Dorothy Day was almost a Methodist…

As strange as it may seem, Dorothy Day might have been a Methodist.  I just started reading The Long Loneliness: The Autobiography of the legendary Catholic Social Activist, and what has been surprising is about how often she talks about John Wesley and  her experience with the Methodist Church. 

Ultimatley, one of the most important Chrisitan figures of 20th century America began her faith journey by rejecting the Methodist church. 

…I had to choose the world to what I wanted to belong. I did not want to belong to the Epworth League which some of my classmates joined.   As a little child, the happy peace of the Methodists who lived next door to me appealed to me deeply.   Now, the same happiness seemed to be a disregard of the misery of the world (page 41).

I find this passage important for the future of the United Methodist Church.  The argument has been made and continues to be made that the Methodist Church is in decline because of its liberalism.  Though more of a hunch than a thesis, Dorothy Day’s epxerience tells us that something else is at play; the Methodist’s “disregard of the misery of the world.”

Filed under: bible, chicago, church, emergent church, united methodist , aldersgate, dorothy day, IRD, John Welsey, john wesley, Mark Tooley, methodist, misery, social activist, suffering, The Long Loneliness, united methodist

Generate Magazine

GENERATE MAGAZINE came in the mail yesterday. The print is small.  The vision is huge.

Some thoughts and observations.

Affordable. 4 issues for $20.  You can get a second subscription for $14.  $7 off the shelf. Generate is also made more sustainably than about anything else that will show up in your mailbox.   If you are interested in the post-modern/emergent/missional/ Christian conversation, get yourself a subscription.  And buy one for your friend or church or whoever.

[Hardly] No Advertising. The advertising that is there adds to the magazine and conversation.  Mostly ads for emergent books and artists.   Amazing that such a beautiful, sustainably made magazine is affordable with hardly any advertising.

Food Issues. The cover art is from artist Mark Menjivar.  Its awesome (how is that for an art review) but I am most excited about a byline at the end of the article:

The You are What You Eat exhibit is ready to tragvel ato a ny community or gallery that would like to use it as a centerpiece for dialog about food issues.  The exhitbit has custom crates, made with traveling in mind.  For more infromation, visit markmenjivar.com.

That is one of the most exciting parts of Generate.  The story doesn’t end in the magazine.  There is opportunity and ideas to take the conversation to your local community.

Fighting Words. Sometimes the best fights break out in the book reviews and Generate does a good job of making normally staid book reviews interesting.  The book in review is  The New Evangelism: Freeing the Church from Western Cultural Captivity. I haven’t read it, but the reviews and author response make me want to.

Doing Church Differently. The problem with magazines like Sojourners is that they often don’t highlight  the daily life of faith communities.  How they get started, where they are going, etc.  Generate highlights a few communities whose example could help emergents out as they start and restart their local cohorts, churches, and communities.  Generate profiles Presbyertian church planter and indie rocker Thomas Vito.  I will definitely be checking out Welcome Wagon.  I like what Vito says in the magazine, “An organzization made up of 100 churches of 100 committed people will be  far more effective to transform a community with the gospel than ten churches with 1,0000 people each.”

If you love or want to love the emerging church, then please support Generate.

 

Filed under: Christians, Lockerbie Central United Methodist Church, bible, church, community, emergent church, evangelism , church, conversation, emergent, emerging church, faith communities, food, food issues, Generate, gospel, local, local community, magazine, mark menjivar, missional, post colonial, post modenr, post modern, Presbyterian, publishing, sojourners, sustainable, The New Evangelism, Thomas Vito, transformation, Welcome Wagon, You Are What You Eat

Learning about Holy Conferencing

I have become a bit of a bombthrower.

It wasn’t in my personality but I’ve become quite good at it.  If something seems injust or just crappy, I’ll call you or it out.  My experience with the United Methodist Church the last few years has led me to throw quite a few angry barbs at fellow methodists; especially pastors at comfortable churches and conference leaders.

In this very blog, I have called out Kent Millard, the pastor at the largest Methodist church in Indiana for having absolutely no prophetic voice.  I also lashed out against the bishop for moving their offices to a lame corporate bussiness park in Indiana’s richest zipcode.

Just not sure if throwing bombs or barbs is effective.  Even though our tiny church has overcome huge obstacles to becoming one of the most exciting UMCs around, I doubt the bishop will ever spend serious time with us.  I doubt Kent Millard will speak prophetically–he has too many powerful people in his congregration.

So, I am trying to learn how to do the whole holy conferencing thing.  Never been good at it.

Once I learned that it was imperative to speak truth to power, I always thought of “holy conferecing” as a weapon of the powerful.  The process becomes more important than the message.  And Jesus didn’t spend much time holy conferencing with the powerful.

I am having a lunch meeting soon with a pastor at a nearby church.  We are litterally blocks away from this other Methodist Church.  They are starting a sunday evening service; nearly a year after we started ours.  We don’t do Sunday mornings.  I found out about it through a newspaper article.

Last year I would have screamed.  And I did.  I still don’t get why two United Methodist churches so close together couldn’t figure out real ways to work together.  But, maybe this lunch meeting will be a start.

Instead of getting mad, I hope this an opportunity to think and act strategically as United Methodists and not two church leaders fighting over turf.

This is how the Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church outlines the discipline of holy conferencing:

Every person is a child of God. Always speak respectfully. One can disagree without being disagreeable.

As you patiently listen and observe the behavior of others, be open to the possibility that God can change the views of any or all parties in the discussion.

Listen patiently before formulating responses.

Strive to understand the experience out of which others have arrived at their views.

Be careful in how you express personal offense at differing opinions. Otherwise dialogue may be inhibited.

Accurately reflect the views of others when speaking. This is especially important when you disagree with that position.

Avoid making generalizations about individuals and groups. Make your point with specific evidence and examples.

Make use of facilitators and mediators.Remember that people are defined, ultimately, by their relationship with God – not by the flaws we discover, or think we discover, in their views and actions.

Filed under: Christians, Lockerbie Central United Methodist Church, bible, church, emergent church , church, evening service, global ministries, holy conferencing, Indiana, john wesley, kent millard, listening, methodist, pastors, social justice, speak truth to power, united methodist