by Steve | Jan 13, 2024 | Jan-Feb 2024
Are All Sins the Same in God’s Eyes?
By Matt Ayars, Christopher T. Bounds, Caleb Friedeman
The idea of all sin being the same in God eyes is commonly accepted in the church. It pervades contemporary Christianity. Through sermons, Sunday school classes, Bible studies and friendly Christian conversation, we pick up the idea quickly. To question it is to invite immediate suspicion. However, no major theologian or historic Christian tradition has ever taught the equality of sin. It exists only as “folk theology,” a belief uncritically held by laity and preachers.
Historic Christian Teaching. One of the most famous examples of historic Christian instruction on the subject is the Roman Catholic distinction between mortal and venial sins. Mortal sins are so serious they lead to a Christian’s spiritual death if continued without amendment of life. Venial sins, in contrast, are “light;” they do not harm irreparably a believer’s relationship with God.
Unfortunately, the idea of some sins being worse than others is dismissed too quickly as “Catholic teaching.” Every major Protestant expression of Christianity, however, has recognized there are degrees of sin, as witnessed by the Presbyterian tradition’s Westminster Larger Catechism:
Q. 150. Are all transgressions of the law of God equally heinous in themselves, and in the sight of God?
A. All transgressions of the law are not equally heinous; but some sins in themselves, and by reason of several aggravations, are more heinous in the sight of God than others.
The Eastern Orthodox tradition also makes similar distinctions when reflecting on what makes some sins worse before God. The sin itself, motivation behind the sin, the age and maturity of person who commits it, how many times committed, and in what manner it is done are taken into consideration in the evaluation of sin’s severity.
Biblical Teaching. The Bible shows repeatedly some sins are worse than others. While there is not enough space to walk through all biblical evidence, here are three clear examples.
First, God sees intentional sin as more serious than unintentional sin. In the Pentateuch, God distinguishes between the two. Unintentional sin is forgiven through the sacrificial system (Leviticus 4), intentional sin is not (Numbers 15:30-31). On the holiest day of Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur, the high priest enters the temple’s holy of holies to give a blood offering for unintentional sins (Hebrews 9:7). In the end, there is no atoning sacrifice provided in the Old Testament for intentional sin.
A similar distinction is carried into the New Testament as well. Paul declares to the church at Rome that the “wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Paul, however, has a clear operating definition of sin here: a deliberate transgression of a known law of God. This is not about unintentional sin or a sin of ignorance. In larger context, the apostle begins his letter by discussing the problem with the Gentiles. They have been given an internal code to follow, the law of conscience. Nevertheless, they have chosen deliberately not to obey it and God has judged them accordingly (1:18-32). Paul then turns to the Jews (2:17-3:23). They have been given the written Torah and intentionally broken it as well. Therefore, he asserts “all have sinned” (3:23). Both Gentile and Jew have deliberately disobeyed God’s law. Paul’s opening discussion of sin, then, provides his definition of it in 6:23. He warns Christians of the dangers of continuing in intentional sin – spiritual death.
The Letter to the Hebrews picks up the same theme. Here, the author makes an exhortation for the church to persevere in their faith, lest they fall and miss the Promised Land (Hebrews 5:11-6:12). While Christ is a greater priest who makes a superior sacrifice in a better sanctuary than the temple (7:1-10:18), Christians are warned if they continue in “intentional sin” there is no sacrifice that can atone for their sin, not even the blood of Jesus (10:26-27). Again, a clear distinction is made in the eyes of God between intentional and unintentional sin.
Second, the Bible indicates that a person’s relationship to God impacts the severity of sin, not just knowledge of it. After Israel committed idolatry with the golden calf, Moses accused them of a “great” sin, and God threatened to destroy them (Exodus 32:30). In this moment, Israel reverted to what they had done in Egypt. The calf represented a common god in the ancient Near East. They had returned to what they had practiced in the past. What made their sin now more “grievous” is the covenant they had made in Exodus 19, where they promised to serve only Yahweh. The change in their relationship with God at Sinai, the sacred vows taken, made their idolatry here far worse than in Egypt.
Jesus also recognized the relational nature of sin in his words to Pilate, “The one who betrayed me is guilty of a worse sin” (John 19:11). Judas’ sin was worse than Pilate’s because he was Jesus’ friend who had followed him for three years. Pilate had just met Christ. Both Judas and Pilate sinned against Christ, but Judas’ sin was worse because of the type of knowledge and relationship he had with Christ.
Third, greater and lesser sins are seen in the New Testament through how they are addressed. Jesus warned the religious leaders of an “unpardonable sin” (Matthew 12:22-32). Paul instructed the Corinthian Church to ex-communicate a young man sleeping with his stepmother (1 Corinthians 5:1-5), while “grumblers” in the community were only given a warning (9:24-10:13). Similarly, he disciplined Hymenaeus and Alexander by “handing” them “over to Satan” because of false doctrine (1 Timothy 1:18-20). He further warned the Galatian churches of the “works of the flesh” and that “those who live like this will not inherit the Kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:21). And the apostle John in his letter made a distinction between Christian engaging in sins that lead to “death” and sins that do not (1 John 5:16-17).
