July/August 2007
FEATURES
A vision for growth at Granger Community
Church Riley B. Case travels through the genesis of a
megachurch.
Social justice through the eyes of Wesley Irv A. Brendlinger celebrates the rich heritage of active holiness.
Praying people bring God’s answers Margaret Therkelsen offers a candid look at crisis and comfort.
Contract and covenant: In search of American identity Richard John Neuhaus plumbs the depths of a national theology.
Evel Knievel’s leap of faith Steve Beard applauds the baptism of a daredevil.
COLUMNS
Editorial General Conference and specific questions
Next Generation The dangers of transparency
RENEW Women’s Network Retain the label—before it’s lost
The Great Commission In the home of an Imam
From the Heart There’s no place like home
DEPARTMENTS
News Analysis Women’s Division showcases radical speakers
News
Cuban Methodists thrive but feel effect of embargo
State of the Church report reveals hope and concern
United Methodists join in Sudan water mission project
We are less than a year away from the 2008 United Methodist General Conference. Between now and then, newly-elected delegates and others will be discussing major issues we hope might strengthen our denomination and reverse our nearly 40 years of continuous decline.
We will study reports on restructuring, new ways of doing ministry, and we will reflect together on the State of the Church Report, which is set for church-wide release in mid-June. Its purpose is to help United Methodists examine and discuss what is working and not working in the church, and to reflect how best we might work together to fulfill our mission and ministries.
As we make preparations for General Conference, I wonder, once again, whether we, as the church gathered, might somehow focus on what seems clearly at the heart of our United Methodist malaise: our loss of confidence and clarity in the content of what we preach and teach. In a word, United Methodists are all over the playing field when it comes to matters of doctrine and theology. Our theological license, confusion, and revisionism led the late Bishop William R. Cannon to remark with obvious exasperation, "Why, if Wesley were here, he'd have many of our clergy and theologians arrested for indecent mental exposure!"
Has United Methodism lost something that is foundational to the essence of the Gospel, something at the heart of our Wesleyan theological heritage? In his book I Believe in the Church, the late Anglican rector David Watson, from York, England, believed that renewal by the Spirit of God is often preceded by times of particular crisis, which cause "an urgent return to the essentials of the faith or to some particular aspects which have long been neglected."
The matter of what we might have neglected or lost came to me in a fresh way after reading Donald W. Haynes' splendid essay in the June 1, 2007 United Methodist Reporter, "Learning anew the faith we Methodists declare." Dr. Haynes, who directs the United Methodist Studies program at Hood Theological Seminary, writes about recently re-reading Edwin Lewis' important and controversial book, A Christian Manifesto, first published in 1934. Haynes noted his amazement at the similarity of the theological issues facing Methodism in 1939, at the time of unification, and how relevant Lewis' challenge then is for us today.
Lewis taught theology at Drew Theological Seminary from 1916 until 1951. In the early 1920s, he embraced the theological liberalism that had become enormously popular at the time. But, by the end of the decade, he had become disenchanted with liberalism's naturalistic presuppositions and he experienced a radical theological reorientation-a conversion. In his Manifesto, he passionately urged American Protestantism to return to the beliefs of the historic faith in supernaturalism, revelation, radical human sinfulness, and the reality of the incarnation and the atonement.
Lewis wrote in 1939 about the unification of the three Methodist branches and said the new organizational structure-The Methodist Church-will not matter in the least if the new, larger church doesn't give itself to the task of declaring and demonstrating the Christian faith. He said, "This faith began as an evangel. Whenever evangelicalism has declined, the Church has declined, and nothing but evangelicalism has brought it back to power."
Lewis protested against Methodist clergy and laity who had difficulty reciting the "Apostles' Creed." He criticized their inability to affirm the Virgin Birth and the resurrection of the body, though they would recite with enthusiasm the new "Social Creed of the Churches." For many who had embraced theological liberalism, the supernatural dimensions of the gospel had been put aside for a major focus on the ethical principles of Jesus' life and teaching.
Lewis warned against a Christianity that simply urged persons to imitate the life and ethical teachings of Jesus. This was no Gospel, he insisted. "The evangel was never to challenge non-Christians to adopt the Christian ethic; the evangel was for them to be 'transformed by the renewing of their minds,' to become 'new creatures in Christ.'"
Dr. Haynes summarizes, "Christianity.is the religion that Jesus' Incarnation, earthly ministry, Crucifixion, Resurrection and expected Second Coming made possible, but was not birthed until the empowering of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost." It has never been merely an "emulation of Jesus." This was the mistake of our Sunday school heritage, which taught us to "be good boys and girls."
Has United Methodism lost something foundational, something essential to its Wesleyan heritage? It would seem that we have. But we have also developed a hundred different ways of not facing that reality head-on. It's easier to talk about structure, programs, and the endless resolutions to right the myriad wrongs of our needy world.
But the haunting question remains: "Do we have the gospel right?"
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