by Steve | Jan 7, 2022 | In the News, Perspective E-Newsletter
Photo: Shutterstock
By Thomas Lambrecht
The slogan “We Are Better Together” has been used for everything from a political campaign to the headline for efforts to keep The United Methodist Church from separating. Efforts to promote greater unity in our country deserve support. After all, this is the only country we have, and we need to learn how to live together in this country. On the other hand, my colleagues Rob Renfroe and Walter Fenton have shown in their book, Are We Really Better Together?, that we are not really together in our denomination. Attempts to patch over the things that divide us deeply from each other in our denomination cannot mask the reality that we are simply not operating from the same worldview. In that case, we are not “better together” because our togetherness leads to continual conflict over the direction of the church. And this is not the only church that exists. There are other alternatives.
However, today I want to use that slogan “Better Together” to talk about a different kind of togetherness – the embodied community found in the local church. Over the course of the Covid pandemic, local churches have suffered the loss of community. Many churches closed for months and some have recently closed again due to Omicron. Many members have created a new Sunday morning habit of tuning in online to watch church. Many others have created a new Sunday morning habit that disregards church altogether. Estimates are that local churches will lose one-third to two-thirds of their members over the course of this pandemic.
As we begin this new year of 2022 and its attendant New Year’s resolutions, I want to make the case that we should prioritize once again gathering in person as safely as possible with our brothers and sisters in Christ to worship God and grow in holiness. While there are understandable times and circumstances that could cause us to temporarily withdraw from in-person worship, there is simply no substitute for meeting in the flesh with other believers to strengthen and express our faith.
Scripture Commands It
The writer to the Hebrews encourages, “And let us consider how we may spur one another on to love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:24-25). Neglect for the regular meeting together of believers is not a new phenomenon in 2022. It has been happening since the first century!
It is important to understand why meeting together is necessary for the life of faith. The kind of mutual encouragement and stimulation to grow in love and good deeds can generally happen only in person. Watching a worship service online does not give us the opportunity to interact with our fellow believers, offering and receiving encouragement in the faith with them. We can engage with the chat function, but it is just not the same as looking someone in the eye and telling them you are praying for them.
The same section of Hebrews offers other reasons for in-person gathering. Verse 22 invites us to “draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings.” We can absolutely draw near to God in the privacy of our own home as an individual – and we should on a daily basis. But gathering with other believers strengthens our faith and helps to purify our hearts, so that we can even more effectively draw near to the Lord. Again, there is no substitute for this personal gathering that enables us to draw near. Singing hymns and worship songs with others really lifts me into the presence of the Lord. Experiencing the preacher looking me in the eye when she exhorts me to a life of holiness carries a power that is minimized when we are separated through electronics.
Verse 23 commands us to “hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.” If we don’t gather in person, we forgo the opportunity to converse with others about what God is doing in our/their lives. We miss hearing how the Lord answered prayer this week or unexpectedly ministered to a personal need. Meeting together gives us the strength we need to “hold unswervingly to [our] hope.” It is the difference between sitting on the bench with our fellow players in the game, versus watching the game on TV.
The bottom line is that, when we forsake meeting together, we cultivate (at best) a spectator mentality toward church that weakens our faith and deprives us of the ability to live out that faith in everyday life.
Jesus said, “Whoever does not gather with me scatters” (Matthew 12:30). I once read an illustration of this truth in the picture of the coals in a fire (whether in a grill or fireplace). When the coals are all together, they burn with a hot and steady fire. When an individual coal is placed out to the side away from the rest, it soon grows cold and loses its fire. That is exactly what happens to our faith when we neglect meeting together – it grows cold.
Gathering for Worship Improves Our Health and Well-being
A recent article in Christianity Today by Tyler J. Vanderweele and Brendan Case of the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard University surveys research relating church attendance with personal health and human flourishing. They find that “religious service attendance powerfully enhances health and well-being.”
The article states, “a number of large, well-designed research studies have found that religious service attendance is associated with greater longevity, less depression, less suicide, less smoking, less substance abuse, better cancer and cardiovascular-disease survival, less divorce, greater social support, greater meaning in life, greater life satisfaction, more volunteering, and greater civic engagement.” Specifically, when compared with those who never attend religious services, regular attenders have 33 percent reduced risk of death, 84 percent reduced risk of suicide, 29 percent reduced risk of depression, 50 percent reduced risk of divorce, 68 percent reduced risk of “deaths of despair” for women and 33 percent reduced risk of such deaths for men, 33 percent reduced risk of adolescent illegal drug use, and 12 percent reduced risk of adolescent depression.
The authors found “regular service attendance helps shield children from the ‘big three’ dangers of adolescence: depression, substance abuse, and premature sexual activity. People who attended church as children are also more likely to grow up happy, to be forgiving, to have a sense of mission and purpose, and to volunteer.”
It is important to note that these benefits accrue to people not based on what they believe, but on what they practice. As the article puts it, “Our research suggests that religious service attendance specifically, rather than private practices or self-assessed religiosity or spirituality, most powerfully predicts health. Religious identity and private spirituality may, of course, still be very important and meaningful within the context of religious life, but their effects on health and well-being don’t seem to be as strong as those of regular gathering with other believers.” They go on, “Something about the communal religious experience seems to matter. Something powerful takes place there, something that enhances health and well-being; and it is something very different than what comes from solitary spirituality.”
The authors attribute this beneficial effect in part to the embodied community engendered by church worship participation. “Religious communities provide a strong social safety net that other institutions can’t easily replace. … The apostle Paul’s metaphor of the church as a body may also help us understand part of the power of communal religious life. (See I Corinthians 12) … Through their diverse gifts, and the help they provide one another, members of churches are supported in religious faith and spiritual growth, but also in more mundane matters, from care during illness to help finding work after a layoff.”
