The First Word

When asked about his concerns for the future of Methodism, John Wesley said the following:

“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 both the doctrine, spirit, and discipline with which they first set out.”

I have long been convinced that the day Wesley feared is upon us.

Like many Evangelicals, I spent much of the 70s, 80s, 90s, and 00s looking for signs of renewal amidst the onslaught of disturbing theological and sociological developments in our church. In the opening two years of this decade, I and many others have ceased doing so. This is not because we have lost faith in God or in the essential teachings of Methodism- but because we have seen the continued resistance among the powerful in the system towards real change. In fact, some of us have come to conclude that our enemy is not so much the liberal/progressive wing, though we disagree with them, but the pragmatic and often secular-minded bureaucracy which is not motivated by a theological vision, but merely the preservation of institutionalized power.

Recent events have shown that these entrenched holders of power seem to be siding with the left not so much out of agreement but out of an assumption of cultural compatibility. In other words, we believe that by hook or by crook, many are working to liberalize our denomination not because they are liberals (whom we respectfully disagree with) but because they are pragmatists (who we have decidedly less respect for.) It is because of this situation that we have ceased actively working to save the UMC and have begun to contemplate the end game. It seems to us that a split or collapse of some sort or another is inevitable. The question becomes, how then shall we live? Seeking answers to that question is our purpose.

This project is the culmination of several preceding short-lived projects of which I have been a part- most notably the failed Society of James O'Kelly blog from which I draw my pen name. Those previous projects quickly fell apart not because the cause wasn't compelling, but because my cohorts grew so weary of the strife in United Methodism that they up and left the denomination before we got off the ground.

This time around, my co-editor and I are both committed to remaining in United Methodism until we see God act to call us out. We believe that God is up to something and has drawn us to this task of writing for His own purposes, though we openly wonder what good God can possibly make from this little project. Don and I are both pastors, serving in different Jurisdictions. (Let's just say we are all southerners who are geographically far enough apart to disagree over bar-b-que sauce.) Don is younger than I and will no doubt bring a different view on things.

Don has informed me that a third blogger will join us soon. In fact, we are launching today because we've been waiting to secure a third voice before getting started. I hope I'm not too premature on that front.

Finally, we'd like to thank the folks at methodistthinker.com and ucmpage.com for their years of lifting up evangelical United Methodist issues with a clear and relentless voice. We don't know that our project will be as fruitful as those were, but since they aren't publishing, I suppose we will have to do.

Thank you for reading. As we post our thoughts, please use the comment section to post yours. You can even submit postings or request permission to become an author by e-mailing Don at postmethodist@gmail.com