by Steve | Sep 14, 2020 | Magazine, Magazine Articles, Sept-Oct 2020
Bishop John Yambasu gives the sermon during morning worship May 19 at the 2016 United Methodist General Conference in Portland, Oregon. Photo by Mike DuBose, UMNS.
With the rest of the United Methodist family around the globe, we join in mourning the death of Bishop John K. Yambasu, the Resident Bishop of the Sierra Leone Area, who died in a car accident outside Freetown in Sierra Leone on Sunday, August 16. According to the press statement issued from the Council of Bishops, he was on his way to attend a funeral service.
“Bishop Yambasu’s untimely death is stunning news to The United Methodist Church. Bishop Yambasu’s undeniable love and passion for the church has been evident in his area and throughout The United Methodist Church,” said Council of Bishops President Bishop Cynthia Fierro Harvey, who also noted that her heart aches for Bishop Yambasu’s family.
“Our hearts are broken, and we’re devastated by this sudden departure of Bishop Yambasu. This is a great blow to the people called United Methodists! It is our hope and prayer that God will comfort the family in particular and The United Methodist family at large. May his soul rest in perfect peace,” said Bishop Samuel Quire of the Liberia Episcopal Area.
Through his ministry, Bishop Yambasu helped assemble the various United Methodist advocacy groups that proposed an agreement for the separation of the United Methodist Church. “Bishop Yambasu blessed The United Methodist Church with his faith and leadership,” said the Rev. Keith Boyette, president of the Wesleyan Covenant Association and one of the principal participants in the separation agreement. “He was the catalyst for gathering leaders of the various factions in the UM Church for the talks which produced the Protocol of Reconciliation and Grace through Separation. He was an important voice throughout those discussions.”
Bishop Yambasu was president of the Africa College of Bishops of The United Methodist Church and the newly elected Chancellor of Africa University. He was elected a bishop of The United Methodist Church in 2008 and installed in 2009. He was 63 years old. Bishop Yambasu is survived by his wife, Millicent, and their five children – Rebecca, Adima, John, Emmanuel, and Elizabeth.
– Good News
by Steve | Sep 14, 2020 | Magazine, Magazine Articles, Sept-Oct 2020
Honoring the legacy of H.T. and Alice Maclin. Alice Maclin passed away on June 23 (six years after H.T.). As shown in this photo, the Maclins were so very proud of their four children, Greg, Cathie, Susan, and Ruthie.
By Ruth Burgner –
H.T. and Alice Maclin may be names familiar to you. In January 1984, H.T. became the founding president of The Mission Society for United Methodists (now TMS Global). Its launch was well known among evangelical United Methodists and was so momentous in Church news that it was reported in outlets such as Christianity Today and Time magazine.
It is a gutsy move to leave one’s 30-year career to head a start-up. But except for a home mortgage and a set of encyclopedias for their children, the Maclins had lived debt-free. They shaped their lives in such a way to be available to follow God’s leading in decisions – like this one.
Those of us around during early days of The Mission Society for United Methodists remember how H.T. would recount the forming of this ministry. He would almost always begin by telling of 1944.
That year, H.T. was in the Pacific aboard the aircraft carrier USS Anzio. A typhoon hit that would take the lives of 800 men. In the midst of the panic on board, H.T. was captivated by the calm of a shipmate. When he later asked about it, this naval cook explained that his peace came from the Lord and that H.T. could have that peace. The sailor prayed with H.T., and H.T. surrendered his life to Jesus.
Two months later, H.T. witnessed a Japanese attack and the sinking of the USS Bismarck Sea. So many of his former shipmates were on that ship, to which he had barely missed being assigned.
“Why was I spared?” he wrote. “Whatever it may be … the result of it overwhelmed me as I had never been so before. I firmly believed I was saved for a reason yet to be revealed to me by the Lord.”
In 1947, after the war, H.T. married Alice. The next year, at the Urbana Mission Conference, this young couple (at ages 22 and 19) dedicated their lives to world missions. That would change everything for them.
After the Maclin’s time at seminary – and both graduating with their master’s degrees – H.T. and Alice were appointed by the United Methodist mission board to what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo and later to Kenya.
