"It's a spiritual matter"

"It's a spiritual matter" Bishop Robert E. Fannin told the General Conference that "most of the questions, concerns, and opportunities facing the church are spiritual matters." In a sermon to delegates, Fannin, episcopal leader of the Birmingham Area, also told those gathered, "The world is craving to hear the Good News, and we need to find the spirit and the enthusiasm to say, 'He lives! He lives! He lives in the UnitedMethodist Church!'"

During the sermon, Fannin told worshippers, "We the people called United Methodist and we the people called Christian must recapture in our words, actions, programs, worship, and vision a spirituality that speaks to today's world." He continued, "I believe that as new generations of seekers for truth, we must once again merge mind and heart so as to speak with authority about the story of Jesus and His love."

Fannin told a story of meeting a woman at a car rental counter who had recently visited a United Methodist church and reported to him that the service was the "deadliest thing" she had ever attended. "When she described the service, it sounded like the kind of traditional service that I enjoy, but I had to face the fact that I was a little older (misuse of the word 'little')." He warned the conference that if she, and other seekers like her, visit another United Methodist church, no matter what its style of worship, it will depend on "the presence of the Spirit" whether these seekers will want to become a part of that community of faith.

"This postmodern or post-Christian era offers us the almost unlimited potential for evangelical work, for the harvest is plentiful. There are massive parts of our world that have no faith," he observed. He told delegates, "we are being called as never before to offer Christ so that the searching might find love and life."

"There is a call for us as the great Philippian hymn has eternally proclaimed and challenged us to follow the example of Christ and empty ourselves so that his name can be heard in every hamlet of the world," he said, "so that every knee in heaven and earth and underneath the earth will bend and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. But I caution all of us," he continued. "If we do not believe, then it is better not to proclaim, for the one looking for like will not long tolerate a testimony of word or action that is not Spirit-filled."

He also challenged the General Conference with the words of John Wesley: "Give me 100 preachers who fear nothing but sin, and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergy or lay, such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the Kingdomof God upon earth."

The bishop touched upon the debate within the church regarding traditional vs. contemporary worship styles. "The Scripture says we are one body, and that which holds us together is the saving message of the Scriptures. The fear we all have is that our traditional approach to worship may become deadening and our new alternative approach to worship may become just entertainment," he stated. "The truth of it is: the sinews that hold all of that together is the message of Golgotha."

He told the story of having served communion in the Garden Tomb area in Jerusalem and walked to the place where many say Jesus was crucified. "I looked at that most sacred spot and suddenly my thoughts were disrupted by the swirl of diesel fuel and the diesel engines. Right below the place of crucifixion was the city bus station." As he pondered the situation, he asked himself why they would put a bus station on that spot. "then it suddenly occurred to me: that is exactly where the cross needs to be-in the midst of where the people are experiencing their lives." 

Fannin told the delegates from around the world, who have spent the last eight days debating and voting on various issues, "If we cannot agree that our primary task is the presentation of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, then some of you got on the wrong bus, came to the wrong town, and the wrong conference."

Danette Clifton is director of communications for the North Alabama Conference.

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