Renewal is not a Program: The Triune God of the Gospel is the Primary Author of Renewal. The Virginia Annual Conference of the UMC

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1 Renewal is not a Program: The Triune God of the Gospel is the Primary Author of Renewal NOTE: This document may not be copied or distributed without written permission from the author The Virginia Annual Conference of the UMC June 21-22, 2014 by: Rev. Dr. Elmer M. Colyer Professor of Systematic Theology Stanley Professor of Wesley Studies University of Dubuque Theological Seminary

2 Introduction Sisters and brothers in Christ of the Virginia Annual Conference of the UMC, I bring you greetings from my UM colleagues and our UM students at the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary. I am delighted to be with you at the 2014 meeting of your Annual Conference. While I do not know you personally, because I have been teaching UM History at our seminary and to laity in various situations for 25 years, I know a bit about the Virginia Annual Conference, your illustrious 250 year history since Robert Strawbridge, among others, planted Methodism in Virginia in the 1760s. I would love to be a member of your Annual Conference! I will be speaking to you about renewal, particularly the basis of renewal and the dynamics of renewal. My hope is that what I have to say in the sessions I have with you will stimulate further conversation about a Trinitarian vision of renewal in the United Methodist Church, for I am more convinced with each passing year that such a vision is crucial to renewal and is part of the rich legacy of early Methodism that American Methodism lost, though that is a complex story for another day. I will begin with a few observations about the present state of United Methodism Church. I. The Present State of the Church: Escalating Decline A. Membership loss Renewal continues to be the most pressing issue for the United Methodist Church for the simple reason that United Methodism in America continues its 45 year legacy of decline. The numbers are stark. We have lost around 60,000 members a year since we became United Methodists in 1968, but that decline has intensified in recent years. In 2011 the loss was close to 72,000 members. In 201 it was 85,000 and in 2013, over a 90,000 drop for the first time. Even

3 your Annual Conference, which is clearly doing better than most, lost over 2000 net members in 2012, a bit over 1700 in There are no signs of this trend moderating anytime soon. B. Financial Crisis Along with those dismal stats is the growing financial crisis in more than a few congregations and some Annual Conferences. Unless financially troubled Annual Conferences experience some rapid and miraculous numerical and spiritual growth that translates into increased financial giving, there will an unprecedented fiscal crisis across United Methodism unlike anything we have encountered in our lifetime. Indeed, this crisis is already well under way in the North Central jurisdiction where cutting back of programming and staff, while preserving the essence of the institution has become the new normal. Here your Annual Conference is clearly bucking this trend! And I was deeply heartened by your annual report of financial giving in C. Malaise and Fear But it is the malaise, indeed fear, that in evident in many struggling UM congregations and even Annual Conferences that is especially disturbing. Fear propels congregations into the survival mode, which is nearly always something of a self-fulfilling death-spiral. More than a few congregations are just barely holding on. 120 years ago, we had a hymn in our hymnal, Building Two a Day, and we were. That hymn did not make into our current UM Hymnal, with good reason, as we are close to closing one a day. For those of you who are members of vibrant growing congregations or are pastors serving them, thanks be to God who is at work in your midst. When we look at the UM Church in America as a whole you are the exception. D. Conflict and Dispersion into Warring Factions 2

