United Methodists at a Tipping Point

As United Methodist leaders gather in Fort Worth, Texas for the 2008 General Conference they will focus on a number of key issues related to the ongoing vitality of the denomination. While the number of United Methodists has grown outside the United States, the U.S. Church has continued to decline in numbers. In a paradoxical way, this ongoing loss of members is bringing leaders to a critical juncture in the life of the largest of the mainline denominations with just under 8 million members and over 34,000 local churches in the United States. In order to connect with a younger, more diverse population it will need to have a major focus on starting new churches and revitalizing existing congregations.


If you already have thousands of churches, why would you need more? Because the population of the United States will grow by over 100 million people by 2050 and without new churches the UMC will not have an opportunity to offer ministry to a population that increasingly lives in urban America.


In 7 Myths of the United Methodist Church, I point out that in the best-selling book, The Tipping Point, the strategy of the John Wesley is highlighted. Wesley realized that in order for people to grow in faith and practice as followers of Jesus Christ you have to create a community around them that would nurture them and encourage them in their faith journey. Because of his strategy the Methodist movement exploded in the 1780s from 29 thousand to 90 thousand in the course of six years. This principle holds true today. Whether we are talking about Christian discipleship or educating our young people, without a community of people who care individuals easily get lost in our rapidly changing society.
The UMC is at another tipping point in its history. While it is still strong and has great resources, by focusing on sharing the gospel to new generations of people both in the United States and around the world, it can create communities where individuals can flourish and mature in faith. A choice for the future means focusing our efforts in a way that creates new faith communities that embrace newcomers with the grace and love of Jesus Christ.



For additional resources go to http://www.gbod.org/7myths

Nothing but nets

This summer I stumbled upon the "nothing but Net's" campaign to deal with the challenge of Malaria in the world.

The UMC is a partner....

So my church sold the shirts "Buzzkill" and we encouraged offerings, and sent over $6000.00 to the Nothing but nets fund. Then other than wearing our shirts... we kinda forgot about it.

then...last week the washington post and new york times both ran articles stating:

“We saw a very drastic impact,” said Dr. Arata Kochi, chief of malaria for the W.H.O. “If this is done everywhere, we can reduce the disease burden 80 to 85 percent in most African countries within five years.”

The report was done by a team from the World Health Organization for the Global Fund, the chief financing agency for combating malaria. It looked at programs in four countries that tried to distribute mosquito nets to the families of every child under 5, and medicines containing artemisinin to every public clinic.

In Ethiopia, deaths of children from malaria dropped more than 50 percent. In Rwanda, they dropped more than 60 percent in only two months.

Zambia, Dr. Kochi said, had only about a 33 percent drop in overall deaths because nets ran short and many districts ran out of medicine. But those areas without such problems had 50 to 60 percent reductions, he said.

Ghana was a bit of a mystery, according to the report. It got little money from the Global Fund, Dr. Kochi said, and so bought few nets and had to charge patients for drugs. Malaria deaths nonetheless fell 34 percent, but deaths among children for other reasons dropped 42 percent.

Rwanda, a small country that handed out three million nets in two months in 2006, had 66 percent fewer child malaria deaths in 2007 than in 2005.

Ethiopia, much larger, took almost two years to hand out 20 million nets; it cut deaths of children in half.

God uses us little by little around the world to make differences.... amazing...less than 6 months after we gave...God continued to do a miracle...amazing...

Duane

A movement is grass roots...the good news! That means that life can be brought to our systems on the cellular (local) level. I'm most interested in what is happening in the local churches...where are there signs of new life? What are they looking like? Where is Jesus showing up in the unexpected places?
Dottie

I'm joining in the conversation about how to exist and thrive within the outdated structures of a dying denomination. How do we become a movement again, instead of a monument to historicity?

In the Spotlight

Only 20 years ago if you wanted to share your thoughts with the world you would need to find a publisher -- a newspaper, book, or magazine that would agree with what you wanted to say and then you would need to negogiate a contract in order to be heard. Now all you need is an email address and access to the web and virtually anyone in the world can read what you have to say. The good news is that now you can be heard -- the bad, anything you say stays on the record. So if you decided to join the blog revolution, write but don't forget to take a deep breath, and edit....Once the blog is posted it is there to stay.



Notice how in the political debates how candidates go through their opponent's record looking for anything that would put him or her into a bad light. The hope is that one quote or comment will destroy their ability to win the race. Or notice in our celebrity infactuated culture how the actions of stars (think of Brittney Spears) are recorded live and delivered breathlessly in living color for ur consumption.



So what about in real life -- is the validity of our witnesses dependent on perfection -- that in every circumstance, in every word, and in every action we are deemed correct. Or is there grace available to all. Is perfection dependent on us or is perfection found through faith in Jesus? Are we dependent on our own ability to be right all the time or are we on a spiritual journey where righeousness grows as we live in the light of God's grace? I know I want to live in a world with grace, for grace gives me the freedom to grow.