Theological Teaching. Theology also teaches that all sin is not the same before God. While we can have good without sin, we cannot have sin without good. Sin is ultimately the expression of a corrupted or broken good. The more sin is corrupted of original goodness, the worse it is. Because God is the creator of the good, God is fully aware of the degree to which it has been corrupted.
First, while it may seem counter intuitive, all sin has its source in the “good.” For example, God created us male and female for the purpose of procreation. Without sexual relations, humanity will cease to exist. But there is more to human sex than reproduction. God has made humanity to experience pleasure in the giving and receiving of love between a husband and wife through sexual relations. Sex and the sexual drive are good. However, when they become corrupted, they bring a host of sexual sin in thought and deed.
The same is true for love of oneself. God formed us to love ourselves (Matthew 22:39). A part of self-love is the desire for self-preservation, seen in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus prayed for the “cup” of crucifixion and death to pass from him (Matthew 26:36-46). However, when the love of self becomes corrupted in us, it leads to pride and selfishness on one hand and self-loathing and hatred on the other. Both extremes were avoided by Christ in his full surrender to the will of the Father and his embrace of the cross.
Second, every sin reveals different degrees of damaged goodness; the more corrupted a sin is of its original goodness, the worse it is in God’s eyes. Some sins express greater degrees of “falleness” from their intended goodness. Sexual violence, as such, is worse than consensual sex between a man and woman who are not married. Why? Because sex between a consenting male and female more closely approximates the original design of sex between husband and wife than sexual violence. While both are sinful, one is more so because it expresses a greater corruption of the original good of sex, in addition to the violence perpetrated against the victim.
Practical Teaching. On a practical level, saying all sin is the same in the eyes of God does not work.
First, if we are not careful here, we can make God look like a monster. Sometimes, to elevate the holiness of God and our sinfulness, we portray God in unhelpful ways, trivializing real depths of depravity in the world. Parents who mistakenly offer loving advice to their children, but unintentionally lead them astray from God’s “perfect will” is not the same before God as Adolf Hitler murdering six million Jews. To equate them is to misrepresent the God revealed to us in Christ. Jesus warned the Pharisees of being so focused on the minor details of God’s law, they missed “the more important matters” like justice, mercy, and the needs of others (Matthew 23:23).
Second, it undermines wise pastoral counsel. Genuine progress in the process of sanctification can be stunted by the “all or nothing” mentality of “sin is sin.” Often Christians make improvement in one area of their lives without having complete victory in it. To say all sin is the same risks denying the growth that has taken place and the encouragement accompanying it. It is a real step forward when alcoholics stop drinking, even if they still desire to get drunk; when people who struggle with anger management no longer lash out, even if they think about it; when gossips stop talking in unflattering ways about others, even though they continue to imagine doing so. In each case, Christians are not where they need to be, but they are more like Christ than they were. Sometimes as we pray and counsel other believers, we just want to see them take the next step toward full victory over a particular sin.
Conclusion. All too often the contemporary church suffers from a simplistic understanding of sin. Biblically, theologically, and practically, the church has recognized that some sins are worse than others in God’s eyes. The purpose of which is to help Christians and the church avoid “mortal” sins, those which pose a serious spiritual threat to them, and to provide a guide for discipline and accountability that leads to transformation into the likeness of Christ.
Dr. Matt Ayars is president and assistant professor of Old Testament at Wesley Biblical Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi; Dr. Christopher T. Bounds is professor of theology at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky; and Dr. Caleb T. Friedeman is associate professor of New Testament at Ohio Christian University in Circleville, Ohio. This essay was adapted from Holiness: A Biblical, Historical, and Systematic Theology (IVP Academic, 2023) by Matt Ayars, Christopher T. Bounds, and Caleb Friedeman. Utilized by permission.
by Steve | Jan 13, 2024 | Jan-Feb 2024
Fighting for Fairness
By Thomas Lambrecht
Some have wondered why Good News is still around. Now that disaffiliation is “over,” shouldn’t Good News just go away?
The Council of Bishops and other UM leaders are anxious to put disaffiliation in the rear view mirror. Advocacy groups like “Mainstream UMC,” a “centrist” caucus group, are stridently opposing any renewal of disaffiliation options at the upcoming 2024 General Conference in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Throughout the disaffiliation process, Good News has been advocating for a fair process to be used. We have wanted to honor the decisions made by local churches, whichever way they decided, as long as the process was fair. But has the disaffiliation process really been fair?
Unfortunately, disaffiliation is not “over.” Although Par. 2553 in the Book of Discipline allowing local churches to disaffiliate expired at the end of 2023, not all churches have had a fair opportunity to disaffiliate. Until they do, Good News will continue to stay and advocate for a fair disaffiliation process for all.
Why Central Conferences still need a disaffiliation process. Par. 2553 provided a process for local churches to disaffiliate and retain their buildings and property. This paragraph was intended to apply to all parts of our global denomination.
However, the Council of Bishops has stated that Par. 2553 does not apply outside the United States. They point to new language adopted by the 2019 General Conference that states, “Legislation passed at the 2019 called session of General Conference shall not take effect in central conferences until twelve months after the close of the 2020 General Conference …” This provision was added to allow central conferences (parts of the church outside the United States) to hold their regular sessions and make any necessary adaptations to the Discipline before it takes effect.