4 Then there are all the controversies and political battles over various theological and ethical issues that also create intractable problems for the Church. Intense internal conflict and the alienation between differing sides in the debate threaten United Methodism s unity, what little there is. In turn, this conflict and dispersion into warring factions hinders the Church s ability to embody discipleship in connection and to move into the world united in mission and witness. Indeed it is a conflict that continues to overflow the banks of official United Methodism in flagrant and intentional disobedience to the Book of Discipline. While we have formal unity in ultimate belief and practice in the Book of Discipline, do we have real unity in the hearts, minds and lives of those who make up the United Methodist Church? So the question of separation and schism has inevitably irrupted yet again within our less than United Methodist Church as we head toward the 2016 General Conference. schism Wesley had some insightful and strong things to say about schism. According to Wesley, undoubtedly means an alienation of affection in any of them toward their brethren, a division of heart, and parties springing therefrom, though they were still outwardly united together.... To separate ourselves from a body of living Christians with whom were we before united in a grievous breach of the law of love. It is the nature of love to unite us together, and the greater the love the stricter the union. And while this continues in its strength nothing can divide those whom love has united.... The pretenses for separation may be innumerable, but want of love is the real cause; otherwise they would still hold the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.... This indeed is not so much consequence to you who are only a nominal Christian. For you are not now vitally united to any of the members of Christ.... But if you are a living member, if you live the life that is hid with Christ in God, then take care how you rend the body of Christ by separating from your brethren. It is a thing evil in itself. (From Wesley s sermon, On Schism) 3

5 I in no way want to cry, Peace, peace, let there be peace, and minimize the level of the conflict within the United Methodist Church on a whole range of issues that leads to these repeated calls for separation, amicable or otherwise. Indeed, I find the glib talk about open hearts, open minds, open doors to be far more disconcerting and depressing than the call for amicable separation, for it indicates the failure of the United Methodist Church in America to fully face the sheer depth of division that already exists, and therefore dooms us to more of the same kind of conflict, dissension and the rest that we have experienced in the recent past. What is absolutely tragic is that all conflict and division saps the time, energy and vitality of a Church where these are already in short supply. One thing is clear: the controversies and dispersion into factious camps are not going to go away because superficial talk of unity or by a General Conference vote. Nevertheless, I also do not think that the real issue or solution to the problem lies in the recovery of discipline, as do more than a few United Methodists today. I spoke a few years back to a group in the UM Church about renewal. One of the leading lay persons in that group was absolutely incensed over the brazen breaking of the Book of Discipline by some leaders in the United Methodist Church. He pointed to paragraph We need better discipline! The Church needs to bring these people up on charges and if they persist, remove them from membership. I pointed out that in the history of American Methodism, whenever the church has divided over an issue and one side or the other has resorted to the exercise of power, either via the Book of Discipline, or politics that go beyond it, Methodism has NEVER remained intact and has either split or splintered. The use of power, rather than persuasion, to win a political battle in the 4

6 church always breaks trust and love, and in so doing creates the alienation that sets the church down a path toward schism. II. The Deeper Issue of Connexion All of this is to say that I have become more and more suspicious that the real issue and deeper problem in the United Methodist Church in America today is that of connection: what it is, under what conditions is it possible, and do we have any of it? I have become utterly convinced that discipline does not function the way it should apart from connection. How connected in Wesley s sense are we? Do we even know what connection in Methodism really means? A. Connectionalism in the United Methodist Handbook Have you seen the new United Methodist Handbook put together by our United Methodist Communications, cleverly entitled, Let s Go Fishing: Making Disciples of Jesus Christ for the Transformation of the World. It begins with a winsome summary of what United Methodism believes, put together by Bishop Kenneth Carder. Then there is an over-view of the Wesleyan order or way of salvation The document goes to talk about vital congregations and their characteristics before launching into ministry and leadership, all excellent and accurate, until we come to connectionalism. The Handbook describes connectionalism as an organized system of communication and accountability... an interlocking system of classes, societies and annual conferences, and the Handbook identifies this as Wesley s and early Methodism s understanding of connexion. 5

