All Things New! (Reflections On the MidSouth GMC Conference)
Reflections on the MidSouth Conference of the Global Methodist Church
This past week the MidSouth Annual Conference of the Global Methodist Church had its first ever meeting. It was a three-day conference in Lexington, Kentucky, held at Trinity Methodist Church, St. Luke Methodist Church, and on Saturday we met in Wilmore, KY at Asbury University. Clergy and lay people from Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, and even some from Virginia(!), came together for worship, fellowship, and what Wesley called "holy conferencing," (one of those very Methodist terms that surely sounds strange to everyone else).
I went with a lay delegate from my church without really knowing what to expect. Would it be like annual conference was in the UMC? What would be different? What would be the same? Those seemed to be the questions on everyone's mind when we talked. Many have been worried, as parts of the UMC are replicated within the GMC, that we might be simply recreating what we were (and therefore produce the same results). And then in other areas, particularly in ordination, clergy deployment, and church structure, as many churches head in a more congregational direction, some worry that we are losing something essential in our identity as Methodists. What do we change, and what do we keep?
This in my mind is the challenge going forward. We don't want to lose the part of our identity as Wesleyans that we cherish, that makes us who we are (though naming those essentials proves difficult); and yet, we also don't want to continue bad habits, personally and institutionally, that we are hoping to shed, habits that led to the bitterness and dysfunction which led to our division. Parsing out the proverbial baby from the bathwater, in my mind, is going to be the great point of discernment as we go forward.
Thankfully, from my perspective at least, leaders and organizers of the GMC seem to be thoughtfully and prayerfully discerning how to go forward, balancing the practical needs of a new organization with sensitivity to the more important spiritual, theological calling of us as Wesleyans. All of the speakers and preachers at the MidSouth conference, including Bishop Scott Jones, hit the right tone in recognizing the pain and difficulty of the past few years, while more so looking forward to what God is calling us to as Global Methodists, as Wesleyans, and as Christians in an increasingly post-Christian culture.
The emphasis was on how God is making all things new, through church revitalization, seeking the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, committing ourselves to the work of church planting and evangelism, and the power of small groups geared toward transformation into the likeness of Christ (modeled after early Methodist class and band meetings). There was some business to attend to, but the bulk of the conference was spent in worship, prayer, preaching, and being encouraged at what God was doing in our midst. It was, quite simply, good for the soul. I left it greatly encouraged by what I heard and felt.
I especially appreciated how many of the speakers emphasized what we as Wesleyans bring to the table of the larger worldwide Church: we preach entire sanctification, the doctrine Wesley called "the grand depositum of Methodism." As Wesleyans, we bring the great news that not only will God forgive us from our sins, God will also "break the power of cancelled sin," in the words of Charles Wesley.
This is a profoundly liberating message: God can actually give us the power to overcome the sins and addictions we are struggling against and free us from them. For the broken, the addicted, the hurting, and the hopeless, the news that God can actually change us and free us is one that is life-changing. What a beautiful message, that holiness brings freedom. How many people are longing to hear it and to find it, and why have we so often failed to preach it? Remembering, reclaiming, and actually living into our theology of grace (in my mind at least) will be the thing that God uses to bring about renewal and revival in the Wesleyan churches, and hearing so much about it this weekend was extremely encouraging.
But of course, talking about something is one thing, and doing it, quite another. There is a lot of work to be done in the days ahead. Points of difference will have to be discussed and hammered out. Clergy have a lot of bad habits to unlearn: looking to our next appointment instead of investing where we are; having a critical, cynical spirit against leadership instead of stepping up to help where it's needed; playing the game of comparison with other clergy and churches instead of having a cooperative, kingdom attitude of shared ministry. That is all bathwater that must be flushed out of our system. For the GMC to be what it desires to be, clergy will have to be vigilant against such things, earnest in how we are seeking God, and gracious as a new organization comes together.
Lay people in the church will have to relearn things too: things like evangelism, intentional discipleship, radical love of the poor, commitment to a particular church community in a world of consumerism, unceasing prayer, owning their calling as laypeople to be ministers to each other and to the world. Without taking ownership of such things, clergy and lay people alike, how can we expect God to move in our midst? But thank God, God can and will give us what we need. God equips the called, not the other way around.
Speaking of being called, on Saturday, in Hughes Auditorium, 110 (yes, 110!) men and women were ordained into the Global Methodist Church by Bishop Scott Jones. It was a historical moment, a Holy Spirit moment, and you could simply feel God bringing something new into being, as person, after person, after person said yes and hands laid upon them. The last time I was in that auditorium was when I traveled to witness the Asbury revival—an outpouring of God's presence that sustained me during the difficult time of church disaffiliation, an experience with God that gave me hope when I definitely needed it. How wonderful then, on that same holy ground, to see people saying yes to the calling of the Spirit, to witness the laying on of hands, and to be a part of a new movement of God.
Only God knows what the future of our new movement will become, and what fruit it will yield. New challenges will arise, and we all know that old habits die hard. But if this new thing looks anything like what I saw Saturday, if we are able to keep that same Spirit, if we are able to really yield to God's calling in this new way, wow. What a privilege to see it, to get to be a part of it, to say I was there when it started.