For the next 20 years, the Maclins would serve with their children in Africa.
So revered was this couple that in 1964, President Tubman of Liberia honored H.T. by naming him Knight Grand Commander of the Humane Order of African Redemption.
After returning to the States, Alice taught at what is now Perimeter College in Decatur, Georgia, and developed an ESL program there. She also spent some time in China, developing English curriculum for the first independent secondary school and college allowed to reopen since the Cultural Revolution.
H.T. served for nine years as an executive with The United Methodist Church’s General Board of Global Ministries (GBGM). Over the years, H.T. and others had noticed a change in the Board’s theology of missions and a decrease in the number of United Methodist missionaries being sent out.
When the founders of The Mission Society were looking for someone to lead it, H.T. volunteered. And in 1983 H.T. left his post with GBGM to take the helm of this new mission agency.
Funded entirely by donations, The Mission Society for United Methodists would provide additional mission opportunities for those of the Wesleyan tradition called to serve in cross-cultural missions.
H.T. and Alice’s basement became The Mission Society’s first office. In May 1985, just 17 months after its launch, The Mission Society for United Methodists commissioned its first 10 missionaries.
Now 36 years old, and with a new name, “TMS Global” has mobilized, trained, and sent more than 138 missionaries. Today its cross-cultural witnesses (missionaries) serve in 36 countries.
Nearly any time H.T. told The Mission Society’s story, he would conclude by reciting from Acts 26 (the text used in the service in which he and Alice dedicated their lives to world missions): “But get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you my servant. You are to tell others what you have seen of me today and what I will show you in the future.” (TEV)
This call – so faithfully answered by the Maclins – remains the burden and great privilege of the TMS Global community.
Ruth Burgner is senior director of communication of TMS Global. Now inter-denominational, TMS Global continues in the Wesleyan tradition. To learn more visit www.tms-global.org.
by Steve | Sep 14, 2020 | Magazine, Magazine Articles, Sept-Oct 2020
By B.J. Funk –
The Holy Spirit is so amazing! He is always fulfilling his main purpose of pointing to Jesus. As Oswald Chambers says, “The Holy Spirit is the One who makes real in you all that Jesus did for you.”
I am rejuvenated as I dive into my many resources on the Spirit, as I did in the late seventies. Using several guides, I go again and again to Catherine Marshall’s wonderful book, The Helper. Why? Well, I believe the Holy Spirit will play a vital part in the upcoming and yet unforeseen revival. The following story is from her book.
You probably know the name, Dwight L. Moody. Moody Bible Institute in Chicago was named for him. He was a great success as an evangelist in 1871. His tabernacle drew the largest congregations in Chicago. But according to Moody’s own estimate of those years, he was a “great hustler” and his work was being done largely in the energy of the flesh.
Two humble Free Methodist women used to attend those meetings and sit on the front row. Moody could not help seeing that they were praying during most of his services. Finally, he spoke to the women about it.
“Yes,” they admitted “We have been praying for you.”
“Why me? Why not for the unsaved?” the evangelist said, a bit perturbed. One of them answered. “Because you need the power of the Spirit.” After some weeks of this, Mr. Moody invited the women to his office to talk about it. “You spoke of power for service,” he prodded them. “I thought I had it. I wish you would tell me what you mean.” So, these two ladies told Moody what they knew about the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Then the three prayed together. And the women left.
Moody wrote, “From that hour there came a great hunger in my soul. I really felt that I did not want to live if I could not have this power for service.”
One late autumn day in 1871 Dwight L. Moody was in New York walking up Wall Street. Suddenly, in the midst of the bustling crowds, his prayer was answered: the power of God fell on him so overwhelmingly that he knew he must get off the street. Spotting a house he recognized, Moody knocked on the door and asked if he might have a room by himself for a few hours. Alone there, such joy came upon him that “at last he had to ask God to withhold His hand, lest he die on that very spot from joy!”
From that hour, Moody’s ministry was never the same. Dwight L. Moody lived another 28 years. His work continues today through Moody Bible Institute, the Moody Press, and other avenues that carry his faith.