The authors point beyond the mundane to the spiritual power present in the gathering of believers. “Paul’s use of the body imagery is not merely a metaphor, however, but a claim about the intensity and reality of Christ’s presence in and through the church.” The gathering helps all present to draw near to the Lord and experience his life-giving presence and power. After all, Christ promised “where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them” (Matthew 18:20).
Consequences for Society
At the macro level, the individual outcomes of decreased health due to decreased worship attendance contribute to massive social consequences. As Brendan Case, one of the authors of the CT article, points out in another article in First Things, “Deaths of despair caused drops in overall life expectancy in the United States for three consecutive years (from 2015 to 2017), the longest period of decline since World War I.” He goes on to state, “The Human Flourishing Program at Harvard University has … assembl[ed] a body of evidence that suggests that about 40 percent of the increase in suicides from 1996 to 2010 was attributable to declining religious participation.”
The way Case sees it, “Job losses, declining marriage rates, and shrinking religious communities interact in complex ways to bring about deaths of despair. Low (or no) wages reduce men’s ‘marriageability’ and so drive down marriage rates. Lower marriage rates cause church attendance to decline, which in turn has been shown to increase divorce rates. The result is an atomized society in which deep friendships and simple human warmth become luxury goods. One recent study found that loneliness may increase mortality risk over a fixed period of time by 26 percent, perhaps in part because communities afflicted by isolation and atomization are natural breeding grounds for self-destructive behaviors.
“Religious communities are crucial sources of social connection, but perhaps equally important is their role in directly teaching that suicide or abusing drugs and alcohol is wrong. As social psychologist Jonathan Haidt has put it, ‘religions are moral exoskeletons.’ They provide ‘a set of norms, relationships, and institutions’ that protect individuals from their own worst instincts and from giving in to self-destructive temptations.”
Church attendance is a key tool in combatting loneliness, depression, and the isolation that this Covid pandemic has forced upon us. Worship participation not only grows our faith, it helps restore a healthier society, both individually and collectively.
There may be good reasons why an individual or family needs to stop attending worship for a time. The risk is the temporary pause becomes a habit. As the CT article puts it, “the most common experience of Christians who don’t go to church seems to be less a deliberate choice and more a substitution of habits.”
Now at this renewing of the year, we have the chance to renew our commitment to church participation through “our prayers, our presence, our gifts, our service, and our witness.” We will be healthier for it – physically, spiritually, and societally!
by Steve | Dec 22, 2021 | Front Page News, Home Page Hero Slider, In the News
Mary’s Devoted Heart
By Dick McClain
Growing up, I don’t recall having heard a sermon on Mary, the mother of Jesus. She did get dusted off every December for the Christmas pageant. But apart from her annual appearance reincarnated in the form of a budding young thespian, she hardly existed. Perhaps the folks in my evangelical Protestant circle felt that the Catholics went a little too far.
While I’ve never been accused of tilting toward Rome, somewhere along the line I began to suspect that we were being robbed by our silence about Mary. After all, the woman God chose to become the mother of our Lord just might have something to say to us today.
Which brings up another point. Not only did I not hear much about Mary; I didn’t hear much about any of the women of the Bible. When they were presented, it was only in the context of their being a model for women, never for men. The implication was that the male heroes of the faith – Moses, Joshua, David, Peter, and all the rest – were role models for all Christians, men and women alike. But the female heroes of the Bible – Deborah, Naomi, Ruth, and Priscilla – were only models of Christian womanhood.
I ditched that idea.
All of this leads me to suggest two things. First, Mary’s life is worth studying and emulating. Secondly, she is a good model for my entire family, both male and female.
In the first two chapters of Luke, there are fascinating insights into the quality of Mary’s life and faith. Her godliness was evident in a number of traits that we would do well to pattern.
Faith in God. Who comes to mind when you think of biblical examples of faith? I’ll bet you immediately thought of Abraham. Not a bad pick, considering the fact that he believed some rather unbelievable things God told him. But have you thought about the message Gabriel brought to Mary?
Mary was a teenage girl from a poor family who lived in an obscure village in a tiny nation which itself was under subjection to a foreign power. One day an angel came to her with a message from God.
She had found favor with God; she would give birth to a Son whom she was to name Jesus; her baby would be called the Son of the Most High and would sit on David’s throne forever; his kingdom would never end; and all this was going to happen without her ever having sexual relations with a man.
Now, be honest. Would you have believed that?
The remarkable thing is that Mary did! In fact, her cousin, Elizabeth, greeted her as “She who believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished” (Luke 1:45).
That’s real faith! She was willing to take God at his word, even when what he said didn’t square with anything her experience told her to be true. We too must choose to believe God if we are to be godly people.
A surrendered life. Perhaps you have read Mary’s story, sensed the unparalleled excitement of what she was experiencing, tried to put yourself in her place, and concluded, “Wouldn’t it have been glorious to be Mary!”
But stop and think about it. How could she tell Joseph, to whom she was already legally betrothed? Although they had not yet begun living together, they were considered married and could be separated only through divorce. Don’t you think the prospect of suspicion flashed through her mind? It must have. Under similar circumstances, most of us would have asked the Lord to find someone else to do the job.
But not Mary. Her answer to the angel was a model of submission. “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said” (Luke 1:38).
Why was she so ready to submit? Because she understood herself to be God’s servant. Maybe the reason we are so prone to resist God is that we see him as our servant. We’ve got it backwards. We need to come to see, as Mary did, that God is God and not just some spiritual genie that we hope will magically fulfill our every whim.
A life of unassuming humility. One thing about Mary in those Christmas pageants that always struck me was her willingness to go without complaint to the stable.
Not me! If I had been Mary, I probably would have said, “Listen here, buster! This baby I’m about to have is no ordinary child. He is God’s Son and your King. We deserve better than this!”
In Luke’s version of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor” (Luke 6:20). Mary was poor. We know that because of the sacrifice she and Joseph offered when they presented Jesus at the temple. Since they fell below the poverty line, they qualified to give a pair of doves or two young pigeons, rather than bringing the customary lamb (see Luke 2:24 and Leviticus 12:8).
