- Adam Hamilton's Middle Way
- Traditional and Praise
- UMC Constituency Up
- Ideal Confirmation Age
- Young
Clergy Burden: 'Lifesaver Mentality'
- Evangelicals and Campaign 2008
- Catholics and Campaign 2008
What everyone longs for is certainty. What's interesting is that God doesn't give us certainty. He gives us mystery. He doesn't require proof; he requires faith. On homosexuality, at first, I saw things in really black-and-white terms. Scripture offers a handful of pretty clear indicators that homosexuality is not what God intended. Everybody who was gay was choosing to be gay -- and it was no different from any other choice that people make to sin. And yet, the more stories I listened to, the more complex this issue seemed. What I finally figured out is that I don't have it figured out. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13 that we see through a glass darkly, but three things remain: faith, hope and love. So, I told my congregation, I am going to invite you, whether you are gay or straight, to do what God wants to do in your life. I preached on this just before the last General Conference, and over the next year there were probably 800 people who left our church. We had another 1,000 people who joined. They said things like, "I'm not gay but my kids are." I consider myself orthodox, yet we have to find a way to see the gray here. I mean, good grief, are we going to divide over this issue? -- The Rev. Adam Hamilton, founder of the 14,000-member UMC of the Resurrection, Leawood, Kansas, on his new book Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White (Abington Press, March 2008), quoted in the United Methodist Reporter, March 28, 2008.
Many United Methodists see contemporary music as more entertainment than
worship. They criticize the music as having too many first person singular
pronouns [I, me, my, mine]. The critics may not recall that many "traditional"
hymns have that characteristic ("Blessed Assurance," "I
Love to Tell the Story," "O, For a Thousand Tongues to Sing").
They may not reflect on the positive impact that praise music has had
on countless people. We need to understand that there is more than one
acceptable way to worship God.
-- The Rev. Michael Pence, Covenant UMC, Cordova, Tennessee.
The United Methodist Hymnal is used by nearly all (96%) UMC congregations.
The Faith We Sing is used by just over half (54%). Though the use
of Charles Wesley's hymns is declining, the texts are still regarded as
important theologically and historically. Some say they should be adapted
to contemporary styles and rhythms. --
Findings by a recent General Board of Discipleship study on worship, reported
by Dr. Dean McIntyre, GBD's director of music resources.
One of the pleasant surprises on the worship scene is that growing congregations
offer worship that is a varied blend of old and new. Music spans the gamut
from ancient hymns to the newest Christian song off the Internet.
-- The Rev. Craig Miller, director of pastoral leadership at the General
Board of Discipleship.
[Above items from the United Methodist Reporter , March 21,
2008]
While professing membership continues to decline in the UMC, the number of constituents is steadily increasing, according to the UMC General Council on Finance and Administration (GCFA). Membership decreased by eight-tenths of a percent over a one-year period to just over 7.9 million [in 2006], while constituents -- individuals who are not members of the church, but for whom the church has a pastoral responsibility -- increased to over 1.5 million, a 16% increase from a decade ago. Scott Brewer, director of research for GCFA, said the church needs to pay more attention to this growing category.
The Rev. Lovett Weems of Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington DC,
said average worship attendance is a more accurate indicator of church
vitality than constituency. "There certainly is a phenomenon today
of persons who seem more reluctant to join." Weems added that today's
churchgoers, especially young people, are less likely to make long-term
commitments, and more likely to participate in short-term activities,
such as Volunteers in Mission trips, the Walk to Emmaus spiritual retreat,
and short-term Bible studies. --
Newscope, March 28, 2008.
The recent study by the Pew Forum on Religion in Public Life suggests
that a main reason that denominations like the UMC are declining is that
they fail to hold onto their children as they reach adulthood. Because
the UMC practices infant baptism, confirmation is extremely important.
Through confirmation, children are instructed in the basics of Wesleyan
theology and offered a chance to profess their faith publicly before the
church. Confirmation typically happens around the sixth grade. But are
11- and 12-year-olds really ready for this process? Perhaps we should
consider saving confirmation class for high school, when kids can better
grasp the central Christian beliefs. --
The Rev. Andrew Thompson, United Methodist Reporter, March 21,
2008.
