by Steve | May 25, 2011 | Magazine Articles
Call to Action
Regarding the analysis of the Call to Action in the March/April issue, I applaud Dr. George Hunter for naming theology and spiritual formation as two of the Great Omissions in the Call to Action. I’m guessing Dr. Hunter will agree, but the truth is, theological and spiritual formation should always be mentioned together as dimensions of the same task. I work with college students and other emerging adults. The crying need of this generation is good, solid, exemplary (i.e., visible in lives of mentors and models) doctrinal formation; what we in the academy sometimes call first order theology. Theological formation is spiritual formation. John Wesley got this fundamental truth in a way that we simply do not these days.
I also want to disagree with the Rev. Kent Millard for defending the legitimacy and reliability of the research organization used to develop the Call to Action. Of course, these organizations are good at their jobs, but are they using the right tools for the analysis we need? Social science research methods render social science results. That there is “vitality” across congregations of a wide theological spectrum simply means that the definition of “vitality” fits what a social science method will define ahead of time as useful or appropriate. It simply begs the question about theology.
Finally, let me add what may look like a tangent, but I think is not. Whereas I love the local church and understand its importance for ministry,
I plead with United Methodists not to forget about the rising generation. To that end, we had better not put all of our eggs in the local church basket. Yet, when we face the pressure of denominational decline, we still default to talk about “the local church” when we want to cure what ails us. On the contrary, until there is large scale and systematic reformation in the theological aims of higher education (this includes church-related schools and state university campus ministries), we will continue to abandon our emerging adults to whatever pop culture forces happen to be at work. And we will thereby fail at one of the four missional priorities established by General Conference.
Stephen Rankin
Dallas, Texas
Cracks before the rift
I am disturbed as well by bishops who do not have the integrity to uphold our denominational rulings. They seem to conveniently ignore the fact that General Conferences speak for the United Methodist Church. But over and above this is the reaction many of us receive who hold to what we believe are clear Biblical mandates concerning human sexual behavior.
I have found that many (not all) who are supposedly tolerant, liberal, and open-minded can become very hostile and narrow-minded when they find I am on the “other side” of these issues. It’s as though holding to traditional Biblical morality is some kind of religious or cultural crime.
Considering the terrible brokenness people experience around sexual issues, it would seem that the more liberal viewpoint isn’t working. From an exegetical basis, there is not a single word or phrase in the original New Testament Greek (related to human sexual matters) to condone the “liberal” viewpoint. In any case, it makes me wonder just how long the UM Church can live with this kind of tension before the cracks become a wide rift. I pray that does not happen.
Brian Channel
Durand UM Church
Durand, Illinois
Failing as disciples
In the article, “Leaders react to homosexuality statement by retired bishops,” retired Bishop Sharon Z. Rader is quoted as saying many have told her the initiative “brings hope for the future of our church and the making plain of our desire to invite, receive and empower all who desire to live as faithful disciples of Jesus as part of The United Methodist Church.” Bishop Larry Goodpaster, writing on behalf of the Council of Bishops’ executive committee says, “We call this holy conferencing.” Why do our bishops, General Conference, Good News, and whoever considers this topic worth talking about not realize that the main problem is that we’re even willing to discuss this topic?
The fact is evangelical, Bible believing Christians who oppose homosexual ordination believe it is impossible “to live as faithful disciples of Jesus” while continuing to practice homosexuality. The two are in opposition of each other.
As long as Bishop Rader and those like-minded continue to believe it is possible to live as a faithful disciple of Jesus while continuing this practice ,I, and others like me, have no reason to do any holy conferencing on this subject.
There is no reason to talk to someone who refuses to pay attention to the clear teachings of Scripture. And may I go a bit further in saying that I am annoyed that our current council of bishops does not hold this opinion.
Remember the issue is not whether we should invite homosexuals to church in an attempt to introduce them to Christ and disciple them. The issue is whether we’re going to call them to be faithful to Christ by leaving their homosexual lifestyle behind. It will not be easy. They will stumble and fall, and we will have to extend grace. But if we do not ask them to leave this lifestyle, then we are failing to “live as faithful disciples of Jesus.”
