Water is Life

by Steve | Jan 11, 2021 | Jan-Feb 2021, Magazine, Magazine Articles

Joseph Ekow, then 5, catches the final trickle of water after filling his bucket at a well behind John Kofi Asmah United Methodist Church in the West Point neighborhood in Monrovia, Liberia, in 2017. Many families in this dense, urban area lack access to pipe water. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.

Photography by Mike DuBose, story by Kathy L. Gilbert –

“Water is life,” the women sing. At 4:30 a.m., it is pitch black in the village of Mzira in Malawi – a nation wedged between Zambia, Mozambique, and Tanzania. In the early morning sky, the Southern Cross and the Big Dipper look bright enough to walk on. Dogs howl and scurrying animals rustle through the maize fields. Women gather under the shadows of trees, buckets swinging, ready to embark on the first of many journeys they will make during the day to fetch water for their families.

As they gather, they chat, laugh, and count heads. Making their way through maize fields, creek and riverbeds, over slick rocks, and through other rough terrain, the women sing to encourage each other and to scare away anything or anyone that might be lurking in the dark – including “bad men who may be rapists.”

“Water is life, let us go and draw water, water is life, our children should go to school,” the women sing. The colorful plastic buckets most of them carry hold 5 gallons of water. The weight of water is 8.3 pounds per gallon. Light as air at the beginning of the journey, the filled buckets become heavy burdens balanced on their heads for the trip home. The singing and dancing never stops.

The precious water will be used to make porridge, wash dishes and clothes, and bathe children before they go off to school. Not a single drop is wasted. The used dishwater and bathwater is collected; some goes to the chickens and other animals. Some goes to the small kitchen garden. The water they scoop up comes from an “unprotected” well, explains Mercy Chikhosi. It looks like a big muddy hole. The women let the water settle in their containers so it looks clear when they dip a cup into it, but it is still dirty, unsafe water.

Chikhosi, a graduate of United Methodist Africa University in Zimbabwe with a degree in nursing, first came to this district in 2011 as a community health coordinator with Malawi United Methodist Church. She now works full time with Wandikweza, an organization she founded to support best practices in health care, developing sustainable communities, and empowering girls and women.

Search for water. Millions of people spend almost every moment of their lives seeking water. Millions more do not give it a second thought. Which category you are in depends a great deal on where you were born. According to the World Health Organization, people need 50 liters of water a day to keep health risks low. More than 800 children under 5 die every day from diarrhea diseases due to poor sanitation, poor hygiene, or unsafe drinking water.

The United Methodist Committee on Relief and its parent agency, the Board of Global Ministries, support water and sanitation projects worldwide. Projects include piping water into homes, providing tube wells, boreholes or rainwater storage systems, digging wells, installing flush toilets and septic tanks, and improving pit latrines and sanitary facilities.

Global Ministries reports that more than 750 million people around the world do not have reliable water access and even fewer have access to water for agriculture and household tasks. More than 2.4 billion people lack sanitation facilities. Every dollar spent on water, sanitation, and hygiene generates U.S. $4.30 in increased productivity and decreased health care costs. The United Nations reports a quarter of the major cities in the world face a water crisis.

Pastor Manuel Machavele leads a procession of church and community members following the dedication of a new water well in Lameque Mbulo village near Homoine, Mozambique. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.

Missouri, Mozambique connection. Many United Methodist conferences, such as the Missouri Conference through the Mozambique Initiative, established in 1988, contribute funds and volunteers to drill water wells. 

In 2019, 41 wells were completed through the initiative. The average per-person cost for a well in 2019 was $2.04. According to the local communities, these wells brought safe, clean water to 124,140 people.

The Missouri Conference reported that in 2019, a teenager set aside spare money throughout the year and donated $245 in December. Her individual effort provided clean water for 120 people.

Good drillers. Isidro Cumaio starts his story by saying, “It is difficult to find a good driller.” Cumaio, who founded his drilling company in 2014 with the support of his sons, has three good drillers in Adelino Cumbane, José Chambe, and José Conjo. Cumaio is a United Methodist and his faith is at the core of his inspiration and work.

“There are places where women spend the entire day walking to a water source,” he said. Sometimes the women construct a small shelter by the water source and spend the night there after walking all day, he explains. “They get up the next day and walk home to prepare meals and then go to fetch water again,” he said. “Women go fetch water with 20-liter containers. They won’t get home with a full container because they get thirsty, or they spill some of the water on the way back.”