I don’t buy into the notion that God loves poor people and hates rich folks, or that the impoverished are constitutionally spiritual, while the wealthy are hopelessly ungodly. But I do know that amidst our affluence we have adopted an inflated sense of our own importance, rights, and prerogatives. Consequently, we have concluded that the world owes us a lot; other people owe us a lot; and God also owes us a lot. We have a bad case of inflated expectations.
The answer is not quitting our jobs and signing up for welfare. But if we are serious about godliness, we, like Mary, must relinquish our rights, surrender our demands, and accept whatever God gives.
Faithfulness in spiritual disciplines. Unlike many people today, Mary didn’t treat spiritual things casually.
When it came time to present Jesus at the temple, Joseph and Mary headed for Jerusalem (Luke 2:22). Only after they “had performed everything according to the Law of the Lord” did they return home (2:39). And when Passover season came, they went up to Jerusalem “every year” (2:41).
The implication is that Mary wasn’t one to shirk her spiritual responsibilities. It’s easy for us to neglect spiritual disciplines. Average annual worship attendance in the United Methodist Church typically limps along at less than half the membership. Many Christians would recoil at the suggestion that we should actually part with 10 percent of our income. I’m reminded of a cartoon that pictured a church sign that read: “The Original Lite Church: Home of the 3 Percent Tithe and the 45 Minute Worship Hour – 50 Percent Less Commitment Required.”
Sincerely godly people don’t neglect the Word or worship, prayer or tithing. They don’t treat spiritual disciplines cavalierly.
Spiritual sensitivity. Read Mary’s song, recorded in Luke 1:46-55. It’s more than magnificent. It is the overflow of a heart that was accustomed to communion with God.
How did Mary come to be so spiritually alert? Luke gives us a clue.
Following the shepherds’ visit, we are told that Mary “treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart” (2:19). And when Mary and her family returned to Nazareth from their trip to Jerusalem for Passover when Jesus was twelve, we read that she “treasured all these things in her heart” (2:51).
Mary managed to carve time out of her busy life to ponder the deeper significance of what was taking place. She took time to pray, to meditate, and to reflect on what God was doing.
Most of us do not decide one day that we don’t want to be in tune with God. We don’t decide not to pray. We just let the priceless treasure of communion with God slip unnoticed through our fingers.
Spiritual sensitivity is not inherited, it is acquired through spending time with God. To borrow Terry Teykl’s phrase, Mary “prayed the price.” If we want to experience true godliness, we must do the same.
In trusting God, surrendering her life, giving up her rights, and learning to listen to the Spirit, Mary set an example for us all to follow.
Was she a super saint? No. Did she demonstrate sinless perfection? Not likely. But a devoted follower of God? You can be sure of it.
We can be the same.
Dick McClain is the former CEO of The Mission Society (now TMS Global). He is retired in Leadville, Colorado, with his wife Pam. This article originally appeared in Good News in 2003. Art by Kateryna Shadrina (Iconart-gallery.com).
by Steve | Dec 13, 2021 | In the News
Image: Iowa Annual Conference
By Thomas Lambrecht
In the sport of track, races are often set off by the firing of a starter’s gun. Racers who cross the starting line and begin the race before the gun fires are said to have “jumped the gun.”
That is exactly what the Iowa Appointive Cabinet has done by issuing its statement, “Leading Now and Into the Future.” A Frequently Asked Questions document fleshes out some of the details. The statement purports to begin implementing the post-separation United Methodist Church in Iowa before the General Conference has acted to pass the Protocol.
One Church Plan Again
“Leading Now” essentially tries to implement the One Church Plan (which was defeated by the 2019 General Conference) by episcopal fiat. It states, effective January 1, 2022, “pastors will be able to choose which weddings they officiate, as long as it is two consenting adults who have been counseled. Likewise, church leadership, in consultation with their pastors, will be able to determine their own policy regarding weddings.” Thus, despite 50 years of holy conferencing and decision-making by the denomination’s top policy-making body, General Conference, the Iowa cabinet will now explicitly override the definition of marriage in our Book of Discipline and permit what the Discipline bars.
Think about that for a moment. It is one thing to temporarily suspend enforcement of a disciplinary provision in anticipation of a forthcoming General Conference action (as the Protocol invites with its proposal of a moratorium on complaints). It is an entirely different thing to say that the disciplinary provision no longer applies, period.
In a swift rejoinder to an Iowa WCA response statement (linked below), the cabinet justifies the need to actualize this plan now. “The urgency of our response is directly related to organized groups that have made the decision to leave The United Methodist Church and have sought to define the post-separation United Methodist Church. … We strongly object to organizations that are both determined to leave The United Methodist Church and are telling others how we will behave post-separation. We have chosen to articulate a vision of The United Methodist Church that we believe we can live into in Iowa now.”
Those leading into the post-separation reality of The United Methodist Church should feel free to lay out publicly their vision for how that church will operate. Many have chosen to do so. But there is a difference between laying out a vision and actualizing it (or in the cabinet’s words, “living into it now”). Traditionalists are not allowed to live into our vision of the Global Methodist Church until the Protocol passes and that new church is formed. What gives the Iowa leaders the right to “jump the gun” and start living into their vision before receiving the authorization from General Conference to do so?
The answer may be found in a further statement of their rejoinder. “This statement is a matter of conscience for each of us, akin to non-violent resistance to unfair civil laws. We realize that taking this stand may have consequences and we accept those consequences, whatever they may be, openly and freely.” In other words, the Iowa leaders are engaging in ecclesiastical disobedience. They are prioritizing their own understanding of our Methodist faith over the communal discernment of General Conference. Since they hold the power in the Iowa Conference, they are unlikely to experience many adverse consequences personally for their decision. What consequences occur will mostly hurt the ministries and mission of the Iowa Conference. Yet, you can be sure that these same leaders will ensure that any clergy or congregations in Iowa that engage in ecclesiastical disobedience will experience strict consequences.
