When I was pastor of Christ Church in Memphis, the Sunday School teacher of our fifth grade boys’ class came to see me right after Thanksgiving one year. She told me that on the Sunday before Thanksgiving she had asked her students to make a list of all the people and things they were grateful for, in order. Then she combined their lists into one. She said to me, “I have good news and bad news for you, pastor. The good news is that you are on their list. The bad news is that you are in 11^th place, three places below their dogs.”

Like that Sunday School teacher, I have good news and bad news for you today about our beloved United Methodist Church, and the good news is greater. Now that the Presbyterian Church-USA- has traded the biblical standard concerning sexual morality for a cultural one, there is only mainline denomination in America still defending the biblical standard of fidelity in marriage between a man and a woman and celibacy in singleness. That denomination is the United Methodist Church. When denominations forsake biblical standards, they usually lose members in droves. 45 years ago one in six Americans belonged to a mainline denomination. Now it’s just one in fifteen. That’s the bad news.

The good news is that the UMC is on a different trajectory than the other mainline churches. Our beloved Church has changed remarkably in the past 15 to 20 years. If you had asked knowledgeable observers 20 years ago to name the most liberal denomination in America, many would have pointed at the UMC. Our low point in liberal apostasy came between 1993 and 1996. In 1993 in Minneapolis, the infamous Re-Imagining Conference was held with much United Methodist support. The goddess Sophia was worshipped, lesbianism was celebrated, and the atoning cross was trashed. How many of you remember that tragic event? Three years later at the 1996 General Conference, 15 of our bishops tried very hard but unsuccessfully to liberalize the Church’s standards on homosexuality.

Those were Methodism’s darkest days.

But by the year 2000 it was clear that the UMC was changing. By the grace of God and the prayers of thousands of Methodists, and with the hard work of our reform groups, the UMC began to move in a more biblically faithful and Wesleyan direction. The liberal sectors of our church did not just decline in membership; they hemorrhaged. The primary reason is that most liberals, though usually kind and considerate, don’t reproduce. They are evangelistically neuter. By contrast, the more evangelical sectors of the UMC, especially in Africa, experienced explosive growth. That changed the delegate count at General Conference in remarkable ways.

When we look back over the past 15 to 20 years, we can see remarkable changes in our Church. Thanks to our explosive growth overseas, we have reached a new high in membership, with over 12 million. Isn’t that worth celebrating?! At next year’s General Conference, one/third of the delegates will be African. They tend to be quite orthodox in theology and have a high view of Scriptural authority. If present trends continue, Africans will have a majority of General Conference delegates in 12 years. In just the past four years, African Methodism has gained nearly 1 million new members. Those trends portend a bright future for the UMC.

Let me ask a question: Wouldn’t it be just like God to take the least affluent part of the UMC—namely, the African part—and use it to reform the rest of us? Hasn’t God done that before, reminding the whole world that “’not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty” (Zech. 4:6).

St. Paul made a similar observation about the church in Corinth. He wrote: “Not many of you were wise by human standard; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong” (I Cor. 1:26-27).

So, I’m genuinely optimistic about the future of the UMC. I can’t wait to see what God can do with a renewed, reformed UMC over the next decade. We might even begin to show net growth in the U.S. Imagine the UMC with 25 million members worldwide!

I feel a bit like a Carolina country boy who went to the airport in Charlotte, North Carolina to inquire about an airline ticket to Memphis. Though he had never flown before, he wanted to visit an old buddy who had moved to Memphis and he knew that his old jalopy was not up to such a long trip. He did not realize that Charlotte was on Eastern Standard Time and Memphis was on Central Standard Time. The airlines clerk told him that the next plane to Memphis would leave Charlotte at 12:01 PM and arrive in Memphis at 12:02 PM. The country boy’s eyes opened wide and his jaw dropped. The clerk asked him if he wanted to purchase a ticket. He replied, “No maam, but if you don’t mind, I’d like to just hang around and watch that thing take off.”

I plan to hang around and watch our beloved UMC, and God willing, watch it take off in unprecedented paths of contagious evangelism and biblical faithfulness.

Now let me say a further word about next year’s General Conference. Again, it’s a story of bad news and good news. The bad news is that for at least the sixth consecutive General Conference, the old controversy over homosexuality will be a major topic. We have seen the preview of the Conference agenda, prepared by the Commission on the General Conference and its Committee on Rules and Order. If the Conference approves this agenda proposal, there will be three sessions of holy conferencing devoted to the subject of sexual morality. The first will have the delegates divided into small groups. The second will separate the delegates by continent. Then the third will be for the entire General Conference, during the plenary session on the second Monday night of the Conference. All bishops, including the retired ones, will be able to participate.