Children and pregnant women have to help retrieve water and do household chores or work in the fields. If children can go to school, they have to bring water to their teachers. “Do you understand how their lives will change if they get clean, safe water in their villages? They see the drillers coming and they follow, running and celebrating. There is hope.”

Cumaio knows from personal experience how hard it is to have to fetch water and carry the heavy containers back home: He was 9 years old when he started having to walk 10 kilometers round trip to get water. “I had to fetch water before I went to school. I had to get up at 5 a.m.; school started at 6:30. It was a dream of mine to someday find a solution.” Cumaio started working for an Italian drilling company when he was 18. He worked hard and earned a scholarship to go to Italy to learn to become a driller. He has 27 people on his staff and three drilling rigs.

Felizarda Alexandre draws water from a shallow, open well in the bush outside Homoine, Mozambique. She is a member of Pembe United Methodist Church. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.

Every drop is precious. Driving from the nearest town of Homoine, it takes about two hours to get to Mudembelane once the vehicle turns off the paved road and plunges into the deep, sandy path. Huge cashew trees, monkey fruit trees, scraggly thorny bushes, and cacti line the curving drive. Driving back at night, the landscape looks like a sandy beach in the moonlight. Along the way is the Domo River, the only natural water source in this area.

Phembe United Methodist Church sits back from a freshly cleared lot where the new well will be drilled. The church is a small structure, half-covered by zinc sheets. The congregation raised the money to buy the few sheets by making and selling charcoal. The few rows of pews are tree limbs supported by hand-cut, large V’s pounded into the ground. Three walls made from branches are woven together with strips of bark. The back opens up to a space where villagers bring in plastic chairs for Sunday service.

The branches of a large cashew tree form the ceiling for an open kitchen. Chickens run around pecking for food just minutes before they become the food themselves. Women are mashing large pots of coconuts into pulp, stirring pots, washing dishes. Elder men sit in a circle in the shade.

Not far from the kitchen is an open well. The women go back and forth fetching water for cooking. This well is not stable and the water is unsafe. Men have died when the walls collapse while they dig these types of wells.

The Isidro Drilling Company is drilling a new well, financed by the Mozambique Initiative. It is the answer to many nights and days of praying and suffering. The mood is festive as the drillers arrive and pitch their tents. The drillers will live in the village until they strike water.

“It is a good morning for work to begin,” said the Rev. Pedro Marime. He spoke of John 4:5 and the Samaritan woman at the well. “We know the water we are drinking now is not safe. Jesus has presented us with this gift: water that will feed all of this community. God loves us so much to come to this place,” he said. Once work begins, the elders move their chairs to shady spots near the drilling area to watch and wait.

Hercilio Cumaio, 31, the eldest son of Isidro, who owns the drilling company, is here to supervise. Inside the church after the midday meal is served, he talks about his job. “A well is an overwhelming transformation. There is a lot of need out there,” he said, pointing beyond the door of the church. Surveys are done before the well site is chosen, but not every site produces water, he said. It takes days of drilling and there are many stumbling blocks to overcome.

“They see us as saviors and it is heavy to tell them we have failed,” Cumaio said. “We try at least three sites, then we have to ask the Mozambique Initiative for another location.” On the third day, this site is successful. The drill reached water at about 40 meters.

Water came to Mudembelane in the dark, cold night of October 1. Small fires were burning all around the drilling site in an effort to keep people warm and fight back the night. The drillers compress air into the pipes to force the water out. As the water started spraying, the women came singing. Rounding the corner, the firelight caught the joy on their faces. Their singing almost drowns out the shrill grinding of the compressor as the workers flushed the well to get the water clean and ready for use. 

The dedication of the well came a few days later and more than 300 people gathered to celebrate and thank God for the water. The Rev. Hortência Americo Langa Bacela, Mozambique South Conference director of connectional ministries, came to bring greetings from the bishop. Pastors, lay leaders, tribal leaders, and the grateful villagers made speeches. People danced and sang. The elders of the village and children were given sips of the fresh water. “We will live extra time because of this water,” said one elder. “We will live extra time to praise the Lord.”

Hortência Joaquim carries her empty bucket on the way to fetch water for her family from the Domo River outside Lameque Mbulo village near Homoine, Mozambique. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.