Brandon Fulmer
Mann Memorial UM Church
Augusta District,
North Georgia Conference
by Steve | May 25, 2011 | Magazine Articles
By Riley B. Case
Christianity is dying in the following countries—Australia, Austria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Switzerland—and is headed for extinction. That is the conclusion of a study conducted by a group of social scientists (the Research Corporation for Science Advancement), using census studies, and a linear dynamics mathematical systems model (whatever that is). These “findings” were reported at a recent American Physical Society meeting in Dallas.
Of course anyone who has been in Europe recently and has interacted with cynical college students or visited empty churches might draw the same conclusion. Census figures report that more and more persons in these “western civilization” countries are reporting “non-affiliated with religion,” with 60 percent of the persons in the Czech Republic making that claim. While not put into the “headed for extinction” category, countries like England, Germany, and France are also reporting increasing secularization and disregard for organized religion. A study conducted by the British Humanist Association reported that while 61 percent of those in England indicated they “belonged” to a religion, 65 percent reported they were “non-religious.”
Shall we panic?
Well, no, but it is sad to think that the lands which furnished the Christian beliefs and values that were so influential in making America what it is today, are now turning their backs on those beliefs and values.
There is no denying that the continent of Europe is growing increasingly pagan. We have not, in the past, associated the word “pagan” with the word “civilized.” The word “pagan” in popular usage often refers to persons, practices, or peoples that are not “civilized” (as in Westernized). Does not paganism have to do with primitive religions, heathenism, barbaric practices, and superstition? Can one be civilized and pagan at the same time?
Of course. Alien, secular, and humanistic philosophies are gaining dominance in Europe. These philosophies serve different gods. Man (and Woman), not God, is the center of the universe. Progress in these nations is measured not by how society reflects Christian values, but in the
extent to which their society is ordered apart from those values. The word “pagan” fits these nations appropriately.
But God is not without a witness.
This past Sunday more Anglicans attended church in each of the following countries: Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda than did Anglicans in all of Britain and Canada and Episcopalians in the United States combined. The number of Anglicans in church in Nigeria was several times the number in those other African countries.
This past Sunday it is possible that more Christian believers attended church in China than in all of so-called “Christian Europe.” Yet in 1970 there were no legally functioning churches in all of China.
This past Sunday there were more Roman Catholics at worship in the Philippines than in any single country of Europe, including such “Catholic countries” as Italy, Spain, or Poland.
It is important to see the big picture. Is it possible that in the plan of God Europe will be like the branch of the vine in John 15 that, since it no longer bears fruit, is cast away? Is God now using lands we once disdained as not-civilized to bring about his purposes? Is this an example of God using “what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, and what is weak in the world to shame the strong” (I Cor. 1:27)? Christianity is among other things a philosophy of history. All of history is moving toward a goal. God once used the European nations to advance that goal and to bring healing to the world. But in the present time we are seeing a redistribution of the world’s Christian population. The energy and the vision for a redeemed world lies no longer with Europe but with those nations where the church is alive.
We ought to be interceding for the spiritual health of Europe. One can mention judgment only with sadness. This present week in Great Britain at least fifteen thousand Christian foreign missionaries are hard at work evangelizing the locals. Most of these missionaries are from Africa and Asia.
What a twist of history; what a twist of faith.
Riley B. Case is a retired member of the North Indiana Conference, assistant executive director of the Confessing Movement, and a member of the Good News Board of Directors. He is also the author of Evangelical and Methodist: A Popular History (Abingdon).
by Steve | May 25, 2011 | Magazine Articles
The Rev. David Wilkerson, the founding pastor of Times Square Church in New York City, died on April 27 in a car accident in East Texas. His wife, Gwendolyn Wilkerson, was airlifted to a local hospital with injuries.
“Pastor David Wilkerson’s was a life fully given for the glory of God and souls of men,” said a statement from the 8,000-member Times Square Church. “He was greatly loved and he will be greatly missed.”
Times Square Church was founded in 1986 after Wilkerson felt called by God to return to New York City. He describes walking down 42nd Street and being heartbroken over the pimps, prostitutes, drug addicts, runaways, and X-rated movie theaters.
“I saw 9-, 10- and 11-year-old kids bombed on crack cocaine. I walked down 42nd Street and they were selling crack. Len Bias, the famous basketball player, had just died of a crack overdose, and the pusher was yelling, ‘Hey, I’ve got the stuff that killed Len,’” recalled Wilkerson, according to the Times Square Church website.
