by Steve | Mar 5, 2013 | In the News
United Methodist representatives to the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC) are once again promoting a lopsided and jaundiced view of our denomination’s view of abortion. Staffers from the United Methodist Women (UMW) and the General Board of Church and Society recently marked the 40th anniversary of the controversial Roe v. Wade decision by bizarrely claiming “we seek to be a voice crying out to prepare the way for the Lord to bring about a new era of reproductive justice for our families and communities,” a warped apparent reference to John the Baptist. The Bible teaches that John the Baptist leaped in his mother’s womb when he was in the presence of Jesus Christ, who was still in the womb of Mary.
As United Methodists, we do not believe that Jesus Christ came to “bring about a new era of reproductive justice.” Instead, Jesus said that the “Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).
Aside from making a mockery of biblical imagery regarding life and death, when will United Methodist personnel in Washington D.C. and New York stop acting like an abortion rights lobby group and begin to tell the whole truth about United Methodism’s position on abortion?
While United Methodism does recognize “tragic conflicts of life with life that may justify abortion, and in such cases we support the legal option of abortion” (Discipline, Para 161J, emphasis added), our nuanced stand does not end there.
An honest portrayal also reports that United Methodism “cannot affirm abortion as an acceptable means of birth control, and we unconditionally reject it as a means of gender selection or eugenics.” (Guttmacher Institute consistently reports that more than 90 percent of all abortions are for birth control reasons. Additionally, studies have shown that more than 90 percent of pregnancies with a diagnosis of Down Syndrome are aborted.)
Furthermore, United Methodism overwhelmingly opposes “late-term abortion known as dilation and extraction (partial-birth abortion)….”
The Church and Society/UMW statement fails to mention any of United Methodism’s opposition to abortion.
There is a great disconnect between the men and women in the pews and pulpits in local UM congregations and the abortion enthusiasts associated with the RCRC, Church and Society, and the UMW. Local congregations will continue to struggle to justify sending apportionments to agencies who fail to tell the whole truth about United Methodism’s stand on abortion.
Why have we never seen the Board of Church and Society address the crisis of utilizing abortion as a means of birth control? Why have we not seen the briefing paper from the UMW addressing the sickening use of abortion for gender selection in the United States and around the globe? Why is there a deafening silence regarding the practice of late-term abortions? Where is the outcry over the abortion of mentally or physically challenged infants?
Instead, United Methodist abortion advocates utilize the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade to repeat overused and vacuous slogans such as “keep abortion safe, legal, accessible, and rare.” (Their full statement is available on the General Board of Church and Society’s website.)
Nowhere in the Church and Society/UMW statement is there a hint of the modern-day tragedy of 1.2 million lives lost every year in the U.S. due to abortion or the widespread use of abortion for birth control, gender selection, or eugenics in the world. Where is the equal regard called for in our denominational position, where “we are equally bound to respect the sacredness of the life and well-being of the mother and the unborn child” (¶ 161J)? The narrow scope of the Church and Society/UMW statement is out of touch with the mainstream position of The UM Church.
Good News supports efforts to address maternal mortality by providing better “pre-natal services, birthing assistance, and post-natal follow-up.” We support access to contraception in keeping with the individual consciences of women and providers, as well as comprehensive sex education, to reduce unintended pregnancies. However, we firmly believe that the answer to unintended pregnancies and maternal mortality is not increased access to abortion.
Instead, the Church and the broader society need to provide emotional and material support to women with unintended pregnancies. That is why our denominational position says, “The Church shall offer ministries to reduce unintended pregnancies. We commit our Church to continue to provide nurturing ministries to those who terminate a pregnancy, to those in the midst of a crisis pregnancy, and to those who give birth. … The Church and its local congregations and campus ministries should be in the forefront of supporting existing ministries and developing new ministries that help [young adult] women in their communities. … We particularly encourage the Church, the government, and social service agencies to support and facilitate the option of adoption. (See ¶ 161L) We affirm and encourage the Church to assist the ministry of crisis pregnancy centers and pregnancy resource centers that compassionately help women find feasible alternatives to abortion” (¶ 161J).