Driven by need. The weight of the water bucket cruelly constricts her neck, shoving her head down into her shoulders. The skin on her dark face shakes with the effort to stand up. Each step she takes pounds her bare feet into the earth, sending up puffs of ghostly dust. The bucket on her head holds 20 liters of water, about 44 pounds. The jug she also carries holds another 20 liters. Like the other women in her village, she is driven by the constant need for water.

Lameque Mbulo is a small village near Homoine, Mozambique. The walk to the Domo River takes about an hour. They dip their containers into the same water that cattle and other animals drink from, walk through, defecate in. Most children start to help fetch water around 9 years of age. The job usually goes to the girls. “You can’t get used to this, but we have no other way,” said Hortência Joaquim on the walk to the river.

“We go twice a day. It is tedious, but this is where we are, where we are living, and this need for water is why we have to walk,” agreed Maria Pedro Matsimbe. “I am very excited. I am missing words to express the joy and thanks to have water nearby,” Matsimbe said, watching the drillers prepare their work.

A school for first to seventh grades is on a dusty path beaten down between tall weeds by little feet. Sumburane Eugenio Mindo, a teacher at the school, talks about how much time the children miss because they are sick from drinking contaminated water. Each student is asked to bring 5 liters of water with them; 2 liters of water are kept in the administration building for teachers, he explains. There is a cistern on the school grounds, but it is cracked and hasn’t functioned for a long time. He imagines fresh, safe water in the village. Children will be able to stay in school. Women will not have to worry about so much sickness and death for their babies from drinking contaminated water.

The need for water has been a problem here for generations. Even though the villagers are grateful to have the well drilled here, they worry about all those who will still go without.

When the drill finds the deep vein of water, compressed air forces the water out of the pipes in a translucent burst. Excitement bubbles over for onlookers. Even though the drillers warn not to drink the water yet because it takes time to flush the chemicals out, it is too much for one young mother to resist. The water looks so perfect.

She fills her container and runs back into the huddle of women in the open-air kitchen. Her eyes sparkle as brightly as the water. She takes a cup and offers it to an older woman whose baby is strapped to her back. Before taking a sip herself, the older woman swings the baby around and pours water into her tiny mouth. The baby smiles, then the woman takes a sip and she smiles. Hope shines in their eyes – maybe this child will grow up with safe water. Maybe this child will be able to go to school instead of walking miles to carry water home.

This gift of life-giving water will change many lives.

Kathy Gilbert is a news writer and Mike DuBose a photographer for UM News. Joey Butler, a UM News multimedia editor, contributed to this story. Unless otherwise noted, the photography and reporting for this story were completed during trips to Malawi, Liberia and Zimbabwe in 2017, Côte d’Ivoire in 2018 and Mozambique in 2019. The entire photo essay can be found at https://spark.adobe.com/page/9JXwdq3ZKUekX/

Don’t Take My Word for It: Read Wesley Yourself

by Steve | Jan 11, 2021 | Jan-Feb 2021, Magazine, Magazine Articles

Don’t Take My Word for It: Read Wesley Yourself

By Jason Vickers

In his splendid introduction to St. Athanasius’ On the Incarnation, C. S. Lewis observed that people often think that older books or primary sources are more difficult to understand than secondary works written by reputable scholars. “This mistaken preference for the modern books,” he said, “is nowhere more rampant than in theology.” Against this preference, Lewis insisted that “firsthand knowledge is not only more worth acquiring than secondhand knowledge, but is usually much easier and delightful to acquire.” Consequently, if people could read “only the new or only the old,” Lewis urged them to “read the old.” In fact, he went so far as to say, “It is a good rule, after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between.”   

Over the last half century or so, scholars have written dozens of new books about John Wesley. There is now vast secondary literature on virtually every aspect of the founder of Methodism’s life and thought. And there is no shortage of disagreement over how to interpret Wesley. After all, that’s how we scholars make our living. We critique and challenge prevailing views in the name of complexity and nuance. Intentionally or not, this can give the impression that Wesley himself must be difficult to read. Some people might even be tempted to forego reading Wesley in favor of one of the new scholarly books about Wesley.  

An additional factor that can discourage people from reading Wesley for themselves is the simple fact that Wesley wrote a lot, including letters and diaries, occasional treatises, edited volumes, commentaries or “notes” on the Bible, and sermons. With so much material at hand, it can be hard to know where to begin. The good news is that Wesley intended the overwhelming majority of what he wrote for the theological and spiritual edification of the people called Methodists. To be sure, he occasionally had other motives for writing, but his main concern was to develop and publish materials that would help people come to know God more truly and to love God and neighbor more fully each day. He wrote to educate, challenge, encourage, and inspire his readers in their journey with God and with one another. With this in mind, one could almost start reading anywhere. 

