by Steve | Mar 5, 2013 | Magazine Articles
By Stephen Rankin
The United Methodist Church, after significant collective soul-searching, has developed a list of markers for vital congregations.
1. People engaging in energetic, Spirit-filled worship
2. People professing faith in Christ
3. People growing in their faith (usually through small groups)
4. People engaged in mission
5. People supporting this mission financially.
This list captures essential practices, but it also makes me think of perhaps the deepest, most pressing, concern that haunted John Wesley: formal, conventional, outward religion. Every one of these markers can be quantified. They’re good markers, but the temptation to focus on what we can easily observe always lurks close by. If we see growing numbers, for example, we quickly assume that all the necessary inward work is happening and we can feel satisfaction. If we succumb, we will have missed the point.
In Discourse II on the Sermon on the Mount, Mr. Wesley offers this characteristic observation about conventional versus vital religion: “The religion of the world implies three things: (1.) The doing no harm, the abstaining from outward sin…(2.) The doing good, the relieving the poor; the being charitable, as it is called: (3.) The using the means of grace; at least the going to church and to the Lord’s Supper. He [sic] in whom these three marks are found is termed by the world a religious [read Christian] man. But will this satisfy him who hungers after God? No: It is not food for the soul.”
Study that list. It’s kind of scary isn’t it? Every one of our vital congregations markers can fit nicely within Wesley’s worry.
They don’t have to, of course. But unless we ask probing questions about what is happening in the lives of people through the practices associated with these markers, we will not achieve our goals.
Along with the markers for vital congregations, we need markers for vital Christians. In addition to people attending energetic, Spirit-filled worship, what do we think God is doing through the worship in the worshippers? It’s great to have a bunch of people in small groups, but what is happening in them through this experience?
We need to develop some markers for vital Christians as well as vital congregations.
All this makes me think about another of our goals: reaching younger and more diverse people. Young people typically don’t care much for formal religion. It is one of the reasons “spiritual, but not religious” has caught on among them, why an increasing percentage (by some estimates as many as 1/3) claim no religious identity.
It has become almost a parlor game to blame the church for this situation. I think too much has been made of the hypocritical, ignorant Christian portrait to explain fully what is going on in our world. But I do believe that we still pay insufficient attention to the quality of Christian discipleship that our congregations demonstrate.
What if, then, in addition to the markers for vital congregations, leaders began asking what vital Christians look like within those United Methodist congregations? What kind of Christian do we expect to become as God works graciously in us?
These questions drive us back to sources that describe – to steal the title of a Watchman Nee book – the normal Christian life. Precisely here, Mr. Wesley has something to offer. I commend pastoral and denominational leaders prayerfully, reflectively to work through once again the Discourses on the Sermon on the Mount. We could do far worse.
Stephen Rankin is the chaplain at Southern Methodist University in Dallas and the author of Aiming at Maturity: The Goal of the Christian Life (Wipf and Stock).
by Steve | Jan 9, 2013 | Features, Jan-Feb 2013, Magazine, Magazine Articles
She captured America’s heart every week as the divine messenger with the lilting and soothing Irish accent on Touched by an Angel. He is the creative genius behind Survivor, The Apprentice, and The Voice. Together, Roma Downey and Mark Burnett are one of Hollywood’s most uniquely equipped married power couples.
Beginning March 3, you will be able to catch their latest ambitious venture on the History Channel. The Bible is a fabulously scripted five-part docudrama produced by Downey and Burnett after a 4 month location shoot in Morocco.
The 10-hour version of this Biblical epic was conceived after the husband and wife team watched the spectacular Ten Commandments by legendary filmmaker Cecil B. DeMille (1881-1959) for the first time since childhood. “Give me two pages of the Bible and I’ll give you a picture,” DeMille once said. With this new venture, Downey and Burnett have produced an entire photo album.
Good News editor Steve Beard spoke with Roma Downey and Mark Burnett about their new project.
How did this become a project that you both wanted to do?
