Circuit Writer Blog

I am excited share with you that the Academy of Parish Clergy is moving forward with a new and exciting venture.  The Academy will be publishing a book series titled “Conversations in Ministry” which will focus on important issues facing clergy today.  You can find information about the new series at http://energionpubs.com/academy-of-parish-clergy-conversations-in-ministry-series/

I have been honored to be asked to be part of the editorial board for the series and I am looking forward to having the opportunity to read great manuscripts for upcoming books!

Also if you are clergy and have not checked out the APC, it is a wonderful ecumenical organization of clergy who support each other and also promote high standards of excellence in ministry and service.  Check out the Academy website at http://www.apclergy.org/ for more details.

With the proliferation of Social Media sites I am starting to wonder how many are enough, or how many are too many to keep up with.  I’ve noticed Tweetdeck will now follow Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, Buzz (which is going to be discontinued by Google), Linkedin, and Foursquare.  So far Google Plus is not supported.

But with so many Social Media sites I find that I have looked for means to cross post and read more than one site at a time with something like Seesmic or Tweekdeck to name two.  But I have begun to wonder which of these sites I intend to keep following.
Some already are no longer getting much attention from me.  I find that while I was initially excited about Google Plus I just can’t get that excited about it now.  It seems like a poor cousin of Facebook and most of my friends are there.

I certainly find following Facebook and Twitter have been good means of communicating with colleagues.  Twitter has worked well for conversations about events I’ve attended with fellow attendees.  But I’m finding less use for the others.  What do you think?

How many social media sites do you try to follow?

I’ve done a fair amount of blogging over the years.  When I started this blog my primary purpose was to blog about my experiences in becoming a United Methodist.  So I’ve shared some of the theological reasons for my move from Baptist life to UMC life.  And I’ve shared some of the process that I have been following in transfering my ordination to the United Methodist Church.

Right now I am in one of those in between times when the next step depends on me completing the next set of requirements.  During the minimum of two years I am serving as a Provisional Member of the Iowa Conference I am required to complete three courses covering UMC history, doctrine, and polity.  I am near finishing the UMC history class and hope to start on the doctrine class as soon as I can get signed up for it either through the GBHEM or a seminary in my area.  That’s all very important to my moving forward in my desire to become an “Elder in Full Connection” in the UMC.  But it does not make for exciting blogging.

In my previous denomination sometimes I blogged about internal denominational movements and denominational politics.  But as I’ve considered what to write about in my current blog that subject matter has lost its appeal for me.  It is not that I’m not interested in what is going on nationally and conference wide in the UMC.  I am certainly interest in the future of the connection I am giving my life and ministry to.  But there are a lot of bloggers writing about the Call to Action report who have been United Methodists much longer than I have.  And yes I am interested in the outcome of legislation at General Conference.  But I am not sure that I have anything new to contribute to that discussion with a world wide web of UMC bloggers already discussing GC at great length.

Instead, in my quest to find something worth saying, I want to use this blog to continue to talk about my pilgrimage of faith as a pastor serving in a new church family.  I’d like to keep talking about it because I have come to believe that faith in Christ is a journey and not just a destination.  And I believe the journey is a lot more interesting when you don’t act liked you’ve arrived already!

As I have been reading about the life and teachings of one of the founders of United Methodism, John Wesley, I have been struck time and time again that Mr. Wesley was a man on a journey of faith.  In his early life he preached the gospel with a fervency and zeal that made him well known even in his younger years of ministry.  He worked harder than most at seeking to living a life of holiness.  He journaled in great detail about his spiritual walk in the hope that he would find an assurance of salvation.

And yet despite his many hours of zealous prayer, fasting, writing, journaling, preaching, and teaching he despaired of gaining that assurance.  (United Methodists already know where I’m going with this story!)  But Wesley didn’t find that assurance in his own work, as remarkable as it was, he found that calm heart warming assurance when he was struck by God’s grace.  He was bowled over by an abiding assurance that God did indeed love him, that is was by grace that would be redeemed, and that this assurance (his Aldersgate experience) was a free, unmerited, unearned gift from the loving heart of Jesus Christ!