For those who have never read Wesley for themselves, his sermons are the best place to begin. They are widely available on the internet and in numerous print collections. They contain Wesley’s views on every aspect of the Christian life. They have nurtured the minds and hearts of thousands of believers across the centuries. They can justifiably be described as a classic of Christian theology and spirituality.

In a class that I teach at Asbury Theological Seminary, I regularly assign Wesley’s sermons to students, many of whom are reading Wesley for the first time. Over the years, two reactions have been common. First, when people begin reading the sermons, they almost always comment on Wesley’s writing style. Wesley writes with the King’s English.

For many first timers, his sermons remind them of the King James Bible. Words like “thee” and “thou” and “speaketh” and “heareth” appear on every page. Suffice it to say, this takes a little getting used to. The key is to stick with it. After a few weeks or even a few days, most people get used to Wesley’s vocabulary. But be careful, the King’s English is contagious. You might even find yourself dropping a “thee” or “thou” at your next tea party.

The second reaction common among first time readers of Wesley is the more noteworthy of the two. In one sense, the King’s English notwithstanding, Wesley’s sermons are easy enough to read. There are technical theological terms like justification, regeneration, and sanctification, but Wesley is always careful to define his terms. If anything, reading Wesley’s sermons will help you build a good working theological vocabulary. In another sense, however, those who are new to Wesley often find him quite difficult to read. The difficulty or problem is not with his vocabulary, but with what he has to say to us.   

Without fail, first time readers of Wesley’s sermons often find themselves somewhere between perplexed and appalled. They frequently say things like, “He can’t be serious, can he?” Or, “Did he really believe that?” On more than one occasion, I have seen seminary students visibly shaking their heads in disbelief. The real problem isn’t the King’s English; it’s that he says things that strike many people today as outlandish or absurd. As one student candidly remarked, “It’s great to set the bar high and all, but this is ridiculous!”

Part of the challenge with reading Wesley’s sermons is that he isn’t writing to tell us all about his summer vacation or his new horse. In fact, Wesley rarely writes about anything trivial or funny. Rather, he is writing because he wants us to be sanctified. The single motivation behind all that he recommends and all that he opposes is the sanctification of his readers. But before we can make serious headway on the road to sanctification, Wesley believes that he must first clear away the obstacles in our thinking that prevent us from knowing God truly and loving God and neighbor as we ought.

I believe that it is this work of clearing away obstacles in our thinking, or what we might call bad theological habits, that leads Wesley to say things that sound outlandish in our ears. In other words, Wesley doesn’t assume that we are well-formed theologically. If anything, he assumes the opposite, namely, that we are theologically malformed, or at the very least, theologically malnourished. And because he believes this, he sometimes resorts to rhetorical strategies that leave us shaking our heads. So, when you find something in Wesley that sounds absurd, the question you should ask is, what is he trying to do here? And you could do worse when reading Wesley than to keep in mind novelist Flannery O’ Connor’s famous comment in Mystery and Manners: 

“When you can assume that your audience holds the same beliefs you do, you can relax a little and use more normal ways of talking to it; when you have to assume that it does not, then you have to make your vision apparent by shock – to the hard of hearing you shout, and for the almost blind you draw large and startling figures.”

In many ways, this really is the right way to read Wesley’s sermons. He writes to us as though we are theologically and spiritually blind and deaf. Or, to use one of his favorite metaphors, he writes to us as though we are theologically and spiritually asleep. And more than anything else, he wants us to wake up! For example, in the sermon, “The Image of God,” he wants to wake us up to the fact that, contrary to what many people think, all human beings are beautifully and wonderfully made in God’s own image. We are not inherently bad or evil by nature. We all reflect the glory of God in all sorts of ways, including our capacity to think, to act, and above all to love. But then, just when we are beginning to think more highly of ourselves, Wesley will pivot, going to the opposite end of the spectrum in order to correct our tendency to think that most people are basically good. For instance, in “Original Sin,” he says that, because of the devastating consequences of sin, we are no longer capable of apprehending the things of God. And that means we are no longer capable of loving God and neighbor.  