Because of the Covid pandemic, the 2020 General Conference was never held, so Par. 2553 never took effect for the central conferences before it expired on December 31, 2023. (I disagree with this interpretation of church law that allowed a duly adopted provision in the Discipline to never come into force, but that is the reality we are dealing with.)
Congregations in the U.S. could use Par. 2553 to disaffiliate. Congregations outside the U.S. were unable to do so. Is that fair?
Annual Conference disaffiliation. Then there is the question of whether a whole annual conference can disaffiliate. For many annual conferences in Africa, that would be the preferred route, as they often operate in a consensus model whereby they all agree to do the same thing together. Many votes in African annual conferences are unanimous or nearly so.
The Bulgaria Annual Conference disaffiliated in 2022. However, the Judicial Council ruled after the fact that such a conference disaffiliation was illegal under the Discipline. They ruled that annual conferences may disaffiliate, but that the General Conference has to provide a process for them to do so. Since the General Conference has not met since 2019, it has provided no process for annual conference disaffiliation.
There is a process in the Discipline for annual conferences outside the U.S. to become autonomous Methodist churches. Annual conferences could use this process to separate from the UM Church. However, such annual conferences do not want to become autonomous; they want to join the Global Methodist Church. So, this provision really does not answer their need.
Furthermore, the process of becoming autonomous is long and laborious. It would require the annual conference to write its own new “Book of Discipline.” That would be wasted effort in this case, since the annual conference wants to come under the Global Methodist Church Book of Doctrines and Discipline. In addition, the decision to become autonomous would have to be approved by the relevant central conference and the General Conference, which means the process could take four years or longer.
There is no need to provide a way for U.S. annual conferences to disaffiliate, since those that would have been likely candidates have already lost the majority of their traditionalist churches and clergy. But there is a legitimate need to provide a way for annual conferences outside the U.S. to move straight from the UM Church to the GM Church or another Wesleyan denomination that doesn’t take years to accomplish.
Has the U.S. disaffiliation experience been fair? As the disaffiliation process in the U.S. winds down and over 7,000 congregations have disaffiliated, surely we can say that disaffiliation in the U.S. has run its course, right? Unfortunately, the answer is a resounding no.
A small number of annual conferences in the U.S. have handled disaffiliation unfairly, even as the vast majority of conferences followed a mostly fair process. These few annual conferences added costs to the disaffiliation terms that made it nearly impossible for most congregations to disaffiliate and keep their buildings.
Some conferences added the requirement for the church to pay a percentage of the property value. This would require parishioners who paid for the property to be built and maintained once to pay for it a second time to an annual conference that in most cases had put zero dollars into that facility.
Requiring 50 percent of the property value were: Baltimore-Washington, California-Pacific, and Peninsula-Delaware (after July 12, 2022).
California-Nevada required 20 percent of property value, while South Carolina and West Virginia required 10 percent.
Eastern Pennsylvania, Greater New Jersey, and Mountain Sky all gave their trustees discretion to charge for a portion of the property value in individual cases.
On the east and west coasts, inflated property values have made it nearly impossible for congregations to afford the cost of disaffiliation. In California-Pacific, in particular, multi-million dollar property values caused only three of 20 churches who voted to disaffiliate actually being able to afford to keep their property. One pastor estimated the cost of disaffiliation at $60,000 per member.
Greater New Jersey took the prize for requiring nearly a dozen different charges and requirements, including paying 18 months of the pastor’s salary plus moving expenses if the pastor did not disaffiliate, a percentage of all cash and investments equal to the percentage of members voting against disaffiliation, and administrative fees and other costs.
Several annual conferences for a time refused to allow any disaffiliations. This was the case in South Carolina and West Virginia until they finally started allowing disaffiliations near the end of 2022. Churches in North Georgia had to go to court in order to force the conference to allow them to disaffiliate. Alabama-West Florida allowed nearly 250 churches to disaffiliate, but then closed the door on all further disaffiliations, prompting a number of congregations to file a lawsuit against the conference that is still on appeal. Peninsula-Delaware allowed over 100 churches to disaffiliate before suddenly imposing the 50 percent property value fee that prevented any additional churches from disaffiliating.
There was such wide variation between how different annual conferences treated their churches, that it created an unfair playing field across the U.S. One conference that saw over 80 percent of its churches disaffiliate used conference reserve funds to pay for unfunded pension liabilities and future apportionments, so that the cost to a congregation to disaffiliate was practically zero. Another conference used its pension reserves to pay for the unfunded pension liability of all its congregations, including those remaining UM, that drastically reduced the cost of disaffiliation. Use of conference funds in these ways was fair, as all churches had contributed to them and all churches (remaining or leaving) benefited from the funds.
Is it fair that some congregations had to pay nearly nothing to disaffiliate, while others had to pay so much it was impossible for them to raise the money? Is it fair that some conferences and some congregations denied their members from even hearing about or discussing the option of disaffiliation? Is it fair that some bishops summarily removed pastors who indicated they were open to considering disaffiliation?