An Unrepresentative and Unfair Action
This action was taken by the appointive cabinet (the bishop and district superintendents), not by vote of the annual conference. It reflects the view of a small group of leaders, not the view of grassroots Methodism in Iowa. This was done because the leaders became impatient to live out their particular vision of the church, in light of the continued postponement of General Conference. It was also done to “jump the gun” on implementing a post-separation UM Church on January 1, rather than waiting for the annual conference to make that decision next June. The leaders may also have wanted to hurry up and implement their vision before it could be challenged legally before the denomination’s Judicial Council. That challenge cannot happen until annual conference meets in June. The Judicial Council would undoubtedly nullify the decision to negate the Discipline, but could not do so before its November 2022 meetings. That gives the Iowa cabinet 11 months to live into their vision and establish “facts on the ground” to set the course they want Iowa Methodism to take.
“Leading Now” states, “This decision by the Appointive Cabinet grants contextual permissions not for the sake of taking a side, but as a way for us to move through the impasse and invite us all into a way forward together.” Except the statement does not give a way for all Methodists to move forward. It allows those wanting to perform same-sex weddings to move forward with their agenda. But it does not allow traditionalists to move forward with establishing a new expression of Methodism. That can only happen when General Conference meets and passes the Protocol.
“Leading Now” goes on, “This vision provides a home for everyone – whether they consider themselves liberal, evangelical, progressive, traditionalist, middle of the road, conservative, centrist or something else – who wants a home in the remaining Iowa Annual conference of The United Methodist Church.” But there is no “remaining Iowa Annual Conference.” There is only the Iowa Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church, to be governed by the Book of Discipline of the UM Church. The statement betrays their haste to move into a new reality before being given official sanction from the denomination to do so.
If the Iowa Appointive Cabinet truly wanted to move all Methodists into a new future in Iowa, they could have found a way under the Discipline to implement the terms of the Protocol, allowing churches to leave with their property and without payment of apportionments or pension liability. Such a way is available under ¶ 2548.2. Instead, the cabinet felt perfectly fine setting aside explicit provisions of the Discipline to allow same-sex weddings, but is holding churches that want to withdraw and align with a new traditionalist denomination strictly to the provisions of ¶ 2553. That provision requires payment of two years’ apportionments and pension liabilities up front in order for a church to withdraw, a fiscal impossibility for many congregations.
The rejoinder statement linked above declares, “While it was, and continues to be, our desire to facilitate the grace-filled exit of any congregation that is uncomfortable with this vision, matters of property move into the sphere of state laws. While we remain willing to violate this single matter in the Book of Discipline to lead our church, violation of state law regarding property would jeopardize the local congregation and the Iowa Annual Conference.”
With all due respect, this is a bogus claim. State law does not regulate how churches and non-profits can dispose of their property (other than prohibiting conflicts of interest or self-dealing). For many years, annual conferences have negotiated an exit for congregations even before ¶ 2553 was enacted in 2019. There are at least three ways under the Book of Discipline that an annual conference can release a congregation with its property (closure and resale, deeding to another evangelical denomination, and disaffiliation). Only one of those requires the payment of a fixed amount of money to the conference. If the conference wanted to let churches go under the terms of the Protocol, it could do so.
Troubling Theology
Theologically troubling is the premise that the statement is based on. Bishop Laurie Haller’s earlier “Vision 2032” statement about the future declares as one of its founding principles that “relationships are more important than theological convictions.” In other words, traditionalists are expected to renounce or hold in abeyance the theological convictions of 2,000 years of church teaching for the sake of staying “in relationship” with progressives who want to move in a different direction.
That approach certainly does not fit with the apostle Paul’s condemnation of any who would preach “a gospel other than the one we preached to you” (Galatians 1:8). Paul valued the approval of God more than the approval of human beings (vs. 10). Jesus said, “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me” (Matthew 10:37). If even these most intimate family relationships are not as important as maintaining a relationship of love and obedience to Jesus Christ, how can we say that relationships are more important than theological convictions?
Beware Unintended Consequences
This precedent-setting move by the Iowa cabinet creates a general disregard for the church’s teachings, policies, and procedures established by General Conference. If an annual conference is allowed to disregard some disciplinary provisions, why should churches and pastors be held to account for disregarding other provisions? This devolves to a question of power: who has the power to enforce its decisions and who does not? Obviously, the bishop and cabinet hold the power in an annual conference to enforce their decisions through the power of appointment of pastors and of setting the conference’s agenda. The power differential with clergy and congregations means that, in this instance, “might makes right.”
However, the cabinet needs to be careful about opening this can of worms. There are other forms of power, and other ways of exercising power. Unleashing a game of power only leads to conflict, strife, and harm inflicted on all sides.
The Iowa WCA Regional Chapter has issued an excellent response to their cabinet’s action. The Iowa WCA statement declares, “We respectfully call on Bishop Haller and the Cabinet to rescind ‘Leading Now.’ We also urge episcopal colleagues in the North Central Jurisdiction and among the Council of Bishops to strongly encourage Bishop Haller and the Cabinet to withdraw ‘Leading Now.’
“If the document is not rescinded, we are confident faithful local UM churches (traditionalist, centrist, and progressive) in the Iowa Annual Conference will decide they can no longer submit to the authority of leaders who legitimize acts in defiance of our church’s teachings and its time-honored way of discerning God’s will for the whole.”
Local churches and laity have power, too. They have the power of purse strings. They can refuse to fund a bishop and cabinet that has gone off the rails and repudiated United Methodist connectionalism by their unilateral renunciation of the Discipline. And secular courts might be inclined to say that, by this action, the Iowa conference has repudiated its status as a United Methodist conference, breaking the trust clause that holds churches hostage to the whims of a wayward church leadership. Who knows where this road of rule by power could lead?