Elsewhere, Wesley confronts and challenges our tendency to believe that religion is a personal or private affair. In “Upon Our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount, Discourse IV,” he says, “Christianity is essentially a social religion … to turn it into a solitary one is to destroy it.” In other words, Wesley deeply opposes “me and Jesus” theology or “lone ranger” Christianity, insisting on the importance of active participation in the sacramental life of the church. For example, in “The Means of Grace” and “The Duty of Constant Communion,” he stresses that Christians who take their faith seriously will attend to all the means of grace and receive Holy Eucharist or Holy Communion as often as possible. At the same time, he is a stickler for private devotional practices, most notably prayer and fasting. In “The Wilderness State,” he goes so far as to list the neglect of private prayer among the sins of omission to be avoided at all costs.

Wesley also speaks to us rather sharply about things that we often consider very private matters, like money and health care. For instance, in “The Use of Money,” “The Danger of Riches,” and “The Good Steward,” he has very strong things to say to us about stewardship and caring for the poor. Our money and our resources are not our own. They belong to God. Similarly, in “On Visiting the Sick,” he insists that Christians have a duty to visit the sick and the infirmed. We should do so, he says, not merely for their benefit, but also for our own. Visiting the sick is good for us spiritually. But he doesn’t stop there. In sermons like “On Dress,” “On Friendship with the World,” “Self-denial,” and “The Reformation of Manners,” Wesley goes so far as to tell us who we should and shouldn’t be friends with, as well as what clothes and jewelry we should and shouldn’t wear. And on and on it goes.  

If all of that is beginning to sound too personal, then Wesley might not be for you. As far as he is concerned, if you are a member of the body of Christ, then you are accountable to your brothers and sisters who belong to that same body, including him. Your business is no longer your own. Suffice it to say, then, if you’re going to read Wesley, you need to be prepared for him to stick his nose where it doesn’t belong.

Wesley isn’t difficult to read because his language is outdated or full of technical theological terms. Wesley is hard to read because he is spiritually demanding. He takes the Christian life very seriously, and he wants us to take it seriously, too. To that end, he isn’t afraid to confront us with all sorts of tough questions. And yes, he sets the bar high. At times, almost ridiculously so. But always remember, in sermons like “Free Grace,” and “Awake, Thou that Sleepest,” Wesley is trying to get the spiritually deaf among us to hear the good news of the Gospel. And in sermons like “Salvation by Faith,” and “The New Birth,” he’s trying to get the spiritually blind among us to see Christ high and lifted up, his body broken and his blood shed for the forgiveness of our sins. 

Above all, Wesley’s trying to wake us up to the astonishing reality that, with the help of the Holy Spirit, we do not have to live spiritually defeated lives. Far from it! As he contends in “The Scripture Way of Salvation,” “The Circumcision of the Heart,” and “Christian Perfection,” with the Spirit’s help, we really can flourish as creatures made in the image of God. We really can have the mind that was in Christ Jesus. And we really can exhibit all the fruits of the Spirit. In short, we really can be entirely sanctified in this life. 

Entirely sanctified? In this lifetime? Did Wesley really believe that? Don’t take my word for it. Read Wesley for yourself.  

Jason Vickers is Professor of Theology at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky. Dr. Vickers is the author or editor of ten books, including A Wesleyan Theology of the Eucharist (2016) and Methodist Christology: From the Wesleys to the 21st Century (2020).   

For a discussion of the various major collections of John Wesley’s sermons, including the differences between the so-called “British Forty-four,” and the so-called “American Fifty-two,” see the Introduction in The Sermons of John Wesley: A Collection for the Christian Journey, edited by Kenneth J. Collins and Jason E. Vickers (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2013).

Photo: John Wesley Memorial – Gwennap Pit (Cornwall Guide)

Glide Leaves Methodism

by Steve | Jan 11, 2021 | Jan-Feb 2021, Magazine, Magazine Articles

Glide Memorial United Methodist Church in San Francisco. Photo by Chris Carlsson.

By Thomas Lambrecht –

Resolution is finally in sight after two contentious years of strife between Bishop Minerva Carcaño of the California-Nevada Annual Conference (CNAC) and the leadership of Glide Memorial United Methodist Church in San Francisco, a progressive church with a well-established reputation for being the largest United Methodist church in the Western Jurisdiction and among the largest in the United States. The conflict in this situation was theological, as well as financial and related to power and control.

In a joint November statement, the two parties announced they “reached an agreement that provides for each entity to pursue different aspects of Lizzie Glide’s Trust as wholly separate and autonomous organizations.”

