A Voice for the Church

One of the strange things about being a columnist for the United Methodist Reporter is how little interaction I usually have with the staff and my fellow columnists. The Reporter is published by UMR Communications in Dallas, TX. I live in Durham, NC, and most of my interaction with the folks down in Dallas is via e-mail. That was why I mentioned how nice it was to get to see some of the Reporter staff at annual conference a few days ago in my last blog post.

So it was doubly nice last night when I got to have supper with the Rev. Don Haynes, who writes the Reporter's regular "Wesleyan Wisdom" column. Don is one of those Methodist preachers who retired years ago but has yet to stop working. He periodically serves as an interim pastor for churches who have gone through a mid-year move or retirement. And he also serves as the Director of United Methodist Studies at Hood Theological Seminary, which is affiliated with African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (but which counts more than 50% of its student body as United Methodist).

Don lives in Salisbury, NC, but he is in Durham this month to participate in the annual Summer Wesley Seminar, which is hosted by Duke Divinity School and draws scholars from all over the connection to do research in Wesleyan theology and Methodist history. He is working on the manuscript of a book on John Wesley and early Methodism that would be geared at a pastor and lay reading audience.

If you haven't read Don's column before, you should check it out. This recent one on 'Rethink Church' argues that the UMC's current efforts to think creatively about what it means to be the church must include a commitment to evangelism. As he mentioned to me last night, doing good works without doing them in the name of Jesus makes us nothing more than a humanitarian agency. And of course, doing them in the name of Jesus also means a whole host of other things that Don points to in his column - growing in communion with God, growing in mission to our neighbors, and growing in our connection within the body of Christ.

Don's writing is creative and lucid. He focuses a lot on the basic tenets of Wesleyan theology. So his column can be a great way to learn more about the background of Methodist doctrine. I'm grateful he is sharing his gifts with the church!