Peace-loving United Methodists of all stripes should hope that the Iowa Appointive Cabinet rethinks its position. We need to draw back from the brink of confrontation and outright warfare for the sake of the body of Christ. Conflict serves no one and destroys the church.
In the words of the Iowa WCA statement, “We are all disappointed the UM Church has not been able to convene a General Conference and so adopt the Protocol of Reconciliation and Grace through Separation, an amicable and orderly plan of separation widely endorsed by leading Bishops, theologically diverse advocacy groups, and annual conferences. However, disappointment does not entitle Bishop Haller and the Cabinet to make up their own rules in the interim. Again, we call on the Bishop and the Cabinet to rescind ‘Leading Now.’”
by Steve | Dec 3, 2021 | In the News
Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.
By Thomas Lambrecht –
In the church calendar, the Advent season – the four weeks leading up to Christmas – are set aside as a time of preparation for the celebration of Christ’s birth. The idea is taken from Isaiah 40:3, “A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’” This verse is quoted in Mark 1:3 as applying to John the Baptist, who came, “preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (Mark 1:4). Just as John came to prepare the people of Israel to receive Jesus in the first century, we take time during Advent to prepare to receive Christ anew in the celebration of Christmas.
The late statesman and political figure James Baker III is quoted as saying, “Proper preparation prevents poor performance.” Preparation is a necessary part of any major project and the key to its success.
What is true of our spiritual preparation for celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ is also true of the needed preparation for the separation of The United Methodist Church and the founding of the Global Methodist Church. Acting without proper preparation would ensure poor performance!
The Timing of Preparation
What is disturbing many United Methodists today is the length of time needed for preparation. What was originally projected to be a nine-month period of preparation in 2020 has now stretched into at least 32 months. And even that length of time is uncertain, depending upon decisions made around holding General Conference and when to launch the new Global Methodist Church.
A cursory look at the Bible, though, helps put the preparation timeline in perspective.
Noah and his family spent over a year floating around in the ark before the floodwaters had sufficiently receded. However, that amount of time is dwarfed by the decades he spent building the ark in the first place, uncertain when the floods would come.
The people of Israel spent 40 years wandering in the wilderness, waiting for the disobedient generation to die off so they could enter the Promised Land. All the while, they were learning to live according to God’s instruction through Moses.
The nation of Judah spent 70 years in exile in Babylon, waiting for the opportunity to return to their homeland, uncertain when or how such a miraculous return could ever take place.
The fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy with the coming of John the Baptist took place over 700 years after it was first written down. There was a lapse of over 400 years from the last prophetic word of the Old Testament (Malachi 3:1) until its fulfillment by John, as quoted in Mark 1:2. The people had no idea when the Messiah would come, but the belief in his coming persisted through hundreds of years of war, turmoil, exile, hardship, and even just the mundane realities of everyday life. They “kept the faith” in the face of uncertainty.
In a completely different context, as we prepare for the coming Global Methodist Church, we too can “keep the faith,” believing that God will open the door to a new reality in his time and in his way. We can become discouraged at times with the waiting and the uncertainty. But we know we can trust God to lead us and to accomplish his purpose at the right time.
The Tasks of Preparation
The key to the preparations for Christmas is not just getting all the decorations put up, all the presents wrapped, and all the baking done. Advent is a time of spiritual preparation, to make certain our hearts are open and ready to receive the gift of God’s Son as we celebrate his coming into the world. As the carol puts it, “in this world of sin, where meek souls will receive him, still the dear Christ enters in.” We are encouraged to take the season of Advent to examine our hearts, confess our sins, and allow the Lord to make us “meek souls,” so that we are prepared for what he wants to do in our lives.
In the same way, preparation for the new Global Methodist Church begins with prayerful self-examination and humbling ourselves before God. We want to start a new reality with a clean slate, with our sins identified and washed away by the blood of the Lamb. We do not want to carry old bad habits or unloving patterns of thinking or behaving into the new church.
In addition to the necessary spiritual preparation, there are other, more concrete, ways to prepare. One way is to disseminate information about the Protocol, the options available under it, and the Global Methodist Church. There are many local churches who are unaware of the decisions that are coming in the not-so-distant future. Helping pastors and congregations get clear and truthful information will help all make informed decisions that lead to no regrets later.
Information on the Protocol is available on the Protocol website, including details of the proposed legislation, a summary, and frequently asked questions. These materials have also been translated into the church’s official languages available on the website.
Information on the Global Methodist Church is available on the GM Church’s website, including summary information about the proposed new denomination, the transitional Book of Doctrines and Discipline, frequently asked questions, and ways to connect to and financially support the project of building the new church. All that information can similarly be accessed in all the church’s official languages.
Literally hundreds of people have been involved in various task forces and councils, beginning even now to shape the ministry of the new denomination. Ministry plans have been formulated for various population groups and types of ministry. Some clergy are already in training programs for church revitalization and church planting. The process for clergy and congregations to transition into the new church is being finalized. Pension and other insurance programs are being fleshed out.
Contacts are taking place with United Methodists in various parts of the world to ensure they have the information they need to make informed decisions about their future. Other Methodists who are not part of the UM Church are also exploring options to cooperate with or join the new GM Church. Passing the Protocol is essential for many United Methodists to be totally free to join the new church, so regardless of any other interim contingency plans, the goal will always be to pass the Protocol, no matter when General Conference takes place.
Preparation is hard work and it is often less than satisfying. During preparation, we do not see the results of our labors. In fact, sometimes the situation looks worse during preparation than before! (Visualize a wall that has been scraped and sanded before it is primed and painted.)
But the quality of our preparation will determine how well the project goes. Proper preparation can turn Christmas into a deeply meaningful spiritual time, rather than a chaotic material-focused bedlam. Proper spiritual and logistical preparation can make us ready to experience a new kind of church in the Global Methodist Church, and it can make the GM Church the kind of church we are eager to join and support.
“Let us not become weary in [preparing], for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9).
by Steve | Nov 19, 2021 | In the News
Good News file photo.