Both parties agree that Lizzie Glide’s trust, established in 1929, was created to “advance Christian Protestant religion, education, and charity in San Francisco. To fulfill her wishes, she installed Glide as trustee of property located at 330 Ellis Street, which she wanted used to benefit all the people of San Francisco, and to support the creation of an evangelistic training center for preaching and teaching in conformity with the doctrines of the Methodist Church.” 

According to the statement, the physical property will be maintained by the Glide Foundation while the Glide Trust will be given to the California-Nevada Annual Conference to “carry out the mission of The United Methodist Church” and “advance Methodist teaching,” as well as leaving open the possibility that the annual conference will establish a new United Methodist congregation in San Francisco.

“Glide will transfer Trustee responsibility to CNAC for the Trust and will also transfer responsibility for a restricted fund that was established last century in large part to advance Methodist teachings. Combined, these accounts now contain $4.5 million in invested restricted funds that grew out of Lizzie Glide’s original contributions. The Trust will be renamed the ‘J.H. Glide United Methodist Trust’ and used to carry out the mission of The United Methodist Church – making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world, sending persons into the world to live lovingly and justly as servants of Christ healing the sick, feeding the hungry, caring for the stranger, and freeing the oppressed.” Glide will also provide $1.5 million to CNAC, drawing from a separate account for investment returns. 

Glide Memorial Church was launched into notoriety through the ministry of the Rev. Cecil Williams who served the church as lead pastor from 1964 until his “retirement” in 2000. In 1967 he removed the cross from the sanctuary in an attempt to make Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Wiccans, and atheists/agnostics feel comfortable. 

In a 2018 open letter to her annual conference, Carcaño stated, “Leaders from these [non-Christian] constituencies are quick to publicly state that they do not want the Celebrations, or the church, to be United Methodist or Christian in any form. Sunday Celebrations are uplifting concerts, but lack the fundamentals of Christian worship. Baptisms are conducted periodically but in the name of the people rather than from a Christian understanding of Baptism. Holy Communion was done away with some time ago and only introduced back into the life of the congregation this past Spring, but outside of the Celebration gatherings and with much resistance. We seek to be in good and loving relationship with persons of other faiths and beliefs, and those who claim no faith. However, this should never cause us to lose our own faith.”

According to Carcaño, “the great majority of the participants at Glide’s Sunday Celebrations claim other faiths.” Additionally, “there are also serious concerns about the governance and financial administration of the church,” Carcaño declared. “The church has no organizational structure to fulfill its responsibilities as per The Book of Discipline, and has not had a United Methodist organizational structure for decades. The only body that functions in any leadership capacity is a group of congregational leaders hand-picked by Cecil Williams who have never been elected or recognized by the congregation.”

The question became who was really running Glide? It became evident that the Glide Foundation was really the governing entity for the congregation. The Foundation receives millions of dollars a year for the social outreach ministry of the church, housing and feeding the homeless, providing ministry related to HIV/AIDS, and many other projects. In a 2018 guest editorial in the San Francisco Chronicle, Williams stated: “The Glide board of trustees controls the foundation’s resources, of which 95 percent support social programming, and 5 percent go toward church activities.”

Responding also in the Chronicle, Carcaño wrote, “In May, I attempted to appoint a senior pastor to Glide Memorial who was welcomed by the congregational leaders, but rejected by the Board of Trustees of the Glide Foundation.” 

Despite the fact that there have been four lead pastors appointed to the church since 2000, including now-Bishop Karen Oliveto, Williams has continued to maintain leadership of the church and the Foundation. Two years ago, Carcaño described it this way: “No pastor has been allowed to exercise their rightful authority or responsibilities while serving at Glide. To this day, Cecil Williams and his wife, Janice Mirikitani, make all decisions in the background at Glide.”

As the conflict deepened, the Foundation acted to strip any mention of The United Methodist Church from its articles of incorporation in 2018, according to the Chronicle. Glide also removed the resident bishop from the board and specified that only funds and assets related to church operations would be held in trust for the denomination. 

“As United Methodists, we respect all faiths, love all people, and are committed to working with persons of other faiths and goodwill to make the world a better place,” wrote Carcaño. “We also want to sustain our beliefs as Methodists.”

In their November joint statement, the parties appear to put the acrimonious past behind them. “Both CNAC and GLIDE are hopeful for a timely and successful approval by the Court followed by a new chapter in fulfilling Lizzie Glide’s wishes for future generations.”

