Forward in Faith

By Rob Renfroe

November/December 2024

In the airport, on my way to the convening General Conference of the Global Methodist Church in San José, Costa Rica, I had a remarkable conversation with a delegate to the conference. He told me what he hoped the conference would decide on an issue that was very important to him. But he was quick to add that he knew good people who love Jesus and his church saw the issue differently. He concluded by saying, “Whatever happens, I’m going to trust the General Conference.”

I had the same conversation, practically verbatim, with another delegate shortly after arriving, before a single vote had been taken. She ended her remarks with the same sentiment. “But whatever happens, I’ll trust what the General Conference decides.”

Each time I responded by asking, “Did you hear the words you just spoke – that you’re going to trust whatever the General Conference decides?” They both nodded. Then I asked, “Have you ever said those words before in your life – that you’ll just trust the General Conference?” Both smiled, shook their heads, and said, “No, never.”

People ask me what was the convening conference like? That’s a big question that could be answered in many ways. But the greatest difference from the previous eight General Conferences I have attended was the way delegates trusted each other. There were significant differences on several issues, the most emotional ones concerned the episcopacy – what the role of bishops would be and who should be considered for that role. But no one even hinted they were suspicious of the motives of those with different views. The debate was always polite and respectful. And the delegates all evidenced a genuine appreciation for other viewpoints and exuded what appeared to be a real humility as they advocated for their positions.

That was an answer to my prayers, literally. For the past several months when people asked me what I most hoped would come out of General Conference, I answered, “Two things. First, I want us to leave San José unified.” By that I did not mean that we would all have the same opinions but that we would all feel that we were on the same team, that we would all believe the decision-making process had been fair and transparent, and that there would be no reason to suspect that special interest groups were making some kind of play for influence or power.

In the past it was not that way. But in San José, no one questioned whether the bishops had cut special deals with groups they wanted to promote. No one wondered if delegates from outside the U.S. were being blocked from participating. No one wore a special ribbon or button to advance an agenda. No one castigated another delegate for using the wrong language. And no one felt the need to keep track and report if any ethnic group or gender was speaking too much. The entire time was an experience of people simply treating each other like brothers and sisters – and trusting the General Conference.

Good News has encouraged pastors, parishioners and congregations to join the Global Methodist Church ever since its creation over two years ago. We still do. In fact, now more than ever. We have met, we have decided who we are, and we have determined how we will conduct our business. And in complete sincerity, I can tell you, “You can trust the GMC.”

You can trust the GMC’s doctrine – it is centered on Christ and committed to the Bible as the Word of God. You can trust its commitment to inclusivity – the six newly elected bishops included two black men from Africa and two white women, one black man, and one white man from the United States. You can trust that the GMC’s decision-making process is soaked in prayer, open, and transparent.

There’s something else you can trust. The GMC’s leadership. I know all six bishops elected in San José, as well as the two who have been serving actively for the past two years. They are persons of deep faith. They have led growing churches. They love people and they love Jesus. They are mature and thoughtful persons. They are leaders. I respect them. I admire them. I am inspired by them. I can learn from them. And most importantly, I trust them. All of them. That was my other hope and prayer for General Conference – that we would elect leaders who would serve our new church well. I can report wholeheartedly that I believe we did. Thanks be to God, by his grace, we did!

What am I praying now for the Global Methodist Church? First, I’m praying that we will be a humble church. I pray we will never forget that apart from Jesus we can do nothing, that we must remain attached to the vine if we are to be fruitful, that God’s ways are not our ways and we must humble ourselves before his Word and seek him on our knees.

I pray we will be a servant church. During my ministry, I worked hard to be the best preacher of the Gospel I could be. I believe in the power of God’s word proclaimed clearly and unapologetically. But I believe the best way to reach secular people and  impact our culture will not be by preaching better sermons, building bigger buildings, or creating slicker social media campaigns. We will reach people when, like Jesus, we empty ourselves and become servants – servants who are willing to go to a cross because we care about people and their needs. When people think of Christians and instead of thinking “those are people who vote a certain way,” “those are people who judge others,” “those are people who tell the rest of us how we should live,” and instead they think, “those are the people in my community who love others,” that’s when people will be ready to hear our message. When they think, “those are the people in our community who care for single mothers and their children,” “those are the people who help addicts get clean,” “those are the people who feed the hungry, bring hope to inmates in prison, and work in homeless shelters” – when that’s what people think of us, I’m convinced they will want to know why we do what we do. And when we tell them the reason is Jesus, I think they’ll listen.

I pray we will be a church that is open to the Spirit of God. Yes, open to the gifts of the Spirit and passionate worship, absolutely. But I’m thinking of something else – being open to however the Spirit wants us to reach the lost. No one was more formal, high church, and proper than John Wesley. But somehow this uptight, Anglican priest was open to the Spirit of God – so much so that he preached in the open fields, in the coal mines, and in the city streets when it made him feel “even more vile” – because the Spirit told him to do so. God needed Wesley to do a new thing because God  was doing a new thing. And, praise God, Wesley was willing to follow the Spirit.

What will God’s Spirit call GMC pastors and congregations to do to reach the lost in our  time? I don’t know. But this is a new day in the U.S. We live in a secular, post-modern culture that is suspicious and antagonistic to the Gospel and those who proclaim it. So, God will need to do a new thing. And his people will have to listen to the Spirit and follow him into a new way of bringing the Good News to people who will not respond to the same way we have always done things. I pray the Spirit of God will lead us and the spirit of our spiritual father John Wesley will inspire us to follow the Spirit’s call into the new day God has waiting for his church and the world he loves.

As we close down Good News and as I write this final editorial, there is some sadness within my heart. But more than that, I am grateful for how God has used Good News for nearly sixty years. I feel privileged to have been part of its ministry. Most of all, I feel hopeful for the people called Methodist. Hopeful because we can trust the GMC and we can be confident in its leadership. Hopeful because we can be  confident that God created the GMC and he will bless our efforts to lift up the saving work of Jesus and to bring grace and truth to the world. Hopeful because I am convinced that if we are a humble church, a servant community, and a people who are open to his Spirit, what God will accomplish through the GMC will amaze us all. To God our Father, to Jesus the Son, and to the Holy Spirit be all honor, power and glory, now and  forever more. Amen.