Roma Downey: Well, that was a God thing. I believe we were called to do this, for such a time as this. We are at the fortunate place in our careers where we can choose projects that honor and are pleasing to God. And we joined forces, bringing our talents together and our faith and our love and it has been the most exciting and thrilling and humbling few years of our lives as we’ve brought this to light. And we are so excited because it’s within inches of being finally finished, Steve.
How do you go to the History Channel and make this pitch in a way that they’ve not heard it before?
Roma Downey: Well, if you were me, you would go and knock politely on the door and wait until you’re invited in. But if you were my husband, you would arrive and you would kick the door down. And you would just somehow go in there and present it in such a way that they absolutely knew they had to be part of it.
I love that. And Mark, how did you go about doing that?
Mark Burnett: We heard of a documentary someone was going to make about the Bible that was asking why God is so mean to everybody and why would God flood the earth and kill everybody, why would God tell Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, et cetera, et cetera. Roma was so offended and she said to me, “You know, we should just do a Bible project on…” I said, “What, the whole Bible?” She said, “Yes, we should do that.” I said, “Roma, you’re crazy. There’s no way. Who do you think we are? Cecil B. DeMille?” She said, “Maybe. We should do this.” I said, “Roma, this is impossible, you know.” And she said, “Well, so was Survivor, so was The Voice. Why don’t we do this. We love the Bible, we love these stories, we believe.” And I said, “No, no, no, this is crazy.” And then a couple of days later I decided, you know, maybe she’s right, maybe I should listen to my wife.
We took a year and a half to think exactly how to present it in a way that would be impossible to say no to. There is an art form to how to present an idea in our business, to get someone to say yes.
Mark, you certainly know how to do that.
Mark Burnett: Yes, I’m probably the most experienced person in television at doing exactly that.
This obviously is much more serious than anything else we’ve ever done. But you have to decide upon what’s the entry point and what’s the three-line message? What is the story of God’s love for all of us? And realize that the worst thing you can present is like a rule book: Don’t do this, don’t do that — and in a dry kind of way. If you do it in a dry kind of way, why would someone want to see it on television?
If you want to do it on television, it better be a fresh visual, emotionally connecting way of presenting the sacred text. And I think that’s what we did. Rather than telling you the rules from the Bible, we tell stories and the moral underpinning and rules are evident in the stories of the interaction with the characters. And that’s what we’ve done. And it just took a while to figure out exactly how to do it.
Ten hours of television is nearly the equivalent of half a season. That is a gift-wrapped blessing in Hollywood. What stories did you tackle?
Mark Burnett: They are not going to give us 100 hours, you know, which is what you’d need. So obviously, if you were approaching this as almost a Sunday school greatest hits, there’s certain things you’ve got to do, right?
What we outlined was Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Samson, Samuel, Saul, David. Then on to Zedekiah, which led nicely into Daniel and Cyrus and the releasing of the Jews from Babylon and Daniel’s dream about the coming of the Son of Man which was the entry point, naturally, into the New Testament. The New Testament is through the Gospels and then dealing with Stephen, his martyrdom, and dealing with Saul/Paul and on to Revelation.
As we were filming, we realized something had to give. Eventually the story we didn’t film was Joseph. It was Moses or Joseph and we had to do Moses. You just have to because of the parting of the Red Sea, the Ten Commandments and leading into Joshua, because otherwise, that’s the entry point of how you meet Joshua at Jericho. Obviously we wanted to do more, but that’s how we did it.
Roma, how much praying did you have to do through all of this because everything didn’t go as planned? I’ve got to assume there was all kinds of headaches. What was it like going through this process with your husband?
Roma Downey: The fact that we have gotten through the project and we haven’t killed each other yet, I think, is a testimony to our faith. [laughter]
And our God is a good God. We had a few moments where the challenges were great. There were logistical challenges on the set. We filmed in Morocco. We were there from the beginning of February to the beginning of July. We crossed all seasons and all kinds of terrain and there were snakes and scorpions and there were casts of hundreds and herds of sheep and chariots and horses. You can imagine the endless things that might go wrong and they did go wrong, but ultimately I think the hand of God has been on the project from the beginning. We have great teams of people who have been praying with us and for us and in the way that the sea parted for Moses, unbelievably things just kept turning up for us and the right people kept arriving for us and things that we did not know how to do, suddenly somebody was there who did know how to do it. And even in terms of casting, we were challenged right up to the last minute with finding the actor who would play the role of Jesus for us, which was our singular most important cast member.
