

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Letters Cheers and Jeers

Letters
Cheers and Jeers