My Experience at Emerging UMC2: Friday Afternoon: What Happened to the Methodists?

I hope to blog out my thoughts about EmergingUmc2: Restoring Missional Methodism over the next several days.  Here is my second attempt to summarize my experience at the conference. Here is my blog post from yesterday about the conference.

After our walking/missional tour of downtown Indianapolis, we returned to the church, had lunch, and finished up the official part of our Friday at EmergingUMC2.

We spent that afternoon talking about the early Methodists and the church structure that had developed since then.  Ultimately, it was this way of doing church that got us into the ditch  that we United Methodists now find ourselves in. 

One thing is clear; John Wesley and the early Methodists were the Shane Claibornes and ordinary radicals of their time and place.  Their ministries started in prisons, coal fields, factories, in the farm fields, etc.  They spoke out against injustice like slavery and industrial reform and primarily worked through small groups called classes.  Along with the social activism and small gatherings, these early Methodists also put emphasis on personal piety and discipline. 

According to Taylor Burton-Edwards, the EmergingUMC2 conference leader, the prevailing  spirit and structure of the early Methodists started to dissipate with the creation of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1784, especially as the church gained economic and political power and became part of the dominant, mainstream culture by its 100th birthday in 1884. 

The numbers lie sometimes but the United Methodist church is fading.  We are about to be passed by the Mormons for third place on the largest American denominations list, continue to lose hundreds of thousands of members each decade, and now the percentage of Americans who consider themselves United Methodist  have nearly been cut in half over the last forty years. (6% in 1970, 3% today).

Burton-Edwards argument on this Friday afternoon made a lot of sense; The church as congregation model hasn’t worked out very well and its well worth looking at what those early Methodists were up to! You cannot recreate the past, of course, but there is much to learn  from the pre-Methodist Episcopal Church Wesleyan movement.  

Much more could be said, but most importantly, returning to a model that emphasises the small group/class could add the vitality needed to Keep Wesley’s hope that the Methodist movement “[would] not 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.…” He wrote that two years after the formation of the Methodist Episcopal church.  

To back this up, Burton-Edwards quoted the following in his presentation:

•GBOD research– discipleship grows and deepens  primarily through an experience or a group outside the congregation (Dan Dick)

•Missiological observation– “communitas”–a “band of brothers and sisters who have each other’s backs struggling through a common ordeal– is the environment most conducive to missional action and multiplication (Alan Hirsch, The Forgotten Ways)

Filed under: Christians, Indiana, Indiana history, Indianapolis, Lockerbie Central United Methodist Church, bible, church, community, community organizing, emergent church, jesus, prison, prison justice, prison ministry, tradition, united methodist , united methodist church, john wesley, shane claiborne, ordinary radicals, united methodist, missional, prisons, Dan Dick, Taylor Burton Edwards, early methodists, farms, emergingumc2, methodism, small groups, methodist classes, band of brothers, Allen Hirsch, Methodist Episcopal church, methodist history, powerpoint, Methodist decline, Mormon, ranking, growth, decline, missonal methodism, open air, coal mines, mines, 1784, 1884, dominant culture, mainstream culture, communitas

No more Sins By Silence. Stopping Domestic Violence in Indiana

Brenda Clubine; founder of Convicted Women Against Abus

The Indianapolis metro area has suffered through a horrible year for domestic violence.  Angela Warnock in Brownsburg.  Beth Stayer in Zionsville/Anson a week earlier. Just before Christmas, Yvonne Kretzer was murdered by her husband in Plainfield.  There were 65 deaths in Indiana last year attributed to domestic violence.  Every day 1000 people seek help from domestic violence in Indiana alone.

Last night at Lockerbie Central United Methodist and Earth House, we screened the documentary Sin By Silence and heard from filmmaker Olivia Klaus.  Most amazingly, Brenda Clubine was there.  She is featured in the documentary and it was her work and vision that created Convicted Women Against Abuse; an innmate support and advocacy group that transformed California’s Domestic Violence laws.

Brenda was serving seventeen years to life for defending herself against her abusive husband.  Last night was the 1 year anniversary of her release from prison.

There is so much to be said about the movie and last night’s gathering.  There were tears, standing ovations, and a commitment to make Indiana free of all violence.

Thank you so much for the Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence for  organizing this screening and bringing Ms. Clubine and Ms. Klaus to Indianapolis.

Filed under: Earth House, Thursday Night Film Festival, community, documentary, family life, film, film review, movie review, prison, prison justice, prison ministry, rememberances, united methodist , Indianapolis, Indiana, Earth House, lockerbie central, death, united methodist, documentary, zionsville, Brownsburg, violence, domestic violence, angela warnock, beth stayer, plainfield, anson, Yvonne Kretzer, Convicted Women Against Abuse, deaths, abuse, california, brenda clubine, sin by silence, olivia klaus, Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence

Should we care (and does it matter) that the Indiana UMC’s headquarters will be relocating to a suburban corporate business park?

It looks like the Indiana conference of the United Methodist church (my conference) is moving their headquarters to a business park.  Not A  good decision.

What kind of message does it send for a church to be headquartered in  a corporate business park?   What does it say that the Bishop moved his offices out of the city and into the suburbs?

I understand that the new statewide conference needs more office space in one centralized location. I have no problem with that.  I just don’t see Jesus, the early Christians, or John Wesley basing their movement in a privately owned business park, disconnected from neighborhoods and culture.

Indiana needs the United Methodist Church to have a bold and prophetic voice. I strongly believe that is how our church will survive and thrive.  Speaking out for the hungry and sick.  Visiting the prisoners. Caring for creation. Rebuilding our urban core and rural heartlands.

The vantage point of our conference staff won’t be any of those places.  The view from the new headquarters will feature acres of soulless business parks and an interstate, located in one of the richest zip codes in the state.

Filed under: Christians, church, jesus, prison, prison justice, prison ministry , bishop, Business Parks, Carmel, christianity, church, early christians, Hamilton county, headquarters, i-465, indiana conference of the united methodist church, Indianapolis, interstate, jesus, john wesley, methodist church, northside of indianapolis, propethetic voice, united methodist church