Thomas Lambrecht is a United Methodist clergyperson and the vice president of Good News. 

Jack Hayford: Pastor to Pastors

by Steve | Jan 11, 2021 | Jan-Feb 2021, Magazine, Magazine Articles

Pastor Jack Hayford being honored and presented an award at Gateway Church by Pastor Robert Morris in 2017. Originally launched in Los Angeles, The King’s University, a school founded by Hayford, is now located in Southlake, Texas, at Gateway Church.

By Steve Beard

Over the last 40 years, one of the most popular modern day hymns is “Majesty, Worship His Majesty” written by Jack Hayford. Congregations from all denominations around the globe have sung it with reverence and gusto.  

Included in The United Methodist Hymnal, the song was written in 1977 while Hayford and his family were vacationing through England during the 25th anniversary of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth. As they roamed through historic Blenheim Palace, the birthplace and ancestral home of Winston Churchill, Hayford was inspired by the regal surroundings.    

Thinking from the heart, he became mindful “that the provisions of Christ for the believer not only included the forgiveness for sin, but provided a restoration to a royal relationship with God as sons and daughters born into the family through His Majesty, Our Savior Jesus Christ.”  

As he was driving around England, Jack asked his beloved wife Anna to write down the words and melody. “So exalt, lift up on high, the name of Jesus/ Magnify, come glorify Christ Jesus, the King.”  

Hayford was filled with a powerful “sense of Christ Jesus’ royalty, dignity, and majesty …. I seemed to feel something new of what it meant to be his! The accomplished triumph of his Cross has not only unlocked us from the chains of our own bondage and restored us to fellowship with the Father, but he has also unfolded to us a life of authority over sin and hell and raised us to partnership with him in his Throne – Now!”

This is one of the many insights in Pastor Jack, the exceptional new biography of Hayford and his remarkable and prolific ministry as pastor, Bible teacher, author of 50 books, writer of more than 600 worship songs, church leader, and Christian statesman. It details the struggles and triumphs over Hayford’s 30 year pastoral guidance of The Church on the Way, his denominational commitment to The Foursquare Church, and to his larger role as an irreplaceable bridge-builder between Pentecostal/charismatic believers and the wider ecumenical Church.

Quite fittingly, Hayford’s international notoriety sprung from the memorable worship song. His thoughts on worship are a key factor in comprehending the longevity of his ministry. “In both the Old and New Testaments,” Hayford taught, “God’s revealed will in calling his people together was that they might experience his presence and power – not a spectacle or sensation, but in a discovery of his will through encounter and impact.”    

As a leader, Hayford was also faithfully committed to prayer, biblical exposition, racial reconciliation, teaching on the Kingdom of God, pursuing a supernatural ministry through a “crucified life,” praying for churches and leaders outside his own Pentecostal tradition, discerning the difference between “holy humanness and human holiness,” developing a “passion for fullness,” teaching on the “beauty of spiritual language” (speaking in tongues), and maintaining irrevocable honesty in his heart.

“My commitment to walk with integrity of heart calls me to refuse to allow the most minor deviations from honesty with myself, with the facts, and most of all, with the Holy Spirit’s corrections,” Hayford believed.

Hayford, 86 years old, “sees his private prayer life as the essential foundation of his ministry, and he deeply yearns to know and please God and live in radical dependence,” wrote biographer S. David Moore in Pastor Jack. “His journals are filled with prayers of confession, praise, and especially lament for his weaknesses and shortcomings. And yet almost always his journal entries end with grateful affirmation of God’s faithfulness to his promises. He is a devoted disciple of Jesus.”

“There is, in whatever one studies of Jesus, everything of humanity and nothing of superficiality; everything of godliness and nothing of religiosity,” wrote Hayford. “Jesus ministered the joy, life, health and glory of his Kingdom in the most practical, tasteful ways. There is nothing of the flawed habit of hollow holiness or pasted-on piety that characterizes much of the Christianity the world encounters.”

Authentic discipleship, to be “Spirit-formed” as Hayford calls it, involves nurturing an intimate relationship with God. In his relationship with Jesus, Hayford committed himself “to seek him daily (1) to lead and direct my path, (2) to teach and correct my thoughts and words, (3) to keep and protect my soul, and (4) to shape and perfect my life.”

Hayford’s love and concern for clergy of all traditions earned him the title of “pastor to pastors.” Despite coming from a relatively small classical Pentecostal denomination, his generous spirit had wide appeal. 