Very understandable. That’s one casting decision you want to have serious faith in. [laughter]
Roma Downey: We were just a month away from filming and we hadn’t found him yet. We were praying, we were looking for Jesus everywhere. And we had everyone we know praying for him. And then, he just remarkably showed up and he was the perfect actor and he brought all of the qualities that we were hoping this actor would have for this most important part. We cast a Portuguese actor called Diogo Morgado and he is simply sensational. He brings the qualities of the lion and the lamb to this role. And his natural charisma and his natural humility and his natural strength all come off the screen in this beautiful and authentic way. No one has ever played Jesus like this before and I think that his performance is going to touch the hearts of millions of people around the world.
That was a very key piece of casting for us. And there were other moments, too, where God just kept showing up.
One night we were filming a scene where Nicodemus asks Jesus about the kingdom of God and Jesus tells him that he, too, can see the kingdom of God – that he has to be born again of the Spirit. Nicodemus doesn’t fully understand what that means and Jesus describes to him how the Spirit can blow like the wind and it goes where it wishes. And suddenly, as if on cue, the most amazing wind on this very still night blew in through the camp as if God was saying, “Here I am, I’m right here.”
Everybody had hairs stand up on their arms and we all looked at each other in awe. And thankfully, the actors never broke concentration for a moment. And even though the trees were blowing behind them and the hair of the actor playing Jesus was blowing, they both held the moment and it’s just a fantastic moment on camera where it really felt like the Holy Spirit showed up. And there were numerous moments like that for us throughout the experience.
You filmed in Morocco. You’ve mentioned a Portuguese actor and a British actor. What was the international flavor of the rest of the cast?
Roma Downey: The cast is mostly made up of UK actors – English, Scottish, Welsh, and a good healthy sprinkling of Irish.
I love it. I’m a seventh generation Irishman in the United States so that warms my heart. [Laughter.]
Roma Downey: Oh, you are, really? So I have to tell you that King Saul is Irish. Our Moses is Irish. And I stepped myself into the role of Mother Mary. And as you know, I am Irish.
Splendid. I was going to ask if you crossed lines from co-producer to actress.
Roma Downey: I hadn’t planned to play the part, but we had cast the younger Mary through the annunciation and through the Nativity – a beautiful young English actress. And we knew that we would have to find someone that would bear some resemblance 30 years later to the actress picking up that role through the mission of Jesus and then through the Passion of Jesus and so on.
Sounds like a perfect fit.
Roma Downey: Mark said to me, you know, of all these actors that we’re considering for the Mother Mary role, you actually look more like the young actress than any of them. Would you not consider playing it yourself? And I hadn’t really considered playing any part at that time. I had my producer’s hat firmly on my head, but I thought, well, I’ll pray on it. It was the right thing to do and I’m so glad that I did. It was just such a fantastic experience for me. I have loved Mary my whole life.
Oh, believe me, I’m a big fan of her’s as well. I’m glad you took the role.
Roma Downey: It was maybe through loving Mary that I really came to love Jesus. My own mother had died when I was a little girl and the role of Mary in my life became very much like a nurturing mother figure that I didn’t have.
I simply love that. Let me shift gears here. I think a lot of people would be surprised to discover that there is a very vibrant faith within the Hollywood zip code and in the creative world.
Mark Burnett: Let me say that what we’ve done on this project is the best collective work of our entire careers. And that means everything from Roma’s incredible portrayal early in her career of “A Woman Named Jackie,” playing Jackie Onassis, as well as “Touched by an Angel,” “Survivor,” “The Apprentice,” “The Voice,” “Shark Tank,” the Emmys, all the things we’ve done. I don’t lightly say this, the Bible project is the best work we have ever been involved with or made.
That is quite a statement. Are people surprised to discover that the guy who created “Survivor” and “The Voice” is a Christian?