Denomination-wide, nearly 26 percent of UM congregations have successfully disaffiliated. But among the conferences named above with extra costs, fewer than five percent of congregations disaffiliated. Seven of the ten conferences in the Northeastern Jurisdiction had less than five percent disaffiliate. Three of the seven conferences in the Western Jurisdiction had less than five percent disaffiliate. The unfair playing field had real-world consequences.
Finding a solution. Given the unfair treatment experienced by our brothers and sisters in the central conferences, as well as the examples of unfair treatment here in the U.S., Good News remains committed to working for a fair and just disaffiliation pathway for all congregations globally and annual conferences outside the U.S.
A new Par. 2553 has been submitted to the next General Conference that would reinstate the congregational disaffiliation process. It would limit the costs to those contained in the original 2553 – two years of apportionments and the local church’s share of unfunded pension liabilities. It would also provide for a fair and equal opportunity for congregations to learn about and discuss the options of disaffiliation without heavy-handed interference from bishops and district superintendents, while still encouraging advocates for remaining UM to also present their best case.
A new Par. 576 has been submitted to the next General Conference that would institute a streamlined process for annual conferences outside the U.S. to leave the UM Church in order to join another Wesleyan denomination. It would still require approval from the relevant central conference for an annual conference to make this move, but it would not have to wait until the next General Conference meets in order to take effect. Annual conferences intending to become autonomous or independent would still have to use the old longer process.
It is time for the UM Church to level the playing field and make it fair for all. We ought not discriminate against our central conference members. The ability to successfully disaffiliate should not depend upon what zip code a church is located in.
It is time to honor the consciences and prayerfully considered decisions of UM congregations, instead of believing that the denomination can and should coerce churches into remaining with a denomination that no longer reflects their beliefs. Where congregations have voted to disaffiliate but been turned down by their annual conference, what is left in the UM Church is often only an empty shell of the former congregation. Such an outcome serves no one. It devastates a local church’s ministry, dishonors the congregation’s decision, and besmirches the denomination’s reputation in the community.
It is hoped that General Conference delegates of all perspectives will see the unfairness and act to provide a just solution, for the good of the church and for the advancement of the cause of Christ.
Thomas Lambrecht is a United Methodist clergyman and the vice president of Good News.
by Steve | Jan 13, 2024 | Jan-Feb 2024
Global Methodism’s Growth in 2023
By Walter Fenton
“At the beginning of this year, I never imagined I’d be in the role I am today,” said the Rev. Jordan McFall, the President Pro Tem of the Heartland Provisional Annual Conference in the Global Methodist Church. “It’s been a bracing reminder that as God says in Isaiah, ‘My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways.’ But it is a great privilege to serve alongside a connection of Global Methodist members from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains and from the southern plains of Nebraska to the Red River who are passionate about sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with their words, their hands, and their hearts.”
McFall, just 36, is one of two dozen leaders elected to lead a regional body of Global Methodist local churches seeking to be connected to one another. Thousands of local churches in the United States have joined the new denomination over the past year, and leaders like McFall have stepped forward to help them find a home in the GM Church.
“It’s not easy for a congregation to find its way to the Global Methodist Church,” said Ms. Cara Nicklas, Chairwoman of the new denomination’s Transitional Leadership Council. “The congregation has to really want to join us!”
Nicklas was reflecting on the dramatic growth of the GM Church in 2023, despite the challenges local churches face in joining it. She noted that nearly all the congregations that have joined in the past 20 months are former United Methodist local churches or remnants from those churches. They have formed discernment teams that led their congregations through difficult conversations about disaffiliating. Then two-thirds of its members voted for disaffiliation (or not), with many knowing a successful outcome would result in the payment of large exit fees to the UM Church. Or, if the vote failed, even by a few ballots, members had to accept the loss of the church’s property and assets. And finally, the congregations spent additional weeks or months making the decision to affiliate with the GM Church.
“So yes, what has transpired in just 20 months is a testament to the convictions and the tenacity of GM Church members,” said Nicklas. “The Church now has over 4,000 local churches operating in 17 provisional annual conferences, two provisional districts, and in other regions that are well on their way to provisional conference or district status. What I have learned is that Global Methodist members have no time for self-pity; they want to move forward and focus on our mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ who worship passionately, love extravagantly, and witness boldly.”
The GM Church commenced operations on May 1, 2022, with 24 local churches in Bulgaria. The former UM congregations voted en masse at their UM annual conference to leave the denomination and join the GM Church.
“It was a little lonely at first,” said the Rev. Dr. Daniel Topalski, now the President Pro Tem of the GM Church’s Bulgaria Provisional Annual Conference and a member of the denomination’s Transitional Leadership Council. “But we knew many more local churches and provisional annual conferences would join us. Every Monday, for the past year and a half, the TLC has approved local church applications to the GMC. At first it was a trickle of local churches applying, but then the trickle turned into a stream, and then the stream into a river.”
With Bishop Mark J. Webb presiding, the Bulgarian congregations gathered for their convening annual conference in May of this year. Their conference followed those held in the Mid-Texas, the West Plains, and the East Texas Provisional Annual Conferences in late January and early February of 2023. Combined, the gatherings recognized the formation of annual conferences connecting nearly a thousand new GM local churches and celebrated the ordinations of hundreds of deacons and elders into the new Church.