“Jack lived in a God-charged, open universe that challenged the reductionism of the modern world,” wrote Moore. “At a time in which reality came to be defined in purely naturalistic terms, dismissing the supernatural as antiquated folklore, Jack Hayford’s life and ministry offered a recovery of the biblical world, a world in which God is active and present in his creation.”

Whether he was teaching before 40,000 clergy in a football stadium or hosting a dozen pastors in his living room, Hayford was honored, appreciated, and respected. “For pastors of all stripes, whether Pentecostals or evangelicals, Jack made the voice of God and the supernatural world of the Bible seem so normal. He carefully explained the way he heard God speak, as his mother had to him, in terms that modern minds could make sense of. He also gave permission to pastors to see the work of the Holy Spirit in enlivening the biblical text so that it spoke to the present in meaningful ways.”

Steve Beard is the editor of Good News.  

All Things New

by Steve | Jan 11, 2021 | Jan-Feb 2021, Magazine, Magazine Articles

By Max S. Wilkins –

“And now I have a word for you who brashly announce, ‘Today – at the latest, tomorrow – we’re off to such and such a city for the year. We’re going to start a business and make a lot of money.’ You don’t know the first thing about tomorrow. You’re nothing but a wisp of fog, catching a brief bit of sun before disappearing. Instead, make it a habit to say, ‘If the Master wills it and we’re still alive, we’ll do this or that’” (James 4:13-15, The Message). 

As I read these words of James, I am struck by how timely they are for our lives. If 2020 proved anything, it clearly demonstrated that all our plans are subject to change. Not one of us knows what tomorrow holds. Yet, as the adage attests, “we may not know what the future holds, but we know Who holds the future!” 

As surprising as so many of the events of this past year have been, we can rest assured that God was not surprised. As Proverbs asserts, “wise men and women plan their ways, but the Lord orders their steps.” Those of us who walk by faith, also walk in the sure knowledge that God is still on the Throne; that the Glory of God still fills the whole earth; that the Kingdom of God is still unfolding all around us; that the Lord who saved us by his grace also created us for good works which he prepared beforehand for us to walk in; and that he who began a good work in us is able to bring it to completion. 

It has been a blessing to see the resilience of God’s people, watching as so many  have drawn deeply from our faith and the strength of the Lord. Multitudes have also reached out in love, care, and mutual support within our communities and among our neighbors. Together we have grieved our many losses, mourned with one another, battened down the hatches, done damage control, found reserves of patience and perseverance, and managed an acute crisis with grace and excellence.  

Some have been forced to make serious life changes, others have suffered significant loss, and many had to put a hold on major life events, hopes, and dreams – if not cancel them altogether. These things are all real, and we have the need to be gracious and understanding with ourselves and with each other as we experience them together. Yet, by God’s grace, those reading this are all still here, still alive, and far from simply surviving adrift in a sea of confusion, we all are still called, chosen, filled with the Spirit, and able to be the incarnational witnesses we know we are called to be. 

I read recently about how, during an ongoing crisis, both individuals and organizations must begin by doing acute crisis management. The fires must be doused, we need to figure out how to survive, and we often pull inward and prepare to ride out the storm. But when a crisis lingers, and particularly when it appears to be open-ended and ongoing, a shift in approach is called for. 

Some people will effectively move from acute crisis management to adaptive management. Those who are able to make that shift understand that things are not “going back to normal.” They will grasp that the world has changed, is changing, and that while there is a future and a hope, it will not look like what was left behind. Out of this understanding will emerge new ways and new opportunities. They  need not be looked upon as bad things. We do, after all, worship a Lord who said at the end of our Bible, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Everyone who is called to join Jesus in his mission will spend an eternity joining the Lord in new things. Making the shift to adaptive management will often lead us to see that the opportunities are greater than the losses. We will find ways to thrive. 

Many in the Church have fixed their eyes on Jesus, looked for what he is doing right where they are, and joined Jesus in those things. The result is amazing ministry, life change, and loving community breaking forth all around us. In many places the Church is not just surviving but thriving in these uncertain times. This is not to minimize the very real grief, suffering, loss, and challenge that so many experience. We will need to remain gracious and understanding with ourselves and one another in these trying times. Yet, God continues to fill us with passion, with purpose, and with opportunities for Kingdom witness. As John Wesley said with his last breath, just moments before he died, “Best of all, God is with us!”

Max A. Wilkins serves as the president at TMS Global. To learn more visit www.tms-global.org.