'Lifesaver Mentality
Young clergy often feel the pressure of the "lifesaver mentality." They get that pressure when they hear local churches say, "We need you to help save the church." There is no expectation that the church is going to change. Many young clergy report that they are able to get some younger people to attend church, but it's hard to keep them because the expectation of the congregation is that they will join what has been. And younger people are interested in helping to shape something themselves.
Young clergy see tremendous attention given to the screening process
for them because of anxiety in the church about poor clergy leadership.
They are kind of paying the price for ineffective older clergy, and so
there are more and more restrictions that get put on them. They also feel
-- and not without justification -- that the primary factor in advancement
tends to be years of service. So it gives them the impression that what
they do and how well they function doesn't count as much.
-- Dr. Lovett Weems, professor of church leadership, Wesley Theological
Seminary in Washington DC, interviewed by Robin Russell, United Methodist
Reporter, April 4, 2008.
By Joe Feuerherd
[Excerpeted from the New York Times, Feb. 24, 2008]
Catholic bishops in 1980 were sharply critical of U.S. support for authoritarian governments in Central America. In 1985, they approved a pastoral letter that included a harsh critique of U.S.-style capitalism. But by 2004, war, peace and economic injustice had become largely afterthoughts.
Bishop Michael Sheridan of Colorado Springs spoke for many of his peers when he wrote in a pastoral letter that the "right to life" is an "issue that trumps all other issues." The death penalty, immigration, the Iraq war, health care and other social justice issues -- these fall into the realm of "prudential judgment," areas where Catholics of goodwill, say the bishops, can disagree. This, naturally enough, provides convenient cover for Catholic candidates who support the war, think the death penalty should be expanded, would leave millions uninsured and oppose immigration reform.
In the key swing state of Ohio in 2004, bishops vigorously supported an anti-same-sex marriage amendment to the state constitution, which helped drive Republican voters to the polls. Bush won 55 percent of the Catholic vote in the Buckeye State, up from 50 percent in 2000 and enough to provide his margin of victory. To Catholics like me who oppose liberal abortion laws, but also think that other issues -- war or peace, health care, just wages, immigration, affordable housing, torture -- actually matter, the idea that abortion trumps everything, all the time, no matter what, is both bad religion and bad civics.
True to my faith, I'll vote for the candidate who offers the best hope
of ending an unjust war, who promotes human dignity through universal
health care and immigration reform, and whose policies strengthen families
and provide alternatives to those in desperate situations.
Joe Feuerherd was Washington correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter in 2004.
Evangelicals and Campaign
2008
By David Kuo
[Excerpted from the New York Times, Feb. 24, 2008]
Evangelicals are still the largest single voting bloc in the country. Demographers and political scientists agree that 10 to 20 years from now, there will be more self-described "born agains" in the United States than there are today, for simple reasons: Evangelical Christians are more likely to have larger families and more likely to bring new converts into the faith.
But what will this new religious right look like? Among the issues most concerning evangelicals, in a July 2007 Belief.net online poll, were reducing poverty, improving health care and education, and stopping torture. Their progressivism, however, only goes so far. Seventy percent still said that ending abortion was important or very important; almost 50 percent opposed same-sex marriage.
The poll revealed that a third of all evangelicals now believe that Christian political activism is "damaging to Christianity." This isn't an isolated poll. As Christian pollster David Kinnaman writes, "The number of young people in our culture who now embrace unflattering perspectives about Christians and politics is astounding. Three-quarters of young [non-Christians] and half of young churchgoers describe present-day Christianity as 'too involved in politics.' "
Twenty percent of all evangelicals believe that adopting a conservative Christian political agenda has helped destroy the image of Jesus Christ. For a community of believers such as evangelicals, for whom sharing Jesus's life-giving message is an essential part of life, this is a shock. It's evidence of misplaced priorities, of focusing far more on the city of man than on the City of God.
David Kuo was formerly the director of the White House Office on Faith-Based and Community Initiatives