7 But this is NOT the primal meaning of connexion for Wesley and early Methodism. The Handbook confuses and entirely collapses the reality of connexion into the communal or institutional forms in which connexion came to expression in early Methodism, and it betrays what I believe to be an erroneous tendency, a deep and profound misunderstanding, within Methodism in American that goes to the heart of the question of renewal, indeed the heart of the Gospel, the essence of the church, and the fundamental character of renewal. B. Connexion in Wesley and Early Methodism I have already given you hints concerning how Wesley and the early Methodists understood connexion in that quotation from Wesley on schism. According to Wesley and the early Methodists, connexion refers to the deep and utterly real union and communion that exists between the Triune God and the Church. In the fellowship of Spirit we come to know the Love of God the Father through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that transforms us so that we love God and one another in response. Connexion in early Methodism was essentially the same as what the New Testament means by koinonia, or our spiritual fellowship as Christians with Triune God and one another that comes to us in and through the Gospel. In Christ we become children of God, sisters and brothers together in communion with the Father through the Son in the Spirit. For Wesley and the early Methodists, connexion is crucial to the Church, indeed it is part of the very essence of the Church, for the Triune God builds up the Church toward full salvation and effectiveness mission in the context of connexion, love, trust and openness that embody and generate fellowship and mutual ministry in the Spirit between the members of the Body of Christ leading to ever-deepening communion with the Triune God and one another. Connexion is the sole context within which effective discipleship takes place. It is only in the context of this kind 6

8 of connexion or deep abiding love and fellowship that discipline can be effective. So connexion in its original sense is absolutely crucial to the renewal of the church. Listen to Wesley s searching questions directed at the failure of the Anglican Church of his day to embody this kind of discipleship in connection, this kind of Trinitarian communion or love and fellowship with God and one another that is at the heart of the Gospel and constitutive of the Church: Who watched over them in love? Who marked their growth in grace? Who advised and exhorted them from time to time? Who prayed with them and for them, as they had need? This, and this alone is Christian fellowship: But alas! Where is it to be found?... Name what parish you please.... What Christian connexion is there between them? What intercourse in spiritual things? What watching over each other s souls? What bearing one another s burdens? (From Wesley s A Plain Account of the People Called Methodists) For the early Methodists, watching over one another in love, discipleship in connection is the very form of life and ministry, the very set of relationships, that embody salvation and the renewal of the Church. It is the way the early Methodists waited together in community for a fresh outpouring of the Spirit of God renewing the church yet again. What Wesley intends by connexion is rather clear and it is NOT first and foremost the institutional forms that our UM Handbook identifies as connexion. Rather for Wesley and the early Methodists connexion is an intimate, personal, participatory set of relationships with the Triune God and with one another relationships of deep, utterly real, relationships of love, trust, support and accountability that are person-constituting, so that the early Methodists found their identity, discovered who they really are and were becoming in those deep, profound transformative relationships. It was in connexion that the Spirit of God was creating real Christians in vibrant Christian community, so that their very being as Christians was being-in- 7

9 communion with one another and the Triune God of the Gospel. Connexion was this deep spiritual fellowship that happened in the small group classes and bands, in the large group gathering, societies or congregations gathered for worship and mission, and annual conferences. The institutional forms classes, congregations, annual conference were not the THING, they were the places or occasions where the real thing called CONNEXION took place. They were the forms in and through which the reality of connexion was expressed. III. Renewal is Not a Program Confusing the form of the church with the reality of the church, sisters and brothers, is deadly and maybe the greatest temptation in Methodism in American. When we confuse the forms with the realities we inevitably end up thinking that the key to renewing the church lies getting the form right. So renewal becomes a new program. The great hope is that once we get structures of that program in place, once we get the form right, renewal will happen! The track record of programs, even the best programs leading to renewal is not very good. Why? Because programs are forms not the reality. Programs are simply something we DO. We bring in programs externally. They do not demand any lasting change in our lives and in our lives together. Even the best programs are something we engage in for a time and then they are over and we are looking for yet another. This fascination with programs of renewal is particularly insidious in our consumer culture, because in the church in America today programs almost inevitably become goods and services that people consumed. So what happens is that people in our congregations consume the new program of renewal and maybe even some good things come from it. But in the end it does 8

