…for a Methodist Church, that is.
Have you been a part of this conversation?
Person 1: “Our worship service (or substitute with or other ministry area) is really growing and experimenting with new ideas.”
Person 2: “That’s exciting, tell me more about this.”
Person1: “Well, we’re doing a form of worship that is brand new with our church. It’s just amazing to see how well we’re doing right now (insert pause for reflection)… well, for a Methodist church, that is.”
And there it is. The little disclaimer that I seem to hear on a regular basis. The level of our work inevitably comes back to that little phrase. Excellence, it seems, is determined by Methodist standards. If you are not familiar with Methodist standards, then just try to think about our culture from 1995, and you now have a pretty cutting edge Methodist church.
I hear it around Asbury when we start talking about organizational change. Our work in the Venue, for instance, is years behind where it should be. We should have been doing the style of modern worship years ago and now we should be thinking about what’s next. And yet, in comparison to Methodist churches, the Venue is amazingly forward thinking.
I don’t get why our Methodist connection has to be a handicap to our moving forward. Why can it not be a help? A lack of innovation is not the Methodist distinctive we need to be embracing. We came from a movement that is grounded in innovation. I don’t understand what is holding us to a standard of excellence that comes from a denomination that has not seen growth since 1968.
How do we move forward? I’m not going to be a Methodist pastor who surrounds himself with the connection, the publishing of Cokesbury, and the same cyclical thoughts that keep us in downward growth. Its time to engage churches that are growing, and even more importantly, its time to engage those who are not steeped in any Christian culture. I tend to think that when we committ oursleves to the work of spreading good news to actual new people, we are forced to begin to think in innovative ways once again. In this task of active evangelism, we reclaim our heritigae and distiveness of Methodists.
i really appreciate what you are saying here and the heart of what you are intending.
In a nutshell you are in a denom that unintentionally, systematically works against the kind of change you are talking about.
Years ago when Paul Cunningham was at Capital Hill UMC just south of downtown, he went to Bishop Solomon and said, ” I want to plant a church.” Feeling this was what God was calling him to do.
The Bishop’s response to him was, “You want to start a church? Start one at Capital Hill.”
Paul saw the writing on the wall. He left the UMC for the Evangelical Covenant. (right after Bill Clark, and right before Craig Groeschel) He planted Westmoore Community Church which is doing just fine. It’s one of the only blue-collar mega churches I know of and has a culture and context unique to the part of the city he’s in. (they play back in black by ACDC when he walks on stage, which may not seem current to you, but is so completely contextually connecting it’s ridiculous.)
Regardless, it seems that question that I would ask you if I was sitting across the table from you is: How long can you live with the growing difference you feel about the way things are and the way you feel things should be? What price are you willing to pay to make the world you feel God is calling you to join him in making.
That puts the responsibility squarely back on your shoulders. Because while I agree with the spirit of your post, the irony of it is that comparison is not your friend, period. Others comparing what Venue does compared to other UM churches is not healthy, but neither is you comparing it to where is should be. Comparision will always leave you frustrated and not in a good way.
What do the people who lead Venue (paid or otherwise) want to create together? What does faithfulness look like to your whole team? What are the barriers to that happening? If there are too many barriers, what price are you willing to pay together to be faithful to what you believe God is calling you do and be?
the church down the street is as irrelevant to this. the only thing you can change it yourself. (individually and as a team if they ask this too.) Ask questions that call yourself to create the kind of church you believe God hopes for in Tulsa. Then hold yourself accountable for how well you do it. In this sense, what Asbury, the Venue and the UMC does or doesn’t do is irrelevant and a distraction.
I may have been a bit sloppy in writing this post. I am not trying to compare what I am doing to other people in terms of numbers, style, or really anything. What happens though is that we get closer to where God is leading us and we seem to get content with that because it is “better” than most other UM churches. We settle for the its good for a Methodist church without striving to do something unique to our setting and context, and unique to our calling. I do struggle with comparison, but I was not trying to go there in this post.
You ask questions, Mark, that I ask myself on a regular basis. I don’t have great reasons for staying in the Methodist church, except that it is where I do feel God is calling me to be and currently I am able to accomplish my call without leaving. I struggle with much, but I am not ready to abandon ship.
thanks for the response.
first, i’m in no way trying to convince you to leave the UMC.
second, serving in a church other than the UM is not abandoning ship.