United Methodism and American Culture Volume 5: Marks of Methodism: Theology in Ecclesial Practice
160
United Methodism and American Culture Volume 5: Marks of Methodism: Theology in Ecclesial Practice
160Paperback(New Edition)
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Overview
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780687329397 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Abingdon Press |
| Publication date: | 06/01/2005 |
| Series: | United Methodism and American Culture , #5 |
| Edition description: | New Edition |
| Pages: | 160 |
| Product dimensions: | 5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.50(d) |
About the Author
(2011) Russell E. Richey is Dean Emeritus of Candler School of Theology and the William R. Cannon Distinguished Professor of Church History Emeritus in Atlanta, Georgia.
William B. Lawrence is dean and professor of American Church History at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University (Dallas), where he has served since 2002. Dr. Lawrence is an ordained elder in the North Texas Annual Conference. He is the author of Sundays in New York and Methodism in Recovery, and he has co-edited numerous books, including Connectionalism: Ecclesiology, Mission and Identity
Read an Excerpt
Marks of Methodism
Theology in Ecclesial PracticeBy Dennis M. Campbell
Abingdon Press
Copyright © 2005 The United Methodist Publishing HouseAll right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-687-32939-7
Chapter One
Connectional1 BLEST be the dear uniting love,
That will not let us part!
Our bodies may far off remove,
We still are one in heart.
2 Joined in one spirit to our Head,
Where he appoints we go;
And still in Jesu's footsteps tread,
And show his praise below.
3 O may we ever walk in him,
And nothing know beside;
Nothing desire, nothing esteem,
But Jesus crucified.
4 Closer and closer let us cleave
To his beloved embrace;
Expect his fulness to receive
And grace to answer grace.
5 Partakers of the Saviour's grace,
The same in mind and heart,
Nor joy, nor grief, nor time, nor place,
Nor life, nor death can part.
6 But let us hasten to the day
Which shall our flesh restore,
When death shall all be done away,
And bodies part no more!
"Connectionalism," to the average United Methodist, suggests machinery—apportionments, boards and agencies, hierarchy, conference headquarters, the church's officialdom, its apparatus. Such a perception is neither inappropriate nor new. The image of Methodism as machine runs deep in our consciousness and our heritage. When Bishops Francis Asbury and Thomas Coke annotated the Discipline and explained the church to American society in 1798, they referred to Methodism as a machine. They insisted on the necessity of preserving "in order and in motion the wheels of the vast machine." Not half a century later George Cookman (then chaplain to the Senate), soon to be lost at sea, drew upon Ezekiel's image of wheels within wheels to interpret Methodism.
The great iron wheel in the system is itinerancy, and truly it grinds some of us most tremendously; the brazen wheel, attached and kept in motion by the former, is the local ministry; the silver wheel, the class leaders; and golden wheel, the doctrine and discipline of the church, in full and successful operation. Now, sir, it is evident that the entire movement depends upon keeping the great iron wheel of itinerancy constantly and rapidly rolling around. But, to be more specific, and to make an application of this figure to American Methodism. Let us carefully note the admirable and astounding movements of this wonderful machine. You will perceive there are "wheels within wheels." First, there is the great outer wheel of episcopacy, which accomplishes its entire revolution once in four years. To this there are attached twenty-eight smaller wheels, styled annual conferences, moving around once a year; to these are attached one hundred wheels, designated presiding elders, moving twelve hundred other wheels, termed quarterly conferences, every three months; to these are attached four thousand wheels, styled travelling preachers, moving round once a month, and communicating motion to thirty thousand wheels, called class leaders, moving round once a week, and who, in turn, being attached to between seven and eight hundred thousand wheels, called members, give a sufficient impulse to whirl them round every day. O, sir, what a machine is this! This is the machine of which Archimedes only dreamed; this is the machine destined, under God, to move the world, to turn it upside down.
Throughout the nineteenth century, Methodists prided themselves on the machinelike quality of Methodism. Indeed, they equated the church with a machine. Abel Stevens, the MEC's midcentury historian and apologist, suggested that two machines conquered the American wilderness: the steam engine invented by James Watt and the moral engine invented by John Wesley. Of the two, Methodism was truly "the machine in the garden." In imaging itself as machine, indeed glorifying its machinelike qualities, Methodism clearly drew on a socially powerful metaphor of the day. The machine—steam and then internal combustion—made the industrial society. Methodism's connectionalism, our nineteenth century ancestors thought, functioned to make the church work with high efficiency, productivity, and creativity.
