Are We Really Better Together? by Walter Fenton & Walter Fenton

Author:Walter Fenton & Walter Fenton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Abingdon Press
Published: 2020-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

4

DIVIDED ON MISSION

Maybe our theology and our sexual ethics are different, but when it comes to mission, surely we’re together, aren’t we? We all agree that we want “to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world” (Book of Discipline; ¶120). Certainly, we do that better together. And maybe that’s enough to keep us together. That’s what some would argue.

The truth is we’re not together even with respect to our mission of making disciples. I’d like to get real here. If you were to poll one hundred evangelical UM pastors and ask them to answer the question, Do you believe we are more effective in our mission by being connected to thoroughly progressive and liberal pastors? I can assure you that few, if any, would answer affirmatively. And if you were to ask, Do you believe you and your church would be more effective in ministry if the denomination required less of your time and finances, the unanimous response would be yes.

We are not together, not even when it comes to our mission. A large number of conservative churches, large and small, don’t use United Methodist educational resources. Why? We don’t trust them. Many of us pastors have been called by Sunday school teachers or small group leaders and have been asked why the United Methodist literature they’re using questions the reliability of the Bible. We have had to go to groups bothered by study materials produced by our denomination and explain why it contradicts what we teach on Sunday mornings. And many, if not most, of us have decided the best solution is to stop using materials that undermine our people’s faith in the Scriptures. Many of us agree that there are better resources available to us than those produced by the denomination, and that’s what we recommend to our congregations. When we have such differing views on the best resources for making disciples, we’re not together.

The United Methodist pastors I know well are, at best, ambivalent regarding the work of the General Board of Global Ministries. This is the board that is commissioned with spreading the gospel and making disciples around the globe. In recent years, the board seems to have become more open to traditional evangelism, but these pastors don’t feel that it is nearly as evangelistic as it should be. And we all know evangelicals who in past years have applied to do mission work through GBGM who were rejected because of their theology. When many of us do not trust our denomination’s mission agency, we’re not together.

We feel that we pay huge sums of money to the denomination to support boards and agencies that add no value to our churches. We regularly receive phone calls and e-mails from members who complain that our national boards and denominational officials are promoting positions that are contrary to their beliefs. When the General Board of Church and Society promotes the normalization of homosexual behavior and calls for divesting from companies that do business with Israel,

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.