By Thomas Lambrecht —
I recently read a diagnosis that said many of the ills in today’s society can be traced to the blurring or ignoring of boundaries. That same diagnosis can serve to describe much of what ails The United Methodist Church.
Boundaries in Doctrine
John Wesley was clear from the beginning that clear boundaries were needed in order to sustain the movement of the Spirit that became Methodism. Those boundaries begin with a clear understanding of what we believe and proclaim. The purpose of our doctrinal standards (Articles of Religion, Confession of Faith, Wesley’s Sermons and Notes) is to define the boundaries of our doctrine.
A primary shortcoming of The United Methodist Church is that our doctrinal standards have functioned mostly as “guidelines” that can be reinterpreted or ignored at will. During United Methodism’s recent history, we have had clergy — and a couple of outspoken bishops — teach such beliefs as: Jesus is not the unique Son of God, that he did not rise bodily from the dead, or that he was imperfect in knowledge and teaching. In instances like these, the boundaries of our faith are not functioning properly. When the clear teachings of Scripture can be ignored or interpreted away, the boundaries of our faith are not functioning properly.
The proposed Global Methodist Church (in formation) sets out clear doctrinal boundaries that are not different from what we currently have in the UM Church. What is different is a commitment to hold one another accountable to maintain and teach the doctrines we say we believe. That commitment makes those boundaries meaningful and clear.
Boundaries in Behavior
It is often overlooked that the General Rules (do no harm, do good, and attend upon the ordinances of God) are also part of our doctrinal standards. It was expected that Methodists would not only believe and teach certain things, but that they would behave in certain ways. The General Rules are very specific in giving pertinent examples of the general admonitions – forbidding things like cussing, working on the Sabbath, drunkenness, slave-holding, fighting, cheating others, etc. They also promote specific goods we are to do, such as giving food to the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting or helping those who are sick or in prison, instructing others in the faith, patronizing Christian businesses, and being diligent and frugal.
Christians in general, and United Methodist in particular, have fallen away from living up to the standards of Christian conduct set forth in our General Rules. It does not help when the church has established specific rules that are then ignored or disobeyed, whether it be the injunctions against rebaptism or same-sex marriage.
Our society today has a problem with boundaries around the truth – lying, disinformation, and slander are rampant. We also have a problem with sexual boundaries. Many consider the very idea that sex is to be reserved for marriage between one man and one woman to be quaint and outmoded. Yet, our society has reaped the consequences of sexual libertinism in broken homes, damaged children, sky-high abortion numbers, a flourishing pornography industry leading to sex trafficking, the fact that a high percentage of children are born to parents who are not married, and the list goes on.
The proposed Global Methodist Church believes we should have clear boundaries for what constitutes Christian behavior. More importantly, the GM Church will seek to foster an atmosphere of personal accountability and growth in holiness. Living like Jesus is not an instant transformation at the time of salvation, but a process of growing in grace and obedience throughout a lifetime. Participation in discipleship groups will be highly encouraged. Such groups form the foundation of personal growth by giving support to believers on the journey, taking personal sin seriously, offering grace and forgiveness where needed, and lifting up the goal of Christlikeness toward which we all strive. As Wesley said, there is no such thing as “solitary believers.” We need each other for support, encouragement, and accountability to become all that God wants us to be.
Boundaries of Polity
The primary reason for separation in the UM Church is because the way the church is organized is no longer working. Actions of General Conference and Judicial Council rulings are widely ignored. The provisions of the Book of Discipline have been relegated to “guidelines” to be followed when convenient or in a person’s interest in doing so, but otherwise ignored. The same bishops can ignore clergy accountability when they disagree with it, while at the same time punitively holding some local churches to follow the smallest detail of the Discipline.
The crossing of some boundaries in church polity has diminished all such boundaries. Why should I obey this provision of the Discipline that I disagree with or is inconvenient for me, when the bishop lets other provisions go unenforced? The church is devolving into a chaotic mess of individualism, undermining the “rule of law” and elevating the rule of individuals in positions of authority. This situation saps the strength of the church in being unable to muster collective effort toward the common goal of evangelizing the world. The strength of Methodist connectionalism is being steadily eroded by the acid of disregarding the boundaries of our polity.
The proposed GM Church is committed to a healthy, functional way of organizing itself. Rather than creating various general agency fiefdoms, each going in its own direction, there will be greater centralization and directional unity in how it functions. The GM Church pairs lower connectional giving based on a fair and equal percentage of church income with the expectation that those percentages will be paid. Local churches will be expected to abide by the Doctrines and Discipline and maintain and teach GM doctrine, behavior, and polity.
Boundaries and Centered Sets
Popular today is the idea that one can replace boundaries with the idea of a “centered set.” Boundaries set the outer perimeter of an organization’s identity. A centered set focuses on a central attraction that keeps people together without the need for boundaries. For Christians, this might mean that holding up Jesus as our central attraction and our goal to be like him could mean that we do not need boundaries to determine who is a Christian or how we are progressing on the journey of holiness.
There are elements of wisdom in this idea. But without a sufficient definition of the center, the whole idea falls apart. What does it mean to hold up Jesus as the center? Who is Jesus: miracle worker, wise teacher, or the Son of the living God? Was Jesus’ purpose primarily to show us a better way to live or to provide atonement for our sins on the cross and bring us eternal salvation? How does Jesus expect us to live?
Unless these questions and many more are answered with enough definition, the central attraction is so amorphous that it can mean anything to anyone. Some could be attracted to Jesus the wise teacher, while others to the Son of God. When those looking for the Son of God find out that the church they are in looks at him only as a wise teacher, they become frustrated at the bait and switch and become disillusioned with the church.
