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Praying for a clear United Methodist message
Jan 2, 2012
Thank you for your article on our United Methodist beliefs by the Rev. Donald Haynes (“Wesleyan Wisdom: Getting straight the United Methodist message,” Dec. 23 Reporter).
I have said that if I were to ask those present for worship on any given Sunday morning, “What do we as United Methodists believe?” I would probably get as many different answers as there are persons present in worship.
Have we lost our way? Have we lost our focus? There is no question that, as a denomination, we have to re-focus our faith, re-learn what it is we believe and be receptive to why we should believe it. This re-focusing and re-learning has to be the foundation for ALL we do in our local congregations, prior to any re-building efforts.
How can we all NOT be on the same page, as we continue to sit in the same pews together decade after decade? What do we stand for? What makes us unique? Why do we continue to be United Methodists? I firmly believe that our inability to concisely and succinctly answer these questions is the primary reason for our multiple-decade decline as a denomination.
My prayer is twofold: (1) that our UM clergy would step out and teach what makes United Methodists unique and (2) that our people in the pews would have the hunger to know and the receptive spirit to embrace who we are as United Methodists.
The Rev. Robert Wingfield Kirby III
Senior pastor, St. Paul’s UMC
Wilmington, Del.
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