The Opportunity Before Us

In February of next year (2019), the General Conference of The United Methodist Church will meet in a special, called session to vote on the recommendations of the Commission on a Way Forward. The anticipation of this special session has stirred much angst, anxiety, and fear among United Methodists on both sides of the theological spectrum. A dominant fear is that The UMC as we know it will no longer exist after the special session. For others, the fear is that The UMC as we know it will continue to exist unchanged.

I view this time of angst and anxiety as an opportunity waiting to be embraced. Think with me.

Healthy, vibrant churches function out of a clear sense of purpose. They know why they exist. Everything they do flows out of that purpose. All of their resources are aligned around that purpose. Each group within the church can identify their role in achieving the purpose. Their why determines their what and how. The flip side of this principle is that churches become unhealthy and stagnant when they forget their why, the purpose for which they exist.

Ironically, churches can be unhealthy and stagnant without recognizing it. They are so focused on what that they fail to think about why. Churches function out of repeated activities, groups, and events. Church calendars and church budgets almost always reflect the same activities and events every year. Last year's calendar and budget are generally used to create the next year's calendar and budget. The same groups, organizations, and classes continue to meet the way they always have, doing what they have always done. Business-as-usual becomes the unspoken mantra with little or no room (and certainly no money!) for anything new and different. Honest evaluation that identifies genuine outcome seldom occurs. Success is measured by the numbers who participate and the enjoyment of the event. This way of doing church functions out of an unstated purpose: to do what the members expect and enjoy, keeping them happy.

Churches of every size and stripe drift along in this way of doing church ... until some kind of crisis disturbs their predictable life. The most common kinds of crises are conflict, noticeable decline in attendance, the lack or loss of young families and children, or a new pastor with new ways of doing things. (The special session of The UMC represents 3 out of 4 of these crises: conflict that grows out of a long term decline and the loss of younger generations.) 

The predictable reaction to crisis, driven by fear, is to seek to reestablish comfort as quickly as possible by returning to the way things were. This reaction views the crises as a threat.

A crisis is only a threat when it is viewed and treated as a threat. Otherwise, a crisis is an opportunity. It is an invitation to evaluate, rethink, and refocus. It is an opportunity to get clear about why we do what we do - our purpose, the reason we are a church. It is a "wake up call" designed to arouse us out of our unconscious, business-as-usual way of doing church.

Crises are also an opportunity for change. Crises disrupt "what is." In doing so, they make space for something new or different. They provide the opportunity to make creative, purpose-shaped change under the leadership of the Spirit. Crises open the door to a different, more God-shaped future.

I view the looming "crisis" of the called, special session of General Conference (as well as the pattern of decline at FUMCA) as an opportunity. I pray we don't miss it.