10 not generate genuine renewal: it simply reinforces our American consumer lifestyle. Congregations get unwittingly coopted, and without even realizing it, they become one more provider of goods and services in the great market place of America, rather than the Church of Jesus Christ, that is first and foremost a radically different kind of community characterized not be consumption, but by, you guessed it, CONNEXION, a winsome fellowship of love that is the church s profound way of bearing witness to the world that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is THE answer to the human dilemma. Remember our Lord s words, They will know you are my disciples if consume the best programs available in today s ecclesial market place. They ll know you are my disciples if you love one another. There is something profoundly amiss when we hear Christians shamelessly talking about church-shopping. The ultimate key to renewal does not lie in our putting programs in place, getting the forms right, so that we create renewal by our activity. Getting church right, getting programs right, getting the right staff, right facility, right music all have their place, but they do not guarantee that authentic renewal will happen. The reason is simple: renewal is not first and foremost something we do, it is something the Triune God does. We cannot create connexion, deep abiding love, trust, openness, for connexion is a gift that comes from union and communion through Christ with God the Father in the Spirit. The New Testament never calls us to create koinonia, fellowship. It tells us to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, Ephesians 4:3. We can certainly destroy connexion, breaking fellowship, creating alienation of affection, divisions and then dispersing into factious camps. In early Methodism discipleship in connexion in the small groups and other communal structures was not a program. It was a different way of life where people found their primal 9

11 identity in relationships with the Blessed Triune God and one another, relationships of love, trust, affirmation and mutual accountability where they sought to grow in grace and become conformed to the image of God in Christ. They found their being-in-communion with God and one another, not in consumption. Only our Blessed Triune God can create communion God and one another. Because our Trinitarian God is always the primary Author of renewal the first act of renewal is prayer, as it is the first act of Christian life and ministry. To pray is to acknowledge that we did not build the church in the first place, we cannot grow the church on our own, we cannot renel the church in our day without acknowleding the Triune God as the first, foremost and final source of renewal. Remember Our Lord s pointed words to us in John 15:5-8: I am the vine. You are the branches. If you remain in me and I remain you; you will bear much fruit. Apart from me you can do nothing. Tell if I am wrong, but is it not nearly a congenital characteristic of us United Methodists, that when faced with the profound need for renewal, our first and deepest inclination is to DO something about it, redouble our efforts, find or create a new and better program to initiate in our congregation or Annual Conference. This inclination, of course, begs an additional question: if our Lord s word to us is to remain in him and he in us because apart from him we can do nothing, and our first inclination is not to pray, but to DO something, who is the real God at the root deepest our inclinations to be busy building a new program of renewal? What kind of God do we United Methodists REALLY pay homage to? I am passionately concerned about the United Methodist Church and I have become more and more convinced that our problems are at the deepest level are spiritual and theological and, I 10

12 believe, ultimately rooted in our vision of God. It is always in a tradition s doctrine of God, not simply professed, but embodied in life, community, worship and ministry that the really fundamental character of any tradition becomes evident. How we envision God shapes and colors every other aspect of our faith, our life, our life together in the church in community and ministry, our vision of the Gospel and the goal of the Gospel, the character of the Kingdom of God and our eschatological destiny. And how we behave, what we do, how we respond to the urgent need for renewal reveals the character of the God we serve, be it the living Triune God of the Gospel or an idol we have manufactured. I profoundly hope our time together this morning has raised deep doubts in all of us about whether renewal can ever be primarily a program. I hope our time together gets all of us thinking about what is the implicit vision of God, the church, indeed what it means to be a human being that is assumed in this whole program way of being church and doing renewal. Most of all I hope our time together sparked your interest in connexion in Wesley and Early Methodism. I am not interested in repeating Wesley and early Methodism. What I am interested in is the alternative way of being and doing church, that of discipleship in connexion. I am interested in the Trinitarian vision of God, of the Gospel and salvation, and of the church bound up with discipleship in connexion in early Methodism because I believe that it holds the key to the renewal of the church in our day. The good news is that our Blessed Triune God is not finished with us United Methodists yet. The very fact that we sense a need for renewal, long for renewal, talk of renewal is a sign that the Spirit of God is blowing on the embers of faith still present in our midst and waiting to burst forth in a blaze of new life. 11

13 This afternoon we will focus of the Triune God and the Trinitarian character of salvation that is at the heart of the Gospel and the renewal of the Church in every age until our Blessed Lord returns in final victory. 12