In the meantime, local churches and other provisional annual conferences around the world were preparing to join them. In July, Bishop Scott J. Jones presided at the Covenant Philippines Convening Annual Conference in Manila, Philippines. And since that gathering, nine additional regions in the United States have held convening annual conferences (South Georgia, North Alabama, Alabama-Emerald Coast, MidSouth, North Carolina, Allegheny West, Great Lakes, Heartland, and the Upper Midwest). Also, the Slovakia Provisional District launched in 2022 and the South Carolina Provisional District celebrated the commencement of operations at an August gathering this year.
“We are exceedingly grateful for all the time and sacrifice that so many GMC members have given to move the Church forward this year,” said the Rev. Keith Boyette, the denomination’s Chief Connectional Officer. “And we’re looking forward to 2024 when the Florida, the Korean-American, the Mississippi-West Tennessee, and the Northeast Provisional Annual Conferences will each hold their convening gatherings. We’ll also see provisional districts in Virginia and the Western States District commence operations.”
While growth in the U.S. has soared, GM Church leaders remain hopeful that thousands of local UM churches in Africa will join the denomination in 2024. To date, congregations in African countries have been denied the opportunity to exercise the disaffiliation pathway that so many local churches in the U.S. have used to exit the UM Church.
“There’s no doubt in my mind, that had local UM churches in Africa and in a minority of annual conferences in the U.S. had fair and amicable ways to exit the UM Church, thousands of other local churches would have joined the GM Church this year,” said Boyette. “But what we are discovering is that one way or another people find their way to the GM Church, despite the obstacles put in their way.”
Currently, the Democratic Republic of the Congo Provisional Annual Conference and the Kenya-Ethiopia Annual Conference are the only operational GM Church conferences in Africa, but in December they will be joined by the South Africa Provisional Annual Conference. Early next year, additional provisional annual conferences will commence operations in three areas of Africa. And depending on developments at the UM Church’s 2024 General Conference, GM Church leaders believe another half dozen or more GM Church provisional annual conferences will take root there before the end of next year.
Also in 2024, GM Church leaders are planning for the launch of provisional annual conferences in Mexico and Panama, and a second conference in the Philippines, to be named the Mega Manila Philippines Provisional Annual Conference. Discussions are underway with additional regions in Asia, Latin America, and Europe.
“When we gather in San Jose, Costa Rica, in September 2024, for the Global Methodist Church Convening General Conference, we will have much to give thanks for,” said Boyette. “It is a joy to see what can happen when faithful, like-minded, and warm-hearted Methodists unite around the great core confessions of the Christian faith. The GM Church is a forward-looking body of believes eager to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ in word and deed.”
Walter Fenton is the Global Methodist Church’s Deputy Connectional Officer. You can read news reports and developments from Rev. Fenton at GlobalMethodist.org.
by Steve | Jan 13, 2024 | Jan-Feb 2024
The Atmosphere of The Book of Acts
By Bishop Gerald Kennedy
1961 World Methodist Conference
In the nineteenth century, the English theologian Frederick Dennison Maurice wrote: “I cannot but think that the reformation in our day, which I expect to be more deep and searching than that of the sixteenth century, will turn upon the Spirit’s presence and life, as that did upon the justification by the Son.”
That expectation, while as yet unfulfilled, was a confident hope that God through his Holy Spirit would again act mightily in the Church. This expectation was based on previous experiences in the first century and again in the eighteenth century.
The Book of Acts is really the Book of the Holy Spirit. The clue to the meaning of Pentecost is in the words: “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2). There is a mighty assurance in those early Christians and they acted as if it were only natural to heal and convert. They were filled with a power that made their witness sharp and clear. They lived in the constant awareness of the reality of the Holy Spirit ever present with them for guidance, comfort, and courage.
The end of World War II was a terrible time for the Christians of Germany. The country was ruined, defeated, disgraced, and there was no hope in the future. Germany was divided, with much of Protestantism under the communists. The churches were particularly hard hit, for they had lost their buildings and many of their leaders. Some of the church leaders had to cross back and forth between East and West Zones and suffered harassments from the authorities. Yet listen to this testimony from Bishop Otto Dibelius: “We are living in the Book of Acts, and, oh, it is glorious.” He was speaking of the recovery of the sense of the Holy Spirit’s presence.
Our fathers knew this experience. Indeed, to read John Wesley’s Journal is to be transported back into the atmosphere of Acts. There are the same great expectations, the same inspiring hopes, the same signs. The Evangelical Revival was, among other things, a rediscovery of the truth of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. I cannot escape the conviction that the Wesleys were raised up by God for this witness and that the people called Methodists have been chosen to continue it.
Now the scandal of revelation for many is its particularity. Why should God reveal himself in one man, one tribe, one event, one place? Why does God so seldom if ever use an entire generation, a continent, a general infiltration of a whole period as the means of making himself known? Why is it that he speaks through minorities and fellowships rather than through majorities and institutions? Perhaps it is because he chooses to use the foolish things with which to confound the wise. But I believe he will use some particular instrument for the new reformation.
