The Methodist Church

Every Friday I get a special email from the General Board of Church & Society. In it I get to read about all the left leaning activities of my church.

Some wonder why I stay at my church knowing that my tithes and offerings go toward such things as gays in the military, pro-choice movements, and pro-amnesty to name just a few. 

In this past weeks Word from Winkler it opens with “Declining membership in our denomination concerns me and many other United Methodists. I know of no one who likes to see our churches shrinking. The panic about this decades-long decline has become a major, perhaps the central, concern in our denomination today.”

I wonder why? 

Some of the top reasons I have heard for why church membership is down.

• Churches are more about entertainment than the Bible.
• Churches are focused on expanding the building instead of teaching about and following God.
• Churches teach things which some believe to be false.
• The music is too loud.
• Churches don't want me, they just want my money.

The third reason, Churches teach things which some believe to be false, is what concerns me most. The Methodist church has become an institution that models itself more after a business or political entity. The church should be counter-culture; instead it's suffering from worldly influences. When the pastor's job depends on him not offending the board, sermons get watered down and they focus more about preaching salvation to the choir than about pressing on to serious discipleship. The great commandment, Matthew 28:19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. That's what the church should be primarily focused on.

Instead my church is worried about ratifying the START treaty. (A treaty I oppose because it would place severe restrictions on our missile defense system and the treaty's verification measures are inadequate to say the least.) But this is not the issue to focus on in this blog, declining numbers at the Methodist church are. 

If 40% of the population is conservative. I do not feel the church should be preaching about liberal policies. Instead I think they should spend more time on teaching people to give their lives to Jesus. Or how about teaching them to love their neighbor? (Their actual neighbor that lives across the street.) Or even the following, how about discussing that there is whole world dying and going to hell and the US church does not seem to care?

Evangelical churches are bursting at the seams. Why? Because the Gospel works. We don’t need to be fed progressive messages. The Methodist church, like many other churches, is a sinking ship. I continue to go to my church in hopes that I can tell people where the lifeboats are.

I want a revival. I pray for it. I’m active in my church in hopes that it will come. Why don’t you join me? I’ll be going this Sunday and would love to save you a seat.