Like Wesley we all know we should work hard for the sake of the gospel.  And particularly Mr. Wesley’s children in the faith hope to emulate his desire for the entire world to be his parish.  Yet the greatest gifts we have received, a loving and caring God, the gifts of family, churches to serve in, Christian friends to enjoy, the beautiful creation that God has given us, are all pure unmerited gifts of grace.

John Wesley loved to write about grace, Prevenient Grace, Justifying Grace, Sanctifying Grace, grace in all its forms.  Because he himself had experienced its power, its comfort, and its peace.

After Wesley’s experience at Aldersgate he found the next path that he was to follow in formation of the Methodist societies and their unique system of classes and bands.  It was after his Aldersgate experience that Methodism caught fire and burned brightly with the flames of the spirit of which has touched the lives of millions!  But it wasn’t John Wesley who accomplished this task.  It was God’s grace, grace greater than our sin, marvelous matchless grace, amazing grace how sweet the sound…!

Now that is something worth writing about!

“8 You are saved by God’s grace because of your faith. This salvation is God’s gift. It’s not something you possessed. 9 It’s not something you did that you can be proud of. 10 Instead, we are God’s accomplishment, created in Christ Jesus to do good things. God planned for these good things to be the way that we live our lives.” Ephesians 2:8-9 CEB

This week I am attending the Leadership Institute at the Church of the Resurrection. The COR is the largest UMC by attendance in the US. I’ve never been in a church complex quite like it. Today is the pre-conference day which includes additional workship opportunities.

This morning I attended a workshop on evangelism and this afternoon I was in a worskshop on contemporary worship.

The Senior Pastor of COR is Adam Hamilton who has written a number of books about practical issues of the Christian life. I believe I will be hearing him speak this week among other excellent featured speakers.

Tomorrow they are expecting over 2,000 participations here at COR with participations from 47 states as well as internationally.

This week I saw news articles that Campus Crusade for Christ was changing its name to “Cru.”  I was not surprised that they changed their name given that the word “crusade” has taken on very negative connotations in recent years particularly in the Middle East.  The Crusades were one of Christianity’s darker times.  And we still suffer the repercussions of what happened in the Crusades today.

I was a bit surprised however by the name “Cru.”  I gather now that I read articles that it had become a nickname of the organization.  But the new name, unlike its previous name, really does not tell much of anything about the organization.  ”Cru” could be just about anything. It could be a line of clothing or a sports team for all I can tell by the name.   I hope the name works for them.  But I have serious doubts that it will as clearly communicate what they are about.

Strangely this kind of new name with no discernible meaning has become common place both in religious circles and in businesses.  When I was still an American Baptist an organization called “American Baptist Evangelicals” renamed itself “Cornerstone Network Group.”  That sounded to me like the name of an insurance company rather than a Christian organization.  (They later re-re-named the organization “Cornerstone Church Network, a better name but still nebulous.) Churches have taken to the trend of dropping denominational names from their churches or their formerly church related organizations.  The Cedar Falls Lutheran Home recently renamed itself “NewAldaya Lifescapes.”  (No, I’m not kidding.)   John Deere Credit became Veridian.  Again, “Veridian” could mean almost anything.

There are also churches in just about every denomination that have chosen not to put the name of the denomination in the name of the church so that a person might have to do a little digging into a church’s website or actually have to make an enquirery to find out a church’s denominational affiliation and thereby also figure out what their doctrinal views may be.

Maybe this makes me a fuddy duddy or less marketting savvy than some but I do not think so.    I personally do not like the current trend in generic non-descriptive names.  I think it does a disservice to a business, Christian organization, or church when you cannot tell a single thing about the organization by its name.  I believe some marketing companies are making big money advising people that it is cool, hip, and savvy to use these kind of names.  But that in the long run it will create a disconnect between organizations and their intended users or members.

If someone tells me they go to First United Methodist Church that tells me something about their faith.  It tells me that they are Wesleyan in their theology.  It tells me what they believe about the sacraments. And it tells me what kind of structure the church has among other things.  But something like Cedar Falls Worship Campus (I just made this one up) tells me nothing at all, not even if the organization is Christian.  And if I’m going to have to dig, explore and search to find out  then why should I go to that trouble?  Or will I wonder why you do not really want me to know who or what you are affiliated with?