It could be Methodism. At least we have the tradition and the theology for it. We may have been raised up for such a time and we have the advantage of having been born out of a revival of the Holy Spirit, nurtured by its doctrine, and commanded by its sense of urgency. Let us examine briefly four aspects of our belief in the witness of the Spirit.
In the first place, we believe in Experience. We may argue as to the particulars of John Wesley’s heart-warming event at Aldersgate Street in 1738, but it seems inescapable that it was a personal turning-point and the spring of the Methodist flood. It was an inward witness that brought personal knowledge of God and assurance of the availability of God’s power. It was a baptism of the Holy Spirit.
This was a part of the worship experience of early Methodism. You may remember how Francis Asbury attended a Methodist meeting in Wednesbury and said: “I soon found this was not the Church – but it was better.” He found there no cold formalism and no lifeless ritual, but the sense of the immediate presence of God.
The dour and dark dread which seems to dominate so much modern theology is not the prevailing atmosphere where the presence of the Spirit is expected and recognized. So Wesley could say of a man who has this experience, “He is therefore happy in God.”
I attended a church service a few years ago in a mood of prejudice, which is not the proper way to enter God’s house. I did not like the sermon subject and I was sure that the whole approach was not for me. But from the first hymn, I was captured and lifted. The pastoral prayer began: “O God, when Thy Son walked the earth, men felt that if they could but touch the hem of his robe, they could be healed. We believe he is here with us this day in this place, and with our arms of faith we may touch him and be healed. Help us to claim Thy promises.”
The sermon was a testimony of how men find Christ the answer to their needs and the goal of their search. I left the church helped and strengthened, which is too seldom the experience of people who sit through our chilled formalities.
One of the main problems for modern Methodists is how to create an attitude of expectancy in our ‘cathedrals’ with our choirs and dignified services. Our preaching can so easily become like the heavy lecture at the 1954 World Council Meeting, after which the late Bishop Berggrav of Oslo murmured, “The word became theology and did not dwell among us.”
Methodists should sing their theology, which is a better way to proclaim it than reciting a creed or constructing a dogma. Charles Wesley’s hymns are full of personal experiences, and they abound in personal pronouns. I have noticed that Methodist theologians, particularly in England, often quote a hymn when they are discussing a doctrine. They have the sense of these expressions of Charles and John Wesley’s poetry as descriptions of religious experience. And that is theology!
The sign of the living God is communication and revelation. This means experience, and we are committed to the belief that His Spirit witnesses with our spirit. Preachers without the experience of the Holy Spirit are smoking fires with hardly any flame of light. Laymen who have not been baptized with the Spirit, are merely salesmen for an institution with little joy and hardly any power. We cannot give what we do not have any more than we can go back to where we have not been. We believe in the experience of the Holy Spirit.
In the second place, the Holy Spirit’s witness makes us believe in Results. To connect anything pragmatic with the spiritual, will seem to some a contradiction. I am convinced, however, that quite the opposite is true. The spiritual affairs which produce no ascertainable results are to be considered with suspicion. The practical affairs which have no spiritual implications are to be regarded as of questionable importance. This is true of religion in general, but it is the very center of Christianity’s truth.
I have been impressed with the way Wesley met his critics and how in the midst of controversy he kept his eye on the main issue. He seldom argued generalities, but went straight to the particular point. How often he replied to his opponents by referring to the change in environment the Methodists had wrought. He talked about changed personal lives as the answer to Methodism’s critics. John Wesley seems to have thought that the results produced by conversion were the answers to the opposition.
The modern split is reflected in the conversation between two students attending a theological seminary. Both of them served student churches, and one of them was complaining about the condition of their particular congregation. The finances were in bad shape, the organizations were feeble, and the attendance was small. But the other one was not disturbed. “What do you expect?” he asked. “Results?” Or we see it in the superior attitude some times exhibited by other churchmen toward our “activism.” I have seen these communions with their empty sanctuaries and their lack of life. I prefer a Church committed to the idea that the living Spirit of God will produce observable results from its labors, if it is doing God’s will.
We may disagree about methods of evangelism, but we cannot disagree about evangelism itself and remain Christians, to say nothing about remaining Methodists. Evangelism is not just one interest of the Church, for there simply is no Church if evangelism is not present. Let us be critical of all methods and never think that a single method is holy. But that we should ever think that our Methodism can be excused from winning people to Christ would be a confession of death. Every minister and layman in our fellowship must be under the constant question: When was the last time you won somebody to Christ?
We are heavily organized and this causes some of the brethren to chafe. Organization as an end in itself is of the devil, but waste and inefficiency are neither pious nor pleasing to our Lord. All we are trying to do is to conserve the benefits of our faith and exert our maximum power. John Wesley said that he would not strike a blow unless it could be followed up and sustained. I think history says clearly that, for the long pull, Wesley’s way was right. Let us not assume that if we believe in the witness of the Spirit, we must be opposed to machinery in the Church. For it too is a part of God’s plan for the evangelization of the world. It helps us maintain the fruits which God gives from our labors.
