Where did we go wrong?

I write a lot - some might say too much - about the need for the church to be a place of truly intentional discipleship. Sometimes I catch myself falling into a mindset of "Church: love it or leave it!" And needless to say, that point of view can err on the side of a lack of compassion.

But what is supremely frustrating to me is the wide gulf that seems to separate early Methodism from the Methodism of our own day. In Wesley's day, the Methodists were regarded as dangerous "enthusiasts" who took their religion way too seriously (which begs the question, is it possible to take Jesus too seriously??). In our time, the Methodists are seen as the ultimate mainline Christians - neither hot nor cold, we are as comfortably lukewarm as the Laodiceans of Revelation 3. In between that time and this one, a whole lot of spiritual power has been lost.

The reasons for our spiritual decline are many, but perhaps looming over them all is the way that we Methodists sold our church's soul to the devil in return for cultural respectibility. As a professor of mine pointed out recently, there was a time when the best way for politicians to take the national pulse on any given issue was to call the Methodist bishops. Methodism quite literally was American culture. And when you get to a position of that kind of dominance, it is all too easy to just assume that little matters like discipleship, accountability, and sanctification will take care of themselves.

Well, gentle reader, the point I would make to you is that I am not alone in my frustration. I get e-mails from pastors and layfolk from all over the connection who share in the desire to see renewal happen in the church. For instance, one laywoman from Illinois wrote me last week:

"Our dear, old UMC appears to be still stuck on making up programs and strategies and meaningless slogans, which mostly amount to fiddling while Rome burns. Of course we do good in the world, but what a church our size could really accomplish for the Kingdom only God knows. And He wants to lead us to do it. You're right, our member numbers are shocking, and I fear they'll soon be tragic if our church doesn't get seriously into the scriptures, humble ourselves before God, and beg Him to lead us once again..."

From the standpoint of the national church, our main stumbling block seems to be that we still think we are in that position of cultural dominance. I deeply respect our Council of Bishops, but I wish they would spend less time trying to get their photographs taken with famous politicians (and I wish they would ask themselves why such an effort is important). I also wish the church as a whole would ask itself what it thinks it is accomplishing by making a slogan like "Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors" as the church's chief public witness to the world (a slogan which is almost entirely devoid of meaning).

The quote from the reader above is as indicting as it is insightful. And so was the comment that a first year M.Div student at Duke made to me on Wednesday. She said, "You know, the more I learn about John Wesley, the more I realize that we don't do anything he said we should do."

If that doesn't make you want to fall on your knees and beg for forgiveness, I don't know what will.