Lay Leader's address to the 2010 Conference Session
(click here to see the video of the address)
“The thing I want and hope for is that I will not fail Christ in anything, that I will have the courage now and always to show the greatness of Christ in my life here on earth.” Several years ago I chose these words from Paul’s letter to the Philippians as my life verse. This has become my reason for being, the measure of how I want to live my life. And from it, God has given me a passion for three things... children, making disciples of Jesus, and the vitality and future of our beloved United Methodist Church.
“Unless you become like little children, you cannot enter the kingdom of God.” For me, it is often in the wisdom of children that I am most blessed... and challenged. Hear about the future of our Church and the making of disciples from the perspective of three children...
Many years ago, when we moved to a new town, we began the search for a United Methodist Church. One Sunday, our then 4 year old son Tommy said, “Mommy, why don’t people smile in this church like our old church?” For that church to survive and thrive, it had to change...
Fast forward 5 years... It was Mother’s Day, a day when the youngest in our church give a blooming marigold plant to each woman as she enters the service.
Our then 7 year old son Jimmy shyly gave a marigold to a family friend who had recently moved to our town. This friend and her husband did join the church, and in the fall began singing in the choir. How surprised Jimmy was to see them one Sunday walking down the aisle in choir robes. “Well, look at that!” he said to me. “I give them a flower and now look- they’re singing in the choir!” He was sure that was why they were active in the church... and it certainly didn’t hurt.
It’s now 15 years later and what a different world we live in. Church is no longer the center of our culture, and Sunday is no longer set aside as sacred, protected time. For those in the church and outside the church, Sunday can be a time to catch up on sleep, or chores at home, and unfortunately, taking children to a myriad of sports events.
Cinda had been a faithful Christian, attending church every Sunday as her older children were growing up. However, 5 years ago when they moved to our town, it was somehow easier to not seek out a new church home. They had a 2 year old, a new job, and the usual activities of settling in.
That 2 year old is now 7, a sweet girl named Addie. Six months ago she went to her mom one day with these words, “Mom, can we sign up for church?” If you can sign up for soccer and swimming and dance, it made sense to her that if you wanted to go to church, you would sign up for that too.
I wonder how many others think the same thing...
Because of Addie’s question, she and her mom are now an active part of our worship and Sunday School. Cinda offers deep perspectives of faith to our class discussions, and Addie is learning more about the God who has always loved her.
Most of you could share similar stories... how the church has fallen short but also the joy of getting it right. Hopefully, every Sunday, somewhere in Iowa United Methodist Churches, people are being baptized and making professions of faith. But if not, why not?
Let’s learn from the wonderful history of our church when our founders began a movement that would cover our country with congregations. Led mostly by lay preachers and circuit-riding elders, our movement was dynamic and vital. So why the decline?
Leadership at the general church level has begun to identify some factors for that... one is that we just got too successful in the 1950’s, when our churches were bursting at the seams with new members, without any real effort on our part. Another which was much more subtle is that our seminaries moved away from teaching evangelism through passionate preaching, and toward teaching care-giving and nurture as the primary skill sets for new pastors.
Although we still have many great preachers, as a denomination we are more concerned with managing our home churches, music programs, and Sunday Schools than with reaching out to those outside our doors.
And most importantly, we as the laity have embraced nurturing by our clergy, and failed to seek and support prophetic preaching.
The result is that we are fabulously wealthy as a denomination in terms of bricks and mortar but last year lost 60,000 people per week in worship. Some left for other reasons, but most died. The average age of our people is 60, perhaps higher in Iowa.
There are 34,000 United Methodist Churches in our country... more than McDonalds and post offices. Over half of these churches have a worship attendance of less than 60. In Iowa, 85% of our clergy will retire in the next
10-15 years.
There is a clear reason for our decline, and through the FIT challenge Bishop Trimble has given us the solution... tell the stories of Jesus and His transformational love. Even though the Methodist DNA was to invite joyously all to enter worship with them and learn the story, it is no more. We don’t even like to say the word evangelism, but in Greek it simply means “Good News.” It’s just helping people find God.
Just one year ago the Council of Bishops issued a Call to Action for our Church challenging a steering committee to bring a plan of action that will lead to ordering the life of the Church.
Some of the discussion points include:
~ effectiveness and accountability across the church
~ rebuilding our leadership development system with special attention to young people
~ eliminating the guaranteed appointment
~ recasting the General Conference
~ reducing the number of general agencies
~ constructing a viable financial future
As they move forward they will be looking for feedback and insight from a wide range of people, including those of us in the pews at home.
