By James V. Heidinger II
The first issue of Good News magazine was published in 1967.
Charles W. Keysor, a Methodist pastor in Elgin, Illinois, published the first issue of the digest-size magazine for Methodist evangelicals out of the basement of his parsonage. At the suggestion of his wife, Marge, he called it Good News.
It had all begun a year earlier when James Wall, then editor of the Methodist minister’s magazine, New Christian Advocate, asked Chuck, "Why don’t you write an article for us describing the central beliefs and convictions of this part (evangelical wing) of our church?"
Chuck’s article, "Methodism’s Silent Minority" was published in the July 14, 1966 issue of the Christian Advocate, where he identified the major evangelical convictions.
To his amazement Keysor received over 200 letters and phone calls in response to his article, most of them coming from Methodist pastors! Two themes surfaced in the responses: first, "I thought I was the only one left in the church who believes these things"; and second, "I feel so alone—so cut off from the leadership of my church."
As he prayed about the letters and phone calls, Chuck felt he must do something. Having been a journalist Chuck started a magazine which affirmed the evangelistic thrust of the Wesleys and Francis Asbury, Good News.
Responses to the first issue were much like today. One disgruntled Methodist in Alabama wrote, "Your magazine is JUNK!" But Carl F.H. Henry, then editor of Christianity Today, wrote, "A mighty fine beginning—congratulations!"
Rallying Renewal Groups
Seeing the immediate surge of interest in his magazine, Keysor chose
12 Methodists to serve as board members, and Good News became incorporated
as "A Forum for Scriptural Christianity." The board’s first
meeting was in May of 1967, only two months after the appearance of the
first issue of the magazine.
Good News was a breath of fresh air for Methodists seeking spiritual renewal, quickly becoming their rallying point. Pastors and laity began organizing clusters of like-minded Methodists who came out of a felt need for fellowship, support, encouragement and prayer; and to map strategies for increasing evangelicalism within their annual conferences.
Today renewal groups exist in some 60 percent of our UM annual conferences forming an extensive grass-roots network for evangelical advocacy and support.
Convo Fellowship
The Good News board soon felt a need to sponsor some kind of national
gathering to help unify Methodist evangelicals. Texas pastor Mike Walker,
the youngest member of the fledgling board, headed up plans for the first
national convocation in August of 1970. To everyone’s amazement,
a whopping 1,600 United Methodists registered, coming from all across
the country! The Holy Spirit drew people together in a remarkable way.
Emotion and excitement like that of a class reunion filled the air as participants discovered other like-minded Methodists. Tears streamed down the faces of worshippers as they saw nearly 3,000 persons jammed into the Adolphus Hotel ballroom for the evening sessions.
Lives were changed at Dallas! United Methodism was marked for renewal. Discouraged United Methodists received hope that they weren’t alone in their evangelical concerns. And most importantly, they began to dream of a new day of revival and renewal in their church.
Nearly every summer since 1970, Good News has sponsored national convocations for fellowship, inspiration and instruction. One couple said to me at our Washington, D.C. convo a few years ago, "Jim, when we came here we were so discouraged we were considering leaving the church. But our hearts have been renewed, and we’re going back to our home church with new hope." And return they have, by the hundreds, with programs and ideas for their local churches like Marriage Enrichment, Trinity Bible Studies, and the Faith Promise program for second-mile mission giving.
Dismal Church School Literature
One of the earliest Good News concerns was the dismal denominational
church school literature. Evangelicals were frustrated but had no recourse.
In 1968 Good News carried a stinging evaluation of Methodism’s new adult curriculum. One reviewer wrote, "What is missing here…is a particular and sustained biblical theology." This reviewer looked in vain for any word about "salvation, any good news about the atonement of Jesus Christ, or any hint about the possibility of spiritual new birth.…"
The next year a Good News team met for the first of many dialogues with the church’s curriculum editors and officials. The denominational leaders responded with obvious impatience and condescension toward evangelical concerns. One bishop informed the Good News delegation that they must realize that all contemporary scholars support the Bultmannian notion that much of the Bible is myth.