Mark Burnett: My answer is, why not? Why would you assume that because someone was really good at making commercial television they wouldn’t be a Christian? Why would that matter? You’d be pleasantly, happily surprised at the enormity of people of Christian faith within the creative community. That is not the challenge. The challenge is to actually get something about faith on television.
People are very quick to want to put shows on which call faith into question or shows that might say was Jesus married, was the parting of the Red Sea a phenomenon of nature, all these sort of shows are on TV that you’ve seen. Why would they do those? Because, I guess, they think it’s sensational and shocking. But when you want to make the story of God’s love for all of us, people are a little slower for whatever reason to buy into it. Well, we were called because we’ve got great credibility and people think we’re really good at our jobs and we got the opportunity and we’ve made it and we are really grateful to History Channel to seeing that and stepping up for us and with us. No one in our zip code in Hollywood will be surprised that Roma and I are Christians and have made this.
But I wanted to let you know how deep the community is and that many of us who choose to walk in the creative arts also have deep faith. And every now and then you get an opportunity to live that out in the project.
How do you hope the viewers who usually turn to the History Channel for “American Pickers” will experience your project on the Bible?
Roma Downey: Well, the over arching embrace is of God’s love for us, it’s woven through every segment of the show, leading through, of course, to the New Testament, that He loved us so much that He sent His only Son to redeem us. So it’s a beautiful story of love and redemption. And it is our hope that the series goes out and that it touches people’s lives and that it is a great reminder that God loves them, and that it draws people back to the book itself, that they are reminded of how amazing our story is because it is our story, you know, we are those characters.
It’s as current today as it was when it was written. We all go through the same journey. The situations have changed but the feelings are the same, the challenges are the same, the hopes and dreams are the same. So it’s our story. They mirror us. There is such an opportunity here for the faithful, yes, but for people maybe who have never opened a book or who have never stepped inside of a church, but who will get to turn their television set on and see something like this. It’s just a very exciting prospect for the Kingdom.
I should say it is. Thank you both so very much for your time.
Roma Downey: Good. We appreciate you. Thank you for your partnership on this, in helping us to spread the Good News.
by Steve | Dec 7, 2011 | Magazine Articles
By Rob Renfroe
For the first time, the United Methodist Council of Bishops has issued a collective statement that all of its members “will uphold the Book of Discipline as established by General Conference,” regarding the various issues related to homosexuality.
The statement was the direct result of a letter sent by 59 leading pastors to all active bishops, asking the Council to address the then 900 pastors who had pledged to perform gay marriages, contrary to the Discipline. (You can read the entire statement from the Council of Bishops at www.GoodNewsMag.org.)
Since the letter was sent, more than 2,500 pastors have added their names to the letter and more than 12,000 laypersons have signed an even more pointed statement at the website www.faithfulumc.com. As reticent as the Council has been in the past to address the topic of homosexuality in any sort of unified way—even as it was tearing the church apart—it is obvious that the letter and the 14,500 signatures were effective in motivating the Bishops to do what they should have done long ago.
We are grateful to the Council for issuing a statement and to the thousands of United Methodists who asked them to do so.
So we have a statement. That’s the good news. The statement itself—well, that’s another story. In a 21-sentence document, two sentences deal with upholding the Discipline. Out of 526 total words, only 41 state the Bishops’ commitment to defend the covenant that holds us together. In fact the UM position regarding gay marriage is never stated. Nor does the statement promote our beautifully balanced, biblically faithful, and compassionate position regarding human sexuality. (See page 30.)
Instead, much greater attention, verbiage, and passion is given to the same issues we regularly hear touted by the Bishops: the importance of “being in ministry…for all persons,” a warning “not to reject or condemn lesbian and gay members and friends,” and a commitment to offer “grace upon grace to all.”
There is a place for such statements. But those issues are not the ones that are threatening the unity and the future of the UM Church. I believe what evidently many of our Bishops are not convinced of: United Methodists, in general, and UM pastors, in particular, are among the most compassionate, grace-filled and grace-giving persons on the planet.
When 1,000 rogue pastors have promised to break our covenant, what we need is something more pointed and more theological than a document that devotes the majority of its content to telling us to be kind to one another. We get that already. United Methodists have always gotten that. And it’s not a lack of kindness that is threatening to destroy the unity of the UM Church.
