This past week, an irate reader of mine asked, “Why don’t you go after your own denomination?”
I could answer, “It is too easy a target,” but that would be flippant and unkind. So where should I begin . . .
Perhaps at the beginning. The denomination’s main name “Methodist” started as an 18th century version of the religious world’s “put-down.”
John Wesley, founder of what is now The United Methodist Church, was an Anglican Clergyman. The Church of England (Anglican) was established when Henry VIII needed to make himself head of the religious world, then Roman Catholic, in England so he could divorce his wife and marry Anne Boleyn, whom he then beheaded several years later in favor of his next wench. Those less than noble roots undergird the Methodist movement.
Wesley struggled with his own spiritual life. Even though he was doing all the expected things necessary for spiritual growth, he knew privately that he had a long way to go to become what he called a “real Christian.”
Eventually, after many stumbles, which included a disastrous trip to what is now the US as a missionary, he experienced a profound grace-moment when he received first-hand the forgiving and reconciling love of God. From that, and from the well of his many studies and experiences, he developed a series of methods that he felt would ensure personal and community growth toward real Christianity.
He began to preach and teach these methods, which included regular small group meetings. At each meeting, the main question was, “how is it with your soul?” The following questions are just a few of the many that were to be asked and answered in that group time:
- What known sins have you committed since our last meeting?
- What temptations have you met with?
- How were you delivered?
- What have you thought, said or done of which you have doubt whether it be sin or not?
- Have you nothing you desire to be kept secret?
That was only the beginning of Wesley’s methods, which, as it turns out, were extraordinarily effective in bringing about both personal and societal transformation.
The word “methodist” was given to those who chose to follow this pattern, which not only included this careful self examination, but also acts of mercy and charity, fasting, engaging in frequent observance of the Sacrament of Holy Communion and something called “holy conferencing,” which were group meetings to discern the will of God.
The word “methodist” was certainly not a compliment. Today, John Wesley would most likely be diagnosed as obsessive-compulsive because of his rigid personal schedule, spotty relational life, and his often unreasonable expectations of others.
But what has lingered are our methods—and way, way too often, those very methods that offered life and necessary structure in the beginning now shut out the power of the Spirit of God to bring radical transformation to individuals, congregations and communities.
We are choked by committees, drained financially by an ever growing bureaucracy, and struggle with trusting one another because of the glaring inequities in the clergy appointment system.
Many of our churches are barely surviving as they operate from an organizational model that ceased to work a long time ago. These communities no longer know how to receive the renewing breeze of the Holy Spirit.
Many of our aging clergy have lost all passion for this wonderfully demanding and often draining work as pastoral leaders. Our administrators load upon us more and more requirements, more evaluative tools, more pressure to count “nickels and noses” as measures of our worth.
We’re told that many of us are “ineffective” but no one will actually explain how that label “ineffective” is determined.
This is only the beginning. Yes, we are an easy target.
Yet, this I know: despite ourselves, God is God and God will win. I just want to cooperate with the kingdom of heaven process.
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