It appears that RCRC and our United Methodist representatives are not interested in ministries that would reduce the number of abortions. That is why they also call for a “careful analysis of the church’s support for crisis pregnancy centers that may not offer all options of counseling.” From their pro-abortion perspective, such suspicion of crisis pregnancy centers that provide “feasible alternatives to abortion” undermines their call to keep abortion “rare.” Instead, the extremists at RCRC favor no restrictions on abortion, at any time in pregnancy or for any reason.
Good News wants to know when our United Methodist agencies will advocate for the full and balanced position of our church on abortion. It appears that our agency staff persons have greater allegiance to the external coalition of RCRC than they do to our own denomination’s Social Principles. Our church’s membership in RCRC is distorting our advocacy in the church and public arenas. It is past time for our denomination to withdraw its membership from RCRC.
– The Good News editorial team
by Steve | Mar 5, 2013 | Magazine Articles
By Duffy Robbins
Jon is one of those kids who never shows up for prayer breakfast or Sunday school, and always seems to have unavoidable conflicts that prevent his helping out with fund raisers and work projects. Spiritually, he ranks somewhere between “plant life” and “lower primate.”
The picture isn’t completely negative, though. There are two areas for which Jon has shown tremendous enthusiasm: one is food, and the other is girls. Whenever a youth group activity allows for a large gathering of either, you can count on Jon to be there! Jon doesn’t make any pretense about it. He doesn’t have any real commitment to Christ, but he does have a strong commitment to having a good time. In short, Jon is a fairly average teenage guy.
There are students like Jon in the orbit of virtually every youth ministry I’ve ever known. I call them “Come Level” students.
In the last issue of Good News we talked about the notion of targeted programming: We need to work very hard to meet kids where they are – wherever they are – in the odyssey of faith. This means thinking about where our students might be in their various faith journeys, and then developing and targeting programs that meet them in that place. If your youth group is typical, you probably have kids all over the spiritual map!
The first Level of Commitment is the Pool of Humanity, namely the teenage population within your geographical sphere of influence.
Jon is in the second Level of Commitment. These are students in your Pool of Humanity who have some contact with your ministry, but if, and only if, you have something they like on a given occasion. And frankly, sometimes students like Jon discourage us. After all, we’re called to build disciples, and it’s frustrating to invest time and effort on kids who don’t seem willing to get serious about their walk with Christ.
But let’s be honest: first of all, most teenagers on the outside of our ministries aren’t somehow mysteriously born with a felt need for good doctrinal teaching; and secondly, a majority of the students on the inside of our groups aren’t either. If we only target our programming for the spiritual heavyweights, we’re going to touch the lives of very few kids. In fact, what Paul seems to strongly suggest in Romans 1 is that we are – all of us – natural-born experts at avoiding, denying, and counterfeiting any knowledge of God.
At least these kids come. Most of the teenage population never even comes. Let’s be grateful for the opportunity. You can’t embrace someone you can’t touch. When we find ourselves frustrated and discouraged, let’s remember that every one of us reading these words was at one time very likely one of these “Come Level” kids.
“The ways by which the Holy Spirit leads men and women to Christ are wonderful and mysterious,” wrote Anglican Bishop J. C. Ryle (1816-1900). “He is often beginning in a heart a work that shall stand for eternity, when an onlooker observes nothing remarkable. In every work there must be a beginning, and in spiritual work that beginning is often very small.”
Ryle wants us to remember a biblical example: “Do we see a careless brother coming to church and listening to the gospel after a long indifference? When we see such things, let us remember Zacchaeus. Let us not look coldly on such a person because his motives are at present very poor and questionable. It is far better to hear the gospel out of curiosity than not to hear it at all.