So what’s in a name?  Who are we serving when we pick names which do not inform?  Should churches think about bucking this trend in the name of spreading the light of the gospel more clearly by clearly saying something about who we are in our name?

I know someone may respond that most people are not looking for a specific church denomination when they are looking at churches.  I agree with that.  Last I read only about 10% placed denomination as a major factor in the church choice.  But for me that still does not give us a good reason for leaving the name out and obscuring our heritage.  Instead, no matter why someone first came to our church, we have an opportunity and in fact an obligation to teach who we are and what our church believes.

In the fall I will be helping teach confirmation at First UMC.  I’m looking forward to working with our young people in this class.  We are conducting a community wide confirmation program with confirmands from almost half a dozen United Methodist Churches in the Cedar Falls and Waterloo area.  It is going to be informative and I also believe it is going to be a lot of fun.  As we lead young people through confirmation we will be teaching them about the faith of Jesus Christ, what it means to be a baptized and professing believer and what it means to be a Christian in the United Methodist tradition.

When people are guests at our church for the first time it should never be a surprise to them that we are Christian and that we are United Methodist. Our faith and our heritage should positively and openly shine through in who we are and what we do.  Again to quote Bishop Trimble, we should be unapoligetically Christian and unashamedly United Methodist.  We should never hide who we are and who God has called us to be.

I am certainly a lover of computer technology.  I am glad for the benefits computers and the internet have brought us over the years.  I have benefited from being able to keep contact with friends from around the country because of email, Facebook, and now Google Plus. I have enjoyed online conversations and discussion on several discussion forums.  But in the last couple of years I’ve seen more of the ugly underside of internet conversation.

If you go to any news site on the internet such as CNN or other popular site you can find that the websites have comment sections.  I’ve noticed that no matter what the subject, no matter what the article there are persons making rude, nasty, mean, demeaning, comments about the article.  There are people jumping to conclusions, insulting public figures, the person who wrote the article, people mentioned in the article, and even other persons making comments.  It isn’t much better than a three ring circus and honestly it does not make internet conversation look very valuable.

Even sites dedicated to religious discussion have some of the very same issues.  Some of the sites that I used to participate in which talked about ministry, mission, theology, and Christian faith over the years have just degenerated into arguments, finger pointing, and even questioning the Christian faith of the other Christians in the discussion.

Often these forums revolve around all the hot button issues of the day that Christians have differences of opinion on.  And the discuss seems to get less and less enlightening all the time.  Frankly I’ve entirely stopped using several such sites.

So then how should Christians comport themselves on the internet?  I have some personal rules of thumb that I follow:

1. Don’t ever say anything on the internet that you wouldn’t be happy about if it were published in the New York Times tomorrow morning.

2. Don’t ever say anything on the internet that you can’t sign your name to.  Why?  Because many forums allow anonymous posters.  And the temptation of posting anonymously is that you can do and say things that you would not do and say in public.  If you cannot say what you want to say with your real name in the signature then it does not need to be said.

3. When discussing church, theology, or faith with others on the internet avoid being judgmental.  Avoid absolutist statements.  Avoid acting as if you, your church, your denomination, or your interpretation of the faith is infallible.

4. Avoid discussions with people who just like to argue but do not really want to have an exchange of ideas.  On the internet we call them “trolls.”

5. Know when to walk a way from an online discussion.  When a discussion seems to be going around in circles or if you began to feel angry or frustrated with the discussion than you are not doing yourself or your witness any good.

6. Christians should always be thinking about how their words, deeds, and actions which are revealed in a public forum will reflect on their faith and the church of Jesus Christ.

There are a lot of advantages for sharing your faith on the internet.  There are a lot of opportunities to be a Christian before the world on the internet.  But to be the body of Christ in the world we all, myself included, have to be careful about the image we portray to those who need to hear about God’s love. Running across forums or discussions where Christians argue and fight does not do that.

Let’s be good examples of what the net can be and should be!