Strangely Warmed

Why, I wonder, do mainline Christian denominations put so much emphasis on unity at the denominational level? Why are formal mergers, divisions, and dissolutions of our denominational structures so important? Within United Methodism, the annual conference closes some congregations and reorganize others. They do it to districts, too. Circuits become stations and stations become circuits. Districts lure members from existing congregations to start new churches. Congregations create and close worship opportunities. They start and stop new ministries and reorganize groups as they see fit. Annual conferences come in and out of existence at the pleasure of the jurisdiction. Congregations and annual conferences assert their autonomy as they resist or ignore elements of general church law. These events can create as much hurt and disharmony as denominational divisions. What makes them less important than what happens on the denominational level? Denominations are a recent invention in the hi...

A number of potential changes in the structure of the United Methodist Church have been proposed for consideration at our General Conference in May 2020. Many of these proposals entail division, separation, reorganization, multiplication or mitosis. Pick your word. A Small Part of the Whole People of God So let's do some math. There are around 2 billion Christians in the world, with about 212 million of them residing in the United States. The United Methodist Church's 12 million members worldwide constitute less than 1% of the whole church. In the United States, 7 million United Methodists make up less than 3% of this country's Christian population. The whole church may be present in each of its parts, but the United Methodist Church is not itself the whole. It is a tiny fragment of the whole, neither more nor less important than any other part. The church itself acknowledges that in its constitution. The church is a community of all true believers under the Lo...

If any act of ecclesiastical separation renders a church invalid, the United Methodist Church is in a world of trouble. While the 1844 schism creating the Methodist Episcopal Church South is frequently brought up in contemporary discussions of the denomination's identity and future, the most important act of separation is rarely mentioned. The Methodist Episcopal Church was born in an act of separation from the Church of England. Separation is in our DNA. Methodism came into existence as a renewal movement within the Church of England and remained so until the American Revolution. In 1784 John Wesley ordained two men (Richard Whatcoat and Thomas Vasey) as clergy for Methodists in the newly free colonies. He also appointed Thomas Coke (an ordained Anglican priest) as "superintendent" or bishop. Upon arriving in Baltimore, Coke called the American Methodists to assemble. Together, they established the Methodist Episcopal Church, ordained twelve additional elders and one ...

Do you want your writing to be instantly transformed into a mucky mess of corporate and legalese-sounding jargony mush? Then be sure to use persons  as the plural word for  person . Whiz! Bang! You've got yourself something no one will want to read. Source: Grammar Party [Dead link] "A mucky mess of corporate and legalese-sounding jargony mush" perfectly describes much of the language in the United Methodist Book of Discipline, not least because of its frequent use of "persons". The Discipline uses "persons" 637 times, about twice as often as the ordinary word "people" (327 times).  In preparation for General Conference in May 2020, the Advance Daily Christian Advocate provides instructions to delegates and visitors, prints reports from agencies of the church and provides the text of proposed legislation. Here we find 924 instances of "persons" but a marginally greater number of  "people" (1104 instances). Pr...

Broadly speaking, to ordain is "to invest with ministerial or priestly authority." ( American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language) As it is currently constituted, the United Methodist Church uses four words for this act: license, commission, ordain and consecrate. Local pastors are licensed. Among those commissioned and ordained are deacons and elders (presbyters). Bishops are elders consecrated for service as superintendents, who nonetheless remain elders. The Discipline groups local pastors, deacons and elders together in Chapter Two of Part VI, The Ministry of the Ordained. Bishops are found in Chapter Three, The Superintendency . Although the United Methodist Church uses the language of deacons, presbyters, and bishops, these clergy orders operate differently in Methodism than they do in churches more aligned with the historic forms of the episcopacy. Bishops This difference starts with the bishop, who is simply an elder chosen for a supervisory func...

When the church sets apart men and women to serve as clergy, it is granting them authority and assigning them the responsibility to lead and serve the church. They are consecrated for God's sacred use, to accomplish God's purposes. In this, they are no different than any of their brothers and sisters in Christ. They've simply been chosen for a distinct, identifiable role in the church . The clergy are a sign of the unity of the church as they administer the sacraments. They are a sign of Godly authority as they rightly proclaim the word of God from the Holy Scriptures. Holy orders are an expression of the church's catholicity, its connection to the whole church of God in time and space. Clergy are the chief shepherds of the flock. By precept and example, they lead the church in caring for its own and for outsiders. They teach and maintain the faith delivered once for all to the saints, and they lead the church to fulfill its mission of making disciples from all natio...