“I wept and prayed, ‘God, you’ve got to raise up a testimony in this hellish place…The answer was not what I wanted to hear: ‘Well, you know the city. You’ve been here. You do it.’”
In 1963, Wilkerson was launched into worldwide fame as the author of his influential bestselling book, The Cross and the Switchblade, which described his calling in 1958 to New York City and his street ministry with drug addicts and gang members. The book also detailed the conversion of Nicky Cruz, the leader of the New York City gang called the Mau-Maus. Cruz later became an evangelist and bestseller author of Run Baby Run.
The Cross and the Switchblade is ranked No. 32 in Christianity Today’s list of “Top 50 Books That Have Shaped Evangelicals” and has sold 50 million copies in more than 30 languages. In 1970, the book was adapted into a movie starring Pat Boone and Erik Estrada.
Wilkerson is also the founder of Teen Challenge, a drug and alcohol recovery program for those struggling with addictions. The ministry is connected to the Assemblies of God denomination. There are 233 locations in the United States and 1,181 international centers, reaching as many as 25,000 people struggling with addiction.
“‘Brother Dave’ was used by God in 1958 to reach out to gang members in New York City. Through that singular act of obedience, tens of thousands of those bound by drug, alcohol and other addictions have found freedom through Jesus Christ,” said Teen Challenge USA, in a statement.
David Wilkerson is survived by his wife and four children.
Good News Media Service
by Steve | May 25, 2011 | Magazine Articles
By B.J. Funk
Have you recently received news about your health or the health of someone you love, and you live daily inside of this frightening revelation? Has a tragedy catapulted you to a new urgency that has the possibility of stripping your finances? Are you stuck on Fear Mountain, moving further up the Slope of Stress toward the Pinnacle of Pressure? Discouragement and depression are a difficult place to abide. You have no anchor to balance you as you move up and down Fear Mountain, but you just hope daily that something will come along to help you. Well, it has.
There is blessed help on the other side of this particular mountain. That something is found in 1 John 4:18: “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.” Not the answer you were looking for? Perfect love casts out fear? What exactly is this perfect love John talks about?
Our love for God and God’s love for us can deliver us from tormenting fear. Perfect love is love that is allowed to exert its proper influence on the soul. It delivers the mind from alarms. If we had perfect love, we would be entirely free from all dread in regard to the future. Fear torments us. It is a powerful and painfully distressing emotion. Fear captures us, moves inside, is arrogant enough to actually set up camp on our heart and soul and cause tremendous distress. This is not what God wants for those who believe in and love Him.
As we climb up Fear Mountain, we can take ourselves to the other side of that mountain. Like opposite colors, love is the opposite of fear. Move to the other side and watch how love can push fear out of the driver’s seat. Fear does not have to win. We resolve our fears by focusing on His immeasurable love for us. This is the love that can quiet our fears and calm the raging storms. This is the love that can give us confidence and strength. Is this just available to a select few? Never!
Romans 8:38-39 makes sure this love is for everyone when Paul tells us “I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present or the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Fear of rejection has hindered people from beginning wonderful relationships, like those who refuse another chance at love after the break-up of a marriage. Fear of failure has kept many from starting a new business. Second Timothy 1:7 tells us that “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and of a sound mind.”
It is estimated that 80 percent of Christians today are oppressed by a spirit of fear. Fear tends to bring us down when we are caught it its strong hold. When we fear something that has not happened, we almost convince and convict ourselves that it will happen. When we dwell on a negative response from the doctor, when we cry, worry and clog up our spiritual arteries so we cannot even receive life-giving strength from God’s love, then what hope do we have that things will turn out okay? We’ve already started living in the negative concerning our problem. God wants us to live in the positive, to expect new faith, to believe in His love in such a way that you are actually moving to the opposite side of Fear Mountain where love resides.
King David gives us good advice when he says in Psalm 27:1, “The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”
Fear is the biggest enemy we have to face. If we can move past the fear of uncertainties, the fear of failure, the fear of rejection, the fear of losing a loved one, then we can reside embraced in a love so dynamic that one cannot understand it unless it is experienced.
Love prompts us to seek others; fear causes us to shrink from others. Fear brings its own punishment to the one who has not tried to live inside of God’s love. It is inconsistent with the gracious design of God to have his followers miserable.