“Our brother is with Zacchaeus in the tree! Who can tell but that one day he may receive Christ just as joyfully? …It may be difficult to see how salvation can result from a man climbing a tree. That’s because you see a man in a tree, but God sees a man lost and searching.”
by Steve | Mar 5, 2013 | Mar-Apr 2013
By Blossom Matthews
It was my first theology class, and I was a bit surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Having been raised non-denominational, dipping my toes in the waters of the religion department at a Southern Baptist university made for a life-changing experience. I was vaguely familiar with Calvinism and knew it wasn’t for me, but as we studied Calvinism, we also studied its counterpoint: Arminianism. Though the professor didn’t intend to affirm Arminianism, I realized I had finally put a name to my theological perspective.
As the Holy Spirit nudged me to embrace my call to ministry, it was only a hop, skip, and jump until I found my theological and spiritual home: United Methodism. With family members who had been Nazarene pastors, Methodist pastors, and even circuit riders, Wesleyanism was in my blood. As I settled into my new home, a few qualities of United Methodism stood out above the rest:
Women in Ministry
One aspect of United Methodism that I believe most warms the heart of God is our support of women in ministry. Consider the generations of women who were never allowed to live out their call to pastoral ministry. In God’s name, churches have accused and judged these women as misguided, at best, and rebellious, at worst.
Growing up non-denominational, I got a lot of mixed signals regarding women in ministry. Even churches that didn’t outright stand against women in ministry seemed to have the view that, “Yes, God can call women to preach and teach, and maybe pastor – depending on who you are and how famous you are. And as long as you are under the headship of a man.” Unless I married into ministry, it wasn’t going to happen.
Coming into a denomination in which women are respected and treated as equals was a breath of fresh air. In fact, it was more than that. The United Methodist Church became a liberating place to live out my faith and call. While it will take time to fully cultivate a church culture in which women are as eagerly received as men into the local church pastorate, clergywomen know that we are supported by bishops, district superintendents, and fellow clergymen who support us in answering God’s call. I give thanks for this safe place, The United Methodist Church, in which I can simply be the woman God has called me to be.
We are Open
One’s greatest strength can also be their greatest weakness; this is certainly true for The United Methodist Church. Those of us who support orthodox faith and practice are deeply concerned about the loss of theological clarity within our denomination. Being “open minded,” as our denominational slogan claims, has the potential of leading us down a path that contradicts the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We remember the warning found in Ephesians 4:14, that “we must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine.” While the growing lack of conviction regarding foundational matters may concern us, let us not forget that our openness is also one of our greatest strengths.
Coming from a near-fundamentalist background, I appreciate the open nature of our denomination. Our willingness to think about new ideas, to embrace scholarship, to respect those with whom we disagree, and to open wide our doors and hearts to all who are spiritually hungry gives me hope that God can use our denomination to reach the least, the last, and the lost. While we are fully aware of the dangers and pitfalls of our surrounding culture, we have the ability to live in the world without being of it, to love the world without being formed by it. We can love our neighbor who thinks and acts differently than we do without compromising our faith and conscience. Our openness need not reflect moral weakness or theological confusion, but rather, the open heart of our risen Lord.
The best of Christendom
I love the fact that The United Methodist Church is a place where both Roman Catholics and Southern Baptists can feel somewhat comfortable. In our congregation, we may profess the Apostle’s Creed on the same Sunday that we have an altar call. United Methodists have the ability to bring liturgical, revival, and contemporary traditions together in celebration of God’s work through the Universal Church.
We also bring together doctrines that some would consider mutually exclusive. Do we believe we are saved by grace through faith? You bet! But what about good works? We believe in those, too! Well, do United Methodists believe in free will or in providence? Yes and yes. Our theology is rich and nuanced. We affirm and bring together seemingly contradictory beliefs to present a balanced, biblical view of God and life.
John Wesley taught the importance of both personal holiness and social holiness. As United Methodists, we have the potential of ministering to the whole person: spirit, soul, and body. Our evangelical experience of the heart strangely warmed calls us forward to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God. We are not an either/or church, but a both/and church, pulling together and holding in tension the great doctrines of the Universal Church.
From our open hearts and inclusive spirit to our rich theology, the United Methodist Church provides good soil in which God may raise up new disciples for Jesus Christ.
Blossom Matthews is the pastor of First United Methodist Church of Pampa, Texas, where she co-pastors with her husband, Nick Matthews. She is the proud mother of Ruth, Josiah, and Malachi.
by Steve | Mar 5, 2013 | In the News
By John Southwick
After 14 years in the Research Office of the General Board of Global Ministries, I have come to look at churches through evaluative eyes. I look for fruitfulness and whether a church’s branches are barren or bearing fruit. It is in that light that I look back on the church where I got my call to ministry more than three decades ago. This was a spectacular church led by a remarkable senior pastor, but I was clueless to those things, having just come to a true faith in Christ and being oblivious to church distinctions. As I reflect back after many decades, I can identify several characteristics which may have contributed to the greatness of this church.
Park Avenue United Methodist Church had been a comfortable, white church in Minneapolis in the early 1950s and then experienced “white flight.” The members who moved to the suburbs drove back to church and wanted it to stay as it had been. The pastor had a more missional view, though that word was yet to be defined as such. He believed the church should minister to the community it was a part of. Lots of church battles ensued, but the pastor prevailed. During my time there, it had become one of the most diverse UM congregations to be found.
Dr. C. Philip Hinerman served there for 36 years until mandatory retirement. When he retired, Park Avenue had the highest worship attendance in the Minnesota Annual Conference. Most other mainline churches in the neighborhood had either closed or dwindled significantly. Also, while statistics are not available, it is likely that Park was in the upper echelon of UM churches with calls to ministry per member. Many of these were to the ordained ministry, such as myself, while many others were to missions or para-church work.
Park’s outreach to the community was central to its mission. Its summer program was legendary, with such offerings as sports teams, typing lessons, and summer camp experiences. Also, an annual summer event was the Soul Liberation Festival. In the parking lot of this essentially inner-city church, a stage was set up and national caliber Christian recording artists performed nightly, along with top-notch speakers. While many in the church and community turned out, this event had a metro-wide draw and reputation, bringing large outdoor crowds.
Phil Hinerman, a founding board member of Good News, was an exceptional leader in many respects. Though he was not a student of leadership techniques, he was a highly motivated, deeply spiritual man. Aware of his limitations, but trusting in a mighty God, he was a man of prayer. Those close to him knew that he rose early in the morning to pray. From his afternoon schedule, he carved out time to pray – and did again in the evenings. These prayer times could easily be an hour or more in length. In this respect, he sounds a great deal like John Wesley.
Dr. Hinerman was a fine pastor, but he was also an evangelist and yearned deeply for people to come to a saving faith in Christ. Furthermore he frequently called people to totally surrender their lives to the Lord Jesus. I still have a list he wrote on the back of an envelope of areas of one’s life that need to be surrendered, which he wrote for me in one of my times with him. He once told me that he shared the surrender message at a pastors’ assembly and that many responded at the altar.
Dr. Hinerman’s meetings with me at his favorite restaurant hangout were not unusual. He met multitudes of people there. These were times of fellowship, counseling, and mentoring. No wonder so many went into the ministry. He genuinely cared for his flock, as well as the community he served.
Much more could be said about Park Avenue and “Doc,” as he was affectionately called by most who knew him. At its core, the strength of Park Avenue was due to the mighty hand of God. God loves to use surrendered leaders who spend time on their knees, with a passion for souls, and a love of the people and community. If more churches had pastors with these qualities, the church vitality we talk so much about might be much more prevalent.
John Southwick is the Director of Research, Networking, and Resources for Good News. Dr. Southwick brings with him a background in research and pastoral ministry that will enhance his work in helping to foster renewal in United Methodist congregations.
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).