The presenting issue in this debate is sexuality morality in general and homosexuality in particular. But underneath is the issue of Scriptural interpretation and authority. In the American churches we have two very different views of biblical revelation. We evangelicals believe what the Book of Discipline says about Scripture, that it is “the true rule and guide for faith and practice.” But our liberal friends believe in “progressive revelation,” that the Bible must be constantly updated, reinterpreted, and re-imagined in the light of modern science, sociology, and psychology. That differing understanding of biblical revelation and authority is a fundamental difference threatening to split our denomination. Don’t think for a moment that it is essentially an argument about sexual morality; it is a much more basic debate about the nature of biblical revelation.

Another major topic at the 2012 General Conference will be the Call to Action Report. In 2009 the leadership of our Church in the U.S., stung by continued membership loss and declines in contributions, established a Call to Action Committee. The committee was given $500,000, much of which was used to hire three consultants. The Call to Action report has been made public. There are some good recommendations in that report. However, the sad fact is that most of the report is about reorganizing this or that. Friends, if good organization would bring in the Kingdom, we would have been in paradise long ago. It seems that when our leaders don’t know what to do, they re-organize something. This is not a new trend. Way back in 210 B.C., a man named Petronius Aribiter said this: “We tend to meet any new situation by reorganizing; and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency, and demoralization.”

Unfortunately, the CTA report does not address Methodism’s central problem. What is that problem? We no longer have consensus in American Methodism about what our core message is. We do not even agree on a definition of the Gospel. Much of our theological core, as given in the Articles of Religion and Confession of Faith, is either ignored or disbelieved. We are not the United Methodist Church. We are divided theologically, though still united organizationally.

Professor George Hunter of Asbury stated that “You would never know from the CTA report that revitalization could have anything to do with theology.” Indeed, one of the hired consultants alleged that theology has nothing to do with whether a local church is vital or not. But that expert offered no documentation or evidence to back up that claim.

The secret of a vital congregation is not a matter of rocket science. Nor do you have to pay consultants $500,000 to disclose it. It’s a matter of preaching the Bible, being faithful to Wesleyan theology, and loving the people. Those simple steps open the door widely for God to work his wonders in a local church.

I challenge you to consult your conference journal and pick out ten local churches that showed net gains in membership last year. If I were a wagering person, I would bet a lot that at least 80 percent of those churches are led by evangelical, orthodox pastors. Therefore, their message is biblically faithful and Christ-centered.

At this critical hour in our Church’s history, we need more than ever the leadership of our bishops. Sadly, at the Council of Bishops’ meeting last month, just a few months after the 36 retired bishops had publicly opposed the Church’s position on human sexuality, the active bishops said nothing. They were all hiding under their desks. They are so divided within the Council that when they meet, their theme song could well be that old country classic by Billy Ray Cyrus, “I’m so miserable without you, it’s almost like having you here.”

The Council should first call the Church to a season of humility and repentance. That’s exactly what Bishop Lindsey Davis did last week at the Kentucky Annual Conference. He said, “The United Methodist Church should repent and then recommit to the great purposes of God.”

What should we repent for? At least the following things: We have ignored clear standards of Scripture in an attempt to curry favor with the secular culture. In the words of Jeremiah, we have forgotten how to blush. Sins that used to slink down the back alleys now parade proudly down Main Street.

We should repent for having disregarded or distorted the message of the Cross as God’s atoning sacrifice for sin.

We should repent for having allowed the old heresy of universalism to metastasize within us like a cancerous tumor.

We should repent that 43 percent of our local churches did not win a single new member last year by profession of faith, not even one 6^th grader by Confirmation. And we evangelicals must join in that confession. We talk a good game about evangelism, but many of us don’t even know who lives two or three doors from us, much less knowing whether they are in a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.

All of us United Methodists need first a season of humility and repentance.

A second useful step by the Council of Bishops would be to call us to a four-year focus on the foundational beliefs of Methodism—the Articles of Religion and the Confession of Faith. I heard a man say that he became a Methodist in college because someone told him that Methodists believe whatever they want to and can drink beer. That kind of attitude caused the comedian John Steward to label the United Methodist Church as the University of Phoenix of religions.

Friends, we must re-teach our people that we have a clear and wonderful theology. Our bishops are charged with the responsibility of guarding and teaching the faith. Just imagine what would happen if all our bishops in all of next year’s annual conferences would teach a short course on the Articles of Religion and the Confession of Faith, and then urge their clergy to replicate that course in each local church.