We think today’s troubles are bad, and they are. However, Catherine Marshall writes, “Christianity was born into a world of trouble. The Roman world of the first century was awash in a rising tide of demoralization and evil. Today, we can see thought-provoking parallels between the period of the decline of the Roman Empire and our own time.”
Outpourings of the Holy Spirit have five common elements, according to The Helper. 1.) Revival usually comes from the common people. 2.) The gospel is made easy to understand. 3.) There is love and joy in huge amounts. 4.) Music plays a large part – new songs and hymns are born. 5.) There is moral and ethical reform.
Furthermore, always the Spirit comes when evil has been rampant, men and women were depressed and in bondage, and the fires of faith burn low. Can you see our Society, and indeed our world, wrapped in the cloak of these three situations?
But there is good news. Jesus knew how much we would need the Helper during these difficult times. “It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you,” (John 16:7).
Won’t you join me in praying for a move of the Spirit that tugs at our hearts for revival? Get out those books on the Holy Spirit, dust them off, and find the treasures God has for you through the Amazing Holy Spirit.
Come, Holy Spirit. Fill the hearts of your faithful.
by Steve | Jul 8, 2020 | July-August 2020, Magazine, Magazine Articles
By Rob Renfroe –
One of the great counterintuitive truths of our faith is that God brings good out of bad. What human beings mean for evil, God often uses to bring about a new and better day. There is no greater example than the cross. Our Lord Jesus – pure, innocent, and compassionate – made to suffer the most painful and shameful death the Roman Empire could devise. And from this terribly heinous act, God brought forth his most gracious gift – salvation for all who will believe.
Our country is reeling from an atrocious, unjust act – the killing of George Floyd, made worse by the fact that it was perpetrated by one, and watched for nearly nine minutes without objection by others, who were sworn to serve and protect their community. For the God who brings good out of evil, this is certainly an opportunity to do something dramatic and powerful that will change our world for the better. And as the people who serve that God, we have an opportunity and a calling to join him in what he is doing.
I do not know all that needs to be done. I do not know what God will call upon you or me or his church to do. And I certainly do not know the depth of pain my African American brothers and sisters have experienced throughout their lifetimes. But there are some things I do know. And so do you. So do all Bible believing followers of Jesus.
We know every human being is made in the image of God. In fact, this is the first truth God’s word tells us about what it means to be human. “So, God created humankind in his own image; in the image of God he created them” (Genesis 1:27). Every human being possesses immense, inherent worth not because of what he or she achieves, how they live, the social status they enjoy, or the race they belong to. Every human life has infinite value because every person bears the image of God.
We know racism is wrong. If every human being is created in God’s image, racism and prejudice are not simply sins against a person or a community, but against God himself. We know as persons who hold the Scriptures to be true, we must condemn however our society promotes racial stereotypes and we must recognize, confess, and repent of whatever prejudice lives within our souls. We cannot be neutral, look the other way, or be satisfied that our nation has made great strides in the past to overcome racism. It still exists, sometimes in ways that are hard for some of us to perceive. So, we must ask God to give us “eyes to see” and the courage to call it out whether we discern it in our institutions or in ourselves.
We know diversity is a blessing from God. The human race that God created is a beautiful tapestry of races, ethnicities, and cultures. Our appreciation of God’s creation, the wonders of his grace, and his calling upon our lives is made richer and more powerful when we embrace this diversity and learn from the experiences and the perspectives of others who are different than we are. When our pride or our need to justify ourselves or our fear keeps us from receiving the stories and the gifts those who are different from ourselves can bring into our lives, we not only impoverish ourselves, we also deny God’s good creation.
This is true for humankind and even more for the church of God. “For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body – whether Jew or Gentile, slave or free … The body is not made up of one part but many” (1 Corinthians 12:13-14). We need each other. We need poor and wealthy, male and female, young and old, developed world and developing world, “red and yellow, black, brown, and white.” We need everyone in the church. And as individuals we need relationships with people who have different experiences, perspectives, and stories. Without such relationships, we will never see the world or God’s plan for the world rightly and fully. We know this is true because God’s word tells us it is. And we know we must be intentional about creating relationships that cross the lines that too often divide us.