We needed a statement that addressed firmly and specifically the proposed actions of those who have rejected holy conferencing, who have pledged to throw the church into chaos, and who believe they can represent the UM Church while rejecting the clear teaching of the Scriptures and 2,000 years of Christian tradition.
What we wish the Council of Bishops would have said.
Grace and peace to you in the Name of Jesus Christ.
We live in a time of great social change. In particular, our culture, and even some in the church, are confused about sexual wholeness. In such times, it is imperative for the church to be clear about its teachings. As Bishops of The United Methodist Church, it is our responsibility to make certain that the church and the world know exactly where we stand.
A statement is especially necessary at this time because 1,000 UM pastors have pledged to perform marriages for homosexual couples, contrary to the Book of Discipline which states that no UM pastor may do so and no such service may be held on UM property.
Our UM position concerning homosexuality is one that has received careful consideration, much prayer, and constant reaffirmation for over 40 years. We believe that it is biblically faithful—all persons possess sacred worth, but the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching.
As shepherds of the church we are committed to upholding, defending and promoting our position which offers sacred worth, sexual wholeness, and the beauty of holiness to all.
To those who possess a same-sex attraction and to those who love them, we want you to know that the UM Church is a safe place for you. You are welcome in our churches, and we are deeply sorry for any actions or words which purposefully or inadvertently have been hurtful to you.
To those pastors who have pledged to perform gay marriages, we admonish you not to do so. If for conscience sake you feel that you must, know that we will not allow you to fracture the unity of the church or break our policies without severe penalties. We pledge that we will not wait for others to file charges against you if you perform same-sex marriages. We will do so. In addition, you will immediately be suspended and not reappointed until your case has been resolved. You have the right to disagree with our UM positions. We have the responsibility to enforce them. And we will faithfully do so.
We have a time-honored, Wesleyan tradition of resolving our disagreements. It’s holy conferencing. Not only are we troubled by your pledge to perform services not allowed by the Discipline, we are also grieved that you have decided no longer to follow our Wesleyan way of resolving conflicts together. Your pledged actions make future conversations difficult if not impossible. And that is most regrettable.
We implore you to live by the Discipline and recommit yourselves to holy conferencing. It is our hope and prayer that you will. If you are not able to do so, integrity may require you to find another denomination. Integrity will require us to enforce the Discipline, offer both grace and truth to the world, and not allow the actions of those who disagree with our positions to divert our energies from making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.
—The Council of Bishops
Rob Renfroe is the president and publisher of Good News.
by Steve | Dec 6, 2011 | Magazine Articles
By Thomas A. Lambrecht
Three years after the United Methodist Council of Bishops declared that ordinations conducted by Church Within A Church (CWAC) have “no official status,” two more ceremonies resembling ordination rites were conducted by CWAC on October 23 at St. Mark’s Presbyterian Church in Tucson, Arizona.
According to a CWAC press release, DeLyn Celec was discontinued from the United Methodist ordination process when she answered “yes” when asked if she was in a civil union with her partner.
“I am called to Extraordinary Ordination with the Church Within A Church Movement,” Celec said. “Its distinctively Wesleyan heritage, and commitment to ending oppressions of all types, makes it feel like my Church.” Celec will continue serving as Worship Arts Coordinator at United Methodist-related Shenandoah University in Winchester, Virginia.
Robyn Morrison stopped her United Methodist ordination process when her lesbian daughter asked her why she would want to be ordained in a denomination that would not allow her to perform the wedding of her own daughter.
“I feel called to sacramental ministry within the Methodist tradition,” said Morrison. “Sadly, exclusion in the United Methodist Church continues to harm me, my beloved daughter and my beloved friends, who are gay, lesbian, transgender, bisexual.”
