Future of US Methodists hinges on change - leaders
by Lillian Kwon, US Correspondent
Posted: Tuesday, March 4, 2008, 11:27 (GMT)
But the loss of members has not come without outreach efforts.
"It's not that we're not making the efforts or spending the money to reach younger and more diverse people, but we're not focusing our efforts on outcomes," said Weems.
The United Methodist Church, which is still the third largest church body in the country, has spent millions of dollars on its "open hearts, open minds, open doors" media campaign.
Television, radio and cinema spots, billboard ads, and now internet ads have been running for nearly eight years to communicate the key characteristics of the denomination to the American public. A survey found that the campaign is helping reframe people's perceptions about the Church into something more positive, according to the Rev Larry Hollon, chief executive of United Methodist Communications.
His view is backed up by the survey's other findings, with 54 per cent expressing a willingness to visit a United Methodist church, up from 47 per cent in 2006.
Still, the US has become a "vibrant marketplace where individuals pick and choose religions that meet their needs", according to the Pew survey. And denominations are no longer a major factor for people when selecting a church.
"A lot of people say denominations and traditions don't matter any more, but I don't think that's the case," said Weems, as reported by UMNS. "I think it's just no longer the deciding point and often not the beginning point when people select a church."
Acknowledging the changes in religious affiliations and attitudes toward religion in the US, the Rev Jerry D Campbell, president of United Methodist-related Claremont School of Theology in California, says churches have got to get comfortable with change.
He hopes the Methodist tradition continues to be a part of the religious landscape in America.
"God apparently doesn't like static environments," he said, according to UMNS. "I think we have to realise that the fate of God's future for humanity is not limited to the success of the institutional church. Even if the church dies, God doesn't die."
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Added: Tuesday, March 11, 2008, 4:58 (GMT)
I have great sympathies for the Methodist Church generally worlwide, having had my education largely in a Methodist educational institution in Singapore, and on many occasions attended Methodist Churches in Singapore and diverse places.
One of my disappointing experiences, in the U.S, was attending a service in a suburbian church in L.A. and listening to a sermon being preached by a lady [no offense meant to ladies, it could have easily been a male pastor] pastor on a local political scenario devoid of any spirtual content. On the next week-end, on the other hand, visiting a Roman Catholic Church in the evening mass, an extremely enlightened Priest preached a most evangelical [Good News] message that John Wesley would have been proud of. Not only that, the Priest welcomed non Catholic "bretherens" and "sisters" to partake together, the Eucharist. Very encouraging and heart-warming indeed.
I lament when one hears of such phrases, "something more positive" , "vibrant market place", "spending money to reach", missing the mark entirely, when really all that Methodists, laity or the clergy, need is to only read on John Wesley and what he preached and taught and allowed, welcomed the great fire of the Holy Spirit , in order, as Rev. Jerry Campbell puts it, "Methodist tradition" may continue and where he mention [not apparantly, but in truth] God doesn't like static [even sliding backwards] environments.
The only tradtion worth keeping is the centrality of Christ and Him crucified and buried and raised and ascended to be with our Father on His right hand. That is what we ought to preach and disseminate and not veer from what we have been commissioned with by our dearest Lord.
Alas, John Wesley may find it difficult to recognize the church today that he founded through God's anointing him.
ong siong kai, Jakarta, Indonesia