Whew! Nevertheless, dialogue had begun. The UM Publishing House even began to realize that it existed to serve the whole church, including the evangelicals. In 1975, Good News published its first edition of We Believe, a confirmation series for junior high youth. Pastors dissatisfied with UM materials received it enthusiastically.
A 1985 evaluation of denominational curriculum revealed improvement in our church school literature. More recently, the Disciple Bible Study program has found a warm welcome in the church. The problem with church school curriculum remains one of consistency. One quarter’s materials might be sound while the next quarter’s will be appallingly weak. This inconsistency, among other things, finally led Good News to begin publishing the evangelical and Wesleyan Bristol Bible Curriculum.
Interestingly enough, the United Methodist Publishing House (UMPH) and Bristol House, Ltd. recently announced a cooperative project to produce Sunday school and small group curriculum for children and adults.
Doctrinal Doldrums
From the start, Good News’ central concern has been theological.
Born in an era when church radicals were demanding "Let the world
set the agenda for the church," we were convinced that the biblical
agenda was languishing from neglect.
Adding to United Methodism’s theological malaise, the 1972 General Conference adopted a new doctrinal statement of "theological pluralism." While pluralism may have been included to express some of the legitimate diversity found within historic Christianity, it led to a proliferation of theological views, many of which far exceeded the boundaries of orthodoxy. I remember the distress of a young pastor because a UM seminary professor had denied the bodily resurrection of our Lord. His district superintendent admonished him, saying, "Ed, you must remember that you are in a church that embraces theological pluralism."
In 1974, Good News authorized a "Theology and Doctrine Task Force," headed by Paul Mickey, associate professor of pastoral theology at Duke University’s Divinity School. The task force was charged with preparing a clear statement of "Scriptural Christianity" which would remain faithful to the Methodist and Evangelical United Brethren traditions.
In 1975, the Good News board adopted that statement at its summer meeting at Lake Junaluska, and the document became known as "The Junaluska Affirmation." The late Albert Outler praised Good News for being perhaps the only group within the church to respond to his charge for United Methodists to "do theology."
Our frequent criticism of theological pluralism played a major role in the 1984 General Conference decision to develop a new doctrinal statement for the church. The theological commission, chaired by Bishop Earl G. Hunt Jr., brought a new and much improved theological statement which cited "the primacy of Scripture" as the guiding principle for doing theology. The term "theological pluralism" was purposefully omitted from the new statement.
The Seminary Challenge
Good News has long been troubled over the liberal domination of theological
education. Evangelicals at our UM seminaries have consistently reported
unfair caricaturing, ridicule and intolerance toward their orthodox beliefs.
In 1975, UM evangelist Ed Robb Jr. called for a return of Wesleyan doctrine back into our seminaries in a blistering address at Good News’ convo. Institutional leaders fumed and seminary professors fussed about the challenge. One could hear the murmurs echoing from their hallowed halls: "How dare he be so critical!"
Robb’s hard-hitting address led to a new friendship with Albert C. Outler, United Methodism’s eminent Wesleyan scholar. Together, with help from others, they formed A Foundation for Theological Education (AFTE). To date, more than 80 evangelical scholars, called John Wesley Fellows, have participated in the Ph.D. scholarship program, which aims at placing these evangelical scholars on the faculties of our UM seminaries and colleges.
In 1976, Good News also began publishing the newsletter for seminarians, Catalyst, which was sent free of cost to all UM seminarians with the goal of providing them with scholarly, evangelical resources. The Rev. Mike Walker, Dallas area pastor and long-time Good News board member coordinated the editing and mailing of Catalyst from its inception. (It continues today under the auspices of AFTE.)
In 1977, Good News sent teams to all of our UM-related seminaries, urging them toward greater openness to evangelical faculty and resources.
Missions Derailed
In 1974, UM evangelicals from 23 states gathered in Dallas to discuss
the church’s world missions program. Those gathered criticized the
declining number of overseas missionaries, the mission board’s preoccupation
with social and political matters, and its lack of concern for matters
of faith-including conversion and the planting of new churches.
