Most the country’s major-mega-churches, such as Northpoint Community Church in Alpharetta, Georgia and Willow Creek Church in suburban Chicago, are free of any denominational ties.
Closer to home and smaller in scale than those two, Steele Creek Church of Charlotte is a vibrant, Spirit-filled, multi-cultural, and non-denominational church in our own community.
So given the rapid rise of churches without denominational moorings, what can we in the United Methodist family learn from our unaffiliated neighbors and friends?
1. It’s OK To Call God “Father.” In most United Methodist seminaries and in virtually all of its literature, it is verbotten to call God “Father” or to use “He,” “Him,” or “His,” in talking about God. It’s actually quite funny to see the linguistic hoops through which people will jump in the name of “inclusive language”: “for God so loved the world that God gave God’s only Child . . . ” Even at my alma mater, the otherwise conservative Asbury Seminary, you can occasionally hear leaders say things like “And even God Godself …” instead of “And even God Himself.”
So I’ll always remember attending some interdenominational events in the mid-90’s where the masculine pronoun was used to talk about God and where leaders prayed to Him as Father and thinking, “this is so refreshing! People aren’t dancing around words but actually referring to God the way Jesus did.” It may not get easily published in United Methodism, but it sure is biblical.
2. Sermon Series Work Better Than The Lectionary. Most of us in Methodism were trained to use the Lectionary in preaching. The Lectionary is a multi-denominational effort that provides churches with three Scripture readings each Sunday — Old Testament, Gospel, and New Testament. While laudable in that a year’s worth of lectionary reading exposes people to the full array of Scripture, it nevertheless doesn’t connect with the way people think. People like to make mental connections and they like to have an idea of what’s coming next — that’s why television dramas usually give you “scenes from next week” to whet your appetite. That’s what we hope happens with Royal Pains, Lowlife, and Gospel, for example — and the independent churches have taught us how to do it.
3. Conservative Theology + Liberal Worship Style = Life; Liberal Theology + Conservative Worship Style = Death. Here’s the paradox: churches with the most innovative worship styles (like Northpoint and Willow Creek) have the least innovative theology. They still preach ancient truths such as the authority of Scripture, the reality of heaven and hell, and the uniqueness of Jesus. How they communicate the message always changes; the content of that message never does.
In sad contrast, many United Methodist churches have an ever-changing gospel — one that mirrors current sociological trends ranging from global warming to gay marriage — communicated in never-changing methods. Three hymns, one creed, one Lord’s Prayer, robes, anthems, and a pipe organ. With few exceptions, that combination is a recipe for ecclesiastical death.
4. Long Pastoral Tenures Contribute To Congregational Stability And Health. During my last semester in seminary, one of our teachers told us, “Don’t ever think about your next appointment. Instead, make the church where you are into your next appointment.” Wise advice indeed. Our non-denominational friends are not saddled with the itinerant system and frequent pastoral moves and have leadership consistency as a result. It’s interesting: of the four highest attended Methodist churches in our Western North Carolina Conference, my thirteen years is actually the shortest tenure among them!
5. “We’ve always done it that way” Is More Of A Reason To Stop A Ministry Than To Continue It. At both the national and congregational levels, Methodism holds onto ministry models designed for a world that no longer exists — a world of “circles,” fund raisers, and altar guilds. As one church sign recently proclaimed in advertising its fall bazaar: “Changing the world, one pumpkin roll at a time.” The church can change the world — but by proclaiming the Kingdom and its king, not by competing with local bakeries for the pumpkin roll business.
There are 3 comments
1. “Father” is not a gender, it’s a relationship and name. Help me see how insisting on calling God “He” is relevant to what the Church’s mission is. Otherwise it seems like that’s just a preference that’s personal and comforting.
2. This is not entirely true. Good preachers will use both. The lectionary has a real richness during the “high holy” times of the year from Advent through Pentecost. There’s a movement through the biblical story that is formative to the church’s identity. Organizing sermons solely off of people’s niches or preferences becomes consumeristic very quickly.
3. This is over-generalized and reductionistic. There’s absolutely no way you can prove this. I notice you’re in Charlotte — go to Myers Park UMC and you’ll discover a vibrant church that’s also very traditional and formal. There’s a lot of conservative theology out there that’s killing the church. A recent Pew Reasearch project discovered a rising number of “Nones” who actively refuse organized religion altogether. A majority of them cite things that conservative theology champions. Frankly, perpetuating the liberal/conservative divide is a distraction and is killing the church. As far as worship goes, there’s plenty of bad worship in formal and less formal styles. Good worship can also come in less formal as well as formal styles.
4. Yes! You’re absolutely right.
5. Maybe. But I hope you’ve got some trust built up first. I’m also curious how it’s bad to “compete for the pumpkin roll business” yet good to offer “relevant” or “worldly” style worship that rejects pipe organs, robes, etc.? Double standard?
1. I think we can get stuck in either camp. Using only Father limits the attributes of God. Using only God and non-gender specifics is limiting also.
2. For me, the liturgical year – yes. The liturgy – no. I have seen the liturgy become a crutch for too many pastors.
3. I’m with Ben here, but I don’t want to take it as far as he did. The definitions of these words is muddy at best and doesn’t help in the conversation. However, there is a mix of basic Bible basics with more contempory worship styles that seems to predominate the larger membership church.
4. Definitely right, but also impossible in the UMC. The process is so bishop-centric, so it really depends on that bishop’s appointment philosophy and a pastor’s willingness to hang in there.
5. I think every opportunity to show our communities the love and grace found in Jesus Christ is a good opportunity…pumpkin rolls included. However, there is often a strange resistance to doing the new. Maybe this has to do with a fear of failure? Not sure. But it’s true that churches often hang onto traditions far too long. Sometimes we need to let things die in order to see how the Spirit will resurrect them.
Thank you SO MUCH for writing about the “Father” vs “nongendered God” situation. It crept into our church a few years ago and I have thought “How SILLY!!” Jesus called God his father. God called Jesus his son. Get over it!! If Jesus didn’t worry about God’s many attributes, who are we to change his words? I just say “HE” and “HIS” loudly whenever I see an awkward wording in a hymn or responsive reading. Yes, I do prefer John Wesley’s theology to the modern twisted version, thank you just the same.
On another topic (4), in some situations it works to have a pastor stay for a long time. But we had a situation where the pastor was very weak in some areas, and very strong in others, and our church became unbalanced after about four years, with almost no strong leadership. This invited strong laymen to try to take over and run things, with disastrous results.After 13 years we were divided and fighting to get a new pastor, which we did, and he pulled it all back together and led us capably for the next eight years. Praise God!