A third aspect of this subject is Discipline. This is more important than we think, for only within the framework of a strict discipline can the free Spirit work constructively. Since the days of St Paul, there have been those who would turn the Christian’s freedom into license.
Precisely because he was dealing with tremendous spiritual power, John Wesley insisted on discipline in his services and in the lives of his followers. The early Church found that same necessity and so shall we.
In Wesley’s Journal for 17th August 1750 there is this entry: “I preached at Ludgvan at noon, and at Newlyn in the evening. Through all Cornwall I find the societies have suffered great loss from want of discipline. Wisely said the ancients, ‘The soul and body make a man; the Spirit and discipline make a Christian.’” All one or the other can only create half-Christians.
I marvel yet at the Methodist tradition of time and rules. We are to consider time the great gift and the heavy responsibility. We have our General Rules and our Discipline. Our ministers carry heavy burdens and take responsibility for their conferences as well as for their churches. They are to serve where they are appointed without spending time candidating for pulpits. They are subject to the modern tensions and strains which are destroying so many of our contemporaries. I do not know a more difficult or demanding job in our modern world than to be a Methodist minister. This situation will not get better, for we are not about to become pietistic fellowships or passive, waiting servants of Christ. Ours is the marching tradition and we are a travelling ministry. We can only do our work by being the most disciplined of men and women.
Billy Sunday said one time that he had been accused of rubbing the fur the wrong way. “Well,” he replied, “let the cat turn around.” Perhaps God is saying to us that we must turn around – that we are on the wrong path going in the wrong direction. With all the material advantages we enjoy, we are often frustrated and unhappy people. To be an instrument of the Spirit’s power, we must accept spiritual discipline. The path to freedom is both straight and demanding.
Finally, let us see the witness of the spirit in the light of our doctrine of Christian Perfection. This is a difficult matter for us to understand and explain. There is a very close connection between the doctrines of the Holy Spirit and Christian Perfection. Both stem from the experience of being found by God in Christ. Both are based on a faith that God is involved in all of man’s life. Both believe that the Spirit of God can capture a man and transform his desires. Both will destroy our carefulness and timidity with an assurance that “all things are possible with God.”
When I was a young preacher, I studied John Wesley’s doctrine of Christian Perfection, which may be the only unique doctrine Methodism has preached. I found him spending about as much time explaining what he did not mean as what he did mean. It seemed to me too troublesome, and I spent little time on it in the following years of my ministry. But John Wesley held it and preached it in spite of its difficulty, and I have become convinced that he was right.
A young candidate for Conference membership objected to saying “Yes” to the question: “Are you going on to perfection?” An old bishop asked quietly, “Well son, what are you going on to?” The whole idea of perfection is foreign to us, and we prefer to just do the best we can and not expect unreasonable attainment. But Jesus said, “You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly father is perfect” (Matthew 5).
It is time that we tried to recapture the mood of a man and a people who would declare their intention of aiming at nothing less than being perfect in love. They were not saying that they expected to become sinless – or perfect in judgment. But they were willing to be content with nothing less than giving themselves completely and unreservedly to the service of Jesus Christ. It was an affirmation of the kind of faith we find in the Book of Acts when the experience of the Holy Spirit was so real.
That New Testament enthusiasm is lacking in our time. The American comedian Mort Sahl said that he wished he could find a cause, because he had a lot of enthusiasm. Our problem is just the reverse, for while we have a cause, we seem curiously lacking in enthusiasm, either in the pulpit or in the pews. If in the midst of this compromising, vacillating, mediocrity-ridden world the Methodists should proclaim again that they were committed to being made perfect in love, it might start a new revival. In the midst of all the bad news which reaches us daily, this would be good news indeed.
God gives much or little according to our asking. If all we want is the righteousness of the Scribes and the Pharisees, that is all we shall receive. But if we dare to reaffirm our faith in the doctrine of Christian Perfection and pray for the glorious experience of the witness of the Holy Spirit, God will use us mightily again. And who knows whether we have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?
Gerald Kennedy (1907-1980) was a bishop of the United Methodist Church over Southern California, Arizona, and Hawaii. This sermon was delivered at the Tenth World Methodist Conference in Oslo, Norway, August 17-25, 1961 (to learn more about our friends at the World Methodist Council, visit WorldMethodist.org). Bishop Kennedy was a remarkably pivotal figure within Methodism. He was consecrated as a bishop at age 40 in 1948. Kennedy earned his Ph.D. at Hartford Theological Seminary, wrote more than 20 books, was considered one of America’s premere pulpiteers, and held leadership roles in the Council of Bishops, presenting the Episcopal Address at the 1964 General Conference. He was appointed twice by Governor Pat Brown to the California Board of Education, wrote reviews of fiction books from 1956-1972 in Together magazine, and oversaw the Hollywood office of the National Council of Churches. He was also an essential ingredient in the creation of Good News, appearing in our first issue in 1967 and speaking at our first convocation in 1970.
by Steve | Jan 13, 2024 | Jan-Feb 2023, Jan-Feb 2024
Congregation in Nepal Thrives Despite Religious Restrictions
By Paul Jeffrey (UM News)
LALITPUR, Nepal
Although official restrictions on religious work create challenges for church leaders in Nepal, migrant workers are returning from abroad with a robust faith that invigorates the small Christian community there, according to a United Methodist pastor in the mountainous country.