In the early twentieth century, Methodists spent less energy glorifying the Methodist machinery and more in making it run efficiently. Efficiency, they believed, could be gained by collaboration, structure, procedure. So Paul Kern of the MECS, faculty member at Southern Methodist University and later bishop, and Worth Tippy of the MEC, Executive Secretary of the Church and Social Service Commission of the Federal Council of Churches, collaborated on a training manual for church leaders. There they explained connectionalism and then its machine character:
Methodism is essentially connectional....
There are many denominations in which the connectional idea is not as strong as it is in Methodism. We regard it as a vital part of our ecclesiastical life. All the scattered and varied congregational groups are in reality parts of one splendid unity called Methodism.... Note how we stress our connectional idea. When a young man joins the ministry of our church he does not join any local Conference, he is a member of the world-wide fellowship of Methodist preachers, liable for service anywhere; our bishops are bishops of the whole church; our great objectives, such as missions and education, are handled through connectional boards, whose relationships are church wide. Whenever Methodism loses its confidence in the power of connectionalism, it will be almost certain to enter a career of disintegration.
Their chapter titles capture the machinelike character of connectionalism: Our Heritage, The Purpose and Program of the Modern Church, Building the Christian Fellowship, The Church Organized for Worship, The Church Organized for Teaching, The Church Organized for Social Service, Making the Church Organization Efficient, Efficiency through General Organization, The Local Church in World-Wide Enterprise, Housing the Local Church, Financing the Local Church, Leadership.
And, of course, prominent in the efficiency revolution were apportionments. If connectionalism is machinery, what keeps it humming is money. And if machinery and money constitute Methodism's character, both find fullest expression in their twentieth-century developments—bureaucracy and apportionments. So Methodism incarnated the ethos and forms of capitalism.
But do such images capture all of what we would say about connection or connectionalism? On the contrary, "connection" has and has had deeply spiritual and profoundly theological resonances. Many of these can be discerned in a recent event.
Vignette
Women's Congress: A Journey in Spiritual and Leadership Development
Story by Linda Green
NORCROSS, Ga. (UMNS), April 21, 1999—Tears of joy and release were the norm as more than 135 women gathered for five days to hear God's call in their lives. The diverse participants, described as "journey takers," came to United Methodist-related Simpsonwood Retreat Center near Atlanta to participate in the Women's Congress, April 14-18. It was a time of spiritual renewal and empowerment, leadership development and relationship building, aimed at preparing the group to serve the United Methodist Church and their communities more effectively.
The women—both lay and clergy—came from the United States and Puerto Rico to hear the message of sisterhood, to be reminded of examples taught to them by their foremothers in the faith, and to learn that women have offered their gifts to the church for centuries. They shared their personal and spiritual stories through writing, singing, chanting, dancing, praying and hands-on mission work. From clergywomen Janet Wolf, Linda Thomas, Grace Imathiu, Teresa Fry Brown and Naomi Southard, the participants learned lessons about who they are, the importance of storytelling, the nature of God's love and self-love, and the biblical stories of women. Other leaders included Donna Fado Ivery, Kappitola Williams, Cynthia Wilson Felder, Lydia S. Martinez, Heather Wood and Susan Peek.
The participants were reminded of how God's love and their love for God will initiate numerous possibilities for their lives, no matter what obstacles arise. Because of that love, the women were encouraged to remember the phrase that became an anthem at the congress: "And I'm Going On Anyhow." Thomas, a professor at Garrett Evangelical Theological School in Evanston, Ill., affirmed the women as created in God's image and following in God's way. "We came to listen to God speak to us, and we expect an answer," she said.
The importance of storytelling was stressed by both Wolf, pastor at Hobson United Methodist Church in Nashville, Tenn., and Imathiu, a doctoral candidate at Vanderbilt Divinity School, also in Nashville. Stories are critical and grounding, Imathiu said. "They give a beginning into conversations with each other and God. Each story is an entry point to the biblical story, God's story." As the women listened to Brown, they charted a course through the Bible looking at stories of women and how they had made the decision to follow God or to help their people.
The congress was conceived in 1995, when members of the churchwide Commission on the Status and Role of Women (COSROW) expressed the need for women to understand where God is calling them to be. "The church needs again and again to call forth women leaders—diverse women who will engage in a time of personal and spiritual growth," the congress design team said. The congress was described as an empowerment tool for women who are often overlooked for leadership positions in their local church settings. In 1998, letters were sent to more than 6,000 women in church-related leadership positions, requesting that each nominate a woman with leadership potential who would benefit from a Women's Congress. Participants reflected the diversity of women in the United Methodist Church in terms of race, ethnicity, age, theology, economics, geography, congregational size, rural, urban and suburban perspectives.