Defining the center to which we are to be attracted looks a lot like another set of boundaries. We are to be attracted to this, but not that. Jesus expects this, but not that. The notion of centered sets seems attractive, but it does not rescue us from doing the hard work of defining the faith we hold in common. The less defined the center, the less attractive it will be. (Could that be one reason why many middle-of-the-road United Methodist congregations are not attracting new members? There is little clear definition of what the church stands for and what it wants its members to believe and do.)
A Narrative for the Continuing United Methodist Church
One of my disappointments with the document recently produced by the Council of Bishops describing their hopes for The United Methodist Church after separation is its lack of clarity. Amid lots of good and wholesome language, there is no clear idea of what the UM Church stands for and believes. (Perhaps that is not the intention of the document and there will be other clarifying statements in the future.)
The primary message of the Narrative is that the UM Church is for everybody, all are welcome, and there is no clear description of what it means to be United Methodist. One could be “liberal, evangelical, progressive, traditionalist, middle of the road, conservative, centrist, or something else.” The document speaks of being “united in the essentials,” but begs the question of what those essentials are. Does whoever is in power at a given time define what the essentials are? Will it change from time to time and place to place? Is the priority of Scripture an essential? Is same-sex marriage an essential?
The document speaks of being “deeply rooted in the Doctrinal Standards of the UMC.” How will this be different from the current situation described above, where the standards are able to be redefined in almost infinite ways?
Regionalization
The Christmas Covenant and other proposals that would regionalize UM structure would only further confuse and exacerbate the lack of clear definition or boundaries. Under these proposals, there would be one set of practices in one region, with different practices in another region. What it means to be United Methodist in Germany may well be very different from what it means in Kenya or in Ohio or in California. What happens when people who are attracted to one understanding of Methodism in Germany have to work together with people who have a much different understanding of Methodism from Kenya or the U.S.? They may have fundamental disagreements about what it means to be United Methodist, apart from the idea that anyone and everyone can be United Methodist.
There will be clear choices on the other side of General Conference, if the Protocol for Separation passes. Post-separation, continuing United Methodism may well aspire to be a “big-tent” church with room for all and little clear definition of identity – more of what we have today. At the same time, the Global Methodist Church will be clear in its definition of its identity, beliefs, and practices, maintaining accountability to that definition.
The GM Church will define what its essentials are. It will also allow for flexibility where needed in different contexts to allow for the greatest effectiveness and fruitfulness. But again, there will be clarity about what is needful for all to follow and what matters are able to be flexible (contrary to the current situation in the UM Church).
We have all seen during the pandemic how important clear and consistent communication is and a clear understanding of what the boundaries are. Over the past, that clarity has been missing from the UM Church and, based on what has been publicly shared so far, there is little prospect of clarity down the road. Those looking for clarity and consistency will find it in the Global Methodist Church (in formation). While it will not be perfect in this regard, the GM Church aims to provide a clear and consistent witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior of the world, and Lord of all and a clear and consistent pathway of transformation by the Holy Spirit for all who would be Christ’s disciples.
Thomas Lambrecht is a United Methodist clergyman and the vice president of Good News.
by Steve | Nov 12, 2021 | In the News, Perspective E-Newsletter
A postage stamp was issued on May 28, 1948, to honor four chaplains who sacrificed their lives in the sinking of the U.S.A.T. Dorchester. The chaplains —George L. Fox, Clark V. Poling, John P. Washington, and Alexander D. Goode — are pictured above the sinking ship.
By Steve Beard –
Some of the most emotional moments broadcast on television are when deployed military parents return unexpectedly to surprise their kids coming home from school, during a musical recital, or at a graduation. Sheer joy boils over and you can almost feel the tight squeeze of the bear hugs. Tears of happiness cascade down the faces of the unexpected with unreserved elation. In a perfect world, those moments would last forever.
A few years ago, I joined my family at the Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial in San Diego to honor my grandfather, Harold L. DuVal, a veteran of World War II. For the families gathered at the site near the Pacific Ocean, it is a breathtaking experience. Those leaving flowers or touching plaques want to make sure that their loved ones are not forgotten. Walking the grounds gives a good opportunity to reflect on the service and sacrifice of men and women in uniform.
While Memorial Day in May is specially designated to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice during military service, Veterans Day in November is an opportunity to show gratitude for all current and former members of the Armed Forces.
February 3 is designated as a special day to honor four specific heroes from World War II (1939-1945) and recognize their acts of self-sacrifice during a fateful night off the coast of Greenland in an area the Navy dubbed as Torpedo Alley – a treacherous stretch of the North Atlantic filled with Nazi submarines. The U.S. Army transport ship U.S.A.T. Dorchester was a cruise ship that had been repurposed to serve during wartime. It carried more than 900 military personnel, merchant marines, and civilians.
At one o’clock in the morning on February 3, 1943, a German torpedo tore a massive hole in the ship. The ship went completely dark. Sleeping soldiers woke up in a whirl of disorientation. Survivor Michael Warish described the scene in No Greater Glory: “The lights went out, and steam pipes broke, and there was screaming. Then the bunks, three to five decks high, went down like a deck of cards. Shortly after, there was a very strong odor of gunpowder and of ammonia from the refrigeration system.”
Those who were awake scrambled to upper levels to reach a lifeboat. In Bloodstained Sea, survivor Walter A. Boeckholt remembered, “I was thrown against the ceiling and then landed on the floor. By the time I was recovering my senses, the ship was already tilting. I grabbed for the door, which hadn’t jammed as of yet, and walked out on deck, realizing I didn’t have my life preserver, I went back into the room to get it. As I returned to the deck, they all seemed to be yelling, crying, and trying to get to their lifeboats. Most of the lifeboats were frozen solid or broken in the process of trying to get them loose.”
On board were four chaplains, all lieutenants. Only a few months previous, the Rev. George L. Fox (Methodist), Rabbi Alexander D. Goode (Jewish), Father John P. Washington (Roman Catholic), and the Rev. Clark V. Poling (Reformed Church in America) had become friends and ministerial colleagues during military chaplaincy training.
