Don’t believe me? Check here for video. (HT: Dave Black Online)
Author: henry
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I Wish This Would Work
A naive suggestion. Unfortunately, there are enough people out there willing to be manipulated to make all the lying worthwhile.
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10 Stupid Things Ministers Should Never Do
J. Lee Grady steps on some toes again. In general, these apply to any leader, especially the point about accountability. A lack of accountability undermines any other efforts.
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Biblical Studies Carnival Posted
… at Dust. It’s quite a carnival. I’m pretty sure I won’t manage to read even decent percentage of the posts listed and classified. Great job!
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Bible Gateway Adds RSV and NRSV
Bible Gateway has added the RSV and NRSV. This will be useful for me as these are my two favorite formal equivalent translations. This addition comes by agreement with the National Council of Churches.
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Just in case we thought democrats were our friends …
More legal invasions of privacy, sponsored by a democrat.
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Starting with the Local Congregation – or with Me
Dave Black responded to my previous post on the United Methodist Church by referring to some thoughts he has had on his own denomination. I want to quote them here, since Dave’s blog doesn’t make linking to a particular entry possible.
7:55 AM Noted Methodist blogger Henry Neufeld ponders the question, How to cure the UMC? He asks:
How much time needs to go into preserving the organization? Is such time well spent? Those are questions that concern me these days.
For what it’s worth, Henry, I once pondered a similar question regarding my own denomination. The bottom of the bottom line for me?
I came away from the convention with a new realization that a Great Commission resurgence will not begin at the denominational level. It will end there. A Great Commission commitment must begin in our homes and marriages, and then in our local churches, each one of them. This is clearly the pattern of the book of Acts. The church at Antioch, the world’s first missional church, is proof of that.
I hope that all of this gets sorted out at the denomination level (and I predict that it will, eventually). But even if it doesn’t, there is nothing to keep me and my local church from doing all we can to help advance God’s kingdom on earth. (From Dave Black Online)
I have found that the concerns of people who are seeking to be servants and missionaries in different denominations are remarkably similar. We have some doctrinal differences, but we struggle with issues of getting the church active. I believe that if we get people studying the Bible, praying, and seeking the unity of the Spirit, doctrinal differences will tend to fade to the background. They’ll either be found to be non-essential or we’ll discover where we each need to change. I think we can be very patient with “erring brethren.” After all, we are ourselves erring brethren, almost by definition!
What I must keep in focus is simply this: God hasn’t called me to solve all the problems of the church. He hasn’t called me to make sure everyone else is fulfilling the great commission. He has called me to be transformed by looking to Him, and to fulfil my call to service.
I don’t mean that I can “be the church” alone. Rather, I can do a much better job of being part of the body if I’m spending more time correcting my own manifold flaws than I spend trying to correct those of others. Much more time, in fact!
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Curing the United Methodist Church
No, not that type of curing. Fixing it. Making it healthy and productive.
Practically every day I find in my inbox, or on one of the various feeds I follow, an article on how to fix the dying United Methodist Church. While there are many disagreements on details, generally everyone agrees that the church is, in fact, dying. Everyone agrees that something must be done! Beyond that, we don’t have nearly as much agreement.
Today it was United Methodist Insight with an article by United Methodist pastor Teddy Ray. In it he notes that there were three substantive changes made at the 2012 general conference and that the judicial council has now struck down all three of them. This illustrates the difficulty of changing a very large structure. Pastor Ray is not ready to give up yet. He links to a number of other articles he has written, in which he tries to point the way to a better future.
One thing he recommends, and I agree, is to avoid getting stuck with committee appointments unless you truly believe you can do some good there. It has been a long time since I’ve been invited to sit on a committee and felt that it would be useful. That’s not a matter of boycotting committees. It’s a matter of carefully considering where you can do the best ministry.
As do many other writers, Pastor Ray comes to the conclusion that reforming the United Methodist Church, but that it might be done and he thinks it’s worthwhile. I’m not sure that his reasons, enumerated in Why I am (Still) a Methodist, are enough. I really appreciate Wesleyan theology, but at the moment I must confess that the main reasons I am still a Methodist are just three: 1) My current congregation has many positive aspects to it, 2) I don’t know where else to go with my theology, and 3) what reason do I have to assume I’d do any better?
How much time needs to go into preserving the organization? Is such time well spent? Those are questions that concern me these days.
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Sky McCracken on Change in the UMC
A great quote:
We Americans aren’t very good at absolute authority, but we presently have the opposite of it in the UMC – we have an episcopacy shackled to lead, but convenient to blame. It’s a great system to play armchair quarterback in, but it doesn’t make disciples.
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AG Superintendent Responds to Election
He recorded his statement before he knew who won so he wouldn’t be biased. It’s a good statement. About a minute and a half in, there’s this:
Regardless of whether our president is Barack Obama or Mitt Romney, the mission of our fellowship is the same.
Just so!
