Making It Work

I am currently working on a PhD that deals with early American Methodists.  I’ve read a lot of their journals and letters and analyzed a lot of how they did what they did to spread the Gospel as they understood it and grow their denomination into one of the largest Churches in America.

As I have been involved in this study, I’ve seen a lot of work come out by other people trying to help us United Methodists today figure out how to recapture what was lost and become great once again.  If only we had this. If only we did that.  If only we focused our energy on fill in the blank!  Then we would be like our predecessors and make a difference across this country once again.

I like the idea, but the reality I think is far off the mark.  What those early Methodists did back then was successful precisely because it fit within their culture.  They communicated a message that people understood in a way in which they understood it.  People were afraid of hell and they were afraid of going to hell, so small groups that helped one another “flee the wrath to come” were very effective in spreading Methodism across the land.

People aren’t afraid of hell any more.  So that approach won’t work.

We have to figure out how to be Methodist today, not how to be Methodist two hundred years ago.  What are people concerned about…today?  What are they afraid of…today?  What message will resonate…today? (I suddenly feel like Neil Diamond…today!)

People want to be immortal.  People want power.  People want to make sure they don’t get trapped in an ordinary, boring life.

Jesus had an answer for all of this.  When we take up our crosses and follow Him, we die only to be raised to a new and imperishable life, one that will never cease.  Our bodies might stop working, but we continue on forever.  When we deny ourselves and follow Him, we have the Living God dwell within us giving us His power, the power of God Himself, to overcome evil and temptation in our own lives.  When we accept the call to follow Him, we step out into an adventure that is guaranteed to make us live life more abundantly than we every could before.

If we want to make Methodism work today we need to start communicating with this culture.  Just because we have so far basically failed in that task doesn’t mean we try to resurrect a previous culture in which we did succeed.  We look around.  We start talking.  We start living.  And we do it today.

~ by stevebruns on May 14, 2008.