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Jesus and the middle seat
By Faye Short

Circulating through various official United Methodist publications are designations of an "extreme left" and an "extreme right" with the "Methodist middle" sandwiched in between. However, this portrayal of hard left/right polar opposites with a soft middle is both unfounded and inaccurate. In fact, this terminology is questionable because it flies in the face of identifying where we stand as Christians, who happen to be United Methodist.

John Wesley so aptly said, "A man of a truly catholic spirit has not now his religion to seek. He is fixed as the sun in his judgment concerning the main branches of Christian doctrine." I would venture to say most United Methodists stand proudly in this place of mainstream Christian thought and practice.

Those in the mainstream are marked by their belief in the main things that have defined Christian faith for over 2,000 years. United Methodist renewal groups, comprised of countless individuals and UM churches, fall within the banks of mainstream Methodism.

The Good News movement, since its inception in 1967, has self-identified as a "forum for Scriptural Christianity within the United Methodist Church." The Confessing Movement's purpose statement says the movement "exists to enable the United Methodist Church to retrieve its classical doctrinal identity, and to live it out as disciples of Jesus Christ."

These two groups, along with the Mission Society for United Methodists, Lifewatch, Transforming Congregations, UMAction and other conference renewal groups, are comprised of mainstream Methodists, who believe in the authority of Scripture and in faithfulness to the Doctrinal Standards and Articles of Religion of our Church. They, like the self-proclaimed "Methodist middle" delegate from Mississippi at General Conference 2004, "serve in small, medium, and large churches.in agencies.throughout the church." Individuals who are a part of renewal caucuses also "teach Sunday School.serve in food pantries, clothes closets.build Habitat houses and serve worldwide" through various United Methodist mission agencies.

I might add that many pastor our largest churches, teach in our seminaries, are strong and effective lay leaders, and are committed to missions, evangelism, and a strong Christian social witness. The renewal movements have spoken consistently in support of biblical standards on human sexuality for more than 25 years. In Pittsburgh, those standards were upheld by unprecedented strong votes-from 65 percent to as high as 83 percent majority. Those voting for such standards represent not an extreme view, but rather the broad center of the denomination.

There is not a "left" and "right" here. Those advocating for renewal and doctrinal fidelity within the church are neither radical fundamentalists nor extremists. The only ones who are extreme are those who are outside the mainstream of Christian faith and practice.

 Perhaps some of our UM publications also need to revisit the use of the term "Methodist middle." It may not be the best term for mainstream United Methodist Christians because it sounds too much like a place where one has no fixed standards-where one is apathetic. "Mainstream Methodism," on the other hand, evokes the vision of a solid center where the great Christian truths that transform are joyfully embraced and shared.

A friend of mine wrote an article entitled "Would You Like the Middle Seat?" She pointed out that virtually no one asks for the middle seat on an airplane and that if you are sane you do not drive or walk down the middle of the road because that's a dangerous zone-the middle. She concluded with a statement she had heard, "There's nothing in the middle of the road but a yellow stripe and dead skunks." We don't want to go there! (Carolyn Elias' article is posted at the Renew website under "Devotionals," www.renewnetwork.org).

I believe that a majority of United Methodists hold to the "main branches of Christian doctrine" as defined by Scripture and reinforced by our founder, John Wesley. If we ever get our designations down to perfection (and United Methodists like that terminology), we might be able to simply say, "You can find me where you'd find Jesus."

Renew is the women's program ministry of Good News. Visit our website at www.renewnetwork.org or call (706) 778-4812.

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