Today, live inside of God’s love and believe in your heart that He can make a difference for you. Determine to get off of Fear Mountain and move to the other side, to Love Mountain. Set up camp and trust God’s love to take you through whatever fears you are facing.
by Steve | May 25, 2011 | Magazine Articles
By Frank Decker
Over the years it has amazed me how, in some countries, the honking of horns can be a source of constant background noise. In many of these countries, it seems as though a tap of the horn simply means “I’m here,” a passive announcement of one’s presence to avoid a collision. In fact, a common slogan on the back of large trucks in India is “Sound horn and proceed,” an audible version of the bumper sticker seen on the back of many trucks in the United States, “If you can’t see my mirrors, I can’t see you.”
While living in West Africa, I was curious about the incessant honking, and I actually went on long walks during which I counted the amount of time between beeps. The longest period of silence I ever observed between honks in our city was 45 seconds.
Honking is a cultural phenomenon, and it makes sense that it is different here in the United States than in places that I would describe as, say, more laid back. Although honking seems less frequent here, I think it largely originates from a different stimulus. Apart from the occasional
“Hey, the light is green” toot one may hear after failing to accelerate immediately after the traffic signal changes, I think that, in general, a high percentage of honking here is rooted in anger, whether it’s the “You have violated my safety zone” honk to someone who moved into the space you were leaving between you and the car in front of you, or the “You idiot, you almost hit me” blast. Honking of this nature can be seen as territorial, because we are letting others know that they have intruded into an area that we had considered ours. (Of course, there are times when, for safety’s sake, we really do need to honk to let people know they are about to hit us.)
Lately I’ve noticed an increase in another sort of “honking” as well—not literally, but nonetheless a sounding of an alarm that our space is being invaded. As more and more people immigrate to our country, I am seeing a number of Christians respond in unfortunate ways to persons from other religious traditions. Rather than seeing the increasing diversity in our culture as an increase in opportunities to share the message and love of Jesus, there seems to be the sounding of a fearful alarm that we will lose our American way of life. A few examples will suffice.
Recently CNN aired a show entitled “Unwelcome: Muslims next door.” It illustrated the extreme anger and misunderstandings surrounding the plans to build a new mosque in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. A number of those interviewed seemed to assume that a Muslim presence indicated the certainty of terrorist activity (when, in fact, the only actual terrorism that had occurred up to that point was the setting on fire of construction equipment on the site).
In a large church near my home in Georgia, a conference was recently held touting to provide training for engagement in the “worldview war,” and in fact dubbed itself as a biblical worldview conference. Some of the topics addressed were: “Why it is impossible for Christians and Muslims to find common ground” and “The danger and rise of ecumenicalism.” This conference fomented fear and distrust rather than love and respect.
In response to the conference in Georgia, a friend who directs a multi-national Christian mission organization said that if he had been able to attend, he would have stood up and said, “Can you suggest ways this rally might help me love God with all my heart, and love my neighbors as myself…including even my enemies?” That simple question seems to be lost among the clamor of the current culture wars. It seems to me that in some people’s minds the Prince of Peace is a little more than the guardian of our American way of life.
We do have a choice, however. We can honk and say “Hey, stay out of my space.” Or, we can see our changing circumstances as opportunities to know and understand others and introduce them to Jesus. But it is difficult to do the latter if our primary agenda is the preservation of our lifestyle above all else. The two notions are ultimately incompatible (a theme that has been notably expressed in David Platt’s recent book, Radical.)
There are resources for church leaders who wish to learn and lead others into a responsible, biblical, and peace-loving response to our changing cultural landscape. Abrahamic Alliance International (www.abrahamicalliance.org) is a faith-based ministry uniting Jews, Christians, and Muslims for active peacebuilding and relief of extreme poverty. They are available to conduct church seminars on loving Muslim neighbors, then unite graduates with local Muslims in a collaborative service to the poor, suffering, and marginalized. Another resourcing organization is Trac5, which seeks to raise awareness and give people “a place to breathe and to respect each other.” They also provide leadership training for young leaders, and you can find out more at www.Trac5.org.
I believe that the nature of our honking should be; “I’m here, you’re there, let’s try to understand each other.” Or, at least, “Let’s not run into each other.” But when our honking is loaded with anger, it benefits nobody.