The group voted to establish the Evangelical Missions Council (EMC) which became an arm of Good News. David A. Seamands, our board member and former missionary to India, was named EMC’s first chairman. After 22 "dialogues" over an 11-year period between Good News and the General Board of Global Ministries, Seamands learned that "the unfortunate gulf separating us from the GBGM policy-makers was wide and deep."
For eight years, Virgil Maybray served as full-time executive secretary of EMC, spending most of his time speaking and consulting with local churches about expanding their missions programs. During that time, Virgil ministered in more than 350 UM churches in 35 states, raising millions of dollars for missions, with more than $1 million channeled directly through GBGM’s Advance Special Programs.
In 1983, when evangelical discontent peaked, 29 large-church pastors and 4 missions professors met in St. Louis to form a "supplemental" missions sending agency. It was to be called The Mission Society for United Methodists. With headquarters in Decatur, Georgia, the Society now has 114 persons in service in more than 20 foreign fields.
The Legislative Landmarks
United Methodist traditionalists struggled with how to respond to
the church’s liberal programs. They could ignore them, find another
church, or use their influence for positive change. Good News opted for
the latter.
At the 1972 General Conference in Atlanta, Good News launched its first involvement in the legislative process. Board members Bob Sprinkle and Helen Rhea Stumbo prepared and distributed ten petitions and four resolutions. They also cranked out occasional newsletters. Although the 1972 conference was a disaster, approving abortion and adopting the statement on theological pluralism, Good News had taken its first step.
The 1976 General Conference brought a stronger Good News effort with the additional help of Robert Snyder and John Grenfell. By 1980, Good News had launched a full-orbed effort led by Don and Virginia Shell. They continued leading Good News’ legislative strategy program until 1992, when they turned the leadership over to Scott and Linda Field. Scott is a long-time Good News board member and has been pastor of Wheatland-Salem UM Church in Naperville, Illinois, since 1980.
Whether Indianapolis in 1980, Baltimore in 1984, St. Louis in 1988, Louisville in 1992 or Denver in 1996, the Good News effort has worked behind the scenes in annual conferences to get evangelical and traditional delegates elected, petitions channeled, and a series of position papers published which articulate our stand on major issues.
The two weeks we spend on site at General Conference with our 35 person team is the culmination of more than two years of careful preparation. As a result of Good News’ past legislative efforts, more United Methodists are getting involved in the legislative process. Good News will have a team on site at the 2000 General Conference in Cleveland, Ohio.
United Methodists should take heart at the efforts of concerned United Methodist leaders to formulate pre-General Conference activity such as the 1988 "Houston Declaration" and the 1992 "Memphis Declaration." Both of these initiatives were spearheaded by the leadership of what is now known as the Confessing Movement Within The United Methodist Church—James B. Buskirk, Maxie D. Dunnam, Ira Gallaway, William H. Hinson, and John Ed Mathison. These efforts reflect the growing awareness that evangelicals must get involved in the legislative process and make their voices heard.
The Proliferation of Evangelical Voices
I am still amazed to think that at one time there were no groups
or publications which spoke on behalf of United Methodism’s evangelical
or conservative constituency. That helps explain the immediate flood of
responses to Chuck Keysor’s inaugural article, "Methodism’s
Silent Minority."
It’s a different world today and the UM Church is not the same church. Think of the organizations that didn’t exist 30 years ago: you have Good News, The Institute on Religion and Democracy, UM Action, A Foundation for Theological Education, The Mission Society for United Methodists, The Transforming Congregations ministry, Lifewatch (the Taskforce of United Methodist on Abortion and Sexuality), the RENEW Network, the Connection for Evangelical Clergywomen, Concerned Methodists, Don Wildmon’s American Family Association, and the Confessing Movement Within The United Methodist Church.
We should also include several groups affiliated with the General Board of Discipleship, including the Council on Evangelism, the Foundation for Evangelism, the National Association of United Methodist Evangelists, and Aldersgate Renewal Fellowship (the United Methodist Renewal Services Fellowship).
These groups undoubtedly have diverse purposes. They do not all walk in lockstep, to be sure. But let’s not miss the significance of their existence. The voices of UM evangelicals and traditionalists are finally being heard. Channels now exist to guarantee this will happen. Thousands of United Methodists have found ways to address the spiritual, moral, theological and social issues that exist in their church.