"To see such diversity in the room makes my soul sing with gladness," said congress Chairwoman Ethel Johnson of Columbus, Ohio. The congress was held because "we believe in the message that women are loved, gifted, precious creations of God," said the Rev. Stephanie Hixon, one of COSROW's two top executives. The congress invited women who may not always hear that message to know it, be deepened by it and celebrate it in their lives, she said. "We are here to encourage them in whatever way God is calling them in their lives."
Traveling was a special treat for most of the women. Some took their first airplane ride to attend the congress. Elizabeth "Pooh" Triplett, 18, a high school senior from Joplin, Mo., sacrificed her senior prom in order to attend the congress. "If I'd gone, I'd be with the same people I see every day," she said. When she reunites with her friends, "I'm going to tell them that while you were dancing in those high-heeled shoes and suffering from aching feet, I was conversing with women from around the world and learning their cultures." Triplett was one of three young women between 18 and 25 years old attending the congress.
After witnessing the unity of the highly diverse group of participants, Tamara Isidore of Tampa, Fla., said, "I've learned that I didn't have to die to enjoy heaven." The congress was designed to take the women on a spiritual journey, and to help them navigate around the church and learn of the numerous resources available to assist them, said Cecelia Long, another top COSROW executive. Hands-on work was part of the journey, Long said. "It is part of understanding how we relate to others." In 13 groups, the women fanned out to perform work at mission sites across Atlanta. They cleaned, sorted clothes, fed children and adults, stocked food pantries, worked at schools and a homeless shelter, and attended sites to listen to battered women and to hear stories from those suffering with AIDS.
Nitza Gomez of Orlando, Fla., expressed pride that, at the congress, racial differences vanished. "We are all one," she said. "I am a beloved daughter of God and a beloved sister of all of you." Any concern that she would feel out of place at the congress vanished for Mary Lou Segouia of Chamblee, Ga., when she began to hear the stories of other participants. When her pastor invited her to go, she said she felt like Moses—inadequate for the challenge—and suggested someone else be sent. "I'm glad I came because the experience has been awesome." Women need a place in the church, said Hildelisa Ordaz of Miami. "I am so proud to be in this event. We are pioneers. This will be history." Johnnie M. Robinson of Hugo, Okla., said she had planned to attend the meeting and quietly observe. That plan vanished after "I saw the movement of the Holy Spirit in this place." After her mission experience working with children, she realized that God is calling her toward that kind of work, she said. "The empty place inside has been filled," she said. "I now know what I am supposed to be doing."
Two members of the Christ Church of the Deaf in Washington were also awed by the level of inclusion at the congress. "I came to see what the United Methodist Church had for women," said LaSander Saunders of Owings Mills, Md. She expressed appreciation for translators, telephone devices and lights that blink when there is a knock at the door. "The women here touched me," said Norma Adams, the other deaf member. "God was here moving among all of us, and that touched my heart." Many women received a new understanding and appreciation for sign language when Saunders and Adams signed the Lord's Prayer, as the words were spoken by translators.
The breaking down of barriers was apparent during exchanges between Sharon Leas, a white woman from Dallas Center, Iowa, and Danita Page, a black woman from Little Rock, Ark. "It was great to understand that when we all get to heaven, we will be part of the same choir," Leas said. "It's been an experience to look in my sisters' eyes and learn," Page said. "I cannot return home to say 'them' again."
Commentary
Do machinery and money sum up connectionalism or are they but its instrumentalities? If one had to select a few words to capture this mark we term "connectional," would bureaucracy and apportionments best capture its meaning? Or might not gathering, festival, and expressiveness (hymns, praise, prayer, testimony) also be required? Indeed, might they serve better? And might the Women's Congress image Methodist connectionalism as much as or more than an agency meeting or conference headquarters? Yes, indeed! Marking Methodism in such conferencelike fashion also runs deep in our consciousness and heritage.
Jesse Lee—missionary to New England, chaplain to both House and Senate, Methodism's first historian, an almost-bishop—observed the annual conference of 1782 held at Ellis's Chapel, in Sussex County, Virginia. He noted:
The union and brotherly love which I saw among the preachers, exceeded every thing I had ever seen before, and caused me to wish that I was worthy to have a place amongst them. When they took leave of each other, I observed that they embraced each other in their arms, and wept as though they never expected to meet again. Had the heathens been there, they might have well said, "see how the Christians love one another!" By reason of what I saw and heard during the four days that the conference sat, I found my heart truly humbled in the dust, and my desires greatly increased to love and serve God more perfectly than I had ever done before.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Marks of Methodism by Dennis M. Campbell Copyright © 2005 by The United Methodist Publishing House. Excerpted by permission of Abingdon Press. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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