Vital Faith Article
As a Conference we are together in the process of working out what it means to be the church in the 21st century. The Vital Faith committee is charged as part of our Strategic Direction with the responsibility of “assisting every established church and ministry in initiating a new community of faith each year.” This is the work of revitalization. We are consequently in the process of truth telling about how effective we have been in taking the gospel to every person as commissioned by Jesus himself. This biopsy may in fact be painful at times as we acknowledge we have not evolved ways to make our faith heard by new generations and cultures.
So I was reading in the United Methodist Discipline, an attempt to put into words the way the United Methodist Church works, for guidance. It is the product of over 200 years of faithful people attempting to put forward the theological grounding and the mission of our denomination. I was reading the section on Our Theological Task and rediscovered that being United Methodist puts us on the front line of thinking and talking in ways relevant to our own time about God, revelation, sin, redemption, worship, freedom, justice and moral responsibility.
I offer some selected quotes that I hope might rouse you to read the entire section yourself. I at least hope to call us all too how revolutionary and evolutionary we are as United Methodists.
From the Section on the nature of our theological task:
“Theological inquiry can clarify our thinking about what we are to say and do. It presses us to pay attention to the world around us. Realities of intense human suffering, threats to the survival of life, and challenges to human dignity confront us afresh with fundamental theological issues: the nature and purpose of God, the relations of human beings to one another, the nature of human freedom and responsibility, and the care and proper use of all creation.” p76
From the section on scripture:
“We interpret individual texts in light of their place in the Bible as a whole. We are aided by scholarly inquiry and personal insight, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. As we work with each text, we take into account what we have been able to learn about the original context and intention of that text. In this understanding we draw upon the careful historical, literary and textual studies of recent years which have enriched our understanding of the Bible. Thus, the Bible serves both as a source of our faith and as the basic criterion by which the truth and fidelity of any interpretation of faith is measured.” p78
From the section on tradition:
“The theological task does not start anew in each age or each person. Christianity does not leap from New Testament times to the present as though nothing were to be learned from the great cloud of witnesses in between. For centuries Christians have sought to interpret the truth of the gospel for their time… “p79
“The story of the church reflects the most basic sense of tradition, the continuing activity of God’s Spirit transforming human life… These traditions underscore the equality of all persons in Jesus Christ. They display the capacity of human cultures and appreciate their values. They reinforce our traditional understanding of the inseparability of personal salvation and social justice.” p80
From the section on experience:
“Our experience interacts with Scripture. We read Scripture in light of the conditions and events that help shape who we are, and we interpret our experience in terms of Scripture.”
“Some facets of human experience tax our theological understanding. Many of God’s people live in terror, hunger, loneliness, and degradation. Everyday experiences of birth, death, growth and life in the created world, and an awareness of wider social relations belong to serious theological reflection. A new awareness of such experiences can inform our appropriation of scriptural truths and sharpen our appreciation of the good news of the kingdom of God.” p81
From the section on reason:
“…we also believe that any disciplined theological work calls for the careful use of reason. By reason we read and interpret scripture. By reason we determine whether our Christian witness is clear. By reason we ask questions of faith and seek to understand God’s action and will.” p82
From the section on our present task:
“Of crucial importance are concerns generated by great human struggles for dignity, liberation and fulfillment… The perils of nuclear destruction, terrorism, war, poverty, violence and injustice confront us. Injustices linked to race, gender, class, and age are widespread in our times. Misuse of natural resources and disregard for the fragile balances in our environment contradict our calling to care for God’s creation. .. We seek an authentic Christian response to these realities that the healing and redeeming work of God might be present in our words and deeds. Too often, theology is used to support practices that are unjust. We look for answers that are in harmony with the gospel and do not claim exemption from critical assessment. .. United Methodists as a diverse people continue to strive for consensus in understanding the gospel. In our diversity, we are held together by a shared inheritance and a common desire to participate in the creative and redemptive activity of God.” p83
As you read these words from our Discipline, I invite you to reflect and pray about how you think about our church. In my thinking it is our responsibility to meet the difficult task of how we offer church, the body of Christ, to all persons, both as an invitation to worship, and as an outreach of discipleship. In the coming publications of Desert Connections, Vital Faith will offer ideas, observations, links and resources for all church leaders that we might thrive as God’s people called United Methodists in this new century.
Peace,
Rev. Jonathan Arnpriester
Chair