The critical question that guided the work of the Steering Committee was the same question that has haunted me for a long time: Will we passively accept the reality of the continued decline of United Methodism in the US OR with urgency and passion choose to move toward achieving our mission of making disciples of Jesus for the transformation of the world in creative, fresh, and bold new ways?
It is hopeful that our Church is being pro-active to change but the urgency and passion for making disciples still has to come from all of us in the local church. We must let go of our unconscious practice of being social clubs with a cross and flame motif. There is a world out there of people looking for hope for the future, for meaning and fulfillment in their lives... looking for God’s grace that we say we will offer through our radical hospitality.
Pastor Bruce Ursin is famous in our church for saying, “Most churches are gearing up for 1959, and if that year ever comes around again, they will be ready for folks.” How we laugh at that, but sadly, how true it is. I recently attended a different worship service and it hit me like a ton of bricks... that service was exactly like when I was a child... 50 years ago... same organ music, same hymns, similar liturgy!
We say we want our churches to grow but at what sacrifice? The message of the gospel must not change but how we share that message and do the business of the church must. Are we ready to meet people of the 21st century in the worlds they live in? Are we ready to go outside the walls of our buildings, or do we expect them to come to us? We must reach young people and young adults!
So the question is, What are we going to do about it? Can we “Rethink Church?” As I’ve wrestled with the reason for our decline, I keep coming back to the same thing. We don’t know how to share our faith... and sometimes I wonder if we know why we should. We’re so afraid of offending people and turning them off that we don’t say or do anything, me included.
E Stanley Jones, the most famous Methodist missionary of the last century, wrote about the first sermon he tried to give when he first felt called to become a spokesman for God. He had hardly gotten started when he lost his train of thought and finally blurted out, “Friends, I am very sorry but I have forgotten my sermon!” He started down the steps in shame and confusion. He says that as he was about to leave the pulpit, a Voice seemed to say to him, “Haven’t I done anything for you?”
“Yes,” he replied, “You have done everything for me.”
“Well,” answered the Voice, “couldn’t you tell that?”
“Yes, I suppose I could,” he eagerly replied. So instead of going to his seat he came around in front of the pulpit below and said, “Friends, I see I cannot preach, but I love Jesus Christ. You know what my life was in this community, and you know what it is now. You know he has made life new for me, and though I cannot preach I am determined to love and serve him.”
At the close a lad came up and said, “Stanley, I wish I could find what you have found.” He did find it then and became a member of that church. Stanley says the Lord let him down with a terrible thump but he got the lesson never to be forgotten: In his ministry he was to be, not God’s lawyer, but his witness. That would mean that there would have to be living communion with Christ so that there would always be something to pass on.
What an inspiring mission that is, not to be God’s lawyer but God’s witness.... to be growing and serving in our faith so we will always have something to pass on. So how are we doing?
Last year Bishop Trimble challenged us for this quadrennium to make 20,000 new contacts with residents in Iowa. That would be a great start in sharing our faith. Have we made those connections with 5,000 Iowans since we last met?
God has given each of us a mission... to make disciples of Jesus Christ... to share God’s love and make Jesus real in our world today. When we’re feeding the homeless, rebuilding a flooded home, working on a Habitat house, providing after school programs for kids, listening to a grieving friend... wherever God has placed us, that is our opportunity to begin a relationship, to make one of those 20,000 contacts... not for our sake but for the sake of God’s kingdom and God’s people.
Movies often inspire me and when I saw this clip I knew I wanted to share it with you this morning. It’s from the movie “Letters to God.” Sometimes we just don’t realize that God puts people and situations in our lives for a reason.
(Video)
Well, friends, how does it feel to be on a mission from God? Perfect?
We can make Jesus real by making the church come alive, to invite people not into a religion, but a relationship. Sometimes people are turned off by that phrase “personal relationship”, but it simply means having a sense of Jesus being with us in our lives... to know He won’t leave us no matter what... to know that no matter what we walk through, He is with us. Why would we keep that to ourselves?
It is my prayer that each of us would be open to the Holy Spirit’s prompting to E Stanley Jones and make it our own.
A Voice seemed to say to him, “Haven’t I done anything for you?”
“Yes,” he replied, “You have done everything for me.”
“Well,” answered the Voice, “couldn’t you tell that?”