Connectional and-or Catholic

United Methodist identity is bound up, in part, with our understanding of the word "connectional." In ordinary speech, a connection is "a relationship in which a person, thing, or idea is linked or associated with something else." Almost every Christian church is connectional in the ordinary sense of that word.

When United Methodists use the word, however, we are describing our particular manner of being connected with other members of the United Methodist Church. According to the Book of Discipline, we are connected by our historical standards of faith, our polity, our ethos, our distinctive way of doing things and our working together in mission (¶132).  The connection is "experienced" through our systems of episcopacy, itinerancy, property, annual conferences and agencies. (¶701) The Book of Discipline is the cornerstone of our unique way of being connectional.

For many United Methodists, the word "connectional" is not merely descriptive; it evokes our sense of religious identity. On more occasions than I can count, I have heard United Methodists utter their own version of Luke 18:11: "God, we  thank you that we are not like other people. We are connectional!" The connection is who we are. And as the place where we meet God, it is a holy thing that should not be trifled with.

Any thought of changing the nature or structure of the connection, then, produces a lot of anxiety. Institutional divisions or realignments are not just changes, they are threats to our identity. Suggested changes are met, not just with disagreement, but with accusations of religious unfaithfulness.

The Book of Discipline also goes on to say,

All baptized or professing members of any local United Methodist church are members of the worldwide United Methodist connection and members of the church universal. (¶215.4)

The bookends of this sentence - baptism and the church universal - express an essential truth of Christianity. The church is bigger than the United Methodist connection. The church existed before John Wesley or Francis Asbury were born. It exists in places where United Methodism has no local presence. It exists in our brothers and sisters who belong to other Christian denominations.

Our baptism ritual affirms,

Through the Sacrament of Baptism we are initiated into Christ's holy Church. We are incorporated into God's mighty acts of salvation and given new birth through water and the Spirit.

When baptized Christians join the United Methodist Church, we do not rebaptize them. All who are baptized into Christ are members of something bigger, something more foundational to the faith, something more universal than the United Methodist Church.

The Apostles' Creed, which is our baptismal confession of faith, unites us to the church of Christ that exists in all times and in all places - and in all sorts of institutional forms. We confess that we believe in "the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints."

The word "catholic" means "universal." In normal speech, the Greek adverb καθόλου means "on the whole" or "in general". It is derived from the preposition κατά - generally translated "according to", although it has a range of meaning - and ὅλος, meaning "whole".

When used of the church, the adjective καθολικός refers to the church as whole and complete. In the year 108, Bishop Ignatius of Antioch wrote,

wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the whole [καθολικός] Church.

The Greek word καθολικός became so important in describing the nature of the church that it carried over into Latin and then into modern languages essentially unchanged.

The word "catholic" is the church's way of describing the church's wholeness and completeness in Jesus Christ. It is the church in all times and places - in distinction from the church's local (or to use today's buzzword, "contextual") expressions. It not, however, merely the sum of its parts or the aggregate of all institutions that identify with the word "church." The catholic church has its own enduring identity, with Christ at its head and the Holy Spirit empowering its ministry. The various parts of the church frequently take wrong turns, and even the church as a whole is entangled in the present evil age. Yet the church endures as Christ leads it, cleanses it and empowers it.

If I am looking for signs of the church catholic in the world around me, I am looking for the aspects of the church with deep roots and broad acceptance throughout the ages. I am looking for the Holy Spirit's power and apostolic foundations.

The United Methodist connection, then, is but one institutional expression in space and time of Christ's catholic church.  Changing the structure of the church - or even moving one's institutional membership from one Christian body to another - does not affect our more basic membership in the church catholic.

As United Methodists ponder the nature of their institutional connection, I take great comfort in knowing Jesus Christ has forever secured my place in his church that will endure for eternity.