An Emerging New Mood in the Church
These groups are a part of an emerging new mood in the UM Church.
I would call that new mood a growing impatience with theological
fads, pet social and political agendas of our boards and agencies, and
our capitulation to a relativistic sexual ethic.
Not terribly long ago, I read excerpts from a sermon preached by a church leader that expressed this kind of impatience. He said, "A powerful but influential minority is in the process of hijacking the doctrine, ethical teaching and worship of the church." And addressing those in the church whom he believed responsible for this, he continued, "If you wish to be allowed to perform single sex marriages, reinterpret parts of the Creed, omit passages of Scripture which are unacceptable to you, or introduce feminist liturgies, then we shall not stand in your way, though we cannot worship with you."
The issues sound familiar, don’t they? A United Methodist? No. The sermon was preached by the Venerable George Austin, the Archdeacon of York, the Church of England’s most influential traditionalist. The story and excerpts from his sermon were published on the front page of London’s The Daily Telegraph on September 9, 1991.
But Austin reflects the kind of growing impatience I discern among evangelicals within the United Methodist Church. Frankly, evangelicals are weary of:
• the unending push to change the church’s stand on the issue of human sexuality, including the support for gay and lesbian unions;
• UM pastors publicly denying basic tenants of the Christian faith and not being disciplined for it;
• UM program boards continuing their participation in and support of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice;
• position papers like one sent out from the Division of Ordained Ministry which has Jesus saying, "I am confused by your determination to make me the object of your worship and the guarantor of your salvation. You have never been lost and God is not angry at you."
• UM clergy advocating worship of the goddess Sophia, authoring prayers, readings and a eucharist to this newfound deity.
The Cry for Leadership
When United Methodists feel compelled to form alternative groups within
the church; compelled to gather at their own expense to issue declarations
to the church, as they did at Houston and Memphis, what you have is a
plea for leadership and a cry that enough is enough! One wonders at the
silence of UM bishops amidst so much silliness. What has happened to the
teaching and overseeing function of bishops, who according to Paul "must
hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught," so
they can "encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who
oppose it" (Titus 1:9).
One wonders whether any bizarre theological claim exceeds the bounds of acceptable limits today. Is anything so extreme as to be viewed unacceptable?
I recall C.S. Lewis’ words to a group of Anglican priests years ago. They are still timely. He said, "It seems to the layman that in the Church of England we often hear from our priests doctrine which is not Anglican Christianity…It is not, of course, for me to define to you what Anglican Christianity is—I am your pupil, not your teacher. But I insist that wherever you draw the lines, bounding lines must exist, beyond which your doctrine will cease either to be Anglican or to be Christian: and I suggest also that the lines come a great deal sooner than many modern priests think. I think it is your duty to fix the lines clearly in your own minds: and if you wish to go beyond them you must change your profession. This is your duty not specially as Christians or as priests but as honest men" (God In The Dock, pp. 89-90).
We must ask, does United Methodism have any bounding lines today? If so, are they clear? And are they being enforced? It would appear not.
A New Day For United Methodism?
I have written several times of the need for a new atmosphere within
the church that expects from our clergy fidelity to Christian doctrine.
It may be that such a new atmosphere is emerging.
Yes, United Methodism still faces serious problems. But it’s a new day in many important ways.
Ten years ago I concluded my editorial in the 20th Anniversary issue with words that are still relevant: "Evangelicals today believe the church has been entrusted with a divinely-revealed plan of redemption. This message is set forth clearly in the Word of God. This fact automatically establishes the relevance of the Christian message. We must resist attempts to impose other standards of relevance upon it. And even the slightest mishandling of that biblical message must be ruled out of order. If we are not faithful in the preaching of this historic faith, we will not ‘Catch the Spirit’ but will most assuredly ‘quench the Spirit.’
"The Biblical message, proclaimed in the power of the Holy Spirit, will bear fruit. It will revitalize and renew United Methodism and enable us to share in the evangelical awakening that already is sweeping our land. And when our pulpits are alive again with the faithful proclamation of the Word of God, we can be sure the Lord will once again add daily to United Methodism those who are being saved."