We know our hearts often deceive us. Jeremiah tells us “the heart is deceitful above all things … who can understand its way” (17:9)? It’s possible, no, it’s likely, that we will be blind to what resides within our hearts. We will convince ourselves that our intentions are more righteous and our motives more pure than they truly are. We will be oblivious to the prejudice that dwells within us – and sometimes because we want to be ignorant about who and what we are. Without knowing it, we will try to protect our image of ourselves as good and decent folks by not being willing to look deeply within our own souls and admitting what we find there. This doesn’t make us bad people; it makes us human beings who possess a fallen nature. But we know it’s there, this tendency to hide the truth about ourselves from ourselves. We know this because God’s word tells us so. Consequently, we also know we must examine ourselves and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to us whatever prejudice lies within us.
I don’t know what God will do with this terrible moment we find ourselves in. But I know what I can do with it. I can look within myself, admit what I find there, confess it, repent of it, and ask God to change me. And so can you. And that will be a start.
We know we are called to be peacemakers. Not peacekeepers, but peacemakers. Making peace in times of turmoil and misunderstanding can be frustrating and even dangerous. But it’s a ministry that we are called to. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” (Matthew 5:9). I do not know all that peacemaking will require, but I know that it begins with listening. For me, it means continuing the conversations I have recently had with black friends and colleagues. Listening to black parents and grandparents tell me how worried they are about the safety of their children and grandchildren every time they leave the house. Hearing the fear beneath the words of African American men who have told me they are regularly pulled over by the police for no other reason than they are in “the wrong part of town” – their town, their hometown. Talking with black pastors, as educated, gifted, and committed as I am, who grieve that because of their race they will never be given opportunities to serve many of our great churches that are predominantly white. And hearing the painful truth that many of these pastors are concerned that the same will be true even after we create a new Methodist denomination.
Peacemaking begins with listening, but it doesn’t end there. For true peace to be made, there must be equal opportunity for all people. There must be justice for the victimized. There must be accountability for those who perpetrate violence. There must be an admission on the part of white folks that many of us have chosen to remain ignorant regarding race in our country and the suffering persons of color have endured. We must admit this, confess it, and repent of it and of all the ways we have been complicit. There must be outrage on our part in the face of injustice and racism. And there must be real change in our hearts, in our country, and in our churches
We know we are fighting more than flesh and blood. Paul tells us that our struggle to advance God’s Kingdom and its values is against “the rulers, the authorities, the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm” (Ephesians 6:12). Paul understood that there was more to the ignorance and the evil we encounter than what dwells in the human heart. There are spiritual forces at work, organizing the systems and the structures of our world in ways that are counter to the will of God and his good design for creation.
We cannot be naïve. If we believe in the Bible as God’s word, we must expect to find sin within the institutions of our fallen society. We cannot minimize the work of “the evil one,” “the prince of this world,” to only individual temptations. His plan is more encompassing and his powers of deceit far greater. His desire is to infiltrate and warp all that influences humankind. Our entertainment. Our government. The media. Education. The Church. We must have “kingdom eyes” to look at society’s institutions. And we must be willing to call out unrighteousness and injustice wherever we see them, and we must work to reclaim these institutions for the glory of God and the good of all humankind.
I do not know how God will use this moment. But I know he will be at work for good. I know that you and I and all who name the name of Jesus must ask for eyes to see and a determination to act in accordance with God’s will. I do not know everything I need to know for this moment. But I know enough to begin to make things better. And so do you.
by Steve | Jul 8, 2020 | July-August 2020, Magazine, Magazine Articles
By Heather Hahn-
An empty collection plate. Photo illustration by Kathleen Barry, UMNS.
The United Methodist Church already is feeling financial fallout from COVID-19’s devastating spread. In a May 29 online meeting that also included prayers for an end to racism, General Council on Finance and Administration board members got a glimpse of some of the financial challenges ahead.
For the first four months of the year, general church apportionment receipts in the U.S. dropped about $3.2 million compared to the same period in 2019. April, so far, saw the steepest decline — with the collection rate down 26 percent compared to last year and 45 percent compared to 2017.
