C is for… November 6, 2011
Posted by Dan R. Dick in Christian witness, Identity & Purpose, The United Methodist Church.Tags: Church Leadership, The United Methodist Church, Values, Vision
13 comments
But I’m just a soul whose intentions are good,
Oh, Lord! Please don’t let me be misunderstood.
Bennie Benjamin, Gloria Caldwell & Sol Marcus
I received an email from a woman in Texas — I do seem to irritate people from Texas more than from any other state (right, Don Underwood?) — who hit me with a bit of an ultimatum:
Why do you stay Methodist when it is obvious you think the leaders are ignorant and incapable? You are wasting a slot at General Conference. Are you planning to disrupt the good work there as well? It seems that you work hard to hurt the church you say you love. If you love the United Methodist Church, the best thing you could do for it is leave. We would all be better off.
I am glad this woman acknowledges that I love my church. I certainly do. This is the only reason I am critical of the short-sighted and irrational decisions that are being made. My criticism that we sold our soul to secular consultants to tell us who we are and what we ought to be doing is indeed severe, but no less true. I worked for an agency where the leadership had no clue what to do, so they paid exorbitant amounts of money to outsiders to tell them, and it did them no good whatsoever. I will never agree that this egregious waste of World Service dollars was wise. But I say these things because I love the church, and I want us to be better. The selfish and ego-centric nature of the Call to Action, Ministry Study, restructuring and the global church? All exactly the same thing. However, for those who have not paid attention to my whole message, I have not simply criticized the insipid and nonsensical, but have offered my perspective on what might be done instead.
