Future Hope Found in Rich Past

Our movement that began with the hallmarks of personal piety and social holiness has drifted. The lost are not being found. The poor are not being cared for. [Methodist founder] John Wesley's famous quote resonates: "I am not afraid that the people called Methodists should ever cease to exist either in Europe or America. But I am afraid lest they should only exist as a dead sect, having the form of religion without the power. And this undoubtedly will be the case unless they hold fast to the doctrine, spirit, and discipline with which they first set out." Early Methodists would preach the Word, train lay preachers, feed the poor, heal the sick, and send out a missionary movement. They would never have sunk to petty, irrelevant conversations about pews or chairs, worship styles, or committee structures. They had much more important Kingdom work to do. Our future hope is found in our rich past. [Jorge Acevedo, lead pastor of Grace UMC, Cape Coral, Fla., quoted in Good News Magazine, November/December 2007.]

UMC's Future: The Radical Center

Conservative Christianity is today where the mainline churches were in 1964. It has reached its zenith of growth, power, and influence. These churches are likely to see their growth stalled. There is a significant shift toward the center among young people. Evangelicals are moving toward the center in large numbers. Changes are being experienced in the left as well. The radical center within the Christian faith embraces the evangelical gospel that proclaims that human beings are wounded by sin and are in need of saving. And it embraces the social gospel that recognizes the Christian's responsibility for addressing the great problems of poverty, oppression, racism, the environment, and war. The radical center holds that the gospel is incomplete without both its evangelical and social witness. Christianity's next reformation will strike this middle path. No church better captures this place than the United Methodist Church. [Adam Hamilton, founding of The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas. Condensed from Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White, Abington Press, due for publication March 2008.]