“This indicates the impact that the coronavirus has had so far on general church collections,” Rick King, GCFA’s chief financial officer, told the board.
By April, United Methodist churches around the globe had suspended in-person worship to slow the deadly coronavirus. Congregations are just now slowly returning to their buildings but with a whole checklist of added and potentially expensive precautions.
Funding for the denomination’s seven general church funds comes from conferences, which in turn ask for apportionments – requested giving – from local churches. Typically, more than 85 cents of every dollar in local church revenue remains with that congregation. About 2 cents of each dollar given goes to general church ministries.
General church apportionments support bishops, ministerial education, most general agencies, general administration, and denomination-wide efforts such as the Black College Fund, ecumenical work, and Africa University in Zimbabwe. The U.S. church provides 99 percent of the funding for general church ministries.
For now, many U.S. conferences have allowed churches to hold off on apportionments to bolster their ministries, and at least three of the 54 U.S. conferences have laid off or furloughed staff. An untold number of United Methodist churchgoers also are now out of work, as the U.S. sees its highest unemployment rate since the Great Depression in the 1930s.
Already faced with uncertainty, the denomination’s Episcopal Fund that supports bishops and most United Methodist general agencies had budgeted for 2020 based on a 70 percent apportionment collection rate. At the current giving rate, the General Council on Finance and Administration projects 2020 apportionments could come well below that.
The GCFA board spent part of its meeting hearing an update on the Episcopal Fund, which was in peril of running out of money even before the current crisis. At present, King said, the fund’s revenue is about $422,000 lower than budgeted, but because of reduced spending, the bishops are making up for some of that lost revenue. Still, at a 65 percent annual giving rate, GCFA projects that the fund could be in the red by the end of 2022.
In May, the bishops agreed to form a task force that will look at strategies to move the Episcopal Fund toward financial sustainability. Among the ideas on the table is reducing the number of U.S. bishops. The task force plans to release its recommendations in November.
Over the past three years, the GCFA board each summer has set bishops’ salaries and support for their office staff. However, the board is postponing any action until it receives the task force’s report, said the Rev. Steve Wood, who chairs the board’s committee on general agency and episcopal matters.
Amid the drops in giving, various U.S. United Methodist entities, including churches, conferences, and general agencies, have found some relief from Paycheck Protection Program loans. The U.S. Small Business Administration program, initiated in response to the coronavirus, aims to help small businesses – including nonprofits – keep workers on the payroll.
Most of the 10 general agencies that receive church giving, including GCFA, have applied for and received loans through the program. The one exception is the United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry. All told, the agencies now have nearly $7.9 million in loans. Based on the program’s requirements, the agencies each expect their loan amounts to be forgiven.
“Some agencies have returned funds they deemed to be in excess of the amount that will be forgiven,” King told United Methodist News.
Heather Hahn is a multimedia news reporter for United Methodist News.
by Steve | Jul 8, 2020 | July-August 2020, Magazine, Magazine Articles
By Steve Beard –
Charles Albert Tindley was one of Methodism’s premier pulpiteers and song writers. Image: Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection, Temple University Libraries, Philadelphia.
Charles Albert Tindley arrived for his first pastoral appointment in Cape May, New Jersey, in the middle of a snow storm. With small children to feed, Charles and his wife had only a stale piece of bread. As parents, they dipped the bread in water to soften it for the kids.
Charles asked his wife to set the table as if there was food for breakfast. Swallowing her reluctance, she agreed to do as he asked. As the story has been relayed by his youngest son, the parents got on their knees to thank God for their lives, their health, for the snow storm, and the rising sun in the morning.
“Not once did he complain about the shortage of provisions, but thanked God for what they had,” E.T. Tindley writes. They got up from their knees and sat at the barren table. When they did, there was a loud commotion outside. They heard a man commanding a team of horses.
“Whoa! Whoa!” They then heard loud stomps on the front porch. “Hey! Is anybody alive here?”
Tindley opened the front door and was face to face with a man with a large sack on his shoulder. Dropping it to the floor with a thud, the stranger said: “Knowing you were the new parson here, and not knowing how you were making out in this storm, my wife and I thought you might need some food. I’ve a cartload of wood out here, too. I’ll dump it and be on my way.”
