I like this video blog. I was at Greenville First when Dr. Pence came for a listening tour. I think the GS’s have great intentions. Yet, I don’t think the listening tour is going to make a difference. I think our, we Wesleyans, problem is that we don’t know who or what we want to be. What is distinctive about us that people should join our churches? In my mind, I believe that our failures to become successful in a mega-church world has caused us, we Wesleyans, to do our best to duplicate methods that everyone else, Baptists, non-denoms, etc, etc., are doing. There bands of fragmental philosophies throughout our denomination. Some think we fail becuase the music is old. Some think we fail because we are institutionalized and should focus on home movements. Some think we fail because we are legalistic, which is fading rapidly in my opinion. Some think that Covenant Membership holds us back. Others think that abstinence of alchohol holds us back. All of these fragmental groups have one thing in common; holiness needs to be toned down. It is pre-historic according to some views. Yet, to holiness is what defined us and gave us the passion to preach the gospel and to do the works, missional, of the gospel. In my opinion, we must embrace who we are. We are a holiness denomination. In our group at G1, some felt that we would be better off if we brought back testimony time. Wow! Can we really not know what we need to do? Holiness brings urgency. I don’t see the emphasis upon this anymore. The GS’s need to reaffirm that Sanctification is what drives the missional church. Without Sanctification, we are reduced to a works oriented church who is trying be like other churches instead of Jesus.
I made the comment today, “What good is it to get people to stop smoking in your church if they’re just going to sit there and not do anything?” I was encouraged by both events that I went to. I was surprised that both days covered different topics, but neither group wanted to shy away from who we were. As a matter of fact, there seemed to be a strong sense of not redefining who we are but re-energizing who we are. Some of the statistics shared were crazy. 80% of our churches are under 100, but only 20% of our people are in those churches. There seems to be a lot of time and energy focused on the 20%, but has that time and energy been invested effectively? Too often, we look to the denomination for answers that our fellow churches already have. Personally, I am excited about the days ahead for the Wesleyan denomination and the Church universal. I think our leaders are pursuing Godly answers and solutions to being even more Kingdom minded.
Heath,
I like this video blog. I was at Greenville First when Dr. Pence came for a listening tour. I think the GS’s have great intentions. Yet, I don’t think the listening tour is going to make a difference. I think our, we Wesleyans, problem is that we don’t know who or what we want to be. What is distinctive about us that people should join our churches? In my mind, I believe that our failures to become successful in a mega-church world has caused us, we Wesleyans, to do our best to duplicate methods that everyone else, Baptists, non-denoms, etc, etc., are doing. There bands of fragmental philosophies throughout our denomination. Some think we fail becuase the music is old. Some think we fail because we are institutionalized and should focus on home movements. Some think we fail because we are legalistic, which is fading rapidly in my opinion. Some think that Covenant Membership holds us back. Others think that abstinence of alchohol holds us back. All of these fragmental groups have one thing in common; holiness needs to be toned down. It is pre-historic according to some views. Yet, to holiness is what defined us and gave us the passion to preach the gospel and to do the works, missional, of the gospel. In my opinion, we must embrace who we are. We are a holiness denomination. In our group at G1, some felt that we would be better off if we brought back testimony time. Wow! Can we really not know what we need to do? Holiness brings urgency. I don’t see the emphasis upon this anymore. The GS’s need to reaffirm that Sanctification is what drives the missional church. Without Sanctification, we are reduced to a works oriented church who is trying be like other churches instead of Jesus.
I made the comment today, “What good is it to get people to stop smoking in your church if they’re just going to sit there and not do anything?” I was encouraged by both events that I went to. I was surprised that both days covered different topics, but neither group wanted to shy away from who we were. As a matter of fact, there seemed to be a strong sense of not redefining who we are but re-energizing who we are. Some of the statistics shared were crazy. 80% of our churches are under 100, but only 20% of our people are in those churches. There seems to be a lot of time and energy focused on the 20%, but has that time and energy been invested effectively? Too often, we look to the denomination for answers that our fellow churches already have. Personally, I am excited about the days ahead for the Wesleyan denomination and the Church universal. I think our leaders are pursuing Godly answers and solutions to being even more Kingdom minded.