United Methodist ordained elders participated in and led the ordination service. The preacher for the service was the Rev. I. Malik Saafir, senior pastor of Theressa Hoover United Methodist Church and lead consultant for the Janus Institute For Justice, LLC, in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Leading the ordination ceremony was the Rev. Greg Dell, retired member of the Northern Illinois Annual Conference known for his 1999 conviction and suspension for officiating at the union of two gay men; the Rev. Susan Morrison, retired and currently teaching at Boston University School of Theology; and the Rev. Dr. Traci West, Professor of Ethics and African American Studies at Drew University Theological School (Madison, NJ).
Additionally, the worship was led by Mark Miller, the co-worship leader at the 2008 General Conference.
Three years ago, the UM Council of Bishops issued a public statement that the ceremony in which two ordinations were conducted by CWAC “was not approved by any United Methodist annual conference, board of ordained ministry or cabinet” and that the ordinations had “no effect within The United Methodist Church.”
Good News believes that this “extraordinary ordination” was a sign that proponents of the acceptance of homosexual behavior are prepared to go outside The United Methodist Church to get their way. The fact that four United Methodist ordained elders led this event signifies how broken our church really is.
The Church Within A Church Movement is actually an incipient new denomination. It offers to credential pastors, holds regular training and support meetings, and sponsors new church plants by its ministers. While evangelicals have been accused of preparing to start a new Methodist denomination for years, CWAC has already done so, to little fanfare and no objection from those concerned with the unity of The United Methodist Church.
It seems that the CWAC would be the perfect place for those clergy and congregations who can no longer live within the United Methodist covenant.
By Thomas A. Lambrecht, vice president of Good News.
by Steve | Dec 6, 2011 | Magazine Articles
By Shane Raynor
You can learn a lot from reading just one sentence. Consider the first of the United Methodist baptismal vows: “Do you renounce the spiritual forces of wickedness, reject the evil powers of this world, and repent of your sin?”
If you read it quickly, you might think this is a basic promise to “be good,” stated in three different ways, but it’s not. There’s a lot of information packed into this one question. In these 17 words, you find the three basic evil influences with which Christians struggle, and three things we have to do (the three R’s) to help us overcome them. You’ve got to wonder if most of us knew what we were really getting into when we said yes to all this.
As we travel the road to become more like Jesus, we run into three main obstacles: the world, the flesh, and the devil. By “world,” I mean the negative human influences and the corrupt, unregenerate culture around us. By “flesh,” I mean our own human tendency toward sin. And by “devil,” I mean Satan himself as well as demons.
Reject. The world is referred to in the baptismal vows in the phrase “evil powers of this world.” We promise to reject these evil powers. These powers don’t include anything supernatural, but they are often under demonic influence. Evil powers of this world include evils like slavery, abortion, sexual abuse, persecution, oppression, corruption, systems that perpetuate poverty, drug trafficking, exploitation…the list is endless. Cultural influences such as various movies, television shows, video games and music could also be included as part of the evil powers of this world. Rejecting these means refusing to accept them, rebuffing them, discarding them as useless, or casting them out or off. How many of us are truly rejecting the evil powers of this world?
Repent. It’s been said that each of us is our own worst enemy. This makes sense to me, because a lot of times we don’t even need an outside influence to make us sin—we manage to handle that just fine on our own. When we become Christians, we still have to deal with the flesh—that part of us that, if not disciplined and brought under the power of the Holy Spirit, will take us down the wrong road every time. I think of our flesh like a car that isn’t in proper alignment. If we take our hands off the steering wheel long enough, we’re usually going to wind up in a ditch, or worse, in another lane crashing into some other vehicle. The Holy Spirit helps us control our flesh and keep it in check. Repenting is what we do when we make an active choice to change both our hearts and our lives—a choice that helps transform us both on the inside and the outside.
Renounce. This is a strong word. It means something along the lines of disavow, disown, forsake, or repudiate. When you renounce someone, you’re publicly declaring that they have no authority over you anymore and you’re dissociating yourself from them. In the baptismal vows, you’re not stopping at merely condemning forces of evil (denouncing), you’re severing any and all ties between you and those forces completely (renouncing). When you say you renounce something and you mean it, you’re doing something powerful in the spiritual realm, even if you only feel like you’re saying words at the time.