The Rev. Jeewan Lama is pastor of Hebron United Methodist Church in Lalitpur, a city in the Kathmandu Valley. The growing congregation currently has a fluctuating membership of about 100. Though it’s constantly losing members who leave the mostly Hindu nation in search of work elsewhere, it regains members when other migrants return having come to know Christianity in foreign lands.
Nepal is a poor country with few work opportunities, Lama said, so people go elsewhere – especially to the Gulf states and Malaysia.
“They often grow discouraged there. They are overworked, underpaid, isolated and sometimes put in prison, and it’s often Christians in those places who provide them with help and shelter,” he said.
“As a result, many come to know the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. They convert to Christianity. When they come home, they want to share their new faith.”
Christians comprise only about 1.4 percent of Nepal’s 30 million people. Over 80 percent of the population is Hindu; the remainder are mostly Buddhist and Muslim.
The United Methodist congregation rents a small plot of land tucked into a residential neighborhood, and constructed a building where it hosts Saturday morning worship services. Because Sunday is a work day in Nepal, most Christian churches gather for worship on Saturday.
It’s a tough neighborhood for the evangelically oriented congregation.
“We live in an area dominated by Brahmins,” Lama said, referring to an orthodox Hindu class and caste. “In our 17 years here, no family has come to know Christ, despite our knocking on their doors. The believers in our congregation all come from other communities.”
Lama and his family also live in the neighborhood, and he said they’ve at least earned grudging respect from their neighbors. But if they go to other neighborhoods, he said, they may have stones or bottles thrown at them.
“The elites will have no contact with us. They hate us,” he said. “But when they are sick and there is no other option, they come to us secretly and ask us to pray for them. And once they are healed, they don’t talk to us again.”
Lama and his wife, Sabina, founded the congregation in 2005, one of several that emerged from a short-lived mission initiative of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries. It’s the only one that remains United Methodist today.
Lama said evangelism got tougher in Nepal when the country adopted a new Constitution in 2015. Reflecting rising Hindu nationalism both in Nepal and neighboring India, the Constitution proclaimed that no one was allowed “to convert another person from one religion to another and shall not take actions or behave in a way that would create disturbance in another’s religion.”
Laws passed in 2017 tightened the restrictions, declaring that any Nepalese who encourages or is involved in religious conversion can face five years in prison. Foreigners guilty of such activity can be deported.
Lama said the restrictions changed how he and his congregation approached their neighbors.
“We stopped public evangelism. We share in church, or one by one when we meet people personally. And, of course, anyone can come to the church,” he said.
Lama said Christianity spreads more easily among the poor, who find acceptance in the church that isn’t offered them in larger Nepalese society, with its strict stratification based on caste and class.
“It’s mostly the poor who convert,” he said.
For the same reason, he said, Christianity has special appeal to marginalized women, even though few churches welcome women leaders.
“Nepali society is male-dominated and, even in the churches, women find it difficult to take leadership roles or even to express themselves in front of men. But our church is not like that. Women take responsibility and leadership, and they teach and preach. We are trying to empower women to come out of their cages,” Lama said.
Meena Moktan coordinates the women’s program of Lama’s congregation. In May, she received her Doctor of Ministry from Asbury Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky. Her dissertation focused on obstacles to women’s leadership in churches across Nepal. She and Sabina and Jeewan Lama have traveled as a team to several communities around the country to help churches encourage a greater role for women.
“There are women who are left out, who aren’t given opportunities, and I want to reach out to them to let them know they are special, to help them understand that although their society may not appreciate who they are, although they may think they are good for nothing, I want to raise them up with the love of God,” Moktan said.
The congregation calls itself United Methodist and has a cross and flame on the front of the pulpit. It has been considered to be the Nepal District of the Baguio, Philippines, episcopal area. Lama has received support for his ministry from several United Methodist agencies, including funding from Discipleship Ministries for outreach to youth during the pandemic. United Women in Faith – formerly United Methodist Women – recently supported an ecumenical workshop for women held at the Lalitpur church.
Yet since the retirement last year of Bishop Pedro M. Torio Jr., Lama said he has had no contact with denominational officials.
“No one has contacted us to tell us about our new bishop,” he said.
Bishop Rodel M. Acdal, the new bishop of the Baguio Episcopal Area, told UM News in an email that he has so far had no communication with Nepal.
“We are willing to visit and restart our communications and conduct ministry/training to our churches, pastors and lay leaders there if we can get support from our agencies,” he wrote. “The long-term goal is to strengthen the Mission District to be recognized as a full district and eventually become an annual conference.”
Lama said the uncertainty doesn’t concern him.
“We are a United Methodist church. If others want to support us, we don’t mind. But in our hearts and minds we are United Methodist,” he said. “Though we are neglected and isolated and forgotten by the whole UMC community, we are The United Methodist Church in Nepal.”
Paul Jeffrey is a photojournalist and founder of Life on Earth Pictures. He lives in Oregon. We are grateful to Mr. Jeffrey, as well as United Methodist News, for this story.