Tears streamed down Tindley’s face. “You are an answer to prayer, for we didn’t have anything to eat except a stale crust of bread … We are not going to worry though, for we know God will provide a way.”
Later that night, Tindley was seated in a rocker thinking over the blessings of the day. In the afterglow of the miracle, he wrote the song, “God Will Provide For Me.”
Here I may be weak and poor,
With afflictions to endure;
All about me not a ray of light to see,
Just as He has often done,
For His helpless trusting ones,
God has promised to provide for me.
Charles Albert Tindley went on to become one of Methodism’s greatest pulpiteers and a pillar of faith. His life was bookended by the Civil War and the Great Depression. Tindley’s father was a slave, but his mother was a free woman of color. Tragically, he lost both his parents at very young age and had to live with strangers who did not permit him to read or go to church.
Seemingly every step of the way, Tindley (1851-1933) faced adversity and challenges. Nevertheless, he showed steadfast determination, ingenuity, and faith. From his Methodist pulpit, he became known as the “Prince of Preachers,” composed dozens of popular gospel songs, launched one of the first soup kitchens in his city, and spurred economic development for African Americans in Philadelphia through a savings and loan that helped secure home ownership. The church he shepherded – now called Tindley Temple – is still a historic and vibrant fixture in its community.
Tindley was filled with intellectual curiosity and passion. As a child he began to learn to read by picking up scraps of newspapers along the roadside. He studied the shape of each letter and attempted to use bits of coal to teach himself to write.
After the Civil War, Tindley and his wife moved to Philadelphia and attended Bainbridge Street Methodist Episcopal Church. He eventually became the janitor at the church. Although he had never been to college, he began studying for the Methodist ministry in order to pass the denominational examination with a high enough score. He learned Greek through a correspondence course offered by Boston Theological School and studied Hebrew with a rabbi at a synagogue in Philadelphia.
At the time of the exam, an arrogant college graduate snidely asked Tindley, “How do you expect to pass this examination? I and the other candidates hold diplomas in our hands. What do you hold?”
“Nothing but a broom,” replied Tindley who had just been sweeping around the church. Tindley passed second among a large class of candidates, all of whom had academic degrees.
When the storms of life are raging, stand by me;
When the storms of life are raging, stand by me;
When the world is tossing me, like a ship upon the sea,
Thou who rulest wind and water, stand by me.
After several different pastoral assignments, Tindley was eventually appointed to the very church he had previously swept as a janitor. As a young boy, he once wallowed in shame because he had no shoes to wear to church and had to sneak up into the balcony and hide behind boxes to attend a worship service. Now, because of a lifetime of walking barefooted in faith, he became the pastor of one of the largest congregations in Methodism and was routinely preaching and breaking into song at “standing room only” Sunday services.
Tindley is rightfully considered the “Grandfather of Gospel Music,” serving as an inspiration to Thomas Dorsey, usually indentified as one of the pivotal founding fathers of gospel music. Tindley’s songs are still found in the United Methodist Hymnal, as well as those of other denominations. His songs were recorded by gospel legends such as Mahalia Jackson (“Beams of Heaven”), the Soul Stirrers (“By and By”), the Ward Singers (“Take Your Burden to the Lord”), Blind Joe Taggart (“The Storm is Passing Over”), Sister Rosetta Tharpe (“What Are They Doing in Heaven”), and Elvis Presley (“Stand By Me”).
So pervasive was his influence that one of his hymns was the inspiration behind the Civil Rights anthem, “We Shall Overcome.”
Tindley had witnessed some of the worst chapters of the unfolding American experiment. He preached faith, protested against injustice, provided food and shelter, and sang from his soul. His artistry dealt honestly with suffering and hardships. At the same time, he lived and saw through the eye and heart of faith. He knew that one day – someday – things would be redeemed and transformed. In “Beams of Heaven,” his vision shines through:
I do not know how long ‘twill be,
Nor what the future holds for me.
But this I know; if Jesus leads me,
I shall get home someday.
Steve Beard is the editor of Good News.