Our war with evil is happening on three fronts: between our spiritual nature and our corrupt one, between us and the world, and between us and spiritual forces of wickedness. We can’t focus on only one front and be effective. As with other parts of the Christian life, balance is a major key to maximum effectiveness.
Shane Raynor lives in Nashville, Tennessee, and is an editor and blogger at MinistryMatters.com.
by Steve | Dec 6, 2011 | Magazine Articles
By Liza Kittle
I had the pleasure of leading a women’s retreat with one of my women’s ministry mentors, the Rev. Kris Key. It was a beautiful weekend spent with some lovely new sisters in Christ of the Mountain Valley United Parish in Cobleskill and Jefferson in upstate New York.
Kris told a story taken from David Platt’s best-selling book Radical about his friend Bullen who lives in a ravaged area of Sudan, devastated by twenty years of civil war. Thousands of his friends have been killed by a militant Muslim regime and he has grown up there alone since childhood, having been separated from his family. Despite all this hardship and pain, Platt was mesmerized by Bullen’s shining smile and outlook on life.
As Bullen and Platt sipped tea together in this downtrodden place, they talked about how God had worked in Bullen’s life, brought him to faith in Christ, and God’s plan for his future. Bullen looked at his friend and said, “David, I am going to impact the world.” With much skepticism, Platt asked Bullen how he was going to do this. “I’m going to make disciples of all nations,” Bullen said. David repeated back to him, “So you are going to impact the world by making disciples of all nations?” Bullen smiled big and said, “Why not?”
Bullen had the confidence and faith that he was going to impact the world. He believed in Jesus’ command to make disciples of all nations and his life plan was to act in obedience. Platt contends that Bullen’s plan for his life is the same plan Jesus has for every individual life—by making disciples, each one of us can impact the world.
Many times as Christians, we lose sight of this central mandate of our Savior Jesus Christ. We question how we as individuals can impact the world and bring glory to God. We forget that God’s mission field is not only in Sudan, but also in our homes, neighborhoods, and the corner grocery store. Each one of us can make a difference in our own sphere of influence. Bullen didn’t focus on the massive destruction around him. He focused on what Jesus proclaimed for his disciples to do, one step at a time. Likewise, we shouldn’t let our circumstances overwhelm and derail us from Jesus’ proclamation that applies to us as well.
Many times as members of The United Methodist Church, we lose sight of Jesus’ call of impacting the world by making disciples. We seem to forget that sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ and making disciples is the core purpose of the Christian life and we become complacent in our participation in this Great Commission. We begin to worship the institution more than Jesus.
Being a United Methodist can lead to many days of disillusionment. Clergy and lay members alike sometimes feel like just throwing in the towel and heading for the door. Things happen within the denomination that discourage and detract us from continuing in the spiritual battle for the heart and soul of The United Methodist Church.
Things like hearing that more than 1,000 clergypersons have signed a public statement declaring they will be available to participate in same sex unions, openly defying our Book of Discipline. Like hearing that the “Church Within A Church” Movement—a progressive group—has held another “extraordinary ordination” of an openly gay pastor in the presence and with the blessing of United Methodist leaders.
Things like reading that church leaders have participated in public political activism such as the recent group of United Methodist Women (UMW) leaders in New York marching in the “Occupy Wall Street” movement. Things like learning that the UMW partners with the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, a group that advocates for no restrictions on abortion access.
We ask ourselves, “How can we ever stand up against such pervasive pressure from so many fronts? How can I as one person really make a difference in this battle for our church? Can I make an impact on the global church?”
Yes. Why not?
Even in the face of mounting discouragement, it has never been more important for faithful United Methodists to stand firm and persevere. We have much at stake at General Conference 2012 and many important issues to address. Why not help the effort through daily prayer for this important conference? Why not become informed on all the issues by reading up on all the processes of General Conference and the issues? Why not help support the Renewal and Reform Coalition financially by making a generous donation for our presence in Tampa?
Why not…make a global impact on the world by keeping this historic denomination centered on Jesus and making disciples of all nations.
Liza Kittle is President of the Renew Network (www.renew-network.org), P.O. Box 16055, Augusta, GA 30919; telephone: 706-364-0166.