In the whirlwind of panic on the ship, the four chaplains from divergent faith traditions handed out life vests to the terrified young men. Refusing to take places on the lifeboats, they helped as many soldiers as they could to escape the sinking ship. As the supply of life vests ran out, each of the chaplains gave their own to four soldiers who were without.
Tragically, only two of the fourteen lifeboats were successfully deployed. The Dorchester sank in less than 20 minutes.
Witnesses report that the chaplains said prayers and sang hymns as they linked arms as the ship was sinking. “When she rolled, all I could see was the keel up there,” recalled Dorchester survivor James Eardley. “We saw the four chaplains standing arm-in-arm … like they were looking up to heaven, you might say. Then the boat took a nosedive. It went right down, and they went with it.”
Another survivor had a similar recollection. “As I swam away from the ship, I looked back. The flares had lighted everything,” engineer Grady Clark testified. “The bow came up high and she slid under. The last thing I saw, the four chaplains were up there praying for the safety of the men. They had done everything they could. I did not see them again. They themselves did not have a chance without their life jackets.”
Of the 902 passengers, only 230 survived.
There is no way to adequately measure what the efforts and sacrifices of the four chaplains meant on that night. Pfc. John Ladd, a survivor, said that seeing their selfless actions was “the finest thing I have seen or hope to see this side of heaven.” For nearly eight decades, the story has been a symbol of counterintuitive sacrifice, faith-based cooperation, and remarkable love.
In 1944, the U.S. government posthumously awarded each chaplain the Distinguished Service Cross and a Purple Heart. In 1948, a postage stamp was released in their honor. In 1960, the U.S. Congress authorized the unique creation of the Four Chaplains’ Medal and posthumously awarded it to the four men.
In 1988, a unanimous Act of Congress established February 3 as an annual “Four Chaplains Day.” There are numerous stained glass memorials, plaques, paintings, and sculptures to their courageous act found around the nation and at places such as the Pentagon and West Point.
One of the deceased clergymen was the Rev. George L. Fox – the Methodist chaplain. Prior to the fateful night, he had valiantly served in World War I. As an Army ambulance driver, he gave his gas mask to a wounded French soldier. In addition to other commendations, Fox was honored with the French Croix de Guerre, or Cross of War. After the war, Fox became a Methodist minister. Despite having lung damage from World War I, Fox volunteered for service again after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. “I have to go,” he told his wife. “I know what those boys are up against.” For Fox and his fellow chaplains, devotion to God manifested itself as selfless service to those in need.
Floating in the freezing Arctic water after the explosion on the Dorchester, Pvt. William B. Bednar heard “men crying, pleading, praying. I could also hear the chaplains preaching courage. Their voices were the only thing that kept me going.”
“To take off your life preserver, it meant you gave up your life,” said survivor Benjamin Epstein in the Pioneer Press. “You would have no chance of surviving. They knew they were finished. But they gave it away. Consider that. Over the years I’ve asked myself this question a thousand times. Could I do it? No, I don’t think I could do it. Just consider what an act of heroism they performed.”
Amazing grace for survivors. Through the efforts of David Fox, the nephew of the Methodist chaplain on the Dorchester, the memory of the story of the Four Chaplains has been preserved. In 1996, Fox rented a video camera and attempted to interview as many Dorchester survivors as possible. He ended up meeting 20 of the 28 known survivors. According to Fox, the first sergeant of the ship, Michael Warish, reported that the four chaplains had a remarkable comradery: “These men were always together.”
“Remember, this was 1943. Protestants didn’t talk to Catholics back then, let alone either of them talk to a Jew,” Fox told America in WWII. “And yet here they were, always together, and they loved each other. The men said it didn’t matter which service they went to, that the chaplains always made them feel welcome and cared for. They were remarkable for 1943, way ahead of their time.”
Through contacts in Germany, Fox also reached out to the three remaining survivors of the German submarine U-223 that had fired the torpedo. “When I was interviewing the U-boat crew, they just would cry,” Fox recalled. “The men had never told their families this story. They realized that when they hit that ship, there were men dying. They cheered the first moment, and then it just got very silent, and they felt terrible after that. These were Germans – they were not Nazis – young boys, 17, 18, 19 years old, forced to do it or they would have been shot, pretty much like in the movie Das Boot. The U-boat crews did what they had to do, but they didn’t like it very much.”
Through a notable reconciliation effort by Fox and the Immortal Chaplains Foundation in 2000, survivors of the Dorchester met with the surviving crew of the German submarine. The men from U-223 had also known loss. The submarine was sunk a year after the Dorchester attack.
Remarkably, two surviving German veterans arrived in Washington D.C. for a 2000 memorial ceremony and they wept openly after visiting the Holocaust Memorial Museum. The small group of both the American and German survivors were invited to the nearby home of Theresa Goode Kaplan, the then 88-year-old widow of Rabbi Alexander D. Goode who had died on the Dorchester.
“She shook the Germans’ hands, and accepted their expressions of regret for her husband and for her suffering,” reported The New Yorker. “When the room was silent, Gerhard Buske (U-223’s executive officer), produced a harmonica, raised his hands to his mouth, and blew out a slow, warbling rendition of ‘Amazing Grace.’ Everyone clapped. Then the room lapsed back into silence.”
Buske returned to the United States in 2003 to speak at a ceremony on the sixtieth anniversary of the Dorchester’s sinking. “We the sailors of U-223 regret the deep sorrows and pains caused by the torpedo,” he said. “Wives lost their husbands, parents their sons, and children waited for their fathers in vain. I once more ask forgiveness, as we had to fight for our country, as your soldiers had to do for theirs.”
Buske concluded by imploring the gathering to follow the example of the four valiant chaplains. “We ought to love when others hate; we ought to forgive when others are violent,” he said. “I wish that we can say the truth to correct errors; we can bring faith where doubt threatens; we can awaken hope where despair exists; we can light up a light where darkness reigns; that we can bring joy where sorrows dominate.”