While we’re thinking about the local church level, I call your attention to the Call to Action Pan for evangelical and orthodox clergy that was passed out to you. If you are a layperson please take a copy to your pastor. It includes seven challenges.

First, let’s imitate John Wesley by observing A PARTIAL FAST on Fridays, skipping the noon-time meal and using that time to pray for a renewed United Methodist Church. Remember, Jesus did not say, “If you fast”; he said, “When you fast.”

Secondly, let’s resolve to DEVOTE AT LEAST PART OF ONE SERMON PER MONTH TO WINNING LOST SOULS. They are in every congregation. Let’s preach the core truth of the Gospel:

1. All people in their natural condition are lost souls who need salvation.

2. The only way to be saved is to repent of sin and trust in Jesus Christ as one’s personal Savior and Lord.

3. Then let’s give people an opportunity to respond in faith. Sadly, the invitation to Christian commitment has almost disappeared from United Methodist worship services.

Thirdly, let’s make sure that our local congregations GIVE FINANCIAL SUPPORT TO AT LEAST ONE OF THE UNITED METHODIST REFORM GROUPS.

Fourth, with the approval of your Church Council, ADD THEIR NAMES TO THE MAILING LISTS OF UNITED METHODST REFORM GROUPS.

Fifth, let’s work and pray to ELECT THOSE PERSONS AS GENERAL AND JURISDICTIONAL CONFERENCE DELEGATES WHO ARE MOST SUPPORTIVE OF ORTHODOX WESLEYAN BELIEFS AND ETHICS.

Two facts are rather clear. Much of the hard work of church renewal has been led by our reform groups, like Good News, Confessing Movement, IRD, The Mission Society, and others. Secondly, the official United Methodist Church gives the reform groups neither money nor encouragement; instead, the leadership is hostile toward them.

By the way, I must share with you that my feelings have been hurt. The Book of Discipline commands the bishops to guard the doctrine and discipline of the Church. Well, it has been at least 15 years since I heard a bishop defend the Articles of Religion and Confession of Faith. That task has been left to us in the reform groups. But not once have we received a note from the Council of Bishops thanking us for doing their job for them. That hurts my feelings!

Sixth, at your 2011 Annual Conference, SUPPORT HELPFUL RESOLUTIONS AND OPPOSE HARMFUL RESOLUTIONS.

Seventh, and finally, on at least an annual basis, TEACH OR PROVIDE A CLASS IN YOUR LOCAL CHURCH ON THE ARTICLES OF RELIGION AND THE CONFESSION OF FAITH.

The great Bible scholar J.I. Packer on his 80^th birthday said the greatest challenge for Christians today is to re-catechize the churches. We must re-educate our people in our core doctrines.

Let me close here in the land of Lincoln by quoting our greatest president. Lincoln was just an obscure Illinois politician until the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858, which were part of a fierce contest for the U.S. Senate. Lincoln prepared long and hard for his opening speech in the first debate. As part of his preparation he gathered some of his friends behind closed doors to listen to the speech and to make suggestions. Included in that speech were these sentences: “A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure permanently half-slave and half-free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved but I do expect it will cease to be divided.”

Lincoln’s friends were alarmed. They said, “That speech is too radical; indeed, it is foolish. It will drive voters away. You should take a more moderate position on the explosive issue of slavery.” But Lincoln replied, “It is time for the truth to be uttered. If it is decreed that I should go down because of this speech, then let me go down linked to the truth.”

Lincoln made the speech. His friends were right in that he lost the Senate race to Douglas. But two years later, he was elected President of the United States. Indeed, the truth prevailed.

Let’s hitch the future of the United Methodist Church to truth. Let’s be done with universalism which sees no need for the cross. Let’s be done with pluralism which declares that all religions are just equally valid versions of the truth. Let’s be done with moral agnosticism that refuses to label sin as sin. Let’s bind ourselves irrevocably to the truth as we have received it through Jesus Christ and Holy Scripture.

Dr. Bill Bouknight, 10 Oakman Lane, Columbia, SC 29209
bgbouknight@aol.com

NICEA is a multi-ethnic organization of United Methodist laity and clergy of Northern Illinois which meets on a monthly basis. Meetings are open to all interested persons.

NICEA is made up of individuals who hold similar opinions around several key issues facing the church. Beyond these similar views, the ideas of participants are quite diverse.

Basic agreement around three topics form the center of the NICEA consensus.

If you are interested in information about NICEA, please contact Jim Blue at JamesBlue@aol.com.