What if? Rethinking the UMC’s ReThink campaign
What if a church actually proclaimed the Gospel for the forgiveness of sins? Would you come?
I love this planet, it is a blessing by the grace of God we have such a wonderful place to inhabit. And yes, I think we should be good stewards. I think there are great things the church can help achieve even and people to help. However, I am reminded of this quote…
Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither.
C. S. Lewis
The UMC is declining and dying. Literally, a recent study showed that the death rate of UMC’s is greater than the US population as a whole.
http://www.umc.org/site/apps/nlnet/content3.aspx?c=lwL4KnN1LtH&b=2072519&ct=7166841
What are we trying to do here? Why is the face of the denomination wrapped up in promoting itself when it should be promoting the Gospel? The decline is not because the UMC has been unconcerned with social issues, just the opposite! For too long, UMC’s have made Social agenda/as well as Oprah brand self-help their primary task and forsaken the biblical mandate in 2 Timothy 4
In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.
There is nothing wrong about caring for the poor or wanting to treat the environment better and so forth. In fact, I believe that to be a wonderful consequence of the Gospel, when upon justification, the Holy Spirit dwells within a believer and transforms their heart and mind. However, it is not the gospel (1st Corinthians 15: 3-4), and not what the main thrust of what any church should be about. Acts2:42 gives us a quick summary of the kind of things the early church concerned themselves with.
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer
Why is that not enough? Why is being discipled by the teaching of scripture, the fellowship of believers, observing the sacraments not enough? And when the church does act outside its doors, what happened to true evangelism? I think is one of the least loving things we can do to not care for the soul of people enough to inconvenience ourselves to talk about Christ. Can it be scary? Painful? Intimidating? Well then you are in good company! In Acts the apostles went to many (worse) hostile crowds and didn’t talk about Electric cars, government programs. They talked about Jesus! Specifically they talked how humanity is sinful, and each individual needs the substitutionary death of Jesus on the cross applied to them for the forgiveness of our sins. Read the sermons in the book of Acts. What are they about?
I think John Wesley said it very well:
You have nothing to do but save souls, spend and be spent in this work.
Posted on August 20, 2009, in The Church. Bookmark the permalink. 8 Comments.
Amen!
I think you are on track, but I would also look more towards Jesus’ own mission laid out in Luke 4.
We really need to continue to ask ourselves what the gospel is: it is not just saving the earth from our collective greed for sure, but it also not just the substitutionary death of Jesus. How does Christ Crucified play out in everyday life for us as the church?
I don’t mind the RETHINK campaign that much, it being a huge chunk of money laid out by a bureaucratic institution aside. RETHINK lays out the branding for us (whether we wanted it or not); we might as well supply some good Wesleyan theology to make the mess work.
Well Said ! ! !
Good thoughts, Scott – I think you hit the nail on the head when you say that the Church is too busy promoting itself, rather than Christ and the gospel. I think if United Methodists start off by promoting United Methodism, people will yawn and the church will continue to decline. If, on the other hand we promote the life-changing gospel of Jesus (and do so with good solid Wesleyan theology of grace, and of sacraments and all the rest) then people might get curious about United Methodism along the way.
I’m in basic agreement with what Seth said above: the Kingdom message is the heart of the Gospel according to Jesus’ own words (see Luke 4:43). Caring for the poor or the environment are not nice add-ons to the *real* message of justification – in the New Testament the coming of the Kingdom of God – the New Creation under the Lordship of Jesus Christ – is the heart. Turning away from our private sins/rebellion and giving our own lives and souls to his Lordship as King over our lives AND seeking justice, caring for creation and for the poor are ALL related to this one heart: the Kingdom of God.
Preach it! It’s hard to find a UMC church lately that WILL preach that!
It’s good, right, to serve God through serving the community. But if you spend your time just doing that, you’re ignoring the most important need that humans have: Jesus!
Thanks, Scott!
Here’s some important and timely news about saving the UMC from performing a disappearing. Maxie Dunham and Bishop Cannon are going to save the UMC. Take a look at this article… and its original date.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1058/is_n4_v111/ai_14818762/
Folks, if it’s going to be turned around, it’s going to have to come from the grassroots… the membership. Our pastors, no matter how liberal or conservative, or big or small, or young or old, aren’t going to do it. It’s the membership, stupid.
Just came across your blog today and am enjoying the articles.
I was also reading for my Methodism class and came across a timely section revealing some of John Wesley’s thoughts on the wholeness of salvation: “He built a school near Two-Mile Hill, with a large hall for preaching, facilities for two schoolmasters, and an invitation to scholars of all ages. He was especially concerned that poor children not only learn ‘to read, write, and cast accounts, but more especially